A painting by Swathi Thirunal. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

King among Musicians and King among Kings Carnatic singer Ajith Namboothiri’s meeting with composer Swathi Thirunal began during his student days at Sri Swathi Thirunal College of Music.

They have been released recently Swati MudraA book on the work of the composer-composer. Apart from exploring Swati’s musical legacy, the 1,232-page book features original compositions of the king-composer. Apart from notes in Malayalam and English, it has a section with lyrics in Sanskrit (Devanagiri script).

Speaking about it, Ajith says: “The seed was sown in 1991 when I met Semmangudi Swami (Maestro Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer) to prepare an article on Swati. My query was about the common belief that Swati’s original compositions have been lost and what we hear now are tunes set by composers who came after Swati. They told me the tunes were already in the book Balamritam And he had it polished,” says Ajit.

Ajith Namboothiri Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Balamritam It was written by S. Renganatha Iyer, son of Shankar Bhatta Shastrikal, the court musician during Swati’s reign. It is believed to contain the original notations of the tunes composed by King. “My search began to find the book published in 1917. First I met RP Raja who wrote New light on Swathi ThirunalConsidered one of the most authentic works on rulership. A scanned page from Balamritam It was in that book,” says Ajit.

However the king directed him to the person who had Balamritam Ajit could not get it in his collection. The wait continued until he met Chandrika Balachandran, who runs a music school in Kuzhithurai, Tamil Nadu. “She came to the house to invite me for an event and it was coincidental that she had the book. It was a surreal moment when I finally got the copy and sang some of the compositions as per the notation.

But the book was in bad condition and the last pages were missing. After much effort, he found another copy in Thiruvananthapuram with the late P Harihara Iyer, a veena expert, who lived on Dikshitar Street near Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple, where Renganatha Iyer used to live. “That copy was missing the first few pages but the last pages were intact. So I scanned the pages of both copies. However, my work was not finished yet as these copies had holes in some of the pages. “The search for the second copy led to the discovery of a musician in North Kerala who, after much persuasion, allowed me to photograph the pages,” says Ajith.

Swati Mudra It contains facsimiles of the original notation of 125 compositions in Malayalam and English. “Apparently Renganatha Iyer had planned it as the first part of the anthology. But it seems he couldn’t bring in the second part,” says Ajith.

The book also contains Renganatha Iyer’s notations of 12 works taken from Swati’s ‘Kuchelopakhyanam’ Harikatha. Sangeetha Rajarangam,

Ajit believes that seeing the notation inspired him to make a detailed study of Swati’s legacy, which includes Indian classical music as a whole, composing works in the Carnatic and Hindustani styles.

“In 2017, I received a Central Government Senior Fellowship for my study on ‘Cultural Nationalism in the Life and Music of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal’. He was known for hosting musicians from India and abroad. Yet many say that the tunes attributed to Swati were actually composed by experts at her court, not by her. I had to find out the truth.”

Hence Swati Mudra has many findings to prove the ingenuity and genius of Swati. “One of those books is Isaikkalai Vallunargal,Written by Gomati Shankar Iyer. It is based on the diary notes of his father, Pallavi Subbaiah Bhagavathar, a disciple of Ustad Mahavaidyanatha Iyer, who frequently visited the rulers of Travancore. The book details how the three rulers of Travancore – Swathi Thirunal, his nephew Ayilam Thirunal and Visakam Thirunal promoted art, culture and music during their periods. The notes also describe how Swati used to compose tunes and then let her court musicians refine them,” says Ajit.

Swati Mudra
Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

He says doubts have been raised as to how he could have written so many works at such a young age – he died when he was 33. Swati Mudra I have come to some conclusions that confirm his musical talent. He has composed more than 300 works. While Mullammoodu Bhagavathar preserved the tunes, greats like Muttiah Bhagavathar and Semmangudi Swami took them to another level, popularizing the compositions,” says Ajith.

The book was released on October 21 in Thiruvananthapuram and will have its global launch on November 4 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai.

The cost is ₹2,500. For copies, contact 9447374646 or swathilegacy@gmail.com