United Andhra Pradesh as a state was a great modern hub of Carnatic classical music only a century ago. 

In addition to having a rich tradition of hundreds of regional theatre companies and producing some of the greatest stalwarts of the stage (and some who made a smooth migration to the silverscreen), there was a separate sub-culture of different types of classical dance forms. 

The Harikatha tradition was a totally different world altogether. With big Sabhas in places like Kakinada and generous patrons like the royals of Gadwal and Vizainagaram, Andhra was a veritable heaven for classical arts.  To think that now, only a century later, a large part of that has completely vanished is a big statement on how the Telugus have (or have not) saved their own cultural heritage. 

Before you read the story of Chinna Moulana, it is important to get the rich cultural context and the historical background that he hailed from. 

The nagaswaram artistes were a large community across the villages of the Krishna and Godavari delta. Attached to countless ancient temples as ‘Asthana Vidwans’, they lived in service of the art form. Vijayawada, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Tenali, and many other places boasted of their own regional ‘schools’ of performing the instrument.

Stalwarts like Dalipatri Pichhari brothers of Vijayawada and Sheikh Chinna Peeru Saheb (grandfather of the maestro Sheikh Subhani) were celebrated among music circles. When the AIR launched their radio station in Vijayawada, all these maestros were promptly invited for performances. 

One such tradition of nagaswaram was in the coastal town of Chilakaluripeta in the Guntur district. Born into a family of nagaswaram artistes in 1726, a young and suicidal Nabi Sahib was tired of being called a ‘good-for-nothing’ and ran away from home and slept in a temple overnight. That night the goddess blessed him and he was a changed man the next morning. 

He not only returned to his family but took to the instrument with a greater passion and displayed a great proficiency in it, within no time. The then Zamindar of Chilakaluripeta made him an Aasthana Vidwan and helped him set up a Gurukulam where he trained a number of students. 

Thus, the Chilakaluripeta school of nagaswaram was born. Nabi Sahib had two sons, Sheik Pedda Nasaradi and Chinna Nasaradi. Another common feature among Telugu families with multiple children where Pedda/Chinna are prefixed to names to identify the older/younger son. These Nasaradi brothers were excellent musicians and were attached to the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Chilakaluripeta. 

Among their descendants were Pedda Hussain, Chinna Hussain, Dada Saheb and Ghalib Saheb. Each of them not only a great musician but also well-versed in the various treatises on the theory of music. 

Pedda Moula Saheb (b. 1890) and Chinna Moula Saheb (b.1893) were two more great exponents from the same Chilakaluripeta tradition. In addition to a rich repertoire of over three hundred kritis, they were also masters in vocal music. 

Veteran musicologist Balantrapu Rajanikantha Rao (1920-2018) writes how these two brothers were masters of the Amarakosa and even gave discourses on the Ramayana and Bhagavatam. They received ‘Mantropadesha’ from Kallidakurichi Balasaraswati Swamigal and were celebrated artistes of their times. They established schools of music in little villages like Ravinootala and Ammanabrolu. 

Similarly there were the Kommuru brothers and the Peeru Brothers of which Chinna Peeru Saheb was a stalwart. His grandson is the famous Padma Shri Awardee Sheikh Subhani (and Kahlisha Bi). One can go on and on about many more Vidwans of this tradition. 

Sheikh Abdulla Saheb belonged to another such illustrious family of Nagaswaram Vidwans in Karavadi, a small village near Ongole. He had two sons Sheikh Madar Saheb and Sheikh Kasim Saheb. They were renowned for their mastery over the compositions of saint Tyagaraja. Kasim Saheb and Beebi Jan gave birth to a son on the 12th of May 1924. He was to bring unprecedented name and fame to not just his own tradition of nagaswaram but also to the very state of Andhra Pradesh. 

He was named Moula at birth. Growing up in a house full of musicians, he took his first training under the guidance of his grandfather, his uncle and father. They were his first Gurus. 

In addition to that, from a very young age he was exposed to the old gramophone records of the iconic TN Rajarathnam Pillai (TNR). Everything about his music attracted the mind of little Moula. The father decided it would do good if the son also had a Guru from outside of the family. 

They brought the little boy to Nachiarkovil, a small village near Kumbakonam in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. There they persuaded the famous Nagaswaram Vidwan Duraikannu Pillai to accept him as a student. 

From 1950 onwards, for the next decade, Moula would come all the way and stay for two months of rigourous and intensive training from Duraikannu Pillai and his brother Rajan. It was only after a decade of severe penance that Moula gave his debut performance in Tamil Nadu in 1960. 

After that there was no looking back. He grew from strength to strength. His schedule was choc-a-bloc with performances. But it was not a smooth ride as it seemed. 

There was trouble brewing elsewhere. A small faction of artistes from the same community opposed a Muslim boy playing so many concerts. But that was to fade out soon when some of the biggest stalwarts came forward to support him. Among them was the great Thavil Vidwan Valangaiman A Shanmugasundaram Pillai. He not only supported him but became his regular accompanying artiste for over three decades. 

The other person who helped him was the violin Vidwan Ramanathapuram Ganesha Pillai. He was living in Trichy and would help Moula fix many of his music concerts in important festivals. 

But something else was brewing within him. He found himself extremely devoted to Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. He would open his mouth to say “Ranga!” and tears would roll down his eyes automatically. In the summer of 1964, he decided to shift to Srirangam for good. He set up his humble house and a music Gurukul. He called it ‘Saradha Nadaswara Sangeetha Ashram’. 

Here, he would not only train a large number of disciples but also take care of them like a large family. When not training his students in his Gurukul, he would be seen doing pradakshinams around the outermost circle of the Sapta Prakarams of Srirangam or at the nearby temple of Thiruvanaika. 

At other times he would frequent Thiruvaiyaru on the banks of the Kaveri where the Samadhi Mandiram of Saint Tyagaraja is. There he would sit and play his heart out for hours together. 

Musicologist and historian Dr Rama Kausalya of Marabu Foundation in Thillaisthanam once mentioned how he would come as one of the external examiners to the music college. “He would always be seen with a little leaf of Tulasi above his ear. He would not come to the college directly. It had to always be only after paying his prayers at the Tyagaraja Samadhi Mandiram”, she recollected. 

Such was the immense devotion he had in his heart. It truly reflected in the glorious music he made. 

His fame and music spread far and wide. His name became synonymous with the instrument he breathed life into. He traveled to the USA, USSR, France, Hong Kong and many other important festivals across the world. Though he got several offers to play in the movies, he consciously refused all those and chose to keep his music away from all glamour. 

Awards and recognitions came his way. 

• In 1976 he was honoured with the title of the Kalaimamani by the government of Tamil Nadu. 

• In 1977, the President of India honoured him with the Padma Shri award. Andhra University gave him the honorary doctorate title of ‘Kala Prapoorna’ in 1985. 

• Jayalalithaa honoured him with the ‘Isai Perarignar’ by the Tamil Isai Sangam. 

• The Music Academy of Madras honoured him with the Sangita Kalanidhi title in 1999. 

Many more honours decorated him, all of which he carried lightly on his shoulders. “It is lord Ranganatha who is keeping me and blessing me. I am nothing without his grace!”, he would exclaim with folded hands and eyes brimming with tears. 

This year as we celebrate the birth centenary of one of this century’s greatest classical maestros, it is also a time to reflect on the values he stood by and the devotion that poured through his music. 

It is unfortunate that his own home state of Andhra has done nothing about this significant landmark. Down in Srirangam, his two grandsons Kasim and Babu have organized a year-long calendar of musical activities.

They have also been giving scholarships to poor nagaswaram and thavil students. They have instituted a national award in his name and honoured several veteran artistes in their large and underrated community of artistes. They continue to carry forward the rich legacy of their legendary grandfather.