Mysore Sadashiva Rao (Mysore ; ) or Sadasiva Rao was a notable Indian vocalist and composer of
Carnatic music
Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha.
It is o ...
. He was a member of the court of the king of
Mysore
Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
,
Krishnaraja Wodeyar III
Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (14 July 1794 – 27 March 1868) was an Indian king who was the twenty-second Maharaja of Mysore. He ruled the kingdom for nearly seventy years, from 30 June 1799 to 27 March 1868, for a good portion of the latter period ...
.
Biography
Very little is known about Sadashiva Rao's early days. He was born in a
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
**Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
-speaking
Deshastha Brahmin
Deshastha Brahmin is a Hinduism, Hindu Brahmin caste, subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and North Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Brahmins a ...
family
which had settled in modern-day
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
. It is believed that he was employed as a clerk in his early career before he travelled to
Walajahpet near
Madras
Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
where he ended up training under Venkataramana Bhagavatar, a pupil of
Tyagaraja
Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami ( Telugu: సద్గురు త్యాగరాజ స్వామి; 4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Tyagayya, and in full as Kakarla Tyagabrahmam ( Telugu: కాకర్ల త్యాగబ ...
(1767–1847), one of the
Trinity of Carnatic Music
The Trinity of Carnatic Music, also known as the Three Jewels of Carnatic Music, refers to the outstanding trio of composers, composer-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th centuryTyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri. Prolific in co ...
. It is also said that Rao once met Tyagaraja when the composer travelled to Walajahpet on a pilgrimage and briefly stayed with his disciple.
Sadashiva Rao travelled with two brothers, the merchants Kopparam Chinnamuni Swamy Setty and Padda Muniswamy, to Mysore, brought Sadashiva Rao to Mysore. By the time he was 30, Rao had found a place in the Mysore Wodeyar durbar. The royal patronage coupled with wealthy admirers and disciples allowed Rao to live comfortably for the rest of his life. He was also known for his charitable work.
Notable among Rao's many disciples were Veena Seshanna, Veena Subbanna, Shamanna (of
Bettadapura), Venkatesayya, and Ganjam Suryanarayana. It is known that he had a daughter whose son T. Venkata Rama Rao became an actor on the stage popularly known as "Curtain" Rama Rao.
Compositions
Sadashiva Rao has composed mostly in Telugu. He went on a pilgrimage of south India and composed ''
krithis'' at all the temples he visited. Some of his compositions are, ''Devadideva'' (''
Mayamalavagaula''), ''Gangadhara Tripuraharana'' (''Purvikalyani''), ''Paramabhuta Maina'' (''
Khamas'') and many padavarnams including the famous ''Ye Maguva Bodhinchara'' set in the Raga
Dhanyasi
Dhanyasi is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a ''janya'' rāgam (derived scale) from the 8th ''melakarta'' scale ''Hanumatodi''. It is a ''janya'' scale, as it does not have all the seven ''swar ...
. Sadashiva Rao used the
mudra
A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.
As well as being spiritual ges ...
'Sadashiva'.
See also
*
List of Carnatic composers
List of composers of Carnatic music, a subgenre of Indian classical music. Chronologically they can be grouped into 4 different Eras: Pre-Trinity Era, Trinity Era, Post Trinity Era and Modern Era. Composers are listed here based on this classif ...
References & Audio Links
Sources
*
External links
Carnatica.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Sadashiva
Carnatic composers
Performers of Hindu music
Musicians from Mysore
Year of birth uncertain
19th-century Indian composers