Students of Rani Lady Meyyammai Achi Music School performed a music concert, along with their gurus Malathy, Jeyalakshmi and Indira, on the seventh day of the Tamil music festival organised by the Tamil Isai Sangam on Wednesday. Meenakshi played both the violin and flute while Siva Roopan played both the mridangam and ghatam and also lent his voice to a couple of songs. Many of the singers were recognised as vainikas, providing ample proof to the multiple skills of the trainees.
Excellent selections from Dhandapani Desikar, Sudhananda Bharati, Goplakrishna Bharati, Oothukkadu Venkatakavi, Arunachala Kavirayar and Arunagirinadhar were sung in synchronisation by the 11 singers on stage. Jeyalakshmi’s alapana was enjoyable.
The prime time was allotted to former professor S. S. M. Sundaram, who spoke on the topic, ‘Footsteps in the forest.’ The speaker began with negative statements such as, “These footsteps are not those of Rama in Naimisaranya; or of Krishna visiting Draupati in exile; or of Karaikkal Ammaiyar, who travelled not on foot but on her head or of Muruga who wooed Valli in Valli Malai.” Having built the suspense, he went on to reveal that he would trace the footsteps of Sarada Devi, who crossed a dreaded forest to reach Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
Mr. Sundaram made erudite references to the works of Tiruppanazhwar, Appar, Sundarar, Andal and Kumaraguruparar. The talk was embellished with several nuggets of information such as the number of panns in Tamil, the length of yugas in mythology and the significance of certain Tamil words. Comparisons drawn between the past and present were done humorously.
When Sarada Devi crossed the jungle, she requested protection by a robber, calling him her “father.” She retained this view of the world, and her dying words were that no one was a stranger and that the whole world was one’s own. The audience found the story of the female saint novel and fascinating.
RAJALAKSHMI PADMANABHAN
