Veena Dhanammal 

Her music transcended all barriers

Veena Dhanammal, also known as Dhanam (1867-1938) is considered the most influential musician of the early 20th century.  Dhanam played the Saraswati Veena to her own exacting standards and set the benchmark for her style - of a melody of alluring, unhurried notes, for proficiency in her artform and for her conduct as a performing artist.

She was a household name in her heydays, much respected for her art and had a career that lasted almost sixty years which is remarkable by all standards. Her’s was a lyrical style of playing known for its simplicity, not of a flashy display of virtuosity. The song forms called pada and javali that she specialised in were also part of dance performances. Dhanammal was able to express the essence of the raga in a succinct and subtle manner, without being too vigorous or fast.

Dhanammal was born in Chennai (earlier, Madras). Her main source of inspiration, and the one who took her musical education in hand, was her grandmother Kamakshi Ammal. She ensured that Dhanam learnt from the best teachers and did not lack for anything that helped in taking her musical education forward.

Veenai Dhanammal, India Post 2010

Dhanammal and her milieu

George Town in Chennai where Dhanam chose to live was buzzing with musicians, scholars and patrons in the late 19th century. Her house saw three generations of artistes in her family live and practice their art for which they became justly famous. Her renowned weekly concerts were also held here. 

Chennai itself was seeing an increase in the number of sabhas and performance spaces for music and Harikatha sessions at this time. Harikatha is a composite art form composed of storytelling, poetry, music, drama, dance, and philosophy. Rich merchants built temples and employed musicians and dancers to perform there. Live bands and orchestras played in public spaces and on special occasions. The Madras of Dhanam’s time was a very happening place. 

And then there were the devadasis who lent colour and energy to the city. These proficient dancers and singers were known for their repertoire of dance and music, their learning and prowess on stage. Pre-eminent among them was Veena Dhanammal. She commanded clout and respect in this large group of artistes. 

Musical lineage for generations

Dhanam’s music was the authentic classical tradition that had evolved over the centuries. So much so that even as she carried forward the legacy of five generations of her ancestors who were musicians and artistes, she ensured the heritage was preserved and enhanced to the same high standards by her descendants. 

Dhanam’s earliest known ancestor is Papammal who lived in the 18th century. Her daughter Rukmini had a daughter named Thanjavur Kamakshi who was famous as a musician at the court. After the British annexed Thanjavur in 1856 Kamakshiammal moved to Chennai. She was Dhanammal’s grandmother, and a student of Subbaraya Shastri a son and student of the great Shyama Shastri - one of the pre-eminent composer trinity of Carnatic music which includes Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar. Dhanam’s mother Sundarambal, in turn, learnt music from Annaswamy Shastri, Subbaraya Shastri’s son.

The house in George Town was where Dhanam’s grandchildren took their first steps in music and dance - T Brinda and T Mukta the eminent Carnatic vocalists, T Balasaraswati in Bharata Natyam, Abhiramasundari the violinist, T Shankaran the writer, scholar and historian, T Vishwanathan with the flute and T Ranganathan with the mridangam. By all accounts the thirst for the arts continues in the current generation too.

It is indeed very rare for several generations of one family to reach the pinnacle of the art form they practise. Dhanam’s family has shown that such mastery is possible with proper nurturing, the proper atmosphere to imbibe and by learning with good teachers. As the matriarch of the family, Dhanam ensured that the treasure left with her by her foremothers found its moorings with the generations ahead.

Dhanam’s musical inheritance

Dhanam learnt to play the Veena from the age of ten. She took to the veena instead of dance on the suggestion of her uncle. She also sang for her sister Rupavati’s dance performances and performed with her grandmother Kamakshi.

Dhanam inherited a rich legacy of vast learning, including Shyama Shastry’s compositions, from her grandmother and mother. Her first vocal music teacher was her grandmother and later Shatanur Panchanada Iyer who taught her the entire corpus of Tyagaraja’s compositions. His guru in turn was a direct disciple of Muthuswamy Dikshitar so Dhanam received those works too into her repertoire. As a result of these influences her style of music represented all these three important composers. 

Then she became a student of the blind singer Baladas who was an expert on the compositions of Kshetrayya known as padam. Dhanam helped preserve and transmit the tradition of padam through her own concerts and the dance and music of her descendants. Dhanam’s repertoire also included original compositions that contemporary composers wished her to play to perpetuate their work, and their interpretations of classics.

Dhanam the teacher

Dhanam taught music to all her four daughters and it was a proper guru-shishya relationship with no leniency. They were expected to pay her for the classes as soon as they started earning to inculcate the habit of proper preparation for each class, to respect the learning and not to waste the resources of finance and time. It encouraged professionalism and maintained the standard for the arts in the family. Dhanam’s four daughters would sometimes perform in duos as the ‘Dhanam Sisters’. 

One student from outside the family Dhanam taught passionately was her favourite pupil, Saravanam. Listening to both of them play the Veena together has been described as ‘a profound experience’ by family members. The bond they shared was unique. When Saravanam tragically died in childbirth, Dhanam did not accept another student for a long time.

Dhanam the musician

Dhanam was demanding about the atmosphere in the room as she prepared to play. Absolute silence was necessary as was perfect tuning or shruti. She would never start without these in place.

With the traditional reliance on memory and not written notations, Dhanam’s routine of training and daily practice was exacting. As a result, she knew not only her music inside out but also the subtleties associated with performing each composition such that she was able to play it at will, even after a great lapse of time. Later in life she became blind but Dhanam was always well prepared for her weekly concerts at home having a repertoire of over one thousand compositions.

Dhanam was fluent and able to understand the subtleties of poetry in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi.

She regularly performed for the raja of Vizianagaram at his palace and at private performances for the Gaikwad of Baroda, the Maharajas of Travancore and Mysore and the musical giants of the era.

Learning  to cope with change 

Technology

Dhanam’s career was ending when recording devices such as the gramophone began to be first used in India in the early 20th century. Hence there are not many samples of her performances and veena recitals for us today. We instead have the written accounts of her contemporary musicians, and reviews by knowledgeable members of the audience. For a majority of Dhanam’s musical career the equipment for sound at concerts and the output was still rudimentary. 

Given the technology at the time Dhanam believed the veena was an instrument for chamber music. Also that a veena recital did not require any accompaniments.

Society

Dhanammal’s style and lineage are important elements of the changes that Carnatic music was undergoing in the early part of the 20th century. She was at the cusp where the old order was yielding to the new - audience tastes were evolving, the devadasi system that was Dhanam’s milieu was fading away and artistes had to look for patronage from non-traditional avenues, not royal courts nor the wealthy connoisseur or rasika.  

Thus Dhanam performed privately in concerts in the homes of Chennai’s elite and mercantile classes apart from public concerts in sabha or halls. It is believed that in 1895 Dhanammal was the first female musician to perform in a public hall in Madras.

Dhanam the person

Dhanammal’s love of life and sense of humour is the stuff of legend. She is remembered for her uncompromising stance on her music, her love for betel leaf and her wit. Her aristocratic lifestyle and her refined manner of interacting with visitors set her apart. She used the best of perfumes and clothes, was a connoisseur of the best fruits of the season.

Dhanam was famed for her Friday evening concerts amidst Jasmine plants at her home in Ramakrishna Chetty Street in Chennai. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of the Kirana gharana was one in the audience whenever he was in Chennai. Dhanam would sing as she played the veena. The audience was a mix of vidwans, connoisseurs, people completely new to music and others who just happened to stop by. Dhanam played for two hours, and each week the songs were different. 

Her requirement from the audience was absolute pindrop silence all through the programme, and the patience to sit until the end. Even the slightest noise from outside would make her stop the concert, so her street was cordoned off to tradesmen, and neighbours learnt to ensure no kitchen noises during the time. Members of her audience would rather miss the last train at 8 pm from her area and be ready for the inconvenience, than leave the concert midway and incur Dhanam’s displeasure.  

The room on the first floor of her house seated about 15-20 people and would be packed each week. Dhanam had unfortunately become quite impoverished in her old age due to heavy spending, and was virtually blind in the later years of her life, but the concerts continued. 

She was always open to teaching whoever wished to learn - and her list of such visitors is filled with legendary names from the spheres of Carnatic and Hindustani music - Bangalore Nagarathnamma, Gauhar Jan, and many more.  

Dhanam’s last public performance, sponsored by the Madras Music Academy was on 28 December, 1937. Dhanammal died on 15 October 1938. Even as she lay dying she told her family that her one regret at the moment was of parting with her beloved veena.

As distinguished novelist and journalist R Krishnamurthy, also more famously known as Kalki, said ‘The name Dhanam means ‘auspicious’ and ‘wealth’. There are two different types of wealth: first, the wealth of learning; second, material wealth. Dhanammal has none of the second but all of the first. She is an aged blind lady, there’s a quaver in her voice. But true musicians still go to her house in Georgetown.’ - Ananda Vikatan, August 20, 1933.

References:

1. Veena Dhanammal - The Making of a Legend by Lakshmi Subramanian

2. http://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-29-no-18/lost-landmark-of-chennai/

3. Legacy of Veena Dhanammal - In conversation with Ritha Rajan, www.sahapedia.org 

4. Unfinished Gestures - Devadasis, Memory and Modernity in South India, Davesh Soneji

5. Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life, Douglas M.Knight Jr.