Tributes

D Pattammal - from the rare breed of women composers

I have often heard women artistes complain that theirs is a tough life. Managing a household, travelling to distant places to perform and keeping a distance from the more 'affectionate' fans must all be problems. And in addition to that is the perennial issue of finding accompanists - for many male accompanists refuse to perform with female vocalists and male vocalists often hesitate to have female accompanists.

If that be the hassles of the female performer, imagine how much more difficult is the case of the female composer. Given the way in which India treated its women in the past, I don't think any family would have taken kindly to a daughter or a daughter-in-law who suddenly announced that she had the urge to compose and so could the dinner wait a bit? No wonder, most of our female composers were single women - Andal (wedded to the Lord after considerable difficulty), Karaikkal Ammayar (preferred operating as a ghost), Avvaiyyar (preferred becoming an old woman) and Akka Mahadevi (went about with her tresses as her only cover)... the list is not big and is not likely to become much bigger in the near future.

20th century was kinder, if only a wee bit more. We have had Bangalore Nagarathnamma (who preferred to let it be known that her only song was a creation of a Narahari Dasa), Andavan Picchai (this rather male sounding name is the nom-de-plume of a female composer whose real name is now forgotten) and KM Soundaryavalli. Ambujam Krishna came later and was a lyricist. It is in that tradition that we have had D Pattammal too.

But she was a woman vaggeyakara (what is the equivalent female term I wonder - vaggeyakarini?), one who wrote the lyrics and set them to music too, and that probably makes her one of a kind. I first came to know of her through a profile that appeared in the Sruti magazine in the 1980s. I was really surprised that such a personality existed. I later came to know that she had composed in all the 72 melakartas and in the category, which has a small and select membership, she must be the only lady as well.

What is interesting about her is the sheer volume and range of her output. There are songs depicting the highest level of detachment (Virakti Padalgal) and there are songs for children - those that beginners can learn with ease. There are kritis based on Jayadeva's Gitagovinda which speaks of one kind of love for the Lord and there are the Periya Purana kirtanais which sing of the 63 Saivaite saints who were obsessed with their Lord - a different kind of love. A vast oeuvre of work - numbering 685 songs, puts her on par with Tyagaraja when it comes to the volume.

The urge to compose is like any creative streak - not easily understood by others and appreciated only when public recognition and rewards begin to come. In the case of a composer, this can take a long period of time, often a century and more. It is said that even Tyagaraja had once remarked that his songs would become famous only 60 years after his passing! It is therefore no wonder that the musician community is yet to really take advantage of this treasure in their midst.

Smt Pattammal herself was no theoretician. She sang, was a graded artiste at the AIR and was awarded in her lifetime. Therefore her music bears the stamp of one who is familiar with the practical requirements of a concert platform. Her songs are invariably concert-worthy. I am sure that a time will come when several singers will make her work their own, imparting on each their own individual polish and lustre.