V. Sriram's book on Nagarathnamma

The hall at Taj Connemara was packed on Sunday evening.

Events of the Madras Book Club are rarely housefull.
But on Sunday, the Club's active member, V. Sriram, was releasing his new book, 'The Devadasi and the Saint - The life and times of Bangalore Nagarathnamma'.

Sriram has stories to tell. On his walks, his talks or around a table.
And people love stories and gather to listen to him.

Chief guest Kanimozhi, the state chief minister's daughter and Member of Parliament, did the honours of releasing the book.

Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyan received the first copy. Sanjay and Sriram work closely on many a project. This evening, Sanjay highlighted the extensive field work, long hours of research and meticulous documentation that had gone into the writing of this book. That too, starting with thin documents and small leads.
"With such work, Sriram can now be awarded a doctorate," Sanjay mused.

For Sriram, whose last book ' Carnatic Summer' profiled 20 great Carnatic musicians, the Nagarathnamma story idea took seed when as a freshman he read an article on her in 'Sruti' magazine and was fascinated with this character.

Much later, when writer and arts consultant 'Manna' Srinivasan shared with him a copy of her will, the extensive details further fueled Sriram's interest in the woman who championed the rights of the devadasis, was a lead figure in the arts world in Madras in the 1920s and 30s and celebrated her devotion for saint-composer Thygaraja by creating a shrine over his samadhi in Thiruvaiyaru where the annual aradhana is held in the early part of the year.

From then on, Sriram did what all good writers do - picked up leads, followed them up and researched.

In Bangalore and in Thiruvaiyaru, in the Tamil Nadu Archives and private libraries, it took him close to two years to collect material and then write the book.

At Sunday's launch, theatre-person Prasanna Ramaswamy presented her production based on the book, with actors of 'The Madras Players', the city's oldest theatre group and sishyas of Sanjay, taking the audience through Nagarathnamma's journey.

The book, priced at Rs.275, has been published by East West Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd.