Gopalakrishna Bharathi

Gopalakrishna Bharathi (1811–1881) was a Tamil poet and a composer of Carnatic music. He composed the Kathakalakshepam Nandanar Charitram, two other works in this genre, and many independent kritis.

Bharathi was a contemporary of Thyagaraja whom he is said to have met, and who asked him whether he had composed anything in the raga Ābhōgi. Bharathi composed overnight one of his most popular kritis in Rupaka Tala, Sabhapatikku Veru. The great Tamil literary figure, U. V. Swaminatha Iyer wrote two sources for Bhaarati's life: a biography of the composer and his own autobiography, which contains references to Bharathi, who was his guru in music.

An annual music festival dedicated to the composer Gopalakrishna Bharathi is held every year at the Vallalar–Medha Dakshinamurthy Temple in Mayiladuthurai, featuring performances of his compositions.

Early life

Gopalakrishna Bharathi was born at Narimanam, near Nagapattinam. He spent his early days in Mudikondan, near Thiruvarur. A few years later he moved to Anandathandavapuram village, near Mayavaram also known as Mayiladuthurai where he lived almost his entire life.

Compositions

Gopalakrishna Bharathi composed several kritis on the principles of advaita. Gopalakrishna Bharathi's kritis, portraying several musical facades, were extremely well received by the public and were sung in a number of concerts during his lifetime. This prompted several musicians to approach Gopalakrishna Bharathi. The musicians would express his vision for a new kirtana and Bharathi would always oblige and compose a song to fit the musician's requirement. |- Though listed as a composition of Bharati, this is commonly attributed Gowri Shankara Stapathi.

Tha Thai Endraduvar Sindu Bhairavi Adi Kriti Tamil Part of the Nandanar Caritram.|

Performance historyNandan Caritiram, as performed by Bharathi, proved very popular and he published it in his lifetime. The highly regarded Thanjavur Krishna Bhagavatar, who developed the art of kathakalakshepam by introducing elements from Marathi performance practice and elements of dance, made it one of his masterpieces. Many adaptations appeared, including stage plays and three film versions. Individual songs of Gopalakrishna Bharathi became popular with Carnatic musicians. Later, Bharata Natyam dancers, including T. Balasaraswati, took up select pieces for interpretation as abhinaya. The album of the film version starring the singer M. M. Dandapani Desikar as Nandanar (with music direction by Papanasam Sivan) remains popular.

The story of Nandanar, as Bharati developed it, had considerable resonance with the Nationalist movement in India. Nandanar was an untouchable (dalit), and M. K. Gandhi, among others, saw his story as expressing the plight and aspirations of India's dalits. Others argue that Nandanar, with his burning desire to see Shiva at Chidambaram, captured the mood and paralleled the aspirations of Indian nationalists yearning for independence from Britain.

Publication Bharati's kathakalakshepams were so popular in Karaikal that several government officials would sleep at work after spending the whole night listening to his performances. Karaikal was then a French colony and the official Cisse decided to conduct an inquiry into the reason behind the inefficiency of his employees. His investigations led him to conclude that the cause was in fact Bharathi. Curious, he decided to pay a visit personally to one of Bharathi's concerts. Cisse was so impressed by Bharathi's performance that he decided to help him publish his work as a book. This eventually led to the publication of Nandanar Charithram'', one of Bharati's most popular works.