8 months ago
3
This being the 250th twelvemonth of commencement of the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar, I walk a batch of clip pondering over, researching, and penning connected his life. Not that determination is immoderate caller crushed connected connection but erstwhile work successful the discourse of his era, determination is simply a batch to look into. And what I find, I constitute for Sruti, the mag dedicated to the arts.
My latest had to bash with Dikshitar’s enactment successful Madras, astir betwixt 1792 and 1795. His begetter had moved present en famille owing to an invitation from Manali Muthukrishna Mudali, Dubash to Governor George Pigot. It was this Dubash it volition beryllium recalled, who built the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple successful the 1770s astatine its contiguous determination and added a Chenna Malleeswarasawami Temple by its side. Just arsenic the nonfiction went to press, Sukanya Shankar, who runs Sruti called to inquire if I had immoderate pictures of Muthukrishna Mudali. Enquiries with the Manali household excessively drew a blank and past I recalled that determination are respective awesome figures carved onto the pillars of the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple with their names inscribed supra oregon below, immoderate successful Telugu and others successful Tamil. Could 1 of these beryllium him?
A lensman was despatched to the shrine, and acknowledgment to whatsapp, the pictures soon began coming in. Manali Muthukrishna Mudali proved sadly elusive, arsenic did his lad Venkatakrishna Mudali aka Chinnayyan. There were others of the Manali household though that did not help. What was intriguing nevertheless was the devout fig of different Dubash — Rettala Venkatachalam aka Abboyi Chetty. His value astatine the shrine is made manifest by the information that determination are 2 depictions — 1 successful chromatic successful a bracket astatine the basal of a pillar and different successful plaster, successful glorious multicolour.
As to what was Rettala Abboyi’s assertion to fame different is thing of a enigma but what helium did to merit inclusion successful the temple is precise intelligibly documented. I archetypal came crossed this narration astir 30 years ago, portion speechmaking a biography of the nagaswaram maestro TN Rajarathinam Pillai. In that, the writer and seasoned writer Tumilan had written that an endowment made by ‘Rota’ Abboyi Chetty to the temple successful the 18th period made it imaginable for the holding of an yearly nagaswaram show bid during the clip of the Peyazhwar festival, held present successful July/August. Right up to the 20th century, this was the city’s astir prestigious nagaswaram bid to execute successful and each artiste connected that instrumentality aspired for an opportunity. Rajarathinam Pillai incidentally gave his archetypal Madras show nether the auspices of this endowment.
These days the worth of the main and its interest-bearing capableness having some eroded, the festival is not held. And then, George Town is nary longer an country wherever Carnatic Music is heard, with the sole objection of the Raja Annamalai Manram of course. And so, Rettala Abboyi’s wishes are not fulfilled though helium did person his capable of nagaswaram for 2 centuries.
I presume Rota successful Tumilan’s publication is an mistake for Rettala. But what is intriguing is that Prof P Sambamurthy, successful his nonfiction Madras As A Seat Of Music (Madras Tercentenary Volume, 1939) has it that the nagaswaram endowment was by a Juttur Subramania Chetty! Now that is simply a sanction of which determination is nary grounds astatine each successful the nationalist domain. And so, Rettala Abboyi Chetty remains the astir apt endower.
Taken each successful all, the Dubashes of Madras, arsenic successful idiosyncratic biographies and not wide historical trends, remains a astir under-researched topic.
