anandaI

I had the blessings to listen to Thirupugazh when my grandfather used to stay in our home. He would sing  Nada vindu kaladhi (archanai)  and  Eru Mayil Eru (mangalam)  every day. Both Thiirupugazh and the story of Arunagirinadhar are closely associated with Thiruvannamalai. Thirupugazh would take several lifetimes to fully understand with its multiple levels of meanings. E.g. The song Eru Mayil Eri (associated with Thiruvannamalai) has a literal meaning clear in plain Tamil but also several popular interpretations and a link to the six abodes of Lord Muruga ( ஆறுபடைவீடுகள்) The song as is: ஏறுமயி   லேறிவிளை   யாடுமுக   மொன்றே            ஈசருடன்   ஞானமொழி   பேசுமுக   மொன்றே         கூறுமடி   யார்கள்வினை   தீர்க்குமுக   மொன்றே            குன்றுருவ   வேல்வாங்கி   நின்றமுக   மொன்றே ...

This post shows a glimpse into what was then a profitable venture in Madras, run by my paternal great grandfather, Shri. K. Ramaratnam Aiyer, B.A., in the early part of the 20 th  century. Though brief mentions were provided by my grandfather, much of the facts are from the invaluable 1914-15 book  Southern India : its history, people, commerce, and industrial resources  by Arnold Wright and Somerset Payne. I had the pleasure of searching painstakingly for historical references, finding and reading this book 1 . I was impressed by the level of detailing by the authors.  K.Ramaratnam Aiyer moved to Madras 2  from his native place,  Kathiramangalam , somewhere around the beginning of the 20 th  century and ran a successful general bookselling and publishing company till its eventual bankruptcy somewhere mid-late 1920s. Through his lens and with some liberal interpretation, I present a few perspectives for a successful venture using the mnemonic PROFIT: P...

This anecdote was narrated by my paternal grandfather who recounted this from his personal recollection attending one of the  kutcheris  of  Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar , popularly known as Ariyakudi, in Madras. I must have been not more than 10 years old when I heard this. I later read about the same recollected by a reader in Reader’s Digest India somewhere in the late 1980s. I do not recollect the exact year being mentioned but looking back I would place it no later than early 1930s, most likely mid-late 1920s. The Ariyakudi  kutcheri  format was getting popular across the  Carnatic  music scene in Madras. Entertaining requests from  rasikas  (connoisseurs) for specific songs or ragas to be sung was familiar by then, as was ending the concert by singing  mangalam  (an auspicious concluding piece).   Ariyakudi’s wit: Towards the end of the aforementioned  kutcheri  which went well into the late evening and after...