Twenty five temple artistes like Odhuvars, Arayars, nagaswaram, thavil, veena, muka vina, kall nagaswaram, gethu vaadhyam, and pancha mukha vaadhyam vidwans were honoured by the Rotary Club of Madras Heritage.
B. Sargurunathan, Odhuvar of Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore and one of the recipients of the honours, said he was overwhelmed to receive it.
“The Rotary Club should honour more temple artistes, many of them are very deserving,” he said.
The son of a school teacher, who hails from a family of Desikars who chant the Tirumurai, he chose to learn the Thevaram when he was just 12.
“My father’s elder brother Thiruvavaduthurai B. Somasundara Desikar taught me. I was drawn to his singing,” said the famous Odhuvar, who formally trained in Carnatic music with B. Achutaraman.
45th generation
R. Srinivasan, who belongs to the 45th generation of veena players of the Isai Kudumbathar and have been serving Lord Ranganatha since the year 1067 during the time of Ramanujacharya, too, received the honour.
He explained that their daily duties included playing during the Viswaroopa Sevai and the Sayana Sevai.
Club president D.M. Prakash said they wanted to honour temple artistes since they were very much part of the culture and heritage of the country. “They uphold age old traditions that one can see only in temples,” he said.
Project chairpersons and violinists M. Lalitha and M. Nandini said this was the first time the Club was honouring such artistes.
Rare instruments
“We had invited people from Kerala as well. Instruments like mukha vina and gethu vaadhyam are rare. In some cases, youth no longer perform such instruments. The government must take steps to train students in music colleges in these instruments too,” they said.
Mylapore MLA R. Natraj, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax Sankarganesh Karuppiah and Cleveland V. Sundaram graced the occasion.
