Papa Chudamani followed in the same guru-shishya parampara tradition and mastered her art through rigorous hours of practice. Among her well-known signature songs were the Thyagaraja keerthanam ‘Saroja Dala Netri’ a composition by Shyama Sastrigal set to raga Shankarabharanam and Enthara Neethana in Hari Kamboji raga.

The heady combination of her powerful voice singing the Upacharamu in raga Bhairavi is a masterpiece that remains a favourite of many rasikas.

Her rendition of devaranamas and Thyagaraja kritis are still played by the All India Radio (AIR), Bangalore. The lanes of 10th cross Seshadripuram in Bengaluru, where she used to live, have reverberated with her deep voice practicing swaram and aalapanai’s all night.

There is this interesting incident of the famous violinist Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan refusing to play in accompaniment for Papa Choodmani since she was just a young performer.

After much persuasion and coaxing, he agreed to play for a short time. Young Papa’s raga delineation for the Thodi raga went on for about two hours with improvisations hitting a zenith and yet she showed no signs of slowing down.

The master violinist Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, realising he had met his match, is said to have placed his violin down and profusely apologised for underestimating her talent.

Her kacheri’s became an instant sell-out with legendary artists vying to play the accompaniments for her. Musical greats such as L Bhimachar, who was famous for his morsing, T V Gopalakrishnan along with U Krishnamani Iyer are some of them who have played for Papa Choodamani.

While several memorable incidents surround the legend of Papa Chudamani, the one that puts a spotlight on her musical prowess took place at Badaganadu Sangha in Bangalore.

During a kacheri, as she sang the Punnagavarali raga, a snake is said to have appeared on the stage out of nowhere and seemed to listen in rapt attention. Without any show of fear or a break in her voice, the legend that she was, Papa Choodamani continued to sing and go on to complete the song after which the snake was driven away.

An unparalleled musical talent, her unique voice was an intoxicating combination of the fluidity of M S Subbalakshmi along with the deep richness of M L Vasantha Kumari.

Destiny played a cruel hand in snatching this ‘M S of Karnataka’ (as she was popularly called) at the young age of 44. The world of Carnatic music lost one of its gems and her memories got relegated to the corners of a few yesteryear rasika’s hearts.

A tyranny of those times, there is little or no video recording of this brilliant musical talent and only the memories of aesthetes stand witness to this musical giant who walked this very earth.

Papa Choodamani

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