Pithukuli Murugadas (25 January 1920 – 17 November 2015) was a devotional singer from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. He was best known for his compositions on the Hindu deity

Murugan Kartikeya (/ kɑɾt̪ɪkejə/; ), also known as Skanda ( /skən̪d̪ə/), Subrahmanya (/ sʊbɾəɦməɲjə/, /ɕʊ-/), Shanmukha ( /ɕɑnmʊkʰə/) and Murugan (/ mʊɾʊgən/), is the Hindu god of war. He is generally described as the ...

Life

Pithukuli Murugadas was born as Balasubramanian in

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

to Alamelu and Sundaram Iyer in a devout

Tamil Brahmin Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana in addition to other regions of India. The ...

family. At the age of seven, he went to practice

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

Palani Palani or Pazhani () is a town in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is located about west of Dindigul, south-east of Coimbatore, north-west of Madurai, from Kodaikanal. The Palani Murugan Temple or Arulmigu Dhandayut ...

under the tutelage of Nadayogi Brahmananda Paradesiar. He was also called "Pittukuli" by his teacher. In 1931, at the age of eleven, he participated in the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

campaign and spent some days in prison. During 1936, while participating in the nationwide Satyagraha to protest against the Jalianwalla Bagh massacre, he was imprisoned for six months. He lost his vision in one eye due to severe police atrocities. He was released later, as a governmental gesture on the occasion of the wedding of Mysore Maharaja

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (18 July 1919 – 23 September 1974), sometimes simply Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, was the twenty-fifth and last ruling Maharaja of Mysore, reigning from 1940 to 1950, who later served as the governor of Mysore until 1964 an ...

. In 1935, at the age of 15, he relinquished his house and started his pilgrimage. He began wandering around the country. In 1939, he visited

Swami Ramdas Swami Ramdas (; , born Vittal Rao (10 April 1884 to 25 July 1963) was an Indian saint, philosopher, philanthropist and pilgrim. Swami Ramdas became a wandering ascetic in his late 30s and after attaining moksha while still alive establishe ...

and Mata Krishnabai of

Anandashram Anandashram (English translation = "Abode of Bliss") is a spiritual retreat located in Kanhangad, a city and a municipality in Kasaragod district in the Indian state of Kerala. Anandashram was founded by Swami Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai, al ...

. He was named as Murugadas by Swami Ramdas as he sang to Lord Murugan. In 1940, he spent a few days with Avadhudha Swami Swayam Prakash at Sendhamangalam and then went on a pilgrimage by foot and traveled throughout India. He learnt various renderings of Brahmananda Paradesiar and Ramana Maharishi. In 1946, he joined Thirupugazh Mani in popularizing bhajans praising Muruga. After the

Indian Independence Act 1947 The Indian Independence Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 30) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received Royal Assent on 18 July 194 ...

, he became the patron of the orphanage known as Dhinabandhu Ashram at

Walajapet Walajapet is a municipality and taluk in the state of Tamil Nadu. Demographics According to 2011 census, Walajapet had a population of 32,397 with a sex-ratio of 1,031 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A t ...

. Remaining a bachelor until the age of 58 in 1978, he married Devi Saroja (b. 1936), who was an accomplished artiste in dance, music, Tala Vadya, and painting. Saroja used to accompany his concerts for a long period, and predeceased him in 2011. Murugadas died on Kanda Sashti Day, 17 November 2015, aged 95.

Awards

*Sangeetha Samrat (1956) by

Swami Sivananda Swami Sivananda Saraswati (; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963), also called Swami Sivananda, was a Modern yoga gurus, yoga guru, a Hinduism, Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of ''Vedanta''. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Ti ...

*Kalaimamani (1984) by Government of Tamil Nadu *Guru Surajananda Award (1989) *Madhura Gana Mamani (1994) *Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award (1998) *Thiagarajar Award by The National Cultural Organization of New Delhi

References

Links

Murugadas - Hinduism Today

Pithukuli Murugadas website
1920 births 2015 deaths People from Coimbatore Tamil singers Indian blind singers Blind folk musicians Blind classical musicians Singers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian male classical singers {{India-singer-stub