Maharajapuram Santhanam

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Maharajapuram Santhanam (Tamil: மகாராஜபுரம் ஸந்தானம்), (1928^[1]-1992^[2]) was one of the great Carnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. He was born in Sirunangur, a village in the state of Tamil Nadu. He followed the footsteps of his father Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer who was also a Carnatic singer.

Profile

Besides studying with his father, he was also a disciple of Melattur Sama Dikshitar. Maharajapuram Santhanam was also a distinguished composer. He wrote many songs on Lord Murugan and Kanchi Shankaracharya, His Holiness Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamigal (Maha Periyavar). He was the Principal of Ramanathan College in Sri Lanka.^[3] Later he came and settled in Chennai. The songs which were popularised by Maharajapuram Santhanam are "Unnai Allal" (Kalyani Raga), "Sadha Nin Padhame gathi, Varam onnru" (Shanmukhapriya), "Bho Shambo" (Revati), "Madhura Madhura" (Bagheshri), "Srichakra Raja" (Ragamalika), "Nalinakaanthimathim" (Ragamalika),"Ksheerabdi kannike" (Ragamalika) among others. The Maharajapuram Santhanam Day is celebrated on the 3rd of December every year.

He died in a car accident in 1992. His sons Maharajapuram S. Srinivasan and Maharajapuram S. Ramachandran and his primary disciple Dr. R. Ganesh are now carrying on his musical tradition.

His other most popular songs are Purandaradasa kritis: "Narayana ninna" (Shuddha Dhanyasi) and "Govinda ninna". His rendition of "Vilayada ithu nerama muruga" cannot be replicated by any other artiste. His renditions were full of Bhakthi.

In chennai Griffith Road in T.Nagar was renamed as MAHARAJAPURAM SANTHANAM SALAI in honor of Maharajapuram santhanam by Karunanidhi and Stalin. The street has the famous Krishna Gana Sabha and Muppathamman Temple.

References

1. ^ Shri Maharajapuram Santhanam concert day
2. ^ Interview with student Ganesh
3. ^ Ludwig Pesch, The Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 238.

External links

• Maharajapuram musical family

Persondata
Name	Santhanam, Maharajapuram
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1928
Place of birth
Date of death	1992
Place of death