#10-Attur Krishna Pisharody

It was a pleasant surprise for me when I recieved a mail from a person named Jayakrishan from US, introducing himself as a scientist and the great grandson of Sri.  Attur Krishna Pisharodi, a vainika and musicologist. Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharody is known for his magnum opus work Sangeetha Chandrika which is a treatise of music. 

This lakshana grantha spans 700 pages divided into 12 chapters. He was born on September 29, 1875 in Vadakkancheri-Thrissur district, Kerala. First and foremost he was a teacher extraordinaire. He was the Sanskrit tutor to the Maharaja of Travancore. 

Jayakrishnan visited my place along with his parents. His mother is Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharody’s grand daughter. The excitement reached its pinnacle, when Mr. Jayakrishnan showed me the Lakshana Grantha “Sangeetha Chandrika”. I felt immensely blessed to touch the great treatise of music and offer my namaksarams to the lakshana grantha.

Though the grantha conssits of 12 chapters such as nada, sruthi, swaram, veena etc , the 12th chapter Gitam was a repository of 443 gitams based on the theme RAMAYANAM.!! The gitams were composed in several rare ragas too ! The opening pages of the grantha had a rare photograph of Maharaja Swathi Tirunal minus the  Kingly ornaments..It also had the painting of Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharody. Posting it below.

attur krishna pisharody
Sri Attur Krishna Pisharody

Sri. Jayakrishnan has sent me a biography of Sri. Attur Krishna Pisharody to be shared with the friends, visitors and musically passionate minds who visit this blog.  Please click the link below to read the biography of the great musicologist !!

#10-Short Biography-Attur Krishna Pisharody

Click Here to see the Photograph of the Attur Family who visited me

17 thoughts on “#10-Attur Krishna Pisharody”

  2. ധന്യാത്മേ..എന്റെ വലിയമ്മ (യശ ശരീരയായ ശ്രീമതി കമല നമ്പീശന്‍ ഗാന്ധി ആശ്രമം മായന്നൂര്‍ ..പൊതു പ്രവര്‍ത്തകയും .സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യ സമര ത്തില്‍ പങ്കെടുത്ത വനിതയും ,അതിലുപരി മഹാത്മാ ഗാന്ധിയുടെ സബര്‍മതി ആശ്രമത്തിലെ അന്തേവാസിയും…വലിയമ്മ വീണ വായിക്കുമായിരുന്നു ..അവരുടെ അച്ഛന്‍ രാമ പിഷാരോടി തൃശൂര്‍ പോലീസ് സൂപ്രണ്ട് ആയിരുന്നു ..വലിയമ്മ യുടെ ഗുരുആറ്റൂര്‍ കൃഷ്ണ പിഷാരോടി ആണ്

    Reply

    • Hello Suresh Poonkavanam

      I do not know how to type malayalam in computer. Happy to note your comments. Thank you very much for visiting my blog and pausing to pen down your comments

      Regards

      Reply

      • Dear anuradha ji,
        Just read your webpage. Could you give me the contact no or mail of the grandson or grand daughter of Sh. Atoor krishna Pisharoti. I am now 87 yrs and was very close to mr and Mrs Pisharoti. My Phd was a study of Krishna Chandrika of Atoor.
        Regs
        Dr. Leela Omchery
        Read Prof. music faculty
        Univ of delhi
        Padmashree awardee
        Sangit Natak Akademi awardee
        Kerala sangeet natak fellow awardee

    • I did not have time to give such a deeper look into the book. The book has 12 chapters beginning with Nada, Sruthi,Swara, Vina, Gramamurchchana, mela,tala,varnaalankara,gamakasthayi, prabhanda, raga and gita. The last chapter gita has 443 gitams whose theme is Ramayana..

      Reply

  4. A few years back, I posted a some lines about Attoor Krishna Pisharody and his Sangeethachandrika under the topic ‘Dwimadhyama Panchama Varja Ragas’…
    It is very sad that no one noticed it so far…

    …. “A famous writer from Kerala, Attoor Krishna Pisharadi also noticed the possibility of these ‘dwi madhyama’ ragas. He explained these ragas in his book “Sangeetha Chandrika”. He also created a new “Mela Chakram’ including the ‘dwi madhyama ragas’. He renamed all melaragas according to the KADAPAYADI system. According to him, ‘Dheera Sankarabharanam’ is ‘Ragothamsam’. He wrote Lakshana Geethas for all these mela ragas… Very interesting..”

    Reply

    • Rubinz, this is exactly I am searching for. Someone to tell give a brief about Krishnachandra melas of 84 in total. You have almost answered it by dvimadhyama panchama varja melas, in which the second ma is sung as pa. I would like to read your write up on that. Please guide.

      Reply

  5. Hello Rubinz,

    I am glad to note your comment about Attur gurupadar’s work. My apologies that I did not see this comment earlier.

    In Sangita Chandrika, a total of 84 melas are presented. These include melam’s with both madhyama but I do not recall seeing them under the name ‘dvimadhyama panchama varja’. The categorization of melams is primarily the shudda melams (32) and sankirna melams (52) and it is in the latter where there are 12 melams that have both madhyama. There are precise rules and conventions described in the treatise and it would not be possible to list them all here. Melas formed through sankirna svaras fall in sankirna melas. These melas (ie with both madhyama) have limited ranjakata gunama and have limited ability to color (ranjakata pratibandham). The katapayadi system used to layout the melams is simple and straightforward. All swaras excluding sadja and pancama are either shuddha or vikrta. In the example you gave for shankarabharanam, it falls under ragottamsam melam. The naming is as follows: ra-go-ttam-sam. In Katapayadi the syllables, ra denotes 2, ga 3, ta 6 and sa 7; which means that this mela has the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th svara’s that are vikrta. The 2nd svara is rishabha, 3rd is gandhara, 6th is dhaivata and 7th being nishada. For comparison purpose, The next mela is named raviteertha with dharmavati as the marker sampoorna ragam. raviteertha is ra-vi-teer-tha. The only difference with the preceding mela is the placement of syllable ‘va’ which denotes 4 in katapayadi. The fourth svara is madhayama. Raviteertha and ragottamsam differ only in gandhara and madhyama.

    Anuradha deserves credit for hosting this informative forum. If you could share your contact with Anuradha, I can obtain your information.

    Reply

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