K S Narayana Iyengar was a master of the south Indian instrument, the Chitravina - also known as gottuvadyam. He contributed immensely to popularising the instrument.
Narayana Iyengar was born on January 25, 1903, near Tirunelveli. His father Srinivasa Iyengar was an engineer and an amateur violinist, and his mother Srivaramangai was a music-lover. Though Narayana Iyengar displayed an early fascination for music, he began learning formally only at age 14.
His guru was Kodaganallur Subbaiyya Bhagavatar, a fine vocalist who could also play the gottuvadyam. Narayana Iyengar also showed skill in painting and photography and honed his skills in these with a stint at the Raja Ravi Varma High School of Arts. He had his general education at Pattamadai High School.
He was enchanted with the beauty, challenge and scope of the gottuvadyam, which was re-introduced to Carnatic music by Tiruvidaimarudur Sakha Rama Rao. Narayana Iyengar requested him to enrol him in as his pupil. Rao, a highly-principled artiste, who never cared about money, name or fame, was impressed with Narayana Iyengar’s talent and attitude and agreed to teach him.
Narayana Iyengar practised with an obsessed rigour, sometimes up to 18–20 hours a day, and reached great heights in a very short time, which led people to call him Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar.
Narayana Iyengar’s first performance was in his the early 20s, and he was soon in great demand all over the country for solo performances. Even in his mid-20s, he was invited to be a royal artiste in Thiruvananthapuram and later in Mysore.
He performed in many prestigious events like the 42nd Indian National Congress meet at Madras in 1927, Calcutta, in 1938, and Navarathri festivals in Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore. Narayana Iyengar was a top-ranked artiste at AIR ever since its inception and was featured in many of its national programmes.
One of his concerts, held by the then Viceroy Lord Wellington and Lady Wellington, made them spellbound that they cancelled all their subsequent engagements and had him play again and again.
Naraya Iyengar standardised the internal structure, string arrangements, tuning and playing methods of the gottuvadyam. A great artiste like Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar was so captivated by this instrument that he learnt it from Narayana Iyengar for a few years, during their joint stint at the royal court of Mysore. His brightest disciple, however, is his own son Chitravina Narasimhan, who continues to practice and popularise the method and style his father had created.
Narayana Iyengar, hailed as the ‘wizard of strings’, won numerous awards and titles like ‘Nadabrahma Vidya Varidhi’, ‘Digvijaya Nadavani’ and ‘Gottuvadya Kalanidhi’.
He died on January 11, 1959, soon after playing a live concert for All India Radio. His music lives on through his son, Chitravina Narasimhan, and his grandchildren Ravikiran, Shashikiran, Kiranavali and Ganesh.