Umayalpuram mridangam maestro K. Sivaraman performs at the Kalahastheeswarar Temple on Madathu Theru in Kumbakonam. Photo: Special arrangement
It is not uncommon for musicians to perform at the venue where they made their debut. Even rarer is the opportunity to do so eight decades after the first performance. Umayalpuram mridangam maestro K. Sivaraman has the honor of celebrating 80 years of his illustrious musical career and his 90th birthday at the same venue – the Kalahastheeswarar Temple at Madathu Theru in Kumbakonam.
“My first performance was at the Kalahastheeswarar temple because my first teacher, Arupathi Natesa Iyer, lived in the agraharam adjacent to the temple. I played for the singer Srinivas Iyengar. Vedaranyam Krishnamurthy Iyer accompanied him on the violin and my teacher played the kanjira,” recalled Mr. Sivaraman.
The temple also figures in the writer Na of Kumbakonam. Pitchamurthy’s short story Kanjamadam. “Though the temple is not named, the setting and surroundings clearly indicate that it is a Kalahastheeswarar temple,” says Rani Thilak, who compiled the book Kumbakonam Kathaikal.
Kalahastheeswarar Temple on Madathu Theru in Kumbakonam. | Photo credit: R. Vengadesh
Mr. Sivaraman remembered with nostalgia the temples and streets of Kumbakonam, the musicians who lived there and the hotels famous for their filter coffee and tiffin. It was from the Kumbeshwarar temple that his grandmother bought his first kanjira as he showed great interest in percussion instruments from an early age. He was in the habit of keeping talam on medicine boxes that arrived at the house of his father P. Kasiviswanath Iyer, a doctor, on Kamatchi Jossier Street.
“My father was looking for a teacher to train me. One day a patient visited him and when my father came to know that he was Natesa Iyer, he asked him to teach me. After performing at the temple on August 16 this year, I visited the house where Natesa Iyer once lived and paid my namaskarams,” said Mr. Sivaraman, who later trained under Thanijavara Iyer, Palijatanayayaida. Rengu Iyengar.
Describing his return to the Kalahastheeswarar temple on his 90th birthday as a “divine calling”, Mr Sivaraman recounted an unusual coincidence.
“Mr. Swaminathan, a native of Kumbakonam, wrote to me to perform at the temple but did not write the correct address. However, the postman noticed my name with the caption ‘Padma Shri’ and delivered it to the Music Academy from where it finally reached me. That’s why I call it a divine calling,” he said. Mr. Sivaraman recalled that he accompanied many eminent musicians who moved to Kumbakonam during the Second World War evacuation.
“I also had the opportunity to meet and pay my respects to Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer at Dabir Street. He was a disciple of Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavatara and Sundara Bhagavatara who were direct disciples of Saint Tyagaraja,” he said.
Mr. Sivaraman’s joy was boundless when the principal of Kumbakonam High School, where he studied, presented him with a laminated copy of his SSLC certificate on the day of the performance at Kalahastheeswarar Temple. “I came to Chennai in 1955 on the advice of Palghat Mani Iyer, who felt it would be better for my career as a mridangam player,” he added.
Published – 14 Dec 2025 19:42 IST
