Life and Contribution of Mridanga Vidwans By Dr. Madurai K. Thiagarajan

Since time immemorial, the people of India worship God as Nadha Brahman and Divine Music.

The great sage Maharishi Narada is an expert in Veena, a divine instrument.

In Carnatic music concerts, the Mridangam instrument is an accompaniment. The great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata indicate that this instrument was used whenever an auspicious occasion arose, such as victory in war, marriage functions, etc.

This book about Mridangam and the artists of Mridangam is very informative and interesting.

Writer Dr. K. Thiagarajan from Madurai, Tamilnadu, India began his training at the age of thirteen. He received a PhD from Madurai Kamarajar University and now works as an Associate Professor at Madurai Sri Sadguru Sangeetha Vidyalaya.

The book has thirteen interesting chapters listing famous Mridanga artists who are generally called Mridanga Vidwans. It is very interesting to note that there are eleven handled syllables in Mridangam and this book gives details about eleven performers.

Pudukkottai Dakshninamuruthy Pillai, Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer, Pazhani Subramanya Pillai, Palakkaad Mani Iyer, Ramanathapuram CS Murugabhoopathi, Thanjavur TKMurthi, Madurai D.Ramasamy Iyengar, Madurai T.Srinivasan, Umayalpuram K.Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, Karancekudi R. Mani are once well known. vidwans in this field.

About each artist, the author gives complete details about birth, education, his services, his special and new innovative style etc.

This book also offers a narrative of how Mridangam is made. This consists of many stages and methods. The main body of Mridagnam is made of wood and the right and left side of Mridagnam is bound with strips made of buffalo, goat and cow skins.

The round black spot on the right hand side is made from a particular type of stone called ‘Kittan Kal’ powder mixed with cooked rice. The left side is called ‘Thoppi’.

This instrument is considered as the life of music. There are several techniques to preserve this divine instrument.

There are some interesting details about this instrument. The wood used for this is obtained from the earth. The left side should always be kept moist for which water is used. The right side should always be kept above ambient-fire temperature. Its hollow space is compared to the sky. And since playing techniques involve air pressure, we also have air. This means that we have all five elements viz. earth, water, fire, sky and air in Mridangam and hence this is called “Pancha Bhooda Vadyam” which means an instrument consisting of Five Elements.

The new era of technology brought new design techniques and Mridangam is now manufactured with the help of modern machines and state of the art materials.

The author deserves our appreciation for publishing such a wonderful and detailed book.

We find an appropriate foreword also by Dr. Latha Varma, the director of Sri Sadguru Sangeetha Vidayala.

After going through all the details, one can agree with the author that this instrument is a ‘Raja Vadhyam’ which means ‘King of instruments’.

It would be a pleasure for all music lovers to have and keep this book.