Patnam Subramania Iyer

Patnam Subramania Iyer (1845 – July 31, 1902) was a composer and singer of Carnatic music. Subramaniya Iyer followed the traditions of the great composer Tyagaraja. He has left behind almost one hundred compositions.

Subramaniya Iyer was born in Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. His family had a long history of musical involvement - his father Bharatam Vaidyanatha Iyer was adept at both music and Sastra and his grandfather Panchanada Sastri was the court musician in the court of Serfoji Maharaja of Thanjavur. Subramaniya Iyer learnt music from his uncle, Melattur Ganapati Sastri and later under Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar.

Subramaniya Iyer spent a long time in Chennapatnam (Chennai). This gave Subramaniya Iyer the prefix to his name. Many of his students such as Mysore Vasudevachar, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Bhairavi Kempegowda and Tiger Varadachariar became famous composers and vocalists.

Two of his famous compositions are Raghu Vamsha Sudha in raga Kadhana Kuthuhalam and Evari Bodhanna in raga Abhogi. He is known to have used his guru's mudra (signature) Venkatesa or variations of the same, in his compositions in Telugu and Sanskrit.

The Mysore king Chamaraja Wodeyar gave him a pair of golden bracelets on two occasions, after singing performances in court.

Music compositions

Varnams

Composition	Raga	Tala	Language	Description	Audio Links
Evari Bodhanna	Abhogi	Adi	Telugu
Valachi Vacchi	Navaragamalika	Adi	Telugu
MarachiTlunDe	Begada	Ata	Telugu
Era Napai	Thodi	Adi	Telugu

Krithis

Composition	Raga	Tala	Language	Description	Audio Links
mari vEre dikkevarrayya rAmA	Shanmukha Priya	Adi	Telugu		TN Seshagopalan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0zhD86dUW4
mari vere dikkevvaru	Latangi	Khanda Chapu	Telugu		Rama Varma - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXW-Pe0pofk
ninnu jeppa kAraNamEmi	mandAri	Khanda Chapu	Telugu
pancha nadISa pAhimAm	pUrNa chandrika	rUpaka	Telugu
pari dAnamitchhitE pAlintuvEmO	Bilahari	Khanda Chapu	Telugu		Nagavalli Nagaraj - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaliQJkbf0E
raghu vamsa sudhAmbudhi chandra SrI	kadana kutUhalam	dESa-Adi	Telugu
varamulosagi brOchuTa nIkarudA	kIra vANi	rUpaka	Telugu		Malladi Brothers - http://www.musicindiaonline.com/album/10-Classical_Carnatic_Vocal/12754-Malladi_Brothers/#/album/10-Classical_Carnatic_Vocal/12754-Malladi_Brothers/
Manavi Che KonavayyA	Sarasangi	RUpakam	Telugu

See also

• List of Carnatic composers

References

• Musical Nirvana biography
• Creativity at its best, The Hindu, 04-Oct-2002