Mysore Sadashiva Rao (Mysore ; ) or Sadasiva Rao was a notable Indian vocalist and composer of

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

. He was a member of the court of the king of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Krishnaraja Wodeyar III Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (14 July 1794 – 27 March 1868) was the twenty-second maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore. Also known as Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the maharaja belonged to the Wadiyar dynasty and ruled the kingdom for nearly seventy y ...

Biography

Very little is known about Sadashiva Rao's early days. He was born in a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

-speaking

Deshastha Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Br ...

family which had settled in modern-day

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. It is believed that he was employed as a clerk in his early career before he travelled to Walajahpet near

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

where he ended up training under Venkataramana Bhagavatar, a pupil of

Tyagaraja Thyagaraja (Telugu: త్యాగరాజ) (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Thyāgayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his ...

(1767–1847), one of the

Trinity of Carnatic Music The Trinity of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of Carnatic music, refer to the outstanding trio of composer-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Prolific in composit ...

. It is also said that Rao once met Tyagaraja when the composer travelled to Walajahpet on a pilgrimage and briefly stayed with his disciple. Sadashiva Rao travelled with two brothers, the merchants Kopparam Chinnamuni Swamy Setty and Padda Muniswamy, to Mysore, brought Sadashiva Rao to Mysore. By the time he was 30, Rao had found a place in the Mysore Wodeyar durbar. The royal patronage coupled with wealthy admirers and disciples allowed Rao to live comfortably for the rest of his life. He was also known for his charitable work. Notable among Rao's many disciples were Veena Seshanna, Veena Subbanna, Shamanna (of

Bettadapura Bettadapura is a town located in Mysore district, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The name is derived from two Kannada words, "Betta" and "pura". Betta means "hill" and pura means "town". Most of the population is from Gowda And Uppara (Sa ...

), Venkatesayya, and Ganjam Suryanarayana. It is known that he had a daughter whose son T. Venkata Rama Rao became an actor on the stage popularly known as "Curtain" Rama Rao.

Compositions

Sadashiva Rao has composed mostly in Telugu. He went on a pilgrimage of south India and composed ''

krithi ''Kriti'' (Sanskrit: कृति, ''kṛti'') is a format of musical composition typical to Carnatic music. ''Kritis'' form the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format of Carnatic song. "Kriti" also means C ...

s'' at all the temples he visited. Some of his compositions are, ''Devadideva'' ('' Mayamalavagaula''), ''Gangadhara Tripuraharana'' (''Purvikalyani''), ''Paramabhuta Maina'' ('' Khamas'') and many padavarnams including the famous ''Ye Maguva Bodhinchara'' set in the Raga

Dhanyasi Dhanyasi is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''janya'' rāgam (derived scale) from the 8th '' melakarta'' scale ''Hanumatodi''. It is a ''janya'' scale, as it does not have all the seven ''swa ...

. Sadashiva Rao used the

mudra A mudra (; sa, मुद्रा, , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ,) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As wel ...

'Sadashiva'.

References & Audio Links

Sources

External links

Carnatica.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Sadashiva Carnatic composers Performers of Hindu music Musicians from Mysore Year of birth uncertain 19th-century Indian composers