Papanasam Sivan

Papanasam Sivan (Tamil: பாபநாசம் சிவன்) (26th September, 1890 – 10th October , 1973) was a prominent composer and singer of Carnatic music. Popularly known as Tamil Thyagayya, his kritis gained special attention after they were recited by M.S. Subbulakshmi , M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and other deccan carnatic veterans.

Early Life:

Papanasam Sivan was born as the second son to Ramamritha aiyar and Yogammal at Polagam in Tanjore District on 26th September, 1890. He was given the name of ‘Ramayya’ by his parents. He came to be called Papanasam Sivan by the inhabitants of Ganapathy Agraharam, Tanjore district in 1912 when they were all attracted to the Siva temple in that village at dusk, while Sivan was praying to the Deity singing ‘Arum Ponne Maniye’ with a voice full of fervour; they exclaimed that Lord Siva himself had descended to earth from Kailash, as it were, in the shape of that youth.He lost father when he was six years old, and since the family was afflicted by adversity, Sivan, his mother and elder brother migrated to Trivandrum, the “Dharma Rajya”. They found subsistence in the ‘Ootpura’ of the Maharaja. While at Trivandrum, Sivan came under the influence of eminent musicians Noorani Mahadeva Bhagavathar,Samba Bhagavathar, Karamanai Neelakanta Dasar.While at Trivandrum,Sivan studied in the Maharaja’s Sanskrit college and obtained the title ‘Upadhyaya’. Beyond this he had no schooling at all.Sivan’s mother, who had a gifted sweet voice for music, had learnt more than 600 songs of the famous composers of the day. Sivan imbibed this talent hereditarily from his mother and his maternal grandfather, who was also a good musician.Having lost his mother in 1910, at Trivandrum, Sivan returned to his native district with his brother. He used to tour the district by foot and conduct bhajans in all the temple festivals; by singing his own devotional songs rapturously, he used to attract large crowds. Among them was the Saptha Sthanam at Tiruvaiyaru, and the Adi Pooram at Nagapattinam. From 1912 to 1959 without a break he attended Saptha Sthanam festivities.During Margazhi, every year he conducted Giri pradakshinam around the four Mada streets of Sri Kapaleeswarar temple at Mylapore, right from 1930 when he came to madras, till 1972. He passed away on 1-10-1973.He started composing songs as early as in 1910 and who used to sing them himself. While singing he always closed his eyes and he had expressed that he was on such occasions in communion with god. It was in this decade that he came to be acquainted with Konerirajapuram Vaidyanathaier, a faithful exponent of carnatic music and acclaimed to be the greatest musicians of the times. Vaidyanathaier took kindly to Sivan and was overawed by his compositions in Tamil and Sanskrit hearing them sung by Sivan himself.

As a composer “Sivan ranks with the great giants who followed the trinity in the middle of the nineteenth century”. He did not use any lexicon or dictionary choosing rhyming words. Almost all eminent vidwans of yester years viz. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Vishwanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Musiri Subramania Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and others have sung numerous compositions of Sivan in their performance. Sivans’s compositions cover a wide gamut of songs ranging from varnams, krithis, operas to padhams and javalis. His compositions have been published in book from by his daughter Dr.Rukmani Ramani. Seven volumes of his compositions have been published so far.

After 10 years of relentless work and purposeful concentration, Sivan compiled and brought out a rhyming Sanskrit Dictionary titled ‘Samskritha Bhasha Sabhata Samudhraha’ in 1952 (Vadamozhi Sorkadal). The last works of Sivan were ‘Sri Rama Charitha Geetham’ ,the Ramayana epic sung in 24 stanzas in 24 ragas and ‘Kaaraikkal Ammaiyar Charitham’ , Both these operas have been published in book form.

Sivan composed songs for films, for about 15 years from 1936, charging spiritual fervour into them and this was responsible for phenomenal success of many film producers. Reluctant as he was to mix with the motley crowd of artists, he was prevailed upon by a close friends and well wisher Cine Director late K.Subramaniam to agree to play a few roles in cinemas. He acted in 4 films, ‘Bhaktha Kuchela’, ‘Thiyaga Bhoomi’, ‘Bhaktha hetha’, and ‘Kubera Kuchela’ all of which were hits. The roles suited him admirably and it was the unanimous verdict of critics that he alone could have lived in these roles.

Awards:

• In 1950 the Indian Fine Arts Society honored Papanasam Sivan the title ‘Sangeetha Sakithya Kala Sikhamani’.
• At the celebrations of the 60^th birthday of Sivan, Kanchi Acharyal blessed him with the title ‘Siva PunyaGaana Mani’.
• The Tamizh Isai Sangam honored him with the title ‘Isai Peraignar’.
• The music Academy honored him with the title ‘Sangeetha Kalanidhi’ and was subsequently admitted as a ‘Fellow’ of the Sangeet Natak Akademi , New Delhi.
• In1962 Sivan received the President’s Award.
• In 1972 ,at the age of 82, the Indian Republic conferred on him ‘Padma Bhushan’.

Sivan’s benefactors included Smt .Rukmani Arundale of the Theosophical Society and Kalakshethra, the late Sri K.Subramaniyam, Smt M.S.Subbulakshmi and our Hon. Former Chief Minister Dr.M.G.Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu State Sangeetha Nataka Sangam Sangeet and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, to name few.Sivan led a very simple unostentatious life, was very pious by nature, timid and shy to the extent of self abnegation. Sivans’s bhajanai tradition is continued by his daughter Dr.Rukmani Ramani and grandson Papanasam Ashok Ramani.

Compositions:

Gallery:

References:

1. The Hindu

2. Shivanisai