Yoga for life, music for soul

Despite being a person well versed in six languages in which he has penned 400 ‘krithis’ and excelling in almost all creative areas associated with dance and music, Jayaprakash teaches yoga at Venkateshwara English Medium High School, Tripunithura for a living. This multifaceted personality is a trained yoga practitioner, singer, dancer, actor, theatre artist and a prominent vaggeyakara (one who writes, composes and sings).

Jayaprakash’s proficiency in Sanskrit and his contributions have also gained him a fellowship in Sanskrit literature from the Central Cultural Department. He initially started writing krithis in Sanskrit and later on in other languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.

Asked about his introduction to Carnatic music and about his name ‘Poornathrayee’, Jayaprakash says that he owes all his achievements in life to his mentor Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma, adding “I had sent my krithis to Varma sir and he was the one who suggested that I should show them to Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer. Iyer sir was the one who told me to insert a unique mudra or signature in my compositions as every composer does. He knew that I am a diehard devotee of Poornathrayeesa and suggested that I add a mudra related to that. All my krithis therefore have my signature Poornathrayee in them.” Jayaprakash received his first award, Taamramudra Puraskaram, in 1989 when he was just 20. Later in 2006, the Cochin Devasom honoured him with the Poornathrayee Puraskaram, for his contributions as a Carnatic music composer. He was also invited to the 81st Annual Music Conference at the Madras Music Academy where he was honoured and also gave a lecture. His compositions are also included in PhD topics and  universities like Kerala Kalamandalam and Kalidasa University Nagpur.

However, asked about a favourite krithi of his, Jayaprakash says, “I discovered that Mahatma Gandhi was the person who lived on the principles and thoughts that we consider God stands for. I composed krithis on his thoughts and ideologies, which were positively received.”

Jayaprakash’s krithis have been sung my eminent musicians and singers of India. From Semmangudi, N. P. Ramaswamy to K J Yesudas many are still incorporating his krithis in concerts. Singers like Shankar Mahadevan,Vani Jayaram, S Janaki, Unni Menon and Late Radhika Tilak have also rendered his compositions in Hindi and Tamil.

Apart from penning documentaries, acting in movies, short films and serials, this yoga trainer has also formed a Veda fusion musical band called dHih in order to propagate the importance of Veda in society. The band which consists of nine singers renders songs related to Vedic rhymes.

Amid all these achievements, Jayaprakash has a regret — that his homeland Kerala does not accept or applaud talent that much. Nowadays, he is busy working for a book containing 108 of his compositions and is at the same time recording Christian devotional songs — again his own compositions.