CHENNAI: The book was released by N Murali, at the Sivagami Petachi auditorium. N Murali said, "What Palghat Mani Iyer really means to Carnatic music cannot be described in a few words, a minute an hour, or even a book as this one. He was a born genius and arguably the greatest mridangam vidwans of all times. For him, the mridamgam was more than just a laya instrument. It was a medium to explore his creativity in all its great multi-faceted splendour. His tani avartanam was legendary," he recalled.
The first copy of the book was received by music historian, V Sriram, who said, "Biographies mention how great their music is. But no-one talks about how a Palghat Mani Iyer, Thyagaraja or Ramanuja Iyengar struggled in life to get where they did, how they carried on their passion against all odds and shone in it. One of the first writers to break all myths was Subbarama Dikshitar with his book, Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini in 1904. For the first time we got skeletal biographies of some of the greatest musicians before that period. This is one such rational biography," he said. "Palghat Mani Iyer was a perfect example of professionalism at a time when the term never existed. He strove only for excellence. Ffrom the beginning, his whole life revolved around the mridangam. He had to keep testing the Mridangamn, as Charukesi mentions in his book. Mani Iyer was brilliant in time management even then."
Charukesi himself, summed up, "It's a story of one man and his stubborn faith in his abilities." He thanked Vikatan Publications for publishing the book and Palghat Mani Iyer’s son, T R Rajamani, for his inputs to the book.
The function was organised by Samarpan Trust.
expresso@epmltd.com