Mandolin Shrinivas- our Markandeya

                                                  Mandolin Shrinivas- our Markandeya

The death of mandolin Shrinivas in his mid- 40s has come as a shock not only to lovers of Carnatic music, but music lovers all over the world. A child prodigy, this young man reached the pinnacle of glory as a musical genius even before he was through his teens. One does not have to be knowledgeable about Carnatic music to listen to him and get enthralled by the sounds of his mandolin. But more importantly, one does not have to be a music aficionado to feel devastated  that those sounds of music from his mandolin will no longer be heard ( for they will be available on digital discs) but the fact that the producer of that magical sound will no longer be present in our midst is a loss difficult to accept and confront as an irretrievable fact of reality. He is irreplaceable not only as a musician, but as a human being- humility personified. The music that he produced was his gift to the world, but he never wore his genius on his sleeves. He considered himself as the instrument of Goddess Saraswati who created her divine music through him. It is always said that the flute or the mandolin does not produce the sounds but it is the player who creates them. Shrinivas’ humility was such that he did not consider himself as the producer of those divine notes, but humbly acknowledged that it was the Goddess whose music resonated from him. It is this Shrinivas that we will miss.

 We all have heard in our younger days the story of Markandeya.  Markandeya as the legend goes was born to a Shiva worshipping couple who after being childless for many years was  given  the choice by Lord Shiva of either a gifted son who would live for just sixteen years or  a son of below par intelligence with long years of life. The couple chose the former and true to the Lord’s blessings, Markandeya was born as an exemplary son  and a great devotee of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.  But when his sixteen years were over, at the appointed time of his death, Lord Shiva protected him from the lord of Death (Yama) and gave him the boon of eternal life. It is said that Markandeya  lived well past the end of the previous world and witnessed its end. I reflected on Markandeya’s story and realized that if this legend is true, then Markandeya , blessed with eternal life, should be present with us even today.

Shrinivas is the new Markandeya of our times. He not only lives eternally through his music but like his ancestor, Markandeya Rishi,who worshipped Shiva,  Shrinivas  is also a worshipper of Nada Dvani, personified by Goddess Saraswati. Like the eternal Markandeya, he remained all through his sojourn on earth, modest, unpretentious, humble, respectful to his father and Guru and above all an affectionate mentor to his younger sibling. Humility, thy name is Shrinivas.

The great German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche, adapting the Biblical saying of St Luke: “"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" wrote that it is only human that he who humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.

Mandolin  Shrinivas is exalted to eternity. But he abides with us forever and his music shall live with us providing the sustenance for our parched soul. Let us not mourn him that he is gone; let us celebrate his life and his music that remains with us.

Let us pray with all humility: “ May all our souls rest in peace and tranquility with Mandolin Shrinivas.”