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Maharajapuram Santhanam – a multi-dimensional
personality |
| "He could have
come by flight from Trichy that day,'' blurted out
Dr. R. Ganesh instantly when asked about the one
thing that he wished his guru Maharajapuram Santhanam
should have done but which he had not. Maharajapuram
Santhanam was the asthana vidwan of Kanchi Mutt,
T.T.Devasthanam, Pitsburgh Venkatachalapathi Temple
and Ganapathi Sachidananda Ashrama "The Gods
in the heaven wanted to have him as asthana vidwan
there and, hence, hatched a plot to have him there
in a heavenly conspiracy,'' quipped Ganesh, a frontline
disciple of late Santhanam. The disciples of Santhanam
have been conducting music programme on June 23
every year, the day he gave his last concert before
his life was cut short by a gruesome road accident
on June 24 several years ago. Dr.R.Ganesh
shares with K.T. Jagannathan his
thoughts on the musician, teacher and father in
Maharajapuram Santhanam. |
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A great devotee of Paramacharya
of Kanchi, Santhanam, according to Ganesh, always
believed in doing even a simple thing in a grand
way. "Even if you were to conduct a marriage
with single paise, you should do it with fireworks,''
Santhanam would often say to Ganesh. He would always
ask his disciples to aim for the biggest. `That
would help them scale bigger levels and not content
staying with the big.’’ According to
Ganesh, his guru held the view that youngsters should
evolve into full-blown musicians before being pushed
to the concert stage. Santhanam laid much store
by growth, consolidation and further growth - in
that order. Ganesh said Maharajapuram Santhanam
had the basic skill and efficiency to master whatever
he undertook. "He (Santhanam) was a manifestation
of multiple qualities of greatness rolled in one
person,'' Ganesh said. A traditionalist teacher,
Santhanam, however, came forward to facilitate faster
learning by his students by employing non-traditional
tools without compromising on the core teaching
values.
"He was a jewel in the lineage
of Saint Thiagaraja. An enthralling voice, a larger-than-life
image, a wide repertoire - all together made a fantastic
musician in Maharajapuram Santhanam. He was in full
control of the audience - be it Tamilians, Kannadigas,
Telugus, rural or urban, youngsters, old men, children,
laymen or scholars - he struck a rapport and related
to them within the first 15 minutes,'' Ganesh pointed
out. More than anything else, Santhanam was ever
committed to his concerts. "The kutcheri pressure
would never show up in his face. He would always
be at ease and never put the audience to any discomfort,''
Ganesh said. What struck Ganesh most was Santhanam's
uncanny ability to connect to the audience with
effortless ease. "Every single listener at
his concert would eventually feel as though Maharajapuram
Santhanam sang only for him or her,'' Ganesh pointed
out. Even today, Ganesh could not fathom the mystery
surrounding the charm created by Maharajapuram Santhanam.
In this context, he recalled a concert Maharajapuram
Santhanam gave in a remote village near Thirukkovilur
years ago. None got out when the concert was on
and Santhanam held a complete sway over the audience,
which largely comprised people from that village.
His melodious voice, sruthi purity and uncompromising
style of singing to audience of all sorts, Ganesh
said, largely had contributed to his success as
a musician. His accommodating nature and ability
to liberally applaud and appreciate others had endeared
him to all his accompanists, Ganesh pointed out.
For Maharajapuram Santhanam what mattered most was
the ultimate success of his concerts. For students,
Santhanam was more than a teacher. He showed interest
in their families and their studies. When Ganesh
got third rank in his degree course, Santhanam had
told him that he felt as though he had himself got
the rank. "But for Maharajapuram Santhanam,
I would have been a veterinary doctor and an ordinary
person known only to my family members,'' Ganesh
said.
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