Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973^[1]) was an Indian composer ofCarnatic music and a singer. He was awarded theMadras Music Academy'sSangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer inKannada cinema as well asTamil cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.^[2]

Sivan was also known as Tamil Thyaagaraja. Using Classical South Indian music as a base, Sivan created compositions popularised byM. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar,D. K. Pattammal, andM. S. Subbulakshmi.

In 1962, he was awarded theSangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship conferred bySangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.^[3]

Sivan's early years were spent in theTravancore area ofKerala. He was born at Polagam village in the district ofThanjavur, which was home to the musicaltrinity of Carnatic music. His given name was Ramaiya. In 1897, when he was 7, his father died. His mother Yogambal, along with her sons, left Thanjavur and moved to Travancore (now Thiruvananthapuram) in 1899 to seek the aid of his uncle. In Thiruvananthapuram, he learnedMalayalam and later joined the Maharaja Sanskrit college and obtained a degree ingrammar.

Ramaiya was very religious, and became even more so with the death of his mother Yogambal in 1910, when he was 20. He wandered from place to place visiting temples and singing devotional songs. He used to be an active participant in the devotional music sessions at the home of Neelakandasivan in Thiruvananthapuram where he learned many of Neelakandasivan's composition. In this period he went regularly to the temple atPapanasam, where he would smearbhasma all over his body. Hence people first began to refer him as Papanasam Sivan.

He took his first music lessons from Noorani Mahadeva Bhagavatar, son of Parameswara Bhagavatar. Later, he became the disciple ofKonerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Ayyar, a well-known musician.

He was most interested in the devotional aspect of music. He preferred to sing devotional songs and encouraged other singers take part in sessions of devotional music with him. He was a regular performer in the main temple festivals in South India with his devotional songs.

He received the President Award in 1962, and in 1969 he received theSangeetha Kalasikhamani Award bestowed on him by "The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai". He was conferred theSangita Kalanidhi in 1971.

D K Pattammal and D K Jayaraman, the sister-brother duo who were both awarded Sangeeta Kalanidhi, were his disciples. He taught Pattammal many kritis, and she also sang many of Sivan's compositions for films.^[4]

Papanasam Sivan had an elder brother P. Rajagopal Iyer, whose daughter,V. N. Janaki, was an actress who would later serve as theChief Minister of Tamil Nadu during 7-30 January 1988.

He had four children, 2 sons and 2 daughters namely P.S. Kirthivasan, P.S Ramadas, Smt. Neela Ramamurthy and Smt. Rukmini Ramani.Sivan started conducting bhajanai in 1934. After his death, his daughter Rukmini Ramani (b 1939), an accomplished singer herself, and her son Ashok Ramani have carried on the bhajanai tradition.^[5]

• List of Carnatic composers

• Carnatic composers
• 1890 births
• 1973 deaths
• People from Thanjavur district
• Kannada film score composers
• Tamil film score composers
• Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
• Sangeetha Kalanidhi recipients
• 20th-century Indian composers
• Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts
• Indian male film score composers
• 20th-century Indian male musicians

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