Friday, February 15, 2013

Adumala Vakulabharanam Naidu - a relative I did not know about...

Adumala Vakulabharanam Naidu was a relative that I did not know about at all, until today, ie 15 February 2013. He was spouse of Balamma, eldest child and daughter of Shri Neela Meghala Shyamala Naidu, my paternal paternal great grandfather and Rukmini Devi, my paternal paternal great grandmother, residents of Srivilliputhur, south south Tamil Nadu during 1850 to 1920. Balamma was the elder sister of my paternal grand father, Shri Shyamala Ranga Bhashyam.

I did not know about Balamma's family, and never knew that she and her sister, Shanmughavalli, had married two cousin brothers, Adumala Vakulabharanam Naidu, and Adumala Alagari Singhari Naidu of Madras. Since the two sisters were married at Madras, the family moved out of Srivilliputhur to Madras. Later, my paternal grandfather was married to Rambai (aka Kodamma) of 12 Mannar Pillai Street, Trichy, sometime in 1915-1920.

Adumala Vakulabharanam Naidu was the son of the elder brother, while Adumala Alagari Singhari Naidu was the son of the younger brother.

Vakulabharanam - wow! what a name... made everything spin on its tip. There are variants. One could be - Vakalabharanam while the other variant could be Vakulabharanam.

Vakulabharanam is a classical Carnatic raga. This raga is the fourteenth Melakarta Raaga in the 72 Melakarta Raagas of Carnatic music. It is also sometimes called the Dhativasantabhairavi or the Vativasantabhairavi in Carnatic music.

The sudden mention of the name just blew me away, when I heard it from my paternal aunt, Pramila Jairam Naidu, who was spouse of Jairam Naidu, son of Algari Singhari Naidu.

The other variant - Vakalabharanam - that does not seem possible, is a surname that occurs rarely. Except, there is a twist in the story for this variant - The surname seems to occur only in the Srikakulam-to-Visakhapatnam area of north north Andhra Pradesh.

So you see... why the name takes my breath away... you have here, Shri Neela Meghala Shyamala Naidu and Rukmini Devi, of south south Tamil Nadu, wanting to marry off their two daughters, Balamma and Shanmugavalli, and did they find a matrimonial alliance with male siblings in a family of Balija Naidus of Madras, except they may have been getting a genetic root mix up with a family that has ties in north north Andhra Pradesh. What a span! What a panorama! Amazing.



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