Sundaranarayana
Vadakke Palazhi Narayanankutty Menon, popularly known as his pseudonym Sundaranarayana (February 24, 1938 - March 31, 2013) was an Indian Carnatic music writer who lived in the U. S. A. for most of his life, and served as an engineer. He was well-known for the Carnatic kritis he wrote praising Guruvayurappan, a form of Lord Vishnu mostly worshipped by the Hindu people from Kerala, his home state. He has also written songs about Poornathrayeesa (Another form of Vishnu worshipped in Kerala), Ayyappan, Ganesha, Devi, Shiva and Swami Chinmayananda. Having never learnt Carnatic music, and unable to sing, he started writing songs after he retired from service at the age of 60, and wrote more than 200 songs by the time he died at the age of 75.[1]
Early life
Menon was born on February 24, 1938, in a village named Nadavarambu, located near Irinjalakuda in the then-existing Kingdom of Cochin, which now is a part of Thrissur district, Kerala. He was the fourth son of Thaliyakattil Narayana Menon and Vadakke Palazhi Nanikutty Amma. He had his formal education from the local Government School nearby, and then from the famous Maharaja's College in Ernakulam. He was a class topper throughout his study career. He learnt Malayalam, his mother tongue, only in primary class, and took Sanskrit as his second language when he reached high school. Unlike most of the writers in India, he never wrote even a small poem during most of his lifetime. After graduating from Maharaja's College, he went for advanced studies in the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and got a job in a company named Larsen Toureau in Mumbai itself as an engineer. It was as a part of a mass exodus made by the company employees that he migrated to U. S. A., which happened in 1968, when Menon was aged 30.
Career in U. S. A.
After migrating to U. S. A., Menon started to work as a mechanical engineer, but he also used to have work in the chemical engineering section too. He used to make eco-friendly products, for which he got numerous patents. He was respected by almost all of his co-workers for his achievements. He continued to serve until February 1998, when he turned 60 and announced his plans to retire. It was after his retirement that he started writing songs, due to a bizarre dream, which he used to describe as a divine grace.
The dream which turned his life
After retirement, Menon had plans to have an active life, unlike most of his peers, who usually do nothing after retirement. First, he had plans to learn to play Mridangam, a popular Carnatic percussion instrument, which is essential for all Carnatic concerts except those for Nadaswaram, where Thavil forms its part. He started the lessons, but had to stop early since he got affected with carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand. Later on, he started to learn musical keyboard, but he had to stop early because his keyboard teacher died suddenly. After these incidents, he was living a clueless life, until he had a very bizarre dream one night.
The dream was that Menon saw himself singing at Guruvayur Temple, one among the most important worshipping places of Kerala Hindus, and Lord Guruvayurappan himself hearing his singing. The Lord, in the dream, later told Menon to write more songs praising him. The next day, he told about this dream to his wife, Dr. Sreedevi Menon, but she dismissed his words, because Menon was not known even to hum a song. But the dream recurred many times, after which he began to consider it as a divine message, and he began to write, but could not find where to start. At that time, the preparations for Menon's daughter Lakshmi's marriage were going on, and many of his relatives from both his and his wife's side had reached their home in New Jersey. One among them was Leela Muraleedharan, a professional Carnatic musician, and also a niece of Menon's wife. She told him to write 'Hari Om Narayana' multiple times, and then he could find some words. He did as she said, but could not proceed beyond that. Some days later, when Menon was hearing one among his favourite songs, he got some words, with which he completed his song, titled 'Hari Om Narayana'. He later took the paper to his niece, who later composed this song, but also said that she found a misspelt line in it. Menon could not find the way to correct it then. But still he wrote some more songs within a week.
Next time when he visited Guruvayur Temple, Menon submitted his songs to the then Melshanthi (Chief Priest) of the temple, for having some special poojas. After the poojas, the Melshanthi gave the songs back to Menon, with sandal paste and flowers on it. Menon later found that one line was completely erased, and quickly found the correct word there. It was after this incident that he began to write more songs.[2][3]
Compositions
Menon never had any lesson in Carnatic music, neither vocals nor instruments. He could not even hum a song, as said by everyone he knew. He never wrote a poem until he retired from service at the age of 60. His first exposure to Carnatic music was through some dance songs, which he heard when he took his daughter Lakshmi to Bharatanatyam lessons. This later became a cementing factor for hearing more Carnatic compositions, and later to write some of them himself.
After starting to write songs at the age of 60, Menon wrote more than 200 songs by the time he died 15 years later, despite suffering from poor health most of the time. Most of his songs were about his favourite deity Guruvayurappan, and he wrote the most number of Carnatic compositions devoted to Guruvayurappan, along with his contemporary Thulasivanam, who later appreciated Menon for his works. He also wrote songs about Poornathrayeesa, Ayyappan, Ganesha, Devi, Shiva and Swami Chinmayananda, his Guru. Most of his songs were written in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Manipravalam - a form of poetry in which a Dravidian language (In this case, Malayalam) is mixed with Sanskrit with a beautiful blending of both languages. He also wrote two bhajans in Hindi. He used the pseudonym 'Sundaranarayana', made by mixing 'Sundaran', his nickname, and 'Narayanankutty', his given name, for writing his compositions. Since Menon had no background in Carnatic music, he had to seek outside help for composing his songs, and some famous musicians who composed his songs include Dr. K. Omanakutty, Sreevalsan J. Menon, P. Unnikrishnan, Girija Varma, etc. His compositions on Guruvayurappan are collectively known as Sundaranarayana Guruvayurappan Gananjali, and has been released in eight volumes spanning from 2002 to 2012. A book consisting of his songs was released at the Bridgewater Venkateswara Temple in New Jersey on July 16, 2011.[4]
Some of his compositions include:
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Personal life
Menon was married to Dr. Sreedevi Menon, a general practitioner by profession. The couple were childhood friends, and got married after dating each other for a couple of years. They had two children - an elder daughter named Lakshmi, and a younger son named Jayakumar, both of them who followed their mother's and father's professions, respectively.
Menon suffered from various illnesses during most of his later lifetime, like diabetes and hypertension. He survived two major strokes in 2003 and 2011, and also two major heart attacks in 2006 and 2007, the latter for which he had to undergo a triple bypass surgery. He died after suffering from a third stroke on 31 March 2013, aged 75. He was cremated in New Jersey itself.
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- ↑ https://www.gananjali.net/
- ↑ "In His Grace". 11 March 2009.
- ↑ "Sundaranarayana - A devotee of Guruvayoorappan". YouTube.
- ↑ "In His Grace-Gananjali". 8 August 2011.
