Paapanaasam Sri Sivan's KeerthanaigaL
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Welcome to the site giving tributes to Sri Papanasam Sivan. The page's Our counter says you are visitor number since September 12, 1996. This site contains links to Sri Papanasam Sivan's compositions in readable romanized Tamil and in Tamil script. Please forward your comments, suggestions to us using the GUESTBOOK.

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The source of these compositions are the four volumes of his compositions by Dr.Rukmini Ramani, daughter of Sri Papanasam Sivan himself. The books also contain detailed notation for singing.

We recommend that you buy these books, to encourage such publications.

They cost about Rs.75 each. Copies can be obtained from the author.

Dr. Papanasam Rukmini Ramani,
B-5 Rohini Gardens,
Raja Annamalaipuram,
Madras 600028, INDIA.

The following people typed these 400 compositions voluntarily.

  • Vol 1. 1-49 K.Srinivasan ([email protected])
  • Vol 1. 50-100 Lalitha and Siva Mani ([email protected])
  • Vols. 2 & 3 Vijaya Mallikarjunan ([email protected])
  • Vol 4. Lalitha and Siva Mani ([email protected])
  • Note: Please send typographic corrections to: Kumar Mallikarjunan, who is maintaining these files in his site.

    The songs are available in various formats for your convenience.

    A note based on an article in Sruthi Magazine June 1990.

    Sri Papanasam Sivan composed more than 2000 songs, mostly in Tamil. 800 of these were for Tamil films. This set contain just 400 of his Carnatic music compositions. It appears that the rest are yet to appear in print.
    Sri Sivan's Family Portrait

    He received several titles including "Tamil Tyagaraja". Some of the films for which he composed songs are Ambikapathy, Nandanaar, Sakuntalai (sung by MSS), Savithri (sung by MSS), Sivakavi (sung by MKT), Thyagaboomi (sung by DKP). The Music Acadamy of Madras was extremely late in recognizing him.

    He was born in 1890 in Polagam near Thanjaavoor to Sri Ramamritha Iyer and Yogambal. He was called Ramaiah by people close to him. The Papanasam of Sri Sivan is between Kumbakonam and Thanjavoor, with its own railway station served by passenger trains. That is where his brother stayed and he used to pass much of his time there. From 1898 to 1910 he lived in Thiruvanthapuram. In 1917 he married Lakshmi, daughter of Sri Ayyaaswami Iyer of Nagapattinam. He also translated many Malayalam and Sanskrit works into Tamil. He passed away in 1973 at the age of 83.


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    This site was up from 9/12/96. Kumar Mallikarjunan, Center for Food Safety & Quality Enhancement, University of Georgia, Griffin, Georgia 30223-1797, Phone: (770) 412-4747, Fax: (770) 229-3216, Email:
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