Patnam Subramania Iyer (1845 – July 31, 1902) was a composer and singer 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 ...

. Subramaniya Iyer followed the traditions of the great composer

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 ...

. He has left behind almost one hundred compositions. Subramaniya Iyer was born in

Thiruvaiyaru Thiruvaiyaru (also spelled as Tiruvaiyaru or Tiruvayyaru) is a panchayat town in Thanjavur District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Etymology Thiruvaiyaru means ''Five Rivers around the city''. The Five Rivers are Vadavaar, Vennaar, Vett ...

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

district of present-day

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. His family had a long history of musical involvement – his father Bharatam Vaidyanatha Iyer was adept at both music and Sastra and his grandfather Panchanada Sastri was the court

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

in the court of Serfoji Maharaja of

. Subramaniya Iyer learned music from his uncle, Melattur Ganapati Sastri, and later under Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar who was a disciple of

himself. Subramaniya Iyer spent a long time in Chennapatnam (

Chennai 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 ...

). This gave Subramaniya Iyer the prefix to his name. Many of his students such as

Mysore Vasudevachar Mysore Vasudevacharya (28 May 1865 – 17 May 1961) was an Indian musician and composer of Carnatic music compositions who belonged to the direct line of Thyagaraja's disciples. Vasudevachar's compositions (numbering over 200) were mostly in Telu ...

Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (1860 - 1919), whose real name was Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar, was a singer and composer of Carnatic music. He was born in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu on August 16, 1860. He studied music under Patnam Subramania Iy ...

, Bhairavi Kempegowda and

Tiger Varadachariar Tiger Varadachariar (1876–1950) was a Carnatic music vocalist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. M. D. Ramanathan was his student. Early life Varadachariar was born on 1 August 1876 in Kolathur, Chingleput district. Masilamani and Pedd ...

became famous composers and vocalists. His neighbour

Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer Vaidyanatha Sivan (1844 - 1893) ( ta, மஹா வைத்யநாத சிவன்) was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music. He was a great exponent of extemporaneous singing. He also composed a ''ragamalika'' (garland of ragas - a s ...

was also a noted musician. Two of his famous compositions are ''Raghu Vamsha Sudha'' in

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

Kathanakuthuhalam Kathanakuthuhalam or kathanakuthoohalam, also known as kathanakuthuhala is a raga in Carnatic music. Patnam Subramania Iyer is credited with inventing this raga. The famous kriti ''Raghuvamsha Sudhambudhi'' written by him is in this raga. St ...

and ''Evari Bodhanna'' in raga

Abhogi Abhogi () is a raga in Carnatic music and has been adapted to Hindustani music. It is a pentatonic scale, an ''audava'' raga. It is a derived scale ('' janya'' raga), as it does not have all the seven '' swaras'' (musical notes). ''Ābhōgi'' ...

. He is known to have used his guru's mudra (signature) ''Venkatesa'' or variations of the same, in his compositions in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. The reigning

Maharaja of Mysore The maharaja of Mysore was the king and principal ruler of the southern Indian Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950. In title, the role has been known by differe ...

, Chamarajendra Wodeyar X, gave him a pair of golden

bracelets A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

on two occasions, after singing performances in court.

Music compositions

Varnams

''maravakavE O manasaa'' , , ''Shyaamaa'' , , , , ''

Krithis

Notes

References

Musical Nirvana biography
*

', The Hindu, 04-Oct-2002 1845 births 1902 deaths 20th-century Indian musicians Carnatic composers {{Carnatic-music-stub

Music compositions

Varnams

Krithis

See also

Notes

References