A Peep into the Musical Past led by Dr.S.Amarnath

Dr. S. Amarnath - One of the “Mylapore Trio” of Sri Sumukhi Rajasekharan Memorial Foundation, who is a Professor of History at Presidency College, Chennai, led a group of people along with his Ph.D and M.A students to the “IYAL ISAI MUSEUM”- A Special Exhibition organized by the Madras Museum at Egmore on Saturday 10^th Feb. The Post-Graduate students have a subject on “Performing Arts of Tamil Nadu” in which they have a chapter on Musical Instruments and hence he took the initiative to guide them to have a visual treat and hands on experience. The students were amazed to see the models of rare musical instruments of ancient origin and icons of Nataraja displayed at the Gallery. They were for the first time exposed to such cultural exhibits and evinced keen interest to know more about them. Professor Amarnath shared his knowledge about musical instruments to the students, which he had taught them in the Class as a part of the Curriculum. Different type of Musical Instruments viz., Wind, String, and Percussion were on display and various  kinds of Yazh like Matsya yazh, Mayura yazh, Sarpa yazh, Kaschapa yazh apart from Magudi, Thunthana, Sangu, Berigai, Jalatharangam, Santoor, Sitar, Viilu, Vichitra Veena etc. All these were ornamental inlaid with ivory, depicting the historicity and antiquity of the Period. We could also see rare collection of Dancing icons of Natraja, Kali, Krishna etc. made of panchalokam and colourful dancing leather puppets belonging to different periods & South Indian States respectively.

Prof. Amarnath himself being an Alumna of Kalakshetra and Classical Dancer of yester years took the initiative to give them a new experience at the Museum. Dr. Amarnath’s aim is to take Fine Arts and Performing Arts to Academic Arena and Research Forum. Professor Amarnath has also produced and guides many Ph.D and M.Phil scholars in Cultural History. His siblings Surendranath and Aparna also were a part of this group and shared their own information on the subject. At the end of the day the students were amply satisfied and thanked their Professor Amarnath for exposing them to a new World which they have not seen so far. Mrs.Tulasi Brinda the Madras Museum Admin-Incharge and Curator of the Zoology Section who was also an M.Phil Student of Dr.S.Amarnath accompanied the group. The “Mylapore Trio” appreciated the efforts of Ms. Kavitha Ramu, I.A.S., Director - Department of Museum, for the initiative and effort taken by her to organize an exclusive exhibition on Music and Dance for the first time in the Museum.