Palinchu Kaamakshi Pavani...

Palinchu Kaamakshi Pavani is a Madhyamavathi  krithi of  Shyamasastry who is one of the Carnatic classical music trinity.  In this krithi Shyama Sastry prays to mother Kamamkshi devi (presiding deity of Kanchipuram) to rule him or take care of him.  She is very sacred and pious. She is also the papasamani who can extinguish all the sins. This is one of the very beautiful krithis we have learnt from our Kamakshi mami who became one with the 'Meenalochani' who is also the Paasamochani (one who can release us from bondages).  Mami taught us this krithi of Dikshitar (Meenakshi memudam dehi) on the presiding deity of Madurai, the one and only Meenakshi. She also narrated an anecdote.  Dikshitar sang this song once and when he started repeating it, his disciple pointed out.  He smiled and sang ‘meenalochani paasamochani’ and left for heavenly abodes.  Incidentally, mami’s guru was Madurai Mani Iyer who gifted her a Tanbura.  We are so lucky that mami has gifted that tambura to Sravya and adores in my house. It gives us the feeling that mami is stationed here.  While learning and singing these two songs we always invoked mami and she was, its our feeling, synonymous with these two forms of Devi. 

We met Mami way back in 2008 when we were looking for a music teacher for my daughter, Sravya Varali.  My friend Srinivas Sripada took us to her house which was just a few yards from where we were staying then.  She stopped taking classes by then. But, fortunately, she agreed to teach Sravya and the music relation between mami and our family strengthened day after day since then.  As a buy one get one, we  requested mami to teach our son, Sourya too. In later years, even after he stopped attending classes, she used to remember him often with love especially whenever songs containing words related to the dhatu Sourya such as Shoure occurred in the songs. Later, though not very soon, I became her student too.  I was  mami's choice as she offered to teach me after overhearing my singing Matangi Sri Rajarajeswari of Dikshitar, in Rama Manohari which Sravya was learning then.  At that time, we were staying in the guest house of Sri Ramakrishna Ashram, Hyderabad as we took mama and mami for the concert by Sravya in Hyderabad. Even after coming back almost for over an year I did not take it seriously and finally one day I joined her class and never looked back till I was transferred to Lucknow and Manipur.  I have tried to learn music since my college days and classes with mami gave me a big push towards more confidence and enjoyment.  I really enjoyed every class with mami and we have learnt many songs.  

Mami is a different teacher. Her philosophy was that any teacher can teach a good student.  Teaching a 'besur' student is a challenge and she has taken up this challenge several times in her life.  I too saw one girl,  who used to miss sur easily, having improved over a few classes.  Mami used to sing along with us the same song several times and after a few days she will chip in whenever we required. She knew when we may have doubt or may faulter.  My understanding of chapu tala improved after training under mami and now I am very much comfortable.  Of course, Sravya has acted as mami's teaching  assistant to help me at home. 

We enjoyed music with mami.  Learning new songs has been a very interesting while exploring meanings.  Due to my knowledge of Telugu, being my mother tongue, mami used to ask me meanings of several songs.  We used to discuss the better way to split the phrases and the essence of what the Saint Thyagaraja was communicating in the given song. She encouraged me a lot and every class used to be heavenly. 

More than the music, we enjoyed a special bonding with mami and mama. My wife was mama's pet.  Mami has been affectionate to all of us and  blessed us profusely all along. Stories and anecdotes she had narrated class after class used to be very instructive and offered life lessons.  Mami has  some supernatural powers, we used to feel.  Often, whatever mami talks on a given day used to be answering issues/feelings bothering us that day.  Whatever songs Sravya and I wished to sing on a given day, mami would make us sing them that day without our revealing.  We had experimented on occasions when we will think a sequence of a few songs in our mind and will sit  quiet.  It so happened mami asked us to sing those songs in the same order.  We often wondered how she will know our mind. Music is her spiritual Saadhana and meditation. 

My real learning has been to towards enjoying music. I could also get confidence to participate in music competition organised by Shanmukhananda Sabha affiliated college, Mumbai for 40+ students and received first prize from Sri T V Sankaranarayan.  Previous year I got third prize in the same event. Credit goes to her and my second guru, my daughter, Sravya. 

Mami has been into a traditional family and her husband and mother-in-law did not approve of her singing especially going out. She lost touch with her music for many years and late age, she practiced again and regained he form.  She gave a few concerts also. However, for the prowess she possessed, mami could have given tough days for many contemporary accomplished musicians.  She had met and interacted with top class musicians of her days like Maharajapuram Santhanam, D K Jayaraman, M L Vasanthakumari and is up-to-date with music related news. They all revered her.  Mami, I feel, is one of those talented musicians who could not rise enough in life. May be she is one of the cursed Gandharvas.  

She truly loved us and longed always to see us and sing with us. Days will roll as it is the duty of the nature. While we miss her in  physical form, I feel she will be with us always, in our memories, our music, and in the lessons she taught both in music and life. 

The day (5 Feb 2023) we heard the news about mami’s mahaprasthanam Sravya got a dream where mami asked her sing for some visitor. Sravya was trying hard to sing and heard mami advising her to practice. Sooner she came to know of the news.

Mami reached heaven in the same week as Director of the musical cult movie Sankarabharanam, K Viswanath and Vani Jayaram, the accomplished singer also reached there. May be Viswanath may plan a movie on Mami there.

Link to a few reccordings during our classes are here: