Amirbai Karnataki is one of the earliest Kannada singer-actress who made it big in Hindi cinema. She went to Bombay when women artistes were labelled ‘fallen’, but with grit and passion Amirbai became a star and sang 380 songs in 150 Kannada and Hindi films

For someone who didn’t belong to the gramophone generation but the golden period of radio, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Mukesh, and Rafi ruled our hearts and constituted our imagination of a film song. The same AIR, during a light music programme, had played “Ninnane Neneyuta Ratriya Kalede”. This, was a carbon copy of Lata’s memorable “Saari Saari Raat Teri Yaad Sataye”, but the voice was starkly different. It had a heavy nasal tone, and the flawless rendition had a simplicity to it. The charming song left an indelible mark and I felt I had to recover her voice from pages that were unknown to me. Amirbai Karnataki was an unheard voice for the Seventies: she was long gone, and had faded into the archives of black and white era of early films. She was someone who lived on in personal memories of people who had known and heard her.

Amirbai Karnataki (1912-65), who sang 380 songs in 150 films, was an early singer and actress of Hindi cinema. This singer who sang the unforgettable “Main to pavan chali hoon bole papiha” and “Bairan Nindiya Kyon Nahi Aaye”, was born in Bijapur in Karnataka. During the 1930s Amirbai was a prominent name along with stars like Suraiyya, Shamshad Begum, Noor Jahan and Zohrabai Ambalewali.

When Lata Mangeshkar came on to the scene, many of these singers moved into the background and for the later generations they remained unknown.

Born into a family of artistes, Amirbai’s parents Ameenabi and Husensaab worked for a theatre company and even ran one for many years. Growing up years for Amirbai and her five siblings was filled with music and theatre, what with many of her uncles and aunts being top musicians and actors in theatre. She lost her father early and her uncle, Hatel Saheb took care of all the children.

During those years, Bijapur was part of Mumbai Presidency and the sangeet natak tradition in these parts was flourishing. The famous Balagandharva’s company and several other theatre companies camped at Bijapur; Amirbai and her sister Goharbai, trained as they were in classical music, impressed these companies with their singing and they began to not only sing for several of them, but also act.

As Rahmat Tarikere writes in his biography of Amirbai Karnataki, Amirbai moved from Bijapur to Mumbai, from theatre to films. But the exact date and nature of these movements and transitions are hard to tell. The story of Amirbai is a sum total of several happenings in a historical period as there are few definitive documents to lead us to any accurate picture. Painstakingly put together by the biographer, Tarikere says that when Amirbai reached Mumbai (it was perhaps the year of Alam Ara’s release, 1931), women who worked in films, theatre and music were still seen as “fallen”.

Women artistes were often ridiculed as “free women” and among the several women performers, Amirbai and her sister Goharbai too, tried to free women of this stigma. In fact, families not only disowned such women, but there were instances of women being killed for choosing the arts.

In fact, Rahmat Tarikere says that the kind of fight these women put up with the social circumstances of those days is no less significant than the freedom struggle itself. If women artistes, in the later years, earned fame and reputation, it was because of the sacrifices these women made. Ironically, two very popular films “Basant” and “Kismet” in which Amirbai acted deals with the plight of actresses.

Amirbai became a very reputed singer and actress of her times. She was highly paid, and even built a theatre Amir Talkies in Bijapur. She travelled the length and breadth of North Karnataka giving programmes related to theatre and cinema.

A singer who sang some of the finest love songs, had a very unhappy love life though. Tarikere writes how her husband, a Parsi actor who played villain in those days, Himalayavala, abused her physically and emotionally. She had to suffer several assaults from him and even separation became a painful affair. Unable to recover from the trauma, she went into oblivion for several years, and later Badri Kanchawala, with his love and care brought back peace into her life.

At the age of 55, Amirbai passed away; Karnataka had been unified by then and the rest of Karnataka hardly knew of her. Even the newspapers reported her death four days later. It was only later that people have slowly learnt of Amirbai’s greatness and how Gandhiji was immensely fond of her rendition of “Vaishnava Janato”.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Deepa Ganesh / February 27th, 2015

by R. G. Singh

This 24” x 30” miniature (image courtesy: Jayachamaraja Art Gallery, Mysore) has been painted by artist Venkatasubbu in 1869. The Mysore throne is at the centre of a decagonal platform . The young boy, King designate is sitting cross-legged, his royal seal (mohur) and the nazar (a gold or silver coin presented to the new king by his subjects) is placed in a pouch in front of him; he is wearing Royal signet ring. Seated on his right are Nanjaraja Urs and Aliya Lingaraje Urs. On the left are British Commissioner, Resident and few other Europeans. There is a pair of soldiers with unsheathed swords in British top-hat and uniform. A pair of attendants swirl colourful cloth (udees pavadai). Just behind them attendants announce king’s titles. Behind them are Halay Paiki personal attendant-guards of Mysore Maharajas, attendants behind them hold aloft the standards of royalty (Raja Lanchana).

The coronation of the Kings after the abolishment of Privy purse is no longer a grand public event but a very private ceremony. The most glittering coronation was that of the last king of Mysore State, Major-General His Highness Sri Sir Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Bahadur, Maharaja of Mysore, GCB, GCSI, on 29 August 1940. To those of the citizens of the heritage city of Mysuru privileged to attend that event it was a spectacle that would never be forgotten. The coronation of the last Maharaja’s heir in 1974 was private and subdued.

Anachronistic as it sounds in a country that through an act of the Parliament removed the very word of ‘Royalty’ from its lexicon and rendered the hundreds of kings, nawabs and other minor royalty bereft of all trappings of pomp and transformed them into plain Mr. and Mrs., the fascination for a bejeweled Maharaja being seated on a throne to the sonorous chants of arcane hymns, smoke of the incense reaching the chandeliers high above, the nobles and other invitees dressed in outfits, with swords, draws a concerted and collective in-drawn breath of awe. And for one brief moment in time, one is sucked into the vortex of past and imagined dormant memories of kingly rituals.

The coronation of the new king of Mysuru slated to be held before the onset of the annual Dasara will be muted but just as grand for those privileged few. For here is an unbroken tradition of a Wadiyar ascending the throne of an erstwhile kingdom whose history goes back to several hundreds of years.

Though the Mysuru kingdom can be traced to the establishment of a small principality by Yaduraya in 1399, it was only in 1578 that the kingdom was established by Raja Wadiyar (1578–1617). Between 1939 till the ‘reign’ of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, there have been 25 kings of the Wadiyar lineage.

It was Raja Wadiyar who first ascended the Golden Throne and proclaimed with his coronation, his rule over the kingdom of Mysuru at Srirangapatna. A word about the Golden Throne is necessary. Shrouded in mystery, this throne was claimed to have belonged to Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers.

Golden Throne: he saint Vidyaranya, who is the head of the Sringeri Mutt in 1338, is supposed to have shown the hiding place of the throne to the Vijayanagar King, Harihara, who lived between 1336 and 1357. Harihara then removes it to his capital and the throne is used for the next two centuries as the royal throne of the Vijayanagar kings. The fall and annihilation of the Vijayanagar empire finds the throne being removed by one of the feudatory chieftains to Srirangapatna. In 1609, Tirumalaraya II gives it to Raja Wadiyar and goes to Malangi. A year later, Raja Wadiyar declares himself to be an independent ruler and ascends the Golden Throne and claiming to be the inheritor of Vijayanagar tradition, inaugurates the Navaratri and Vijayadashmi at Srirangapatna.

The canons of the Manasara, a 600 CE treatise on architecture and sculpture, which contains an entire chapter on thrones, mentions several kinds of thrones. Thrones are symbolic seats of authority and symbolise divinity and power, both cosmic and earthly. There is mention of the Padmasana Throne, which is the ‘Seat of the Gods,’ the Bhadrasana or auspicious throne and the Lion or Simhasana throne which only those kings who had all the royal attributes could ascend. Scriptural canons say that the Bhadrasana throne is used for coronations and the Simhasana Throne for royal festivals like the Dasara. The Wadiyar kings follow this custom to this day. Thus the heir-designate will ascend the silver throne on the day of his coronation. Devatanama Kusuma Manjari-Simhasana: Incidentally, the Devatanama Kusumamanjari, a Sanskrit work written during the reign of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1859 in verse form is laudatory and there is mention of the various attributes of the throne. The verses about the throne also mention the mystical and magical powers that exude an aura around the throne. These powers prevent one who is not worthy from ascending the throne. A legend from the ancient past is evocative enough to be recounted here. The steps of the Golden Throne are embellished by figures of 32 divine maidens. The King Bhoja has discovered the throne under an earthen mound and has it restored in his Palace. With all ceremonies and rituals befitting a king, Bhojaraja ascends the throne only to be thwarted by an invisible force emanating from the divine maidens which prevent from taking another step. Then damsels then take turns narrating a story that enumerates the virtues of an ideal king who alone is worthy of being crowned on t

The throne. The king then through good deeds goes about acquiring the virtues of a Godly king and then is able to ascend the throne. Shades of Arthur’s Excalibur! The Royal Robes…

Come Feb.23, the Wadiyars will get a new heir in the form of Yaduveer Gopalraj Urs who will be renamed as Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar after being formally adopted by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of late Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar at a grand ceremony to be held at the Mysore Palace premises.

No Royal Ceremony is complete without royal and grand attire and this time, Yaduveer will be dressed in the Mysore Royal Family’s traditional attire — the Long Coat stitched with Kalabati Zari material. Yaduveer’s clothing will be stitched at two places. While the coat is being personally hand stitched at Heavenly Tailors located on Dhanvantri Road, a Sherwani is being readied in the cellars of a prominent textile house in city.

M.N. Padmaraj, Proprietor, Heavenly Tailors, who is known as the Royal Tailor, has been stitching the Royal attires for the Mysore Royal family from the past four decades. He has stitched two long traditional coats for Yaduveer for the special occasion. One is a normal white long coat and the other is the grand zari coat.

Having mastered the art of stitching Royal attires, Padmaraj has stitched 14 traditional long coats from the past one-and-a-half months. Some of the royal customers of his include late Sardar K.B. Ramachandra Raje Urs, Chaduranga Kantharaje Urs, late Srikanta Datta Narasimaraja Wadiyar among others.

A couple of kilometres away from Dhanvantri Road, 45-year-old Ramesh N. Lalige is stitching the Royal Sherwani in his cellar-shop inside the Vishveshwaraya building at K.R. Circle. The material is pure silk. The shade is royal pink with gold and silver leaf motifs arranged like a triangle. There are two swaddles of cotton-silk cloth for the trousers — one is furbished gold in its colour with a honey-comb pattern while the other has a light purple tinge.

“The royal family could have gone to any tailor in the country or in the world for that matter. It’s a matter of great pride and pleasure for me, my family and my shop that they have chosen me to stitch the Sherwani,” says Ramesh. A resident of Indiranagar, Mysuru, Ramesh, along with the help of Mahendra and Pundalik Rao, is modeling the new Sherwani based on a sample provided by the royal family. Ramesh was called to the Palace by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar and was given the Sherwani outfit worn by Yaduveer for measurement with the only advice: “He is slimmer now but, hopefully it should suffice.”

Ramesh got four meters for the top and two pieces of two-and-a-half meters cloth for the trousers and was asked to finish the outfit by Saturday (Feb. 21). “Yaduveer would be arriving from US on Saturday morning and would be here in Mysuru by afternoon. The outfit would be ready for fitting. And if there are any alterations, we will take it back, mend it further and will hand it over to the Palace on Sunday evening,” says Ramesh who has an experience of 25 years as a tailor.

With the adoption ceremony only days away, the Emperor’s new clothes are getting ready not in some posh foreign designer emporium but in the heart of our city. Only time can tell us how the heir-designate would look in his new outfit — designed and stitched in the heritage city.

There are pictorial records apart from royal murals that show the king being seated on the Golden Throne which is a part of the coronation rituals marking the first Durbar of the newly coronated king.

The photograph of the painting shows the coronation of boy King Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1799 at the Kote Venkatramana Temple. In the painting, Dewan Purnaiah is seen on the right side of the king who is seated on the throne. To the left of king, Lt.Col. Wellesley is seen seated. The throne itself seems flush to the level of the raised platform.

Coming back to coronation, one discovers that from surviving records of the 1940s that the Wadiyar kings were first installed on the Silver Bhadrasana and then there is the Durbar on the Golden Throne afterwards it is only during the Dasara festivities that the king ascends the Golden Throne. Photographs from the 1940 show the Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar being installed on the Silver Bhadrasana while a 1974 photograph shows His Late Highness Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar coronated on the Silver Throne.

Be that as it may. There are two abiding reasons why the coronation of the new king is of importance. First this year 2015, marks the 75th anniversary of the coronation of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. It is also the 40th anniversary of the coronation of Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.

Second, the history of Mysuru and its people are remarkably entwined with the Kings of the Wadiyar dynasty. From reign of Yaduraya (1399–1423) to Hiriya Bettada Chamaraja Wadiyar I (1423–1459) and on to Thimmaraja Wadiyar (1459–1478); from the reign of Hiriya Chamaraja Wadiyar II (1478–1513), Hiriya Bettada Chamaraja III Wadiyar (1513–1553), Thimmaraja Wadiyar II (1553–1572), Bola Chamaraja Wadiyar IV (1572–1576), Bettada Chamaraja Wadiyar V (1576–1578), Raja Wadiyar I (1578–1617), Chamaraja Wadiyar VI (1617–1637) and Raja Wadiyar II (1637–1638) and then onwards to various other kings culminating through Khasa Chamaraja Wadiyar IX (1766–1796), Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (1799–1868), Chamarajendra Wadiyar X (1868–1894) and during the regency of Vani Vilas Sannidhana, queen of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X from 1894 to 1902 and then thence to the reign Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (1894–1940) and Jayachamaraja Wadiyar (1940–1950) and lastly Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (1953-2013), ascended the throne in 1974. Once again the dynasty continues unbroken.

We go back in time to the coronation of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar III. His ascendancy is significant because he was the first Wadiyar king to resume the rule of Mysore by the Wadiyar lineage after a gap of 36 years. It was only the courage, patience and sacrifice of the Queen Lakshmammani that kept the Wadiyar dynasty alive. On June 30th 1799, the five-year-old Krishnaraja Wadiyar III was crowned the king of Mysore in a traditional coronation ceremony that took place in a special pavilion constructed near the Lakshmiramana Swamy temple in Mysore Palace. Reports say that the young boy was led by the Duke of Wellington to the throne. The 23rd Maharaja of the Wadiyar dynasty was selected from the Bettada-Kote Ursu clan who was christened as Chamarajendra Wadiyar X and he was ritually coronated on 22 & 23 Sep. 1865 when Mysore State was under British rendition which ended in 1881.

A booklet, “ Proceedings of the Installation of His Highness, The Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur in the Government of the Territories of Mysore” dated, March 25, 1881, states among other things: “On March 23rd 1881, the Governor of Madras, Major-General Sir Thomas Munro and his staff along with the J. D Gordon, Chief Commissioner of Mysore and the Provisional Commander-in-Chief ‘enter’ Mysore. They are met at the entrance to the town by officers of the Station, the relatives of the Maharaja and officers of the Palace household.”

The publication then goes on to say that: “The Governor announces that he has been empowered by the Viceroy and Governor General and calls on the Chief Secretary to read out the proclamation …” which announces to the chiefs and people of Mysore that His Highness Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar is hereby placed in possession of the territories of Mysore and invested with the administration of the Mysore State…” .

Addresses are presented by various organisations and one in particular is fascinating. The address from the Coorg Planters’ Association says among other things that, “Although we are not part of the Mysore Raj, still Your Highness cannot but be aware of the ties which do and must ever exist between Mysore and Coorg.”

The Wesleyan and London Missionary Societies representing the churches and educational and medical missions are next in the protocol presenting their addresses.

Interestingly, the congratulatory address by the Catholic Church is in Latin and is reproduced here. “Serenissimo Principi Ac Domini,/Domino Chamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur, Mayssurensium Regi,/Vicarius Apostolicus Mayssurensium and goes on thus: In hac auspicatissima die qua primo regni scetpra tenes, ac imperii habenae tuia juvenilibus manibus committuntur, quum laeto animo haec tuorum subditorum densa corona sua offcia et vota tibi offerunt, et nos Catholicae Religionis asseclae, neque numero, nec certe fida erga tuum Majestatem devotiene infini, te Regem ac ducem nostrum venerabundi salutus.”

(“On this most auspicious day when for the first time Your Highness holds the sceptre of your Kingdom, and the reins of Government are entrusted to the guidance of your youthful hands, with how glad a heart does this dense throng of your subjects present to Your Highness an offering of their duty and their loyal congratulations. We also, the followers of the Catholic Religion, neither small in number nor certainly the last in devotion to Your Highness, respectfully welcome our Prince and Ruler.”)

Like time-travelers, we go to the coronation of “Maharaja Sri Sir Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar”, who was coronated under unusually sad and untimely demise of his father. The ritual coronation was performed under the regency of his mother H.H. Vanivilas Sannidhana on February 1, 1895.

After attaining majority, Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV was formally installed on the throne on August 8, 1902 and the venue was a specially erected pavilion erected in the Jaganmohan Palace since the old wooden Palace was partially gutted in an accidental fire and the present Palace was under construction.

One takes recourse to the India Office records which reveals: “The road to the approach to the installation pavilion was lined on either side by the Infantry and the Cavalry of the Maharaja’s army. The Guard of Honour was by the Royal Warwickshires, a battle-scarred elite regiment of the British army and the Band and Colours ( Imperial cavalry guards) were stationed at the entrance of the Durbar hall. The Viceroy Curzon who is to install the new king is met at the Government House by a deputation consisting of the Dewan and the principal officers of the Mysore State.”

A further excerpt extricated from India Office archives: “…the Viceroy Curzon was accompanied by Mr. Wood, Under Secretary (Foreign Department), Lt. Col. E. Barring, Military Secretary, Mr. Carnduff and His Excellency’s Personal Staff. Also present was J.A. Bourdillon, the Chief Commissioner.” The report mentions that there on the dais were two Silver Thrones, one of which was subsequently used as a Masnad to which the Maharaja was formally conducted by the Viceroy after being installed.

The coronation of the last Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar is evocative as it reflects the love of the people for their sovereign. A manifesto published in 1942 titled ‘Ananda Chandrika‘ by Ramakrishna Sastri, an Hindi Pandit describes the Pattabhisheka (the installation) of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. The author says that Palace astrologers have after consultations chosen the date of the Installation and that invitations have been distributed to all the important citizens. There are buntings and flags festooning the city. Several bullock-carts laden with sugar are sent around the city and sugar-candy was distributed to all the citizens and visitors to the city. On the day of the installation all prisoners are pardoned and released. The King-to-be is dressed in white and bedecked with jewels. He is escorted to the Lakshmi-Vilasa of the Palace where the installation is to be held. The king then performs Kalasha Pooja, sacrificial rituals to Agni and other Gods. The State elephants, horse and oxen are in a as Palace musicians play compositions some of which have been composed by the Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar himself. The king is then installed on the Silver throne!

The scion Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar was coronated on the silver throne in what was a very private ceremony. No chronicler seems to have recorded the proceedings or the arcane rituals that preceded his ascension to the throne. Similar will be the ascension of the heir–designate, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar who will continue the legacy of the Wadiyar dynasty. The heir designate will be formally adopted on February 23, 2015 and much before the onset of the Dasara festivities will ascend the silver throne in the Palace within whose premises so much of history has taken place and will continue to do so in the future.

Incidentally, Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs traces his lineage to Chamaraja Wadiyar. His great great grandmother Jayalakshmammani was the eldest daughter of Chamaraja Wadiyar and Vani Vilasa Sannidhana. Further his mother, Tripurasundari Devi, is the grand-daughter of the last Maharaja, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar who was the only son of Kantiravanarsaraja Wadiyar, the second son of Chamaraja Wadiyar and Vani Vilasa Sannidhana.

The Heir-designate is to assume the name “Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar” on his coronation, and will be given the official royal signet ring, the royal seal (Mohur) and the State sword.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / February 21st, 2015