Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman: Performing after 80 years at the venue where he made his debut

It is not uncommon for a musician to perform at the venue where they made their debut. Rarer still is the opportunity to do so eight decades after that first performance. Mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman is privileged to celebrate both 80 years of his illustrious musical career and his 90^th birthday at the very same venue — the Kalahastheeswarar Temple on Madathu Theru in Kumbakonam.

“My first performance took place at the Kalahastheeswarar Temple because my first teacher, Arupathi Natesa Iyer, lived in the agraharam adjacent to the temple. I played for the vocalist Srinivasa Iyengar. Vedaranyam Krishnamurthy Iyer accompanied him on the violin, and my teacher played the kanjira,” recalled Mr. Sivaraman.

The temple also figures in Kumbakonam-based writer Na. Pitchamurthy’s short story Kanjamadam. “Although the temple is not named, the ambience and surroundings clearly suggest that it is the Kalahastheeswarar Temple,” says Rani Thilak, who compiled the book Kumbakonam Kathaikal.

The Kalahastheeswarar Temple on Madathu Theru in Kumbakonam.
| Photo Credit:
R. Vengadesh

Mr. Sivaraman recalled, with nostalgia, the temples and streets of Kumbakonam, the musicians who lived there, and the hotels renowned for their filter coffee and tiffin. It was from the Kumbeshwarar Temple that his grandmother procured his first kanjira, as he displayed a keen interest in percussion instruments from a very young age. He had a habit of keeping talam on the medicine boxes that arrived at the home of his father P. Kasiviswanatha Iyer, a physician, on Kamatchi Jossier Street.

“My father was searching for a teacher to train me. One day, a patient visited him, and when my father learnt that he was Natesa Iyer, he requested him to teach me. After performing at the temple on August 16 this year, I visited the house where Natesa Iyer once lived and paid my namaskarams,” said Mr. Sivaraman, who later trained under Thanjavur Vaidhyanatha Iyer, Palghat Mani Iyer, and Sakottai Rengu Iyengar.

Describing his return to the Kalahastheeswarar Temple on his 90^th birthday as a “divine calling”, Mr. Sivaraman recounted an unusual coincidence.

“Mr. Swaminathan, a native of Kumbakonam, wrote to me requesting that I perform at the temple, but he did not write the correct address. However, the postman noticed my name with the title ‘Padma Shri’ and delivered it to The Music Academy, from where it eventually reached me. That is why I call it a divine calling,” he said. Mr. Sivaraman recalled that he had accompanied many eminent musicians who had moved to Kumbakonam during the evacuations of World War II.

“I also had the opportunity to meet and pay my respects to Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer on Dabir Street. He was a disciple of Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavatar and Sundara Bhagavatar, who were direct disciples of Saint Tyagaraja,” he said.

Mr. Sivaraman’s joy was boundless when the headmaster of the Kumbakonam Town High School, where he studied, presented him with a laminated copy of his SSLC certificate on the day he performed at the Kalahastheeswarar Temple. “I came to Chennai in 1955 on the advice of Palghat Mani Iyer, who felt it would be better for my career as a mridangam player,” he added.