Art and Artistes

It is rather unlikely that experts in music and dance will find immense value in the episodes narrated here[1]. These have been written by an ordinary man who has no knowledge of the śāstras[2] [related to art] nor the strength of rigorous practice but is merely a connoisseur of good music and dance. In this book, he has captured the outlines of his experiences for the benefit of other commoners like him who enjoy listening to music and watching dance.

In the vicinity of the house where I was born and brought up[3], there lived singers and dancers. The meagre kalābhiruci—taste for art—that I developed might have resulted from this childhood association I was fortunate to receive. Over the years, there were opportunities for it to grow. My revered maternal uncle, the Late B S Ramayya was a music-lover. He was the honorary treasurer of the Gāna-vinoda-sabhā, one of the earliest music associations of Bangalore. The sabhā president was the Late K S Chandrashekhar Iyer; Late D B Ramachandra Mudaliar was the secretary as was the Late B V Lakshmana Rao. Several concerts of the sabhā took place in Ramayya’s house. Owing to the conveniences offered to me by these circumstances, my passion for music developed further. That being the case, how should I cultivate authoritative scholarship or proficiency in art criticism? At the heart of this work lies pure enthusiasm.

In this book, I have not alluded to several musicians I have heard. On many occasions I’ve heard the renowned singer ‘Tiger’ Varadacharya; not just in public concerts but also in the homes of friends. Even so, my memories of him are not recorded here.

In my childhood, a musician named Venkataramayya—I don’t know from where—had come to my house. He sang the Tyāgarāja kṛti in Toḍi rāga

āragimpave pālāragimpave…

The grandeur of the rāga I experienced when he sang that day remains fresh in my memory even after seventy years.

Similarly, there was another musician, Venkatarama Bhagavatar. They would call him ‘Paṭṭunūlu[4] Bhagavatar. It was from him that I first heard the rāga Cakravākam and was enthralled with it.

Limitation of Language

The fate of ardent admirers of the fine arts is like that of a jasmine or pārijāta flower; for one or two moments it offers its fragrance to the world and then withers away; and after that it is gone forever. Forgetfulness engulfs it and somewhere in the alcoves of the heart, it melts into oblivion. But those few moments, ah! For those who experience it, those are moments that will live with them until their last breath. Those are the immortal, nectarine moments. That ambrosial immortality is only for those who have experienced it. It is not possible to capture that experience in words for the benefit of others. Words don’t have that power.

How much of joy and peace you would have experienced in a garden! Can all that be described using language? Can you distil the fragrance of a flower in a vial? It is said that the ‘scent’ (perfume) was produced by such distillation! But how do you describe the soft touch of a flower? How do you explain in words the shapes, varieties, and specialities of its petals? Do the colours and the shadows of the leaves and sprouts have names? How would you describe the creeping of a creeper or the shaking of a collection of buds? Describing in words the beauties and nuances of music is similarly impossible.

The Kannada grammarian Keśirāja praises Vāgdevī[5] in this manner:

śabdadi-
nāvāviṃdriyada viṣayamuṃ śrotradòḻu-
dbhāvipa...

Within the scope of words
you give birth to the different objects of senses
in the listeners

These words are close to the truth; but they are not the absolute truth. Words can mark out a broad sketch, a rough outline of the various sense-experiences; it cannot bring out the subtleties and nuances. Words are external, experiences are internal.

To illustrate this, we can recall a story here.

A Tale of Tenāli Rāmakṛṣṇa

One day, a scholar called Lipi-sārvabhauma Akṣara-śekhara Lekhana-śikhāmaṇi[6] came to the court of the king and said, “Lord! In the art of writing and lettering, I’ve received several awards, honours, and adornments. I have come to receive a jayapatra—victory citation—from you. If there is a scribe in your court who can defeat me, I will bow down to him and offer all my titles and awards. But if that doesn’t happen and he ends up losing to me, he will have to give me all his titles and awards, if he has any. And your lordship should grace me with a hand-written jayapatra.”

The king was rendered speechless for a moment. If the scribes of his court were to face defeat, wouldn’t that be dishonourable! Isn’t he the sort who offers a place in his court only to the deserving?

Thus entwined in thoughts, the king turned towards Tenāli Rāmakṛṣṇa[7] and said, “What is your opinion in this matter?”

With a mischevious smile he said, “Why not accede to this scholar’s request?”

The king immediately said, “In that case, Rāmakṛṣṇa, will you tell this scholar what to write?”

“As your honour pleases!” he said and began telling the great scribe what to write down:

bhuss… bhusss… bhusss…
sss… ssss… ssss

Ten to twenty minutes passed. The ‘s’-es wouldn’t just stop. The surprised courtiers were laughing out loud. The king lost his patience and said, “What’s this, just one letter?” Then Rāmakṛṣṇa said:

gòṭṛ… gòṭr… ṭṛ…
rrr… rrrr… rrrr

and dragged the ‘r’-es. The courtiers were falling off their seats laughing. The great Lekhana-śikhāmaṇi, flabbergasted, stood up and said, “Lord, I’m feeling terribly unwell; I have a severe headache.”

The king said, “Oh so sorry to hear that! We shall call the doctor. Let us stop here today. We shall continue this tomorrow.”

The court was dismissed.

The next day, everyone assembled in the king’s court. But Lekhana-śikhāmaṇi wasn’t to be seen; his room was vacant. It was evident what happened. The king called Tenāli Rāmakṛṣṇa and asked him, “What in the world did you say yesterday?”

He replied, “That is actually a Śiva-tāṇḍava-stotra[8]. It goes:

bhussanè nāgeśuḍu
gòṭṛ-gòṭṛmane naṃdīśuḍu
ghoñmane vighneśuḍu
thòtthomane naṭaneśuḍu

‘Hiss-hisss’ went the king of serpents (Nāgeśa)
‘Gotr-gotrr’ went the king of bulls (Nandīśa)
‘Ghom’ went Gaṇeśa (Vighneśa)
‘Tho thom’ went Śiva (Naṭaneśa)

I recited it just the way I learnt it from my guru, setting it to a melodic tune and so forth. Unable to notate these letters, god knows where that Lekhana-śikhāmaṇi went!”

This small story shows the limitation of writing.

Just as the stressed sounds of Tenāli Rāmakṛṣṇa’s recitation couldn’t be captured in writing, similar is the case with the elongations and extensions of the letters of Tyāgarāja’s kṛtis; it is outside the scope of orthography. Music lies in the stresses and peculiarities, which are out of the bounds of a written script. Music lies not in the letters but in the space between two letters, in the twists and turns and slides hidden in the recesses between two notes.

murahara rā—rā—
sā—rī—dèno ni—nnā—

The places where we have put the dash (—) in place of letters, that’s where the music appears!

The Accomplishment of an Artist is Internal[9]

Just as the slides, intonations, and melodic embellishments are to a musician, the subtleties and nuances are to an artist: indescribable in words; they transcend language and can only be realised by experience. That experience is akin to steam; it has a nebulous form, not a recognisable structure. When the accomplishment of an artist is uncapturable in words, then what more to say of his life story? The life of a poet, scholar of the śāstras, singer, or dancer deals with the inner world, not the outer world; it is in the realm of the interior, not the exterior. The life of a politician or a trader is external. They need clients. So they have to move with people; with the world at large they have to fly, chatter, dance, gambol, scream, and cry. Thus they have to draw the world towards them. In the series of actions they undertake to reach their goal, all their adventures, schemes, and investigations form the material for description and expansion [in writing]. The speeches and declarations of a politician become the material for books. But can we write and print a book about the musical enjoyments of a musician? The worshipper of art or the scholar of śāstra resides within himself, inside the recesses of his mind and intellect. Typically, he appears like an ordinary man from the outside. There are no special bodily features that distinguish an artist [from a commoner]. In matters of the body, he too has to abide by nature; whatever be his specialty, it lies within. Often it is for this reason that biographies and life-stories of poets, singers, dancers, sculptors, and painters are largely honorific; they end up being hagiographies, not a portrayal of reality. Also, they can’t be as expansive as a politician’s biography. The life-story of a singer is a biography only in name.

If that is so, what have I attempted in these pages? These are merely rough sketches, outlines. In the ‘copy’ books that are meant for children to learn writing the letters of the alphabet, the exterior forms of the letters are indicated by means of dots or dashes, aren’t they? The child has to fill up the spaces in the manner suggested by these markings. Art tutors teach sketching using a method akin to this; they indicate the exterior form of a sketch with a few coarse strokes and expect the student to fill in the details. The work that I have set out to do is quite similar: to indicate at least some of the primary markers about these individuals. What is left will be filled out by the talent of the readers.

This is also not a book that was written with focus and determination (to bring out a volume on these artists). It is a book that has resulted from my stray dictations, at some point of time or the other, upon remembering some fragments of a long-forgotten memory. And so, one will not find a definite structure in the presentation of topics in these writings.

There are people who desire to know the experiences and memories of an old man. This is a work that has been put together with the hurried anxiety that such people do not remain unsatisfied. I have the faith that readers will bear these circumstances in mind and show their compassion towards this work.

Sarvam śivam.

This is a translation of the introductory essay written by D V Gundappa for the second volume of his Jnapakachitrashaale (Kalopasakaru).

 
Footnotes

[1] A reference to the second volume of Art Gallery of Memories. The present essay is an introduction to the book. Most of the essays in this book have been published on Prekshaa.

[2] The word ‘śāstra’ in general refers to a branch of knowledge or a science. It can also mean ‘treatise,’ ‘precept,’ or ‘scriptural injunction.’

[3] In Mulbagal (or Mulabagilu), a small town in the Kolar district of Karnataka.

[4] Literally, ‘silk-thread.’ Perhaps a suggestion that his voice was as soft as silk.

[5] Another name for Sarasvatī, the goddess of speech.

[6] These are all possibly his titles: ‘Emperor of Orthography’ (lipi = ‘script’ and sārvabhauma = ‘emperor’), ‘Acme of Lettering’ (akṣara = ‘letter’ and śekhara = ‘summit’), and ‘The Crest jewel of Calligraphy’ (lekhana = ‘writing’ and śikhāmaṇi = ‘crest jewel’).

[7] Poet, scholar, polyglot, advisor, and court jester in the court of Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara emperor.

[8] Poem in praise of Śiva’s tāṇḍava, the cosmic dance which sustains the universe. The use of onomatopoeic words in the poem gives it a distinct flavour.

[9] The original Kannada sub-title is ‘kalājīviya siddhi antaraṃgaddu’ and is far richer than the translated version. The word ‘kalā-jīvi’ refers to an artisitic soul, one whose life is all about art, an artist to the bone. We’ve loosely given it as ‘artist.’ The word ‘siddhi’ can mean perfection, accomplishment, fulfilment, precision, and so forth. It is also a technical term in the Nāṭya-śāstra, which means ‘outcome of a theatrical performance,’ i.e. the response of the audience. ‘Antar-aṃga’ literally means ‘innermost limb,’ but refers to the heart, the mind, the inner world, the interior realm, etc.

Author(s)

About:

Devanahalli Venkataramanayya Gundappa (1887-1975) was a great visionary and polymath. He was a journalist, poet, art connoisseur, philosopher, political analyst, institution builder, social commentator, social worker, and activist.

Translator(s)

About:

Hari is an author, translator, editor, designer, and violinist with a deep interest in philosophy, education pedagogy, literature, and films. He has (co-)written/translated and (co-)edited some forty books, mostly related to Indian culture.

Prekshaa Publications

Indian Perspective of Truth and Beauty in Homer’s Epics is a unique work on the comparative study of the Greek Epics Iliad and Odyssey with the Indian Epics – Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. Homer, who laid the foundations for the classical tradition of the West, occupies a stature similar to that occupied by the seer-poets Vālmīki and Vyāsa, who are synonymous with the Indian culture. The author...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the sixth volume of reminiscences character sketches of prominent public figures, liberals, and social workers. These remarkable personages hailing from different corners of South India are from a period that spans from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Written in Kannada in the 1970s, these memoirs go...

An Introduction to Hinduism based on Primary Sources

Authors: Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh, Hari Ravikumar

What is the philosophical basis for Sanātana-dharma, the ancient Indian way of life? What makes it the most inclusive and natural of all religio-philosophical systems in the world?

The Essential Sanātana-dharma serves as a handbook for anyone who wishes to grasp the...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the fifth volume, episodes from the lives of traditional savants responsible for upholding the Vedic culture. These memorable characters lived a life of opulence amidst poverty— theirs  was the wealth of the soul, far beyond money and gold. These vidvāns hailed from different corners of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom and lived in...

Padma Bhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam represents the quintessence of Sage Bharata’s art and Bhārata, the country that gave birth to the peerless seer of the Nāṭya-veda. Padma’s erudition in various streams of Indic knowledge, mastery over many classical arts, deep understanding of the nuances of Indian culture, creative genius, and sublime vision bolstered by the vedāntic and nationalistic...

Bhārata has been a land of plenty in many ways. We have had a timeless tradition of the twofold principle of Brāhma (spirit of wisdom) and Kṣāttra (spirit of valour) nourishing and protecting this sacred land. The Hindu civilisation, rooted in Sanātana-dharma, has constantly been enriched by brāhma and safeguarded by kṣāttra.
The renowned Sanskrit poet and scholar, Śatāvadhānī Dr. R...

ಛಂದೋವಿವೇಕವು ವರ್ಣವೃತ್ತ, ಮಾತ್ರಾಜಾತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ಷಣಜಾತಿ ಎಂದು ವಿಭಕ್ತವಾದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬಗೆಯ ಛಂದಸ್ಸುಗಳನ್ನೂ ವಿವೇಚಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಬಂಧಗಳ ಸಂಕಲನ. ಲೇಖಕರ ದೀರ್ಘಕಾಲಿಕ ಆಲೋಚನೆಯ ಸಾರವನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಈ ಹೊತ್ತಗೆ ಪ್ರಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಛಂದಸ್ಸಿನ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯವನ್ನು ಲಕ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ತೌಲನಿಕ ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತಃಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಅಧ್ಯಯನಗಳ ತೆಕ್ಕೆಗೆ ಬರುವ ಬರೆಹಗಳೂ ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ. ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಕಾರನಿಗಲ್ಲದೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಹಸ್ತನಾದ ಕವಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸ್ಫುರಿಸಬಲ್ಲ ಎಷ್ಟೋ ಹೊಳಹುಗಳು ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೌಲಿಕತೆಯನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಿವೆ. ಈ...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the fourth volume, some character sketches of the Dewans of Mysore preceded by an account of the political framework of the State before Independence and followed by a review of the political conditions of the State after 1940. These remarkable leaders of Mysore lived in a period that spans from the mid-nineteenth century to the...

Bharatiya Kavya-mimamseya Hinnele is a monograph on Indian Aesthetics by Mahamahopadhyaya N. Ranganatha Sharma. The book discusses the history and significance of concepts pivotal to Indian literary theory. It is equally useful to the learned and the laity.

Sahitya-samhite is a collection of literary essays in Kannada. The book discusses aestheticians such as Ananda-vardhana and Rajashekhara; Sanskrit scholars such as Mena Ramakrishna Bhat, Sridhar Bhaskar Varnekar and K S Arjunwadkar; and Kannada litterateurs such as DVG, S L Bhyrappa and S R Ramaswamy. It has a foreword by Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh.

The Mahābhārata is the greatest epic in the world both in magnitude and profundity. A veritable cultural compendium of Bhārata-varṣa, it is a product of the creative genius of Maharṣi Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa. The epic captures the experiential wisdom of our civilization and all subsequent literary, artistic, and philosophical creations are indebted to it. To read the Mahābhārata is to...

Shiva Rama Krishna

சிவன். ராமன். கிருஷ்ணன்.
இந்திய பாரம்பரியத்தின் முப்பெரும் கதாநாயகர்கள்.
உயர் இந்தியாவில் தலைமுறைகள் பல கடந்தும் கடவுளர்களாக போற்றப்பட்டு வழிகாட்டிகளாக விளங்குபவர்கள்.
மனித ஒற்றுமை நூற்றாண்டுகால பரிணாம வளர்ச்சியின் பரிமாணம்.
தனிநபர்களாகவும், குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்களாகவும், சமுதாய பிரஜைகளாகவும் நாம் அனைவரும் பரிமளிக்கிறோம்.
சிவன் தனிமனித அடையாளமாக அமைகிறான்....

ऋतुभिः सह कवयः सदैव सम्बद्धाः। विशिष्य संस्कृतकवयः। यथा हि ऋतवः प्रतिसंवत्सरं प्रतिनवतामावहन्ति मानवेषु तथैव ऋतुवर्णनान्यपि काव्यरसिकेषु कामपि विच्छित्तिमातन्वते। ऋतुकल्याणं हि सत्यमिदमेव हृदि कृत्वा प्रवृत्तम्। नगरजीवनस्य यान्त्रिकतां मान्त्रिकतां च ध्वनदिदं चम्पूकाव्यं गद्यपद्यमिश्रितमिति सुव्यक्तमेव। ऐदम्पूर्वतया प्रायः पुरीपरिसरप्रसृतानाम् ऋतूनां विलासोऽत्र प्रपञ्चितः। बेङ्गलूरुनामके...

The Art and Science of Avadhānam in Sanskrit is a definitive work on Sāhityāvadhānam, a form of Indian classical art based on multitasking, lateral thinking, and extempore versification. Dotted throughout with tasteful examples, it expounds in great detail on the theory and practice of this unique performing art. It is as much a handbook of performance as it is an anthology of well-turned...

This anthology is a revised edition of the author's 1978 classic. This series of essays, containing his original research in various fields, throws light on the socio-cultural landscape of Tamil Nadu spanning several centuries. These compelling episodes will appeal to scholars and laymen alike.
“When superstitious mediaevalists mislead the country about its judicial past, we have to...

The cultural history of a nation, unlike the customary mainstream history, has a larger time-frame and encompasses the timeless ethos of a society undergirding the course of events and vicissitudes. A major key to the understanding of a society’s unique character is an appreciation of the far-reaching contributions by outstanding personalities of certain periods – especially in the realms of...

Prekṣaṇīyam is an anthology of essays on Indian classical dance and theatre authored by multifaceted scholar and creative genius, Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh. As a master of śāstra, a performing artiste (of the ancient art of Avadhānam), and a cultured rasika, he brings a unique, holistic perspective to every discussion. These essays deal with the philosophy, history, aesthetics, and practice of...

Yaugandharam

इदं किञ्चिद्यामलं काव्यं द्वयोः खण्डकाव्ययोः सङ्कलनरूपम्। रामानुरागानलं हि सीतापरित्यागाल्लक्ष्मणवियोगाच्च श्रीरामेणानुभूतं हृदयसङ्क्षोभं वर्णयति । वात्सल्यगोपालकं तु कदाचिद्भानूपरागसमये घटितं यशोदाश्रीकृष्णयोर्मेलनं वर्णयति । इदम्प्रथमतया संस्कृतसाहित्ये सम्पूर्णं काव्यं...

Vanitakavitotsavah

इदं खण्डकाव्यमान्तं मालिनीछन्दसोपनिबद्धं विलसति। मेनकाविश्वामित्रयोः समागमः, तत्फलतया शकुन्तलाया जननम्, मातापितृभ्यां त्यक्तस्य शिशोः कण्वमहर्षिणा परिपालनं चेति काव्यस्यास्येतिवृत्तसङ्क्षेपः।

Vaiphalyaphalam

इदं खण्डकाव्यमान्तं मालिनीछन्दसोपनिबद्धं विलसति। मेनकाविश्वामित्रयोः समागमः, तत्फलतया शकुन्तलाया जननम्, मातापितृभ्यां त्यक्तस्य शिशोः कण्वमहर्षिणा परिपालनं चेति काव्यस्यास्येतिवृत्तसङ्क्षेपः।

Nipunapraghunakam

इयं रचना दशसु रूपकेष्वन्यतमस्य भाणस्य निदर्शनतामुपैति। एकाङ्करूपकेऽस्मिन् शेखरकनामा चित्रोद्यमलेखकः केनापि हेतुना वियोगम् अनुभवतोश्चित्रलेखामिलिन्दकयोः समागमं सिसाधयिषुः कथामाकाशभाषणरूपेण निर्वहति।

Bharavatarastavah

अस्मिन् स्तोत्रकाव्ये भगवन्तं शिवं कविरभिष्टौति। वसन्ततिलकयोपनिबद्धस्य काव्यस्यास्य कविकृतम् उल्लाघनाभिधं व्याख्यानं च वर्तते।

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the third volume, some character sketches of great literary savants responsible for Kannada renaissance during the first half of the twentieth century. These remarkable...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the second volume, episodes from the lives of remarkable exponents of classical music and dance, traditional storytellers, thespians, and connoisseurs; as well as his...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the first volume, episodes from the lives of great writers, poets, literary aficionados, exemplars of public life, literary scholars, noble-hearted common folk, advocates...

Evolution of Mahabharata and Other Writings on the Epic is the English translation of S R Ramaswamy's 1972 Kannada classic 'Mahabharatada Belavanige' along with seven of his essays on the great epic. It tells the riveting...

Shiva-Rama-Krishna is an English adaptation of Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh's popular lecture series on the three great...

Bharatilochana

ಮಹಾಮಾಹೇಶ್ವರ ಅಭಿನವಗುಪ್ತ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾವಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮರೆಯಲಾಗದ ಹೆಸರು. ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಶೈವದರ್ಶನ ಮತ್ತು ಸೌಂದರ್ಯಮೀಮಾಂಸೆಗಳ ಪರಮಾಚಾರ್ಯನಾಗಿ  ಸಾವಿರ ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಇವನು ಜ್ಞಾನಪ್ರಪಂಚವನ್ನು ಪ್ರಭಾವಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದಾನೆ. ಭರತಮುನಿಯ ನಾಟ್ಯಶಾಸ್ತ್ರವನ್ನು ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಇವನೊಬ್ಬನೇ ನಮಗಿರುವ ಆಲಂಬನ. ಇದೇ ರೀತಿ ರಸಧ್ವನಿಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತವನ್ನು...

Vagarthavismayasvadah

“वागर्थविस्मयास्वादः” प्रमुखतया साहित्यशास्त्रतत्त्वानि विमृशति । अत्र सौन्दर्यर्यशास्त्रीयमूलतत्त्वानि यथा रस-ध्वनि-वक्रता-औचित्यादीनि सुनिपुणं परामृष्टानि प्रतिनवे चिकित्सकप्रज्ञाप्रकाशे। तदन्तर एव संस्कृतवाङ्मयस्य सामर्थ्यसमाविष्कारोऽपि विहितः। क्वचिदिव च्छन्दोमीमांसा च...

The Best of Hiriyanna

The Best of Hiriyanna is a collection of forty-eight essays by Prof. M. Hiriyanna that sheds new light on Sanskrit Literature, Indian...

Stories Behind Verses

Stories Behind Verses is a remarkable collection of over a hundred anecdotes, each of which captures a story behind the composition of a Sanskrit verse. Collected over several years from...