Remembering S.R. Janakiraman: A vidwan in the truest sense

Sangita Kala Acharya S.R. Janakiraman, who passed away last week at the age of 98, was a renowned musicologist, scholar and a mentor, who shaped the Carnatic music landscape for over half a century, deepening the understanding of the classical art. He lived true to his belief that a musicologist must also be a musician. He trained under doyens such as ‘Tiger’ Varadachari, Budalur Krishnamurthy Sastri, Musiri Subramania Iyer, T. Brinda and Tiruppambaram Swaminatha Pillai and was initiated into musicology by Professor P. Sambamurthi and Balakrishna Ayya. His lecture demonstrations were not only instructive, but inspiring as well.

Janakiraman was the Head of the Department of Musicology at Sri Venkateswara College of Music, Tirupati. He was fluent in Telugu too and authored Sangita Sastra Saramu — a two-volume book. During his tenure as a research scholar at The Music Academy, he authored three comprehensive volumes of Raga Lakshanas in Tamil and co-authored Ragas of Saramrita, a commentary of the Raga Chapter of King Tulaja’s treatise Sangita Saramrita. He also wrote Ragas at a Glance, a compendium of the individual lakshanas of popular ragas.

He was a loving and generous teacher, who made no distinction of hierarchy. Musician Sriram Parasuram describes his guru as a traditionalist and purist to the core, yet the most inquiring and innovative musical mind. He had mastered musical granthas from the Natya Sastra, Sangeetha Ratnakara, Raga Vibhodha to the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarsini. He could quote the minutest detail from a page number to the paragraph despite the problem with his vision. Any query would be answered with an instant sastra-based explanation.

Senior vocalist P. Unnikrishnan, who had learnt from Janakiraman, recalls his guru shedding tears whenever he remembered flautist Tiruppambaram Swaminathan Pillai. “He would often render the ragas in the style of the maestro. His ideas of ragas were unique, and he developed his own patanthara. His swaraprastara patterns had a distinctive mathematical combination, effective and comfortable to follow.”

Jayakrishnan Unni, another of the musicologist’s disciple, recalls his guru singing the songs that he learnt 60 or 70 years ago with utmost clarity. Jayakrishnan learnt several rare varnams, including those by Tiger Varadachari, from Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarsini, and one in Balahamsa. “He would suddenly start singing swaras in a raga for 30 to 40 minutes at a stretch. Inspiring anecdotes and references accompanied every single composition he taught. He has tuned several Annamacharya kritis and would reverentially and emotionally remember Rallapalli Ananthakrishna Sharma, who had done extensive research on Annamacharya kritis.”

As the legendary P.S. Narayanaswamy once said, when the title ‘Nada Yogi’ was awarded to SRJ, he is a “paripoorna vidwan blessed by god, a musician’s musician”.

Inspiring presence

In his tribute, veteran natyacharya V.P. Dhananjayan recalled his long association with S.R. Janakiraman: “He was a walking encyclopedia on Carnatic sangeetham and a musician’s guide all through his life. I had the privilege of interacting with him, apart from being his junior contemporary at Kalakshetra. His vision problems never diminished his enthusiasm for sharing his vast knowledge with seekers across the world. He continued to teach students online until his very last days. The best way to celebrate SRJ is to emulate the generosity with which he shared his vidwat with generations of learners.”