Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi - Early Life

Early Life

Venkata Kavi, named as Venkata Subramanian, was born as the eldest of five children to the Tamil smarta couple of Subbu Kutti Iyer and Venkammam, according to the family records in the possession of his brother Kamalanarayani and Ramachandra Vathoola's descendants. Though his ancestors had resided in various villages in South Indian around the temple towns of Mannargudi (about 200 miles from Chennai), Venkata Kavi moved into the village of Oottukkadu (referred to as "Dhenushwasapuram" in Sanskrit ), near Kumbhakonam. One of his nephews, Kattu Krishna Iyer was a musician in the royal court of the Tanjore King in the latter part of the 18th century.

According to family sources, Venkata Kavi was passionate about music but could not find a guru of his choice in that area, which prompted him to appeal to the god Krishna himself, in the Kalinga Nartana Temple in Ootthukkadu. He is believed to have received initiation from the Lord himself, as asserted in one of his Tamil compositions, Guru paadaravindam komalamu - in the raga Abhogi, he declares: "I have never studied the scriptures or yoga nor pretended to have done so. I received the fortune of knowledge in the benevolent glance of my guru." Venkata Kavi composed at least 14 songs only on the greatness of his Guru Krishna. A few of them suggest that he may also have had another human guru, at least for spiritual purposes. According to several sources from that area, this guru was none other than Bhaskara Raya, the acclaimed authority of Devi worship of his times. This is further augmented by the immense scholarship seen in Venkata Kavi's Kamakshi Navavarana krtis dealing with the intricate details of avarana pooja (Srividya worship).