The late Ramanuja Iyengar, a giant in the world of Carnatic music once said, "It was madness to paint the lily, sweeten honey, count the stars and to fathom Mani’s colossal genius. How true are the words. No one as yet has fathomed the depth of Mani Iyer’s artistry. He was a matchless accompanist as well as a brilliant soloist on mridangam. Mani Iyer was a legend in his lifetime.

He was born in a musical family in Palghat, Kerala to Seshan Bagavathar and Ananthambal. He was named Ramaswamy during Namakaranam (naming ceremony) but when introduced to the music world as a Mridangam accompanist at the age of ten, he acquired the name "Mani", the most appropriate name one can think of.

He had his initial training under Chathapuram Subba Iyer and Kalpathy Viswanatha Iyer. Later Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer took him under his tutelage. Mani came into prominence after accompanying the late Chembai in a music concert at Madras.

He was freak and soaked up the technique of the art of playing Mridangam for his gurus and immortal predecessors like Alaganambi Pillai Dakshinamoorthy Pillai and sharpened his wits with the grand varieties of drum vocabularies of Kerala (Panchavadhyam, Chenda Edakka etc.,).

Before Mani Iyer’s arrival in the music scene two immortal Mridangists viz., Alaganambi Pillai and Dakshinamoorthy Pillai were the monarchs of the art of percussion playing. The advent of Mani changed the style of Mridangam playing as Y.G.Doraisamy points it out :

" It was Mani Iyer who started the now prevalent trend of the mridangam, not just keeping the time with tekhas and mohras, but actively accompanying the musical phrasing, so as to be really a rhythmic running commentary reproducing on the drum all the subtleties and rhythmic complexities of the musical composition."

Palghat Raghu, a disciple of Mani Iyer describes his guru as a genius and a trailblazer in that he showed music followers the manner of blending with the music of the main artist in handling the kritis of every conceivable mood and tempo. By his consistent excellence he could raise the concert to thrilling heights. His genius remained unsullied by any taint of eccentricity and therefore never once took his listeners for granted. Even if on occasions the singer was not in his best form, he could depend upon Mani Iyer the wizard of melodious rhythm to cast his magic spell over the audience.

Mani Iyer accompanied almost all the great musicians from his 12th year to 70, but he had a special liking and respect for Ariyakudi. Bhuvarahan, the music critic of Indian Express was once told by Mani Iyer that, "there was none like Ariyakudi who was a compound of several excellences and a performer of peerless quality". What Mani Iyer liked in Ariyakudi’s concert was the tempo or Kalapramana which was neither too fast nor too slow.

I was one of the fortunate few who met Mani Iyer on various occasions and knew him well. I remember Mani Iyer as an extraordinarily ordinary person in his plain white shirt and dhoti and crew cut hair style with a prominent sandal paste marking on his forehead. Sitting with his back slightly hunched, face held impassive with very little gestures while playing mridangam, and with no craving for attention. He was a man of few words. The only visible feelings of Mani Iyer, in response to thunderous ovations would be a simple nod and quick dilation of the pupils and widening of the eyes.

His thaniavarthanams or solos were scintillating, revealing his endless manodharma in Laya. They were rhythmic treats, drenched in melody with intelligent improvisations culminating in mukthaippu. Music followers call him "Nandi" the celestial drummer, an avatar, a freak, a one of a kind of genius, a wizard, the greatest laya architect etc. The great Yehudhi Menuhin described Mani Iyer as "an electronic computer that made no faults". Raghu describes his humility is so deep rooted that he never indulged in egoistic declarations of his own achievements. In fact he could never respond to words of praise much less flip over all the adulation that was showered on him. He used to take it all in his stride like a Karmayogi.

there are many legends involving Mani Iyer. the story that comes foremost in my mind is his insistence of getting the pride of place in the seating hierarchy involving the great Dakshinamoorthy Pillai way back in his career. Another legend is that he refused to accompany women artists with one exception of D.K.Pattammal who was his relation. Towards the end of his career it was mikeless concerts whenever he appeared for concerts. He was camera shy and never like to give interviews or write ups to the press.

Mani Iyer’s mridangam playing earned him the title of "Mridanga chakravarthy". His career spanning over 60 years brought him among other things the prestigious "Sangeetha Kalanidhi"(1967), "Padmabhooshan" (1971) and the President of India’s "National Award"(1956). Of all the honours he received, the one he valued most was the "Navarathna Malai" with a gold pendant of Goddess Kamakshi given by Sankaracharya of Kanchi. In music circles it is said that he had such a sense of timing and control of thala that for any song he simultaneously could mark two different talas with his right and left hands respectively. No one chose Mani Iyer as an accompanist, he chose the artists whose concerts it pleased him to embellish with his accompaniment.

An eminent music critic once said, "I had the good fortune to listen to Narayanaswamy Appa, Dakshinamoorthy Pillai, Alaganambia Pillai, Das Swamigal and other stalwarts over seventy years, but Mani Iyer dwarfed them all by his astonishing skills and originality. In conclusion Mani Iyer could be described as a genius at innovation and the last of an elite generation of the great laya architects.