14-GOPALAKRUSHNA BARATHI

1-10-2019

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopalakrishna_Bharati

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Gopalakrishna Bharati (1810–1896) was a Tamil poet and a composer of Carnatic music. He wrote a kathakalatchepam , Nantanar Charittiram (Nandanar Charitram), two other works in this genre, and many independent kritis.

Gopalakrishna Bharati was a contemporary of Thyagaraja whom he is said to have met, and who asked him whether he had composed anything in the raga AbhOgi; Bharati subsequently composed one of

his most popular kritis in rUpaka tALa,

Sabhapatikku. The great Tamil literary figure, U. V. Swaminatha Iyer wrote Bharati's life: a biography of the composer and his own autobiography, which contains references to Bharati, who was his guru in music.

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

entire part of his life. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all veena exponents and scholars in Sanskrit. After losing his parents at an early age, he worked as a cook in a temple. He then met Govinda Yati, who taught him

Hindu scripture, and then the musician Ramdas, who taught him Hindustani music. Gopalakrishna started his professional career after finding a

patron named Annu Iyer.

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Gopalakrishna Bharati used the mudra (signature) Gopalakrishna in his compositions. These include famous kritis like varukalAmO (rAga mAnji), varuvArO (sAma) and ennEramum (rAga dEvagAndhAri). However, those portions of his work from the Nandanar Charitram that have been set to tune may not have his mudrai. These include famous songs like "Satru Vilagi Irum Pillai", "Innamum Sandeha Padalamo"