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Genesis of Carnatic Music

Dr. Amutha Pandian

In India two kinds of classical music are practised at present

Carnatic and Hindustani. Hindustani is practised mostly in NorthIndia and it is a known fact that this was born out of an

amalgamation of indigenous music and the music of the Middle

East, brought into India by the Mogul conquerors. Even though there

are books at present to define its characteristics, for a thorough study

of this style of music recourse to the musicology of Carnatic music is

inevitable. No wonder then that when the great maestro Ravi Shankar

was asked for the theory underlying the music that he performs he

said he is only a performing artist and that for a possible theory one

has to look up to South India.

The classical music typical of South India is Carnatic music; the

term Carnatic was used by the English who landed in the Malabar

Coast, to denote the music that was practised from Mysore to

Tiruvanandapuram. This South Indian music is Dravidian Music for

the four states of South India- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh

and Karnataka that constitute the ancient Dravidian Kingdom, and

Tamil language has been the mother language of antiquity for these

four Dravidian languages. Hence, Indian music, South Indian music,

Carnatic music and Tamil music are synonyms.

In spite of these overt particulars several researchers still argue

that Carnatic music was developed by the Aryans and has nothing to

do with Tamil.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Europeans began

to be interested in Indian music and began their research, Sanskrit

works like Bharata Natya Sastra of the second century A.D., and

Sangeetha Ratnakaramof the fifth century served as reference. While

the former is a work on drama giving several details of music, thelatter is replete with myths and legends.

Also popular books on Carnatic music say that Carnatic music

owes its origin to the Vedas. Though Carnatic music is more suited to

recite the Vedas, the Rig Veda was originally chanted with four notes

Ri, Dha, Ga, and Ni and according to tradition certain portions of

the Rig Veda, were chanted with the additional three notes Sa, Ma,

Pa by Ravana, King of Lanka, which later became the Sama Veda.

One popular misconception is about the nomenclature of the Sama

Indian music,

South Indian music,

Carnatic music and

Tamil music are

synonyms

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F 2Veda. Fox Strangways, in the Music of Hindustan (p.249250), says

that drinking of the juice of soma plant is the central point of the

elaborate ritual described in the ninth book of the Rig Veda. Soma

refers to the moon, and the Sama Veda is specially connected with

the worship of ancestors whose abode is believed to be the moon. Ifthe nomenclature suggests chanting that followed drinking of soma

juice, or chanting that is made to the Moon God, the name must be

soma gaanam and not sama gaanam. Ravana, when crushed

underfoot by Lord Siva for his obdurate pride, being conversant with

the four tantras (strategies of rhetoric) sama (appeasement), bheda

(argument), dhana (charity), danda (punishment) chanted the

portions of the Rig Veda to the accompaniment of the veena and

appeased Lord Shivas wrath. Samam + Veda = Sama Veda, where

sama is pacifying. There are images in temples in South India, whichdepict this. In the temples at Madurai, Aavudayarkoil and many other

places images of Ravana represent him as playing a veena of thousand

strings with his twenty hands.

It is also a matter for regret that many European gentlemen who

came to India to gather information about the antiquity of India, its

ancient arts and culture were misled by those who have a very

imperfect knowledge of it. The result was that the musicologists were

often confounded by the appalling differences between the theories

of music that was promulgated in these works and the music practisedby veterans. Indian and Western musicologist, in the wake of

nineteenthcentury, found it impossible to form a tangible scientific

theory of the much-appreciated Carnatic music. C. R. Day, Fox -

Strangways, E. Clements and others failed in their endeavors because

they based their research on Sanskrit works, which were written with

puranic imagination mixing plenty of myths and legends.

Any classical art is formalized, and organized. It fits into a

grammatical framework and is governed by scientific rules. Yet the

musicologists who ground their theories of music on the Sanskrit

works neither define them in clear terms nor agree with each other

in a scientific theory.

For example though most of the details that Sarangadeva gives in

the Sangeetha Ratnakaram are details that explain the South Indian

system, he is unscientific when talking about the intervals between

sruthis, the number ofsruthis, modal shift of tonic and the three

grammas. Though Sarangadeva says that alaguu-s(sruthis) must have

European gentlemenwho came to India to

gather information

about the antiquity of

India, its ancient arts

and culture were

misled by those who

have a very imperfect

knowledge of it

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F 3equal intervals, he also says that the number of sruthis is 22. How

could 12 semitones be divided into 22 in equal proportion with the

ratio of one fourth or one eighth? The zodiac sign (by which the

Tamils formed theirVattappaalai) with12 houses will not be complete

with the 22 alaguusof Sarangadeva. Kural Thiribu (modal shift oftonic) by which the threegraamams (gamut) are made is impossible

in Sarangadevers system. Sarangadeva mentions the Dhaivatha

Graamam, the Madhyama Graamam and the Gandhara Graamam a

few times. But he says that the Madhyama Graamam was not popular

in his days and that the Gandhara Graamam went away to the celestial

region. This is perhaps because singing KuralThiribu was not properly

understood. However the way the Tamils sang Kural Thiribu could be

deduced, from the description in the Aaycchiyar Kuravai in the

Silappathikaaram. The Aaycchiyar Kuravai shows the great felicitywith which the Tamils made Kural Thiribu. It was possible only because

their music was scientific.

It was Abraham Pandithar who declared that while the theories

promulgated from the Sanskrit works do not in anyway suit the

practical music of South India (or Carnatic Music), some of the

details in the Silappathikaaram cognates with the oral tradition of

the Oduvaars of the Thevaram and the music of the Nagaswaram

artists. (Karunamirtha Sagaram,p.)The facts that are undeniable

proofs to conclude that the present Carnatic music is the ancientmusic practiced by the Tamils:

1. Details found in the Sanskrit works are not scientific

2. They in no way serve to explain the ancient music preserved in the

oral tradition of the Oduvaars.

3. The music that is spoken of in the Tolkappiam, the Paripadal and

the Silappathikaaram are highly systematized.

4. They explain the classical music that is practiced today.

Through these facts and recent research in history, linguistics and

anthropology one can arrive safely at the following conclusions:

1. During the period of the sangams, Tamil music attained classical

heights.

2. During the sangam maruviya kaalam (transitional period), when

the educated class among the Tamils, known as anthanars, began

It was Abraham

Pandithar whodeclared that while

the theories

promulgated from the

Sanskrit works do not

in anyway suit the

practical music of

South India

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F 4translating their knowledge for the Sanskrit scholars some of the

basics principles lost their explanations and relevance.

3. When the Sanskrit scholars became expert exponents of Tamil

music, they were so keen on reproducing the knowledge in theirown language that Tamil books on music became extinct.

4. Most of the technical terms in music and musicology including

the names of notes andpanns were translated into Sanskrit.

5. The Buddhists and the Jains, with a philosophy based on restraint

and asceticism, preached against pleasure, one of the four basic

principles of the philosophy of the life of the Tamils, and

consequently artists were pushed to the fringes of society.

6. With the rejuvenation of Indian Art in the 19th and 20th centuries,

music of the Tamils was renamed Carnatic Music. However, for

the theory of musicology, Sanskrit works were alone referred to.

7. When Indian and Western scholars tried to build a tangible theory

of Carnatic music from the Sanskrit source there were

incongruities because such a theory is inapplicable to the music

practised by traditional musicians till today in the south of India.

Carnatic music was developed many thousands of years before

the authors of Sanskrit works such as the Bharata Natya Sastra (500A.D.), the Sangeetha Parijatham (600 A.D.), and the Sangeetha

Ratnakara (1200A.D.), not by the Sanskrit speaking Aryans but the

Tamil speaking Dravidians. Details of music in the Tholkappiam,

the great Tamil work of the pre-Christian era on literary theory and

linguistics, presuppose a highly systemized music. If separate panns

are designated to separate landforms it is imperative that a scientific

and systemized music should have been practised in Tamil Nadu even

before the time of the Tholkappiam.

Adiyaarkkunallar, in the Preface to the Silappathikaaram,deplores

the extinction of works on music, and quotes a few works that helped

him in his commentary. The books he refers to are Agattiyam,

Isainunukkam, Indira Kaaliam, Gunanool, Kootanool, Saeyantam,

Seittriyam, Talavahaiyottu Nool, Panchabhaaratheeam,

Panchamarabu, Bharatasenapateeam, Bhaaratham, Perungurugu,

Perunaarei, Mathivaanar Naataka Tamil Nool and Muruval.

Pervungalam or the yazh (Veena) with 1000 strings and other yazhs

with 21, 17, and 14 strings, which are referred to in the above works,

were all extinct even in his own time.

not by the Sanskrit

speaking Aryans butthe Tamil speaking

Dravidians

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F 5According to Hindu Music and Gayan Samaj (Part III, p. 8) Hindu

music as a system was developed long ago. Dr. Tennant says that by

the mere presence of large number of instruments in India, Hindus

might be regarded as considerably proficient in music. W.W. Hunter

in The Indian Empire (p.110-112) and K.B. Deval in Hindu MusicalScale and the 22 sruthi-s (p 1) are of the opinion that an Indian

musical scale was in existence even before the Brahman period of

2500 B.C. to 1400 B.C. Hindu priests who resided and meditated in

the primeval forests and inaugurated civilization developed it into a

system and science. Because this system is very different from the

arka system developed by acharyas (who first chanted the Vedas in

only one note, and then two and subsequently four) this music must

be the South Indian music.

Hindu Music and the Gayan Samaj speaks of the systems present

in North India and then says Besides these there is the Southern

Indian system distinct in it, and constituting an important section

of the Indian musical system, termed the Karnataka system (Quoted

in Karunamirtha Sagaram Part I,Book 1). C.R. Day says that (p.12)

of the two systems practiced in Southern India, Hindustani is practised

mostly by Moghuls, while Carnatic is confined more to the southern

races, and that it may be called the natural music of the south and

that it is more scientific and refined than the Hindustani, and again

(p.13) that because South India was less disturbed by internalcommotions the science of music would seem to have been

maintained and cultivated long after the original art had been lost

in the North(p. 13) . Moreover according to Hindu Music and Gayan

Samaj the Dravidian system is more Vedic than the northern

Hindustani.

As already pointed out, when the Aryans entered South India during

the period of the last sangam, Brahmans learnt Sanskrit, and made

fresh works in both the languages that account for the presence of

Sanskrit words in Tamil. Older writings became obsolete owing to

disuse and other natural causes. Subsequently these Aryans became

experts in South Indian music, which gave them power and influence

they prized so much (C .R. Day, p.5) and this led to doubts about

the antiquity of the language and culture of the Tamils. They discarded

all the existing fragments of works of Tamil music, wrote new ones

in Sanskrit and handed them to posterity. They completely changed

the names of some of the ancient pans (ragas) and also technical

terms, giving Sanskrit names with Sanskrit letters as mnemonics for

They completely

changed the names of

some of the ancient

pans (ragas) and also

technical terms

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F 6determining them thus giving them derivative names. They further

classified the pann-s introducing some of the chief Sanskrit ideas

into it. The real harm was done when they handed down through

written texts what they did not understand. Written without proper

comprehension of the minute details of Carnatic music these textscaused great confusion regarding the theories of Carnatic music.

Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher, though well conversant with

the sruthis used in the South Indian system, being unaccustomed to

tuning an instrument by sounding Sa and Pa as the South Indians

did, was misled by the system in the Sangeetha Ratnakaram, took

with him the measurements 2/3

and and developed the western

music scale out of it. From that time onwards, there have been

numerous theories as to the number ofsruthis in the South Indian

system. As already observed, European musicologists were very often

misled by those who had a very imperfect knowledge of it. For example,

a very great scholar like C.R. Day, often misled by what he read in

the Sangeetha Ratnakaram, says that sruthi is of 22 kinds also

Doubts however exist as to whether the intervals of the sruthis were

equal or not . . . In the arrangements of the sruthis, modern usage is

diametrically opposite to the classical one; the latter placing them

before the note to which they respectively belong, while the former

gives position after the notes. The arrangements of the frets of the

veena and other stringed instruments accord with the modernacceptation of the principle. According to the rule laid down in the

classical treatises, the disposition of the notes is reversed (C.R. Day.

p.15). He comes to this conclusion after much research. But nobody

told him that the present veena, arranged like the European system

of Equal Temperament, belongs to the ancient South Indian system,

and that the treatise which he refers to does not tell him all the

truth. A detailed study of the four different kinds ofyazhs mentioned

in Tamil works reveals that this system of notes according to equal

Temperament was known in very ancient times in the Tamil country.As modern musicians are ignorant of that system they declare that

ancients did not know the art of having permanent frets for veena;

but had them adjusted from time to time to suit different ragas, and

that the modern system of having permanent frets originated from

the time of Sevappa Naicker of very recent date, having the English

notes of a scale for model.

This ancient system lost its subtlety and became corrupt owing to

incorrect mathematical calculations and computations in the

Written without

proper comprehensionof the minute details

of Carnatic music

these texts caused

great confusion

regarding the theories

of Carnatic music

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F 7Sanskrit works. This wrong system, combined with the haphazard

system of Pythagoras, resulted in many books being written on the

subject with contradictory theories. Though some of the theories

written in Sanskrit are as old as 1,000 years, they do not possess any

scientific authenticity and firmness as the oral tradition in vogue atpresent in Tamil Nadu that is quiet systematic. Further, in spite of

the scarcity of literature, South Indian music has been preserved and

taught to others by those professional musicians supported for

generations by ancient temples who learnt music by oral transmission

and who became experts in playing instruments, such as the veena,

the flute, the nagaswaram, and the mridangam and in dancing and

singing. In this regard it must be remembered that it was a non-

brahman woman who was not allowed in the temple dominated by

the achariyaars wrote thepanns for the Thevaaram hymns when theywere recovered by the great Chola king.

Pandithar, through his extensive research, provides enough

evidences for the following findings in his great work Karnamirtha

sagaram.

1. Carnatic music, which has been practised by the Tamils from the

ancient times, is based on sound scientific principles.

2. The 22-alaguu (sruthi in Sanskrit and microtones in English) system

of Sarangadeva is wrong since modal shift of tonic is impossible

in this system. There must be 24 alaguus.

3. The Tamils determined these alaguus by listening to the

concordance between Sa and Pa. Eventhough the Tamils were

experts in mathematics, they did not use mechanical appliances

in determining the notes due to the practical difficulties in using

them. Instead they believed in developing a high degree of musical

sensibility to distinguish very minute alaguus.

4. Pythagoras, who did not understand this way of determining thealaguus, calculated Sa - Pa to be 2/

3and Sa - Ma to be and

based the calculation of notes of western music accordingly on

these measurements.

5. The Motherpann is Chempaalai, now known as Sankaraabharanam.

Though great musicians like Shyama Sastri, Thiyagaraja Swamigal,

Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and Muthuswamy Dhikshidhar composed

and sang heart-melting hymns, they have not written the grammar

Pandithar, through

his extensiveresearch, provides

enough evidences

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F 8for writing songs topanns. Though they belonged to Tamil Nadu and

their mother tongue was Tamil, Sanskrit charlatanism was so great

those days that they did not compose Tamil songs.The great songs of

the bhakthi cult were overlooked. It was considered improper to sing

the great songs of Arunachala Kavirayar, Muthu Thandavar andMarimuthapillai in Temples.

Though such great music works in Tamil of the Sangam period are

lost the little that is in the Paripadal of the Sangam age and the

Silapathikaaram ofSangam Maruviya Kaalam (transitional period)

are enough to form tangible theories of Carnatic music.

Some of the stanzas in the Paripadal, written by Nallandhuvanaar,

who lived before the poet Illango and about thousand years before

Adiyaarkunallar, along with its commentary by Parimelazhagar,provide ample proof to the high standard of the music of the Tamils.

The translation of one of the stanzas of Paripadal 11 goes thus:

The music of the beetles that were singing from inside the flowers

adorning the hair of the damsels, in spite of their efforts to drive

them off, resembled the Yazh. This was in the relation ofKural to Ili,

which is Kilai note. This was thepann Marutham that appeared in

the Paalai where Ozhai is Kural. Ozhai is Kilai to Ili as it is fifth to

Kural leftwards. It implies that it is the Yama Yazh appearing in

Vilarippaalai. The beetles sang them harmoniously according to

Thaalam.(trans.Abraham Pandithar)

This stanza alone is proof enough to conclude that the music of

the Tamils was systemized during the Sangam age. Panns were classified

and thaalams were defined. Relationships between notes were

mathematically derived to the finest level to give maximum joy.

Harmony is scientific and beauty is in harmony. The following is a

translation of the commentary by Parimelazhagar of the nineteenth

song lines 41 to 46 in the Paripadal. These songs are written in praise

of the deity by Nappannanaar and set to music inpann Gaandhaaram

by Maruthanallachuthanar.

Those who get music out of the divine Brahma Veena, those who

create music with their fingers out of the Kulal (flute) and those

who enjoy the music of the Yazh by producing the Paalai from the Ili

and the Kural neither too loud not too soft but in a middling degree;

Those who make the noise of the murasu(drum) to be in complete

combination with the thaalam (beat) of the music of the Kural in

the Yazh.

This stanza alone is

proof enough to

conclude that themusic of the Tamils

was systemized

during the

Sangam age

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F 9The strings vibrated in harmony with the human voice and the

percussion instrument murasu kept strict time in conjunction. There

was orchestral music and the notes of octaves they selected were

always suited to situations.

If a work like the Silappathikaaram, which is primarily an epic of

love and revenge, treats several details of music pertaining to subtle

nuances in spontaneous felicity how intertwined should music and

dance have been in the life of the people? Though the details are

meager, they contain very important clues to the grammar of the

music that the Tamils practised and testify to the fact that Carnatic

music, which has been practised by the Tamils from the ancient

times, is based on sound scientific principles.

However not only are those passages difficult to understand, butalso some of the words used are obsolete. The commentaries (by

Arumpatha-urai-aasiriyar and Adiyaarkunallar) written about ten

centuries after Ilango either overlooked what happened in between

the centuries or failed to explain everything in detail. It is for this

reason that people living after ten centuries from the time of the

commentators find it still more difficult to understand what Ilango

meant. The commentators are also not explicit in many places. In

spite of all this, the little that is in the Silappathikaaram proves

adequate to explain certain features of South Indian music.

Further, the Silappathikaaram says that the musician must posses

a keen ear for the different concordant and discordant relationships

ofinai,kilai,pagai and nattpu. They determined alaguus by listening

to the concordance between Sa and Pa.

There is textual proof in the Silappathikaaramfor how some of

the basics principles lost their explanations and relevance. The work

mentions two ways or traditions of singing. The names Thondrupadu

marabu and Vampurumarabu (Traditional and modern or neo) suggest

that, in this age, new methods of singing began displacing the

traditional ways. It must also be noted that historians call the age of

the Silappathikaaram SangamMaruviyaKaalam (The age of the

deterioration of the Sangam).

The Silappathikaaram belongs to the age when the land of the

Tamils was assailed by the cultural conquests from the people of the

north, especially of the Sanskrit speaking people. The educated class

among the Tamils known as anthanars began translating their

they contain very

important clues to

the grammar of the

music that the

Tamils practised and

testify to the fact

that Carnatic music

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F 10knowledge for the Sanskrit scholars. The Brahmins1 of South India,

though they were born in South India and their mother tongue was

Tamil, did not care to write in Tamil. They translated what they

learnt from their own language into Sanskrit.2 For example about

460 years ago, Venkatamahi, son of Govinda Dhikshidhar, the PrimeMinister to the Chola king, arranged together the modes ofpanns

used in South Indian music but wrote his work in Sanskrit and called

it Chaturdhandhi Prakashika. Though it is about the music of South

India, it is written in a foreign language and so it lacks clarity. The

intentions of Maha Vaidhyanatha Iyer, who composed, in Sanskrit,

Raga Malika for the 72 Melakartas although he was a good Tamil

scholar and derived the substance was from the Periyapuranam are

also dubious. Such constant changes, therefore, from one language

to another lead to number of errors and admixtures, so much so thatthe original meaning is often lost. If one who knows the language is

often incapable of understanding the idea of an author how could

people of alien tongues understand it?

When the Sanskrit scholars became expert exponents of Tamil

music, they were so keen on reproducing the knowledge in their own

language that Tamil books on music became extinct. Older writings

became obsolete owing to disuse and natural causes. Subsequently,

these Aryans became experts in South Indian music, which gave

them power and influence they prized so much (C.R. Day p. 5) andthis led to doubts about the antiquity of the language and culture of

the Tamils. As has been argued earlier, they replaced existing fragments

of works of Tamil music with new ones in Sanskrit. However, they

did not understand the minute details of Carnatic Music and so

these texts caused great confusion regarding the theories of Carnatic

music.

Sanskrit words were gradually introduced into Tamil. Most of the

technical terms in music including the names of notes and pans,

were translated into Sanskrit. Later most of these Tamil terms were

considered Sanskrit derivations. The term Brahma Veena can be quoted

as an example. The Bhirma Melam, a Telugu work written by

Kanagaiyaa Kavi Saathuurigam, records 24 alaguus in Brahma Veena.

The Maelathikaralakhshanam, a Sanskrit work of relatively very recent

times also refers to 24 alaguus. The expressions Rudra Veena and

Brahmma Veena are also found in the work and musicians now

believe that this word originated in Sanskrit. But the presence of the

If one who knows the

language is oftenincapable of

understanding the

idea of an author

how could people

of alien tongues

understand it?

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F 11term brama veena in the 41 st to 46 th stanzas in the Paripadal is an

undeniable proof that this nomenclature belonged originally to Tamil.

Venkatamahi says that he constructed the 72 Melakartas and he

names thepanns are in Sanskrit. But a little research will prove thatall the names are Tamil derivations. The book, Vyasa Kadakam, gives

the names of several pans, such as Kanakangi, Rathnangi and

Ganamurthy, which are Tamil derivations. The ancient Vyasa Muni

would not have written the Vyasa Kadakam for, if so, Bharata in the

fifth century and Sarangadeva in the thirteenth century would have

referred to it. So another Vyasa, who lived after Sarangadeva and

before Venkatamahi, should have been the author of the Vyasa

Kadakam. He started recording the changed names of Tamilpanns

and Venkatamahi completed the task. It then became very easy for

the Sanskrit exponents to swear by the Sanskrit works and the fact

that the present Carnatic music is the erstwhile Tamil music was

soon forgotten. This attitude must change. Only then further research

in Tamil Musicology will be intensified which in turn would make

possible the performance of Carnatic music with the minute alaguu

system mentioned in Tamil Literature. It will also then be possible to

retrieve all the 12,000panns and the seven kinds ofthalams mentioned

in Tamil Literature.

Notes:

1. Brahmins were anthanar class of the Dravidians. The Brahman

caste habituated to an intellectual life, and in the exercise of

verbal memory to an astonishing degree(Slater, Gilbert. The

Dravidian Elements in Indian Culture New Delhi: Asian Educational

Services, p.62), found in the Aryan supremacy and administration,

an opportunity. This fact and intermarriages made some Brahmans

to consider themselves Aryans and superior to the other Dravidians.

Some of them even suffered identity crisis in their enthusiasm to

uphold Sanskrit language along with their necessity to possess therich culture of the Tamils.

2. Again what Gilbert Slater says must be quoted here. ..the second

and third stages of Aryan invasion involved a struggle for survival

between languages. That the brawnier but thicker-witted Aryan

should bear the extraordinarily difficult languages of the ill-

speaking man as the Vedas term the Dravidian, was not be

supposed. The Dravidian instead had to learn Sanskrit. The

This attitude must

change

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F 12Brahman caste (Dravidians) habituated to an intellectual life

and trained in the exercise of verbal memory to an astonishing

degree, found here an opportunity And the Brahmans having

thus taken the initiative in spreading the use of Sanskrit, or

Sanskrit derivatives, among the Dravidian population, others lesseagerly and with greater difficulty followed by degrees just as has

happened with the spread of English in Madras Presidency.

(Slater, p.62)

Books Referred:

Abraham Pandithar. Karnamirtha Sagaram. (Thanjavur:Lawley

Press,1917)

Bharata Muni. Natya Sastra (trans.) Manmohan Gosh. Calcutta

Clements, E. Introduction to the Study of Indian Music (London:

Longman, Green and Co., 1913)

Day, C. R. The Music and Musical Instruments Southern India and

Decccan. (London:Novello,Ewer and Co., and Adam and Charles

Black,1891)

Fox Strangways. A. H. The Music of Hindustan. (Oxford:Clarenden

Press, 1916 .

Hunter,W.W. The Indian Empire. (London:W.H.Allen and Co.,1878)

Paripadal with Commentry. (Tirunelvely, Saiva Siddanta Publishers,

1964)

Saminatha Iyyar,U.Ve. Silapathikaram with Commentry(tamil,

Chennai,U.Ve. Sa.Nool Nilayam, 1978)