Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer Biography 
Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, also known as Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan was an accomplished Carnatic singer and composer whose compositions belong to Telugu and Tamil languages. He was also known as a Harikatha expert. He used the mudra 'Guhadasa' for his compositions. Though lived for a short period of 49 years he has given some outstanding contributions to Indian music, including a ragamalika with all the 72 melakartha ragas. Known for extemporaneous singing and raga alapana (singing style of ragas), Pahimam Srirajarajeswari (Janaranjani) and Neekela dayaradu (Sarasangi) are his popular compositions.
He was a native of Viyacher village of Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu into a musical family in the year 1844. He took formal lessons in Carnatic music aside his elder brother from his father, Duraisami Iyer alias Panchanada Ayyar. He also learnt music from Anai Ayya brothers, prominent figures during his period, and close relatives from mother’s side. He was lucky enough to receive the final training from Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar, one of Tyagaraja’s disciples. After receiving formal training in music, he started giving concerts aside his elder brother Ramaswami Sivan. They successfully performed for many years, and is regarded as one of the earliest successful preforming duos of Carnatic music in the 19th century.
He was not a cultivated voice, but sang at a stretch with surprising rapidity and fluency. He was also a scholar in Sanskrit and Tamil languages and known as a Harikatha exponent. For his harikatha concerts, his accompanies include Tirukkodikaval Krishna Ayyar, Subbarayar and Sambasiva Ayyar in violin and Tanjore Narayanaswami Appa and Sama Rao in mridangam. The title ‘Maha’ was conferred to him at a younger age through his achievements through competitions. In the singing career of thirty years he never challenged any musician. That shows his humbleness.
Another instant of his humbleness – though he is fond of singing 'Giripai', he stopped it singing after hearing the same composition sung by Bikshandarkoil maestro. Iyyer felt that as he is inferior in singing the composition in comparison to Bikshandarkoil, the composition purely belongs to Bikshandarkoil, not Iyyer. He passed away in 1893.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 28, 2016
