A man, who didn’t hurt anybody’s feelings and allowed everybody to pursue the call of their heart was none other than H. Y.Yoganarasimham. His humane nature very often made one feel that he was some extra-terrestrial creature, who has come to visit this earth. He was born to HolenaraseepuraNaranappa and PalalliLakshmidevamma couple on 17 May 1897. This is the 125th birth anniversary of that great scholar and human being. The warm memories preserved by his sons, daughters, relatives,close associates and his students have kept him alive to this day. His musical compositions have immortalized him. He was an adept in music, Sanskrit andEnglish languages and a teacher of very high order. Heinfluenced almost every one of his acquaintances. He came up in life by dint of sheer talent and hard work. He taught his children the same values.
He graduated from Maharaja’s college, Mysore. He passed in first class and stood first. He was trained under great teachers like Prof Hiriyanna, Prof Wadia, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr C. R. Reddy, Prof Radha Kumud Mukharjee. He was their favourite student. He became proficient in Sanskrit, Philosophy and English, but his first love was music. The study of philosophy and literature broadened his vision and his concept of culture. This in fact changed the way he comprehended music. It gave a touch of modernity to his music. Dignified behaviour, pleasant voice, neatness, and thoughtfulness were the hallmark of his personality.
He was appointed as a Sanskrit Tutor in 1917 at Maharaja’s College,Mysore. He was a dedicated teacher and taught with lot of love. His erudite teaching earned him great appreciation from his students. Famous Kannada poet V.Seetharamaiah was his student.He says that HY was a very effective communicator, and his teaching was very convincing. He held different posts in the Department of Education. He became the principal of Sanskrit College in Bangalore as well as Mysore. Then returned to the Department of Education and retired as District Education Officer. He was also with Sharada Vilas Education institutions for some time.
His wife Saraswathi was a Sahadharmini in the true sense of the world. She who was far ahead of her times. She was the daughter of VajapeyamVenkatasubbaiah, a member of Gokhle’s Servants of India Society, a dedicated social worker. This exposure had made her confident, independent, self-reliant, simple, hardworking, and socially committed. She never grumbled about anything and managed her family with available resources. She fed her family and the guests alike. That is why writer Vaidehi calls her “HalavuMakkala Tayi” which means “Mother to Many”. She never remained just an ideal housewife. She was involved in writing stories for children, and she was instrumental in opening the MysoruMakkalaKoota for children. She was involved in lot of social work.
For Yoganarasimham music was an essential and inseparable part of his existence like the air he breathed. He didn’t seem to have any desire to become a famed professional musician. He sang because singing made him happy. Music was always with him like the air be breathed. He imbibed his love of music from his mother and sister. His mother had incredible interest in music. She knew hundreds of songs. His sister Gowramma listened to the music lessons taught to the girls of royal family, who lived next door and immediately scribbled it on the wall and then practiced. Yoganarasimham too was like that. His daughter Neeraja remembered that her father, who went to Bidaram Krishnappa Ramamandira regularly carried a fan made of thin sheets of bamboo,as it was hot inside the auditorium. If the musician sang a rare composition on that day, he would scribble it on that fan. Yoganarasimham had a wonderful grounding in music. He was the disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi K Vasudevacharya. In addition to it, his keen and ardent listening and critical mind made him not only a good musician but also a virtuoso.
His sruti alignment was perfect. His obsession with pitch perfection was well known in music circles. Veena Doreswamy Iyengar recalled that he was very happy to tune the tambura perfectly and strum it continuously and enjoy it. Sometimes he slept with the tambura on his chest and strummed it and was totally lost in that ‘river of nada.’ He had a very soft, pleasant, and melodious voice. His voice expressed extremely subtle gamakas very clearly and beautifully. Many of his contemporaries felt that his music expressed the typical features of his personality like delicateness, gentleness, and dignity. Dr R Satyanarayana, who knew him very intimately used to tell that he always sang to his own happiness, which is a very rare quality. He was a perceptive listener and critic.
He started composing kritis Probably at the fag end of his life. In the beginning of his career, he used to set music to the shlokas. Most important of them are Omkara PanjaraShukeem and Shyamala Dandaka composed by Kalidasa. These two were broadcast by AIR Bangalore. They became very popular. Today the memories of Yoganarasimham in the world of Carnatic music is mainly as a composer. He belonged to a tradition of great composers heralded by saint Tyagaraja continued by ManambuchavadiVenkatasubbaiah, Pattanam Subramanya Iyer, Mysore Vasudevachar. Yoganarasimham was one of the prime disciples of Mysore Vasudevacharya. He has composed in all the genres of Carnatic music. “Deva” is his signature. His compositions are in Telugu, Sanskrit and Kannada.Homage to the Indian National Flag is also one among his compositions. His compositions are in rare ragas. A highly reputed musician A. Subba Rao feels, “His compositions in rare ragas bring out the aesthetics of those ragas in a very touching way. Tyagaraja’s strong influence is discernable in his raga delineation.”
Anthology of his compositions is titled Geethakusumanjali. It consists of 36 compositions. The number looks very meagre. It is because he started composing only during the last four years of his life (1967-1971), that too when his health was sharply deteriorating. Despitehis deteriorating physical health, his senses, thoughts and reason were pretty sound. He has written a beautiful note on the combination of notes he has used in the compositions set toLatantapriya and Dwijavanthi ragas. He has tried to explain the rationale behind those movements of the raga. Dr R Satyanarayana tells“We rarely find composers writing such notes with reference to their compositions. His thoughtfulness is highly appreciable.” M.S. Subbulakshmi was all praise for his compositions and recorded a host of his compositions and brought out an audio recording. B.V. Keskar, Chairperson, National Book Trust and T.L. Venkatarama Iyer, who was a judge of the Supreme Court of India held Yoganarasimham in very high esteem.
He was also into editing books and translation. Under the auspices of Sangeetha Kalabhivardhini Sabha, Mysore he edited the compilation of the compositions of Veene Sheshanna and Mysore Sadashiva Rao. He translated Bertrand Russel’s Conquest of Happiness and Maharshi Karve’s autobiography into Kannada. Mysore Vasudevacharya, Voice Culture: An Urgent Problem in KarnaticMusic and The Musical Scheme of the Navagraha Kritisof MuttusvamiDikshitar are some of his important articles.
Yoganarasimham was an open-minded person. He could enjoy and appreciate every form of music. He was greatly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and the ambience of Shantiniketan. He learnt Ayi Bhuvanamanmohinicomposed by Tagore and taught his children. He always used to say that vigorous andcaptivating voice of the playback singers was responsible for the popularity of film music. He was extremely impressed by the depth, gentleness and tenderness of K. A. Saigal’s voice and the clarity, vigour, sparkle, and gracefulness of Pankaj Mullick’s voice. Whenever he listened to Hemanth Kumar, he used to say, “How beautiful our Dikshitar’s composition would sound in that voice!” He could spot the talent of people. In 1938 he was travelling with his son. He was listening to radio. Some female singer was singing a ghazal. On listening to her, he immediately commented that she would become very famous. The singer was none other than Begum Akhtar, who was later called “The Ghazal Queen.” He was fascinated by the sruti alignment, pitch perfection, aplomb with which the Hindustani singers sang. He was all praise fortheir practice and voice culture.
He often expressed his dissatisfaction and unhappiness about Carnatic music because it undermined the importance of voice culture. He felt that it had affected the quality of Carnatic music itself. He was concerned because Carnatic musicians were giving undue importance to learning more compositions,when in fact, they should have paid more attention to improving and sustaining their voice.Only a good and tempered voice can render compositions effectively. He felt that Carnatic musicians are not paying enough attention to the sruti alignment, breath control and voice culture. He used to say that those who don’t have good voice can always take to playing instruments. He wasn’t very happy about the excessive prominence given to rendering Kalpana swaras.He thought it was detrimental to the voice because it would affect the continuous flow of voice, which was very important for the expansion of raga.
Compared to his contemporaries and the times he lived; his thinking was quite unconventional. He allowed his children to pursue their interest. He never asked his children to prioritize studies onother activities. He encouraged them to play during evenings, sing, take part in drama, and pursue their hobbies. He respected individual freedom and was a true democrat. He allowed his children to take decisions on their own. His eldest son H Y Sharadaprasad decided to quit college to take part in the freedom struggle. Yoganarasimham did not come in his way. The Government issued an order asking the government servants should prevent their children from participating in the freedom movement. He just ignored that order and told “I have pledged my services to the government and not the services of my wife and children.” This bold and upright decision cost him a great deal in his career. He did not get his promotions on time. Financially too he suffered a loss. He cared two hoots for these things, because his commitment to the values of life mattered to him more than anything else. There was an innate gentleness, courtesy, and politeness in him, which manifested in all his actions. During his last days, when he was in hospital, one day despite his efforts to control, he threw up near his bed. He was feeling very guilty about the inconvenience caused by him. He apologized to the nurse, who came to clean it.
Theatre was another area of his interest. He had staged Sanskrit playwright Bhasa’s play Urubhangam in Maharaja’s college. He adapted Kalidasa’s Shakuntala for All India Radio. He had played the role yaugandharayana in Swapnavasavadatta. He used to play different roles in plays staged in ADA theatre. He had adopted French playwright Moliere’s play into Kannada under the title Manassiladamadve. Shakespeare and Browing were his favourite writers.
His senses were very sharp till he breathed his last. When he was counting his days, he composed the song Arbhaka Geetham in Sanskrit. His son Narayana Datta assisted him while composing it. The song was in fact a dream, about how the life of the children should be. It says, “Let the life of the children be full of adventure, full of fun, full of enjoyment of good poetry and literature, filled with reason and broadmindedness.” Today in 21 century, life has become miserable, because of thousands of divisive forces. Shouldn’t we dream like Yoganarasimham for a peaceful and healthier future of our children?
Shylaja
Sources
1 Sangeethada Siri H Yoganarasimham
2 Geethakusumanjali.