Dakshinamurti Shastri

[[Dakshinamurti Shastri Source: prekshaa]]

Dakshinamurti Shastri hailed from Kollegal. He was a vaidika ¹ from birth; a person who was absorbed in the study of the Vedas. He was also one who deeply engaged in the study of Sanskrit poetry. Therefore when he uttered a Sanskrit word (or phrase), the pronunciation of the letters and the division of the words would manifest itself clearly.

He was a short man with a nice ivory skin colour. He was also well-versed in Tamil and Telugu.

It appears that musical knowledge ran in his family. I’ve heard his elder brother’s son Arunachala Shastri’s singing. It was the sort of music that adhered closely to tradition.

Dakshinamurti Shastri earned his livelihood by taking music lessons in a dozen houses of gṛhastas ². One of his disciples, M Venkappaiah was a relative of mine.

Shastri was particularly fond of singing difficult kīrtanas ³. He would typically select the compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar ⁴. One of his favourites was the kṛti in Ānandabhairavī rāga – ‘Tyāgarājayogavaibhavam—samāśrayāmi.’

Tyāgarājayogavaibhavam।
Agarājayogavaibhavam।
Rājayogavaibhavam।
Yogavaibhavam।
Vaibhavam।
Bhavam।
Vam॥

In the erstwhile Cāmarājendra Saṃskṛta Pāṭhaśālā, every year on Vināyaka Caturthī, it was customary to have Dakshinamurti Shastri’s concert in the evening. He would present a vocal music concert in one year and in the next, he would have a harikathā ⁵ exposition – if he felt happy, he would sing the then famous Kāmbhoji rāga varṇam of Vīṇā Kuppayyar:

Koniyāḍeda nāpai…

He would always sing this. In recent years I have not heard any musician of mettle sing this varṇam. Once I asked Shastri, “Why do you take up these difficult kṛtis—and that too, on the day of the Ganesha festival? The stomach will be full of kaḍubus, breathing is slow and heavy. Exposition in akāra ⁶ will be tiresome, isn’t it?” He laughed and said, “Are you suggesting that I sing ladies songs?” ⁷ His nature was somewhat strongly masculine – in the sense, it was that obstinate insistence to take up something complicated and manage it successfully.

Only great musicians with years of practice could impress Dakshinamurti Shastri with their singing. If Shastri sat in the audience, ordinary musicians would be terrified.

Arcot Srinivasacharya held Dakshinamurti Shastri in great regard. Not only that, whenever Srinivasacharya stayed in Bangalore, for three to four months a year, he organized a concert of Dakshinamurti Shastri once a week in his house and derive great joy from it.

Shastri was indeed a man of firm convictions but he was soft-spoken, courteous, humble, and friendly. Once there was a concert of Vīṇā Sheshanna; close to the end of the concert, Sheshanna looked at the audience and said, “If any of you have any specific requests, I will play whatever I can.” One of the members of the audience, a youngster, said in a soft voice, “I request for Nāyakī.” Dakshinamurti Shastri said in a loud voice, “Who doesn’t want Sheshanna’s Nāyakī?” ⁸ Everyone was amused. Sheshanna gladly played theNāyakī rāga.

In his conduct, Dakshinamurti Shastri was pure, orthodox; he was a strict ritualist. Every day he would do therudrābhiṣeka ⁹. Every Monday he would do ekādaśavāra rudrābhiṣeka. ¹⁰ In his practices and dealings, he was a traditionalist. Poverty didn’t make him weak or helpless.

One of the great pillars of support to Dakshinamurti Shastri was K T Appanna, the owner of theModernHinduHotel. Both of them were from Kollegal. Although they belong to different brāhmaṇa sub-communities, they belonged to the same family. The help and assistance that Appanna gave Shastri was enormous. Appanna was an extremely generous man, full of devotion towards the Supreme. He would find out, of his own accord, all the needs of Shastri and would ensure that Shastri was inconvenienced in no manner whatsoever.

Shastri had a humorous vein. One day he went to a friend’s shop in Chickpet holding a bunch of betel leaves in his hand. That friend said, “What’s this, Shastri sir, of all things you’re carrying withered betel leaves!”

Shastri said, “Not all of them are aged leaves. Some are young leaves, those are for me. There are a few leaves that are a bit older, those will be chewed by my daughter. And the rest will be chewed by that old lady at home!”

The friend teased him saying, “Shall I tell this at your house?”

Shastri said, “By all means, what’s the big deal in that! A fitting reply will be given. At any rate, I’m a vaidika. It’s been long since ṛṣipañcami!” ¹¹

This is the twelfth essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum-opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 2) – Kalopasakaru. Thanks to Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh for his review.

Footnotes