Mysore Vasudevachar Biography 
Mysore Vasudevachar was a Carnatic musician and composer from Karnataka who lived during the period May 28, 1865 – May 17, 1961. Belonged to the direct line of Thyagaraja's disciples and one of the greatest legends of early 20th century, he has been hailed as Abhinava Tyagaraja. Having lived till the age of 96, he had composed 300 songs of which 140 were published in two volumes titled ‘Vasudeva Kirtana Manjari’. He also published his reminiscences, ‘Na Kanda Kalavidaru’ and ‘Nenapugalu’.
His descendants are the followers of his tradition, including his grandson S. Krishnamurthy, former AIR station director. He has translated many of his grandfather’s memorials to English. Mysore Vasudevachar has been honoured with Padma Bhushan by Government of India for his outstanding contributions to Indian music. He also received the Akademi’s award in 1954 and become a Fellow of the Akademi in the late 1960s. He was a teacher at Rukmini Devi’s Kalakshetra for long years and devoted his full life to music and Sanskrit language. S. Rajaram, his grandson currently heads Kalakshetra.
He was born in Mysore on May 28, 1865. He learnt initials of Carnatic music from Veena Padmanabhiah, the chief musician of the Mysore court. He also learnt Sanskrit and Puranas from Maharaja Sanskrit College in Mysore. He later became a disciple of Patnam Subramania Iyer, a great composer of Carnatic music. Vasudevachar eventually became the chief court musician at Mysore Court and became popular for madhyama-kala tanam singing. He was verse in all the aspects of Carnatic music especially Raga Alapana, Thanam, Pallavi, Niraval, and Kalpana swaram. Vasudevacharya was a great admirer of Tyagaraja.
Most of his compositions are in praise of Lord Rama. Broche varevaru ra in Kamas raga, Devadideva in Sunadavinodini, Mamavatu Sri Saraswati in Hindolam, Bhajare Re Manasa in Abheri and Ra Ra Rajeevalochana Rama in Mohanam are some of his popular Kritis. He also composed Varnams, Keertanas, Thillanas, Javalis and slokas.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 28, 2016
