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mathaLam and vari-shangam

From the Bhakti List Archives

jasn sn • September 18, 2002 


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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