Page 49 - Demo

(1851-1899); Manda Lakshmi Kameswara Sastry (1857-1920); Peri Kasinatha Sastry (1858-1918); Kilambi Ramanujacharyulu (1853-1928); K.S.G. Rajamani Setty (1859-1910); Gurajada Appa Rao (1862-1915); Adibhatla Narayana Das (1864-1945), Gidugu Rammurthy (1863-1940).This trend, established firmly by the Maharajas Vijayarama Gajapathi and Anand Gajapathi, continued. Vijayarama Ganapathasala, the college of music and dance, and Vijayarama Dramatic Association were both set up in the year 1919. Its alumni count among them such musical legends as Ghantasala and P Suseela. The town of Vizianagaram had plenty to recommend itself. A clock tower announced the hours and the people lived by it. Girls walking together in rows to their classes at the music college doing their sadhanam, tapping the taalam against their thighs as they went %u2013 not just because of their love for their craft but also because when they sat down for their lessons the question would inevitably be asked %u2013 have you been practising? The coffee shops and restaurants were packed with people at tables discussing art and poetry over soft, fluffy idlis. People would come from corners of the city to sit at the bonkul dibba(high land) under the pretext of walking their cattle but really it was to sit and perform the most fundamental aspects of community life %u2013 to chat. Young boys would rush to their mridangam classes and young girls to their violin or fiddle classes. Painters would gather at the art school within the Fort. It is said that the famous Adibhatla Narayan Das, appointed by the Maharaja as the principal of the Music College would perform a harikatha there out in the open, where the horse stables for the public once were. When asked 39