mathaLam and vari-shangam

[Guest guest]

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

A delayed response!

 

MathaLam is the earlier version of to-day's

mrudhangam.

MathaLam had been in use from very early times. Even

Nandhi bhagawan sported a mathaLam around his neck.

The only difference between a mathaLam and a mrudangam

is that the decibel level in a MathaLam is quite high.

It is for this reason this instrument was not

preferred in vocal music-recitals and mrudhangam came

to take its place. The difference in the decibel level

is due to texture of the skin used in the 'Thoppi'and

the additional layers of the same in the mrudhangam.

 

The combination of mathaLam and shangu seems to be a

by-gone one as we have no inkling of how shangu is

blown in combination with mathaLam. It must have been

"Kottu mathaLam" rather than "Kottu MeLAm" in Andal's

times.

 

Today, mathalam still re-lives in Koothu, in rural

Tamil nadu. Its variation, the Dolak (it is mathalam

minus KaraNAi on the right)is popular in north India.

But shangu's place in connection with matahLam seems

to be extinct. It is hoped some mrudhangist revives

this combination (any mridhangist can play a mathaLam

as the jathis and strokes are the same as in

mrudhangam). If saxaphone and violin can co-exist and

thavil and violin can co-exist to give melodious

music, the once-existed mathaLam-shangu combination

must give out a soul-stringing finale to an auspicious

occasion such as a marriage.

 

The other thought-provoking aspects of VAraNamAyiram

are

# why is there no talk of kanya-dhAn and

magalya-dhAraNam?

# what is the 'mangala veedhi valam' that takes place

after the marriage-rituals, particularly after the

'pori edudhal'?

 

 

jayasree sarnathan

 

 

 

 

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