http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/02/20/stories/2009022051200100.htm

Sculpting a success story

T.S. SUBRAMANIAM

Sculpture, architecture and Vaastu sastra… these are a few fascinating facets of V. Ganapati Sthapati, recipient of this year’s Padma Bhushan.

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Space is everywhere. If this space is confined by a four-walled structure, it becomes a living organism.

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Photo: M. Karunakaran

THE ARTIST and his creations: V. Ganapati Sthapati

The Tiruvalluvar statue. .

Meeting 81-year old V. Ganapati Sthapati is an interesting experience. He can dazzle you with his scholarship of Tamil, Sanskrit, Vaastu Shilpa sastra, architecture and mathematics. He is a practising sculptor and an architect with a quest for resea rch. Even at this age, his spirit for learning has not dimmed. He is not afraid to speak out his mind either. “Sanskrit and Tamil are one. Technically, they are the same. Only we are fighting over them (about which is superior to the other),” he says and lists out words that are the same in both the languages. For example, ‘moolan’ in both means source, ‘kalam’ denotes time and ‘gnalam’ is world. Ganapati Sthapati was among those chosen this year for Padma Bhushan award. “It is a matter of pride that I have been chosen for the award,” he says with humility. “It gives me a sense of satisfaction, for the award is a recognition of our tradition.” The tradition that he represents is that of Viswakarmas and the Vaastu science of sculpture and architecture, including temple building. He is a descendant of the long lineage of traditional sculptors and temple architects — Viswakarmas — in Tamil Nadu.

According to him, Brahmarishi Mayan is the progenitor of Vaastu science, and the science of Shilpa sastra and architecture are based on mathematics. While others have merely defined architecture as the science of material space, Mayan has described it as ‘the pinnacle of achievement in mathematics.’ This mathematics implies the use of a unique measure called ‘Space-Time Units.’ Ganapati Sthapati himself describes architecture as ‘frozen music’ in which ‘vibrations are important.’

Subject of study

For 27 years, from 1961 to 1988, he was the principal of Government College of Architecture and Sculpture at Mamallapuram. While there, Ganapati Sthapati raised the status of the art of sculpting “from a mere craft practised in thatched road-side sheds to the four-walled precincts of the college where the students learnt the science and technology of tradition and came out as graduates with a B.Sc. in Temple Architecture.”

“Also the age old technical literature on Shilpa and Vaastu (architecture) shastras, which were both in Tamil and Sanskrit, were brought into the curriculum of the institute, thus elevating its academic status.” He argues that vastu means energy and vaastu means matter. “Energy contains matter and matter contains energy. This is our Veda and we practise this theory in architecture,” he says, and continues, “Space is everywhere. But you cannot see it. It has no form which can be seen with eyes. However, if this space is confined by a four-walled structure, it becomes a living organism. It can breathe. In doing this, I use orderly measures. These are backed by a mathematical formula... This technology is called Vaastu shastra.”

Ganapati Sthapati has designed and built 600 temples in different parts of the world including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Kenya. He was the architect of Sri Swaminatha temple in New Delhi. He built the 133-foot tall statue of Tiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari, the Valluvar Kottam including its massive chariot in stone in Chennai, the administrative block of the Tamil University at Thanjavur and its library building, the Silappathikaram art gallery at Poompuhar, near Thanjavur, and many more.

When M. Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1996, he specifically commissioned Ganapati Sthapati to build a statue for Tiruvalluvar on the rocky outcrop, surrounded by sea on all sides, at Kanyakumari. The 133-foot tall, free-standing masterpiece in granite is a testimony to the ingenuity of the architectural skill of Ganapati Sthapati.

The chariot at Valluvar Kottam

Granite masterpiece

“The Tiruvalluvar statue has no foundation at all. It is mounted on a rock. There are 7,500 pieces of granite in the statue. We assembled the statue bit by bit. All pieces are inter-locked. It is a great achievement to interlock 7,500 pieces of granite,” he says.

Sceptics asked him whether such a tall statue could stand on a rock, buffeted by winds from the sea on all sides. They also wanted to know whether the statue’s neck and head could be integrated into the torso. To them, his reply was, “If the statue does not stand, you can chop off my head. As long as ‘alai’ (waves in Tamil) and ‘malai’ (hillock) stand, the ‘silai’ (the statue) and its ‘thalai’ (its head) will survive.” And survive it did the waves of tsunami in December 2004.

Building the chariot in stone at Valluvar Kottam was another daunting task. (Temple chariots are generally made of timber). This stone chariot has three parts: the lower one in inverted pyramid form, the middle one made of pillars and the top one in pyramid form supported by these pillars. The chariot has wheels made of stones. “Building the chariot in stone was difficult,” he says.

After he retired as the principal of the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture, Sthapati devoted his time to research. “I never wasted 20 years of my retired life,” he says. “I did research and discovered my roots.” He has written more than 40 books including those on Shilpa Sastra in Tamil and ‘The Scientific Edifice of Brihadeeswara.’ He is currently writing his 41st book and building a temple for Mayan near Mamallapuram.

Some landmarks

* The Tiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari — 7,500 pieces of granite are interlocked.

* The Valluvar Kottam including its massive chariot in stone, in Chennai

* The administrative block and library of the Tamil University at Thanjavur.

* The Silapathikaram art gallery at Poompuhar, near Thanjavur.

* More than 600 temples across the globe including the famous Sri Swaminatha temple in New Delhi.

Lawyer who nurtured music -- Prof. Sambamurthi

Source http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/10/31/stories/2008103150970400.htm

ENCORE

Lawyer who nurtured music

SRIRAM VENKATKRISHNAN

PIONEER Prof. Sambamurthi worked all his life to make musicology an integral part of Carnatic music.

INNOVATOR Prof. Sambamurthi

Prof. P. Sambamurthi passed away on October 23, 1973. The Hindu published a detailed obituary on October 24 in which it recorded that the end came about at the Royapettah Hospital, Madras, after a brief illness.

The article first listed his awards and stated that he was a recipient of Padma Bhushan. And it went on to say, “Prof. Sambamurthi was honoured with the title of Sangita Kalanidhi at the 46th annual conference of the Music Academy, Madras in 1972. He was elected Fellow of the Sangeet Nataka Akademi in 1963 in recognition of his services to music.” It was an unprecedented list of honours and the Professor, as he was always known, deserved every one of them. He had worked hard all his life to make musicology an integral part of Carnatic music. And he began his endeavours at a time when music was largely an oral tradition with very little support for theory despite the various treatises on it and the proliferation of printed works in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

By then, the gurukula system was fast fading and even in the 1880s, there had been attempts by the Madras Jubilee Gayan Samaj to train students in music en masse by the establishment of schools for this purpose. Though this effort failed, the idea caught on and sporadic attempts were made in the 1900s as well. The Rev. H.A. Popley ran a summer school for music in 1918 which taught music to Christians. By 1921, this had become an annual feature, the entire course lasting six weeks.

In 1924, Sambamurthi, fresh out of law college, but more interested in music and better known as a performer on the flute, was invited to give ten lectures on the “Musical Forms in South Indian Music” at the summer school.

He so impressed the Rev. Popley that he was immediately appointed as a lecturer in the school. With Popley returning to London in 1926, Sambamurthi became Vice-Principal of the school and by 1927, became the Principal.

Not content with carrying on what the Rev. Popley had begun, Sambamurthi set about creating a syllabus for the school. The course expanded to comprise Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced and Honours sections and soon became a full-day school for the summer months, functioning out of various buildings in the city.
Created a syllabus

There were classes on theory and practice and each Friday, the students had to present, by way of public performances, what they had learnt. To introduce a fun element, Sambamurthi organised weekend outings to places of musical interest in and around Madras city.

Not everyone was impressed with such group singing. The noted critic ‘Kalki’ Krishnamurthy panned the attempt as monstrous but it was generally welcomed as an innovation. Encouraged by the response, Sambamurthi enlarged the summer course into a full five-year course. In addition, a Teacher’s Training Course was also introduced which became very popular among the music teachers of the Corporation Schools. Students began coming in from all over India and soon a separate course for instruments was also added.

The Music Academy, Madras, was started in 1928, with Sambamurthy as one of the founding secretaries. This body lobbied with the Government to introduce music as a regular course in colleges and in the Madras University.

The Queen Mary’s College (QMC) was the first to do so and Sambamurthi was appointed lecturer. At around this time, he was also asked to teach music in many schools of Madras, so much so that he had to evolve a rota system of teaching in all the schools and still continue as lecturer at the QMC and serve as Principal of the summer school! He of course, never practised law!

The Madras University funded his travel to Germany in 1931 to study at the Deutsche Akademie. In 1932, when the Music Department of the Madras University was formed, he framed its syllabus. Later he was to serve as its head for 25 years. From then on, there was no looking back either for him or for musicology. He wrote innumerable books, framed syllabi for several universities, helped the setting up of the Central College of Carnatic Music (now Isai Kalluri), was Professor of Musicology at the Venkateswara University and represented India at numerous music conferences abroad. He was also Director, Sangita Vadyalaya, Madras, from 1961 to 64 where he worked on creating and improvising music instruments. Sadly, the summer school that he put on the map, closed down in 1941. But it had served its purpose as a launch pad for musicology and systematic teaching of music.

(This article owes much to inputs from Dr M.A. Bhageerathi, faculty member of QMC, whose doctoral thesis was on Prof. Sambamurthi’s contribution to music theory.)

(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com)

Saga of grit and success - Sarojini Varadappan

source http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/03/06/stories/2009030651160100.htm

Saga of grit and success

SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI

She’s a trained classical singer, got a Ph.D when she was 80, and is the president of Women’s Indian Association. Now, Sarojini Varadappan adds another feather to her cap — Padma Bhushan.

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I learnt that social service was not easy, and that accountability was important right down to the last paisa.

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PHOTO: V. Ganesan

WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE: Sarojini Varadappan.

The year — 1932. A pregnant woman, her ten-year-old daughter in tow, walked towards the Vellore jail to meet her husband, who was imprisoned there. The woman was Gnanasundarammal, the girl was Sarojini Varadappan, and the man in prison was M. Bhakthavatsalam, who later became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He had been arrested for participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Her father being arrested, and policemen carrying out searches in her father’s house were all commonplace occurrences for young Sarojini.

Sarojini Varadappan, social worker, chosen for Padma Bhushan, says her father’s association with the Congress and her mother’s association with the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) were contributing factors in her zeal for social service.

It is a well known fact that Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, president of the WIA, was instrumental in starting the Cancer Institute in Chennai. Sarojini recalls what an uphill task it was.

An institute is born

“It was a time when doctors such as T.S.S. Rajan felt money spent on the institute could be used to combat other diseases, and Dr. Muthulakshmi faced a lot of opposition to her plan even from the medical fraternity! So, all we managed to get from the Government for the institute was a small strip of land. Pandit Nehru was supposed to visit Madras around the time we’d planned the inauguration, and Dr. Muthulakshmi wanted him to inaugurate the institute. So I called up my uncle O.V. Alagesan, who conveyed our request to Pandit Nehru. He agreed at once. After the inauguration, Rajaji patted me on the back and said, ‘The Women’s Association has won.’ Even now you can see the letters WIA on the board outside the entrance to the institute.” Just three letters, and what an inspirational story lies behind them!

Later, Sarojini became the president of the WIA. When she took charge, it had four branches in Chennai. Today, the number has increased to 76. Sarojini has also been with the Indian Red Cross for 30 years, and is the president of the Mylapore Academy. However, it was never easy for Sarojini to follow her heart. “I was a student of National Girls High School, now called Lady Sivaswami Girls School. When I attained puberty, I was pulled out of school. My teachers tried to persuade my family to let me resume my studies, but the request was turned down.”

Her father consoled a distraught Sarojini and arranged for Hindi tuitions. But when the time came for Sarojini to take the Prathmic exam, her great-aunt objected to her leaving the house to write the exam! “So my father spoke to Pandit Nataraja Sarma, who designated our house as one of the exam centres for a group of girls, including me. That’s how I took the exam!” The year she passed her Visharadh, Gandhiji was in Madras to hand out certificates to the successful candidates, but again her family would not allow an unmarried girl to be seen in public. “So I lost the opportunity of receiving my certificate from Gandhiji,” she says ruefully.

For Sarojini, marriage to cousin Varadappan meant liberation, for there were no restrictions on married women going out. So when Gandhiji visited Madras next and stayed at the Hindi Prachar Sabha, Sarojini, now married, served as a volunteer. She and her friends enrolled 1,000 women in the Congress. “In the evenings, Gandhiji would relax on an easy chair, and we would count the day’s hundi collections, and keep accounts. I learnt that social service was not easy, and that accountability was important right down to the last paisa. The Seva Dal put us through exercises and marches, and some of the volunteers came in madisars!”

Music lessons

Since she’d learnt music, Sarojini would sing the prayer songs at the Congress meetings. “Satyamurthy was interested in music. So the party always had a music wing. I learnt to play the violin, and my guru, Parur Sundaram Iyer, taught me more than 500 kritis of various composers. I learnt Kshetragna padams and Tamil padams from Mylapore Gowri Amma, who lived on Brodie’s Road. My favourite Tamil padam was ‘Ethanai Sonnalum.’ I learnt Bharatiar songs from E. Krishna Iyer, whose classes were held in Vanniar Chatram on East Mada Street. On weekends, Veena Visalakshi would teach me Hindi bhajans.”

Singing in Congress meetings ensured that Sarojini had no stage fright when she had to address the public later. “But I still had an inferiority complex about not having a degree. So I did my M.A. in Political Science at the Mysore University, under the Open University scheme. Later I did Master’s in Vaishnavism from the Madras University.” Sarojini passed M.A. with a first class, and at the suggestion of her professor Narasimhachari, she did her Ph.D on ‘The Concept of Social Service in Swami Narayana Philosophy.’ She went to Ahmedabad to do research, and got her doctorate at the age of 80!

An ardent devotee of Kanchi Paramacharya, she took his blessings when she assumed office as president of the Social Welfare Board, Delhi. “He advised me to continue to study Sanskrit, which I’ve tried to do,” says Sarojini.

Sarojini served for sometime as member of the Film Censor Board. She even got into an argument with S.S. Vasan over a cut she’d made in his film! Why did she not think of politics as a career? “My father said I wasn’t to enter politics as long as he was alive. In fact, when C. Subramaniam proposed my name for a Rajya Sabha seat, my father turned down the suggestion.”

At 87, Sarojini still thinks of herself as a student. “I recently bought a computer, because I want to know how to browse the Net. My grandson (politician Jayanthi Natarajan’s son) teases me as the only one he knows, who still writes letters!”

Political kolu!

Sarojini Varadappan describes the Navaratri kolu they had in those days. “In 1937, when Rajaji formed a Congress Ministry in Madras, my mother hired a carpenter to make a mini Legislative Assembly! We had celluloid dolls representing every member of the Assembly, dressed exactly as they dressed in real life. We even had a doll attired just like Bhulusu Sambamurthy, the Speaker, who wouldn’t wear a shirt. Another year, we made a scale model of the Ramapadasagar dam. In 1947, Lady Nye, wife of the last British Governor of Madras, came home to see our kolu. My friends used to jokingly refer to it as the ‘political kolu,’ because we invariably had a political theme!”