About this poem:

Musical Journey of Padmasini Narasimhachar

Padmasini Narasimhachar is a name that is synonymous with the world of veena players in Bengaluru. This flawless veena player was born on 1932 in Mysore, Karnataka to Sampath Iyengar and Sreesamma, a family that had musical syllables embedded in their daily life . Her father had prolific thala gnana to the extent that he used to play ghatam without formal training in the instrument .

She got married to Narasmihachar at the age of 12. Her formal veena training was instituted at the age of 13 under the guidance of Sreenivas Bhatt, after a short stint of 8 months with Sreenivas bhatt, she had further guidance from H.S Krishnamurthy. The call of mother hood came to her at the age of 16 and from then on she turned out to be the mother of 9 children.
Though the labor of managing a big family as a mother and also as a devoted wife was arduous, she never let lethargic values rule her world, rather was content with veena learning. Unlike these days machines did not support running a household, rather mothers of those days had to depend on traditional methods to ensure food and cleanliness in the household. The physical labour for running a household was a painstaking process, but to the credit of this mother of Nine, she found time for veena practice during the early morning hours between 3.a.m to 5.a.m and evening during 6.30 p.m -8.p.m. !
This thriving spirit of vision envisaged on the realms of music engulfed a tremendous energy on her, resulting in producing a fine veena player in the history of Carnatic music. Her first concert was on the auspicious day of Sri Rama Navami in Mysore. Mother has seldom given open consort’s, rather was more content in passing on her authentic, traditional and rhythmic classical knowledge to seekers of Carnatic music which continues till date. However she always performs during Thyagaraja Aradhana as a tribute to her Guru. For almost 30 years she passed on her knowledge in an institute – Shree Sarada Sangeetha Vidyalaya, with almost 60-70 students attending the classes every year. These students were trained from Junior Veena to Vidwath Examination.
Her commitment and dedication to veena is beyond words and the hardships passed through in obtaining this godhead knowledge are enviable. Padamasini Narasimhachar puts her knowledge filled wisdom in simple words ‘I do not know from where I drew the strength to manage such a big family & play veena. It was not done with any materialistic intentions but was done only with the sheer passion for wisdom. Without the blessings of Perumal it wouldn’t have been possible – I am thankful to him”.
It’s this sheer surrender, passion and bhakthi for the divine instrument that lifts her status quo in this planet. A status quo of godliness envisaged by many……..