The Eloquent Garland: A Classical Dictionary of Composers and Musicians

There have been excellent books from ancient days on musicology, the theory of music. There are biographies of a few celebrated composers and musicians. There are some publications with a collection of more than one or two biographies. Revered Subbarama Dikshitar in his comprehensive presentation titled ‘Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini’ [1904] did bring out brief facts of seventy-seven lives. Abraham Pandithar in his Karnamrta Sagaram [1917] and later Prof. P. Sambamurthi have recorded brief facts likewise on select musicians, etc. Venerable Dr. U. Ve. Swaminatha Ayyar presumably thought of bringing out a collection on the lives of eminent musicians but his noble life was a remarkable, unsurpassed fight against clock and calendar. His weighty contribution, that was non-pareil, would seem to have attracted the notice of the Lord that he was withdrawn before he could take up this work.