When Rains Came to Lanka

From designing his own string instrument to inventing the bow of the violin and creating the first ragas, Raavan was known as an artist par excellence.

- 

MORE than two centuries ago, around the year 1820, Ettayapuram, a small village in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, was severely hit by drought and famine. The land was rendered arid due to years of no rainfall, and a multitude of villagers lost their lives. It is a curse, the villagers said, for having insulted the rain god.

The people of this village implored Chinnaswami Dikshitar, a musician of repute, for their salvation. He, in turn, sent a message to his brother Muthuswami Dikshitar, a renowned and acclaimed Carnatic musician and composer, revered as one of the Musical Trinity of Carnatic music.

Endowed with distinctive divine blessings, Muthuswami came to Ettayapuram, accompanied by his disciple Subramaniyam Aiyyar. He was pained to see the suffering of the drought-hit land and its people.

He told his disciple: "We have to invoke the rain goddess, or else there will be no sign of life in this village. We have to revive the extraordinary powers of the ancient Raga Amrutvarshini. But before we embark on this task, we have to seek the blessings of the inimitable musician of all time, the revered great grandson of Brahma, the grandson of the Sapta Rishi Pulastya Muni, the unequalled bhakt of Lord Shiva, the powerhouse of knowledge of six puranas and four vedas, the incomparable one who had mastered the 64 classical arts of ancient India, the peerless musician of Treta Yuga-Raavan, who created Raga Amrutvarshini. This raag is believed to have brought the shower of healing drops of rain despite the skies being bereft of clouds. We will have to seek Raavan's blessings, learn the secrets of this raga before we bring to life the powers engendered by this ancient Raga Amrutvarshini and implore the goddess of rain for mercy." "Why is it so Swami?" queried Subramaniyam.

"It is so because Raavan created this Raga Amrutvarshini and saved Lanka from being reduced to ashes. I will narrate the story behind it," averred Muthuswami.