The divine voice which immortalised the famous Sri Kandha Sashti Kavacham, a hymn in praise of lord Muruga, has fallen quiet. Jayalakshmi, the surviving member of the celebrated Soolamangalam Sisters, passed away late on Wednesday night. She was 80.
Jayalakshmi and her elder sibling Rajalakshmi, known all over the world as Soolamangalam Sisters, had rendered Sri Kandha Sashti Kavacham and Skanda Guru Kavacham in their own distinct style. These are the two hymns played in lord Muruga temples all over the world.
Though the duo was trained and excelled as Carnatic musicians, their devotional songs took the Tamil world by storm. “Tamil devotional songs, especially the great Kandha Sashti Kavachan, got their place in the hearts of devotees mainly due to the divine voice and rendering by the Soolamangalam Sisters who were icons throughout their career,” said Ramakrishnan Gauthaman, director, Vedic Science Research Centre, Chennai, about the duo.
The Soolamangalam Sisters set the trend of duo singing from the early 1950s itself. They were the precursor to duos like Radha Jayalakshmi, Mambalam Sisters, Bombay Sisters, Haripriya — Shanmugapriya and Ranjani-Gayatthri pairs. Audio tapes of Kandha Sashti Kavacham rendered by the Soolamangalam duo set global sales records in an era when the DVDs and other gadgets were unheard of.
Rajalakshmi, the younger sister, who was more popular because of her songs in Tamil films, had passed away in 1992 at a reasonably young age of 51. Since then Jayalakshmi had cut her public performances. The sisters were born at Soolamangalam in Thanjavur district and have been honoured with many awards and honours.
