25-NEELAKANTA SIVAN
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FROM SRUTI MAG
https://sruti.com/index.php?route=archives/artist_details&artId=78
Neelakanta Sivan was born in 1839 at Padmanabbapuram (part of erstwhile Travancore) in Kanyakumari district. His original name was Subramanian. Even while he was a boy, he did not care for worldly pleasures and his attention was towards bhajan-s and religious discourses. He got married to a girl named Lakshmi, of Tiruvanantapuram. Though he had a sense of detachment, he did not shirk his marital responsibilities; he got four sons and a daughter. He also got an appointment in the Judicial Department and was posted as a Village Magistrate at the age of 20. But he could not continue the job, as there were heavy pressures on him quite frequently to act against his conscience. Then be started composing songs which came out of bis heart spontaneously.
He died in 1900. Neelakanta Sivan's musicoliterary works, devotional in nature and in Tamil, deal with the lives of Saiva saints like Appar, Sundarar, Manikkavasagar, Tiruneclakantar and Kannappa Nayanar. Some are on stories
extolling the divinity of Somavara, Pradosha, Sivaratri, Rudraksha and so on. His musical works are in the form of kritis. Very few of his numerous songs have come down to us.
Enraikku Sivakripai (Mukhari), Orunal orupozhudagilum (Khamas), Yen inda tamasam (Natakurinji), Navasiddhipetralum (Kharaharapriya),
Anandanatam aduvar (Poorvikalyani),
Sambho Mahadeva (BOWLI),
Neelakanta nityananda (Arabhi)
are some of his popular pieces.
MS Subbulakshmi-Shambho Mahadeva-Bowli-Rupakam-NilakantaSivan
His songs are mellifluous and soul-stirring. His disciples included Papanasam Sivan and T. Lakshmana Pillai.