Veena Kuppayyar (1798-1860) Biography and Works

Veena Kuppayyar was a famous vainika (veena player), disciple of Shri Thyagaraja and a composer of merit.

Veena Kuppayyar was born into a musical family in Tiruvottiyur. His father Sambamoorti Sastri was a famous vocalist and a veena player. Kuppayyar had his initial training from his father. Later he became a disciple of Thyagaraja and learnt composing from him. He was also a Sanskrit and Telugu scholar. He also learnt violin, which was a new instrument in Carnatic music at the time. But, it was for his profiency in Veena that Kuppayyar came to be well known and veena became a part of his name too.

Veena Kuppayyar later shifted to Muthialpet in Madras. Kovur Sundara Mudaliar was his primary patron and enjoyed the status of asthana vidhwan there. Even Thyagaraja visited Mudaliar's madras house. Kuppayyar trained a lot of disciples in his gurukula, who carried forward the Thyagaraja shishya parampara, helping to spread his krithi-s and music.

Veena Kuppayyar composed in Telugu, both krithi-s and varnam-s. His varnam-s like saami ninne kori (Shankarabharanam) are very famous. His mudra was Gopaaladaasa, in honour of his family diety.

Mudra: Gopaladasa

Genre Carnatic: Krithi, Varnam

Languages used: Telugu

Compositions:

Inta Paralekha - Begada - Rupaka
Vinayaka Ninnuvina - Hamsadvani - Adi
Inta Chalamu - Begada - Adi
Inta Chouka - Bilahar - Adi
Nenarunchi - Danyasi - Khanda Ata
Koniyadina - Kambhoji - Adi
Sami ninne kori - Sankarabharanam - Adi