The two songs have been released on YouTube with an introduction by historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy.
Those who are familiar with his autobiography would know that U.Ve.Sa., born into a family of musicians, learnt music from Gopalakrishna Bharathiyar, the author of Nanda Charitram, when he was in Mayiladuthurai. But he quit learning music since his Tamil teacher Meenakshisundaram Pillai was against it.
Writer Perumal Murugan, who has done an elaborate study of U.Ve.Sa.’s works, said the book containing the
keerthanas was among his first to be printed. It was titled,
Ilanthainagar Dhandapani Virutham.
The
keerthanas were written on a request from Jaffna philanthropist Kumarasamy Chettiar, who had bought copies of