V V Srivatsa, Lec-Dem for Shanmukhapriya
V V Srivatsa - M A Krishnaswamy - K R Ganesh
Lec-Dem on Trinity's Concept of Ragams - lalitA & paraju
Shanmukhapriya, Swamy's Hall
23rd November 2007 6:30 pm
Sri Srivatsa gave an informative lec-dem on the treatment of lalitA and paraju by the trinity highlighting their compositions.
lalitA
The first rAgam taken up was lalitA. The presence of 4 compositions of the trinity was mentioned. One each of shyAma sAstri and tyAgarAja and 2 compositions of Dikshitar.
The first piece rendered was 'nannu brOvu lalitA' in cApu tALam. The second line of the pallavi was rendered as 'bhakta kalpalatA' instead of 'kalpalatikA' as in popular versions. It was mentioned that this way the prAsam is maintained and the meaning does not change either. Part of the mInAkshi navaratnamAlikA, this is kriti in which the goddess gives darshan to SS after he pleads to her for talking to her in the Ahiri kriti, 'mAyamma' and this is also mentioned in 'dEvi nI pada' in kAmbhOji.
This rAgam is perfect to sing during the 'brahma muhurtham'. It is an early morning rAgam. It is also said to be fit for singing in the 'first jAmam'.
The rAgam is of north indian origin. 'auttara rAgam'. Many slOkams mentioning the relation of lalitA to be the janyA of mALavagauLa and mArva (which itself is a janya of mALavagauLa) were quoted during the presentation.
Sri Srivatsa mentioned that Sri Dikshitar has composed two kritis in most rAgam he had brought from the north, one in the complete carnatic style and the other showing touches of its hindustani origin, using the terminology as 'maDi' and 'ammaDi'. He sighted examples of gOvardana girIsham and nIrajAkshi kAmAkshi in hindOLam (mAL kauns), pancAshaTpITa rUpiNi and kAyArOhanEsham in karnATaka dEvagAndhAri (bhImpLAs), rAmanAtam bhajEham and srI sundara rAjam in kAsirAmakriyA (pUriyaA dhanasrI) as the 'maDi' and 'ammaDi' pieces respectively. Like wise, 'hiraNmayIm lakshmIm' and 'agastIsavaram' are the 'maDi' and 'ammaDi' pieces in lalitA respectively.
He sang both the pieces. There was an usage of prati madhyamam in the pallavi of 'agastIsvaram'. He said that there are references that suddha lalitA is a pUrNa rAgam and the prati madhyamam is occasionally used as the 7th svaram to make it pUrNam. Like mArva and rAmakali, suddha madhyamam is the predominant svaram in lalitA and the prati madhyamam is found only some special phrases. He said that the kriti refers to the consort of 'agastIsvarar' as 'Ananda valli' and this shrine is in vENNAttangarai, near tanjAvUr and not any other place like 'thalai kAvEri' or near kanyAkumari where a place by this name exists.
Sri Srivatsa also made an observation that great men think alike and supported his statement by sighting similar phrases in the lines of many kritis. He sang lines from 'ananta bAla krishNam' and 'dina maNi vamsa' to support this and also mentioned that there are many such occurrences. He also mentioned that Thyagaraja kritis are subject to maximum aberrations and sighted examples of 'nAda tanumisam' and 'jnAna mOsaga rAdA'. He said that, similar is the fate of 'sItamma mAyamma' which is mentioned as 'lalitA' in texts but rendered in 'vasantA' popularly. He said, its a kriti of deep contemplation and philosophy. He mentioned that it is appropriate to sing it in lalitA and cannot have been composed in 'vasantA' which is a rAgam that is known to depict sringAra and hAsya bhAvas. The kriti was rendered in lalitA. Sri T R Subramanian made an observation that 'eTla dorakidivO' of tyAgarAja is in vasantA and mentioned that way in texts also.
Presence of an elaborate gItam in lalitA was mentioned. It was also observed that all the three of trinity have used all the svarams to a similar extent and all of them have used the rAgam in the similar fashion. However, shyAmA sAstri emphasizes more on thAra sthAyI while tyAgaraja composition is more emphasizes on madhya sthAyI. dikshitar has used the full two octaves showing all the sthAyIs in his compositions.
paraju
The second rAgam of the evening was paraju. Paraju or parasu or pharaz or pfaras or however else it is pronounced also belongs to the same family of mALavagauLa. It is a sampUrNa rAgam and has lots of visEsha prayOgams. The etymology of the rAga name is attributed to it being the favourite rAgam of 'parasurAma' and hence 'parasu', or the usage of anya svarams ('para + ju'). Presence of 9 compositions of the trinity was placed on record. 4 kritis by Dikhistar. 3 kritis and 1 tamil gItam by shyAma sAstri and 1 kriti by tyAgarAja.
Sri Srivatsa started by saying that, when Dikshitar gets very fond of a kshEtram - rAgam pair, he composes 2 kritis at the same kshEtram in the same rAgam. He sighted ham vIru (the 2 'parimaLa ranganAtam's at thErezhundUr) and khamAs ('santAna gOpAla krishNam' and 'sArasa daLa nayana' at mannArguDi). He said thiruviDaimarudur and paraju form such a pair with two compositions on the presiding deity. This kshEtram is called 'madhyArjuNam' in sanskrit. 'arjuNam' is sanskrit for 'marudha' tree. Having a 'svayampu lingam' below this tree is supposed to be very auspicious according to the legends. There are 3 such places in south india. In north is srI sailam, one of the jyotirlingams. In south is a place called 'thirupuDai marudur' on the banks of tAmiraparaNi. In between these two is 'thiruviDai marudur' and hence, iDai marudur or madhya arjuNam. This kshEtram is called the mahA kshEtram. It has the big kshEtrams of deities according to the Agama rules on each side of it. svAmi malai murugan, chidambaram naTaraja, vEdAraNyam, tiruvArUr tyAgarAjA (sOmAskandar) were a few kshEtrams he named. And this placing led to the Lord being called as mahAlingEsvarar. The kriti 'chintayE mahAlinga mUrtim' was rendered in a rather slow kAlapramANam, compared to other versions i have heard in the past. The presence of rAga mudra was also highlighted.
The suddha madhyamam is the amsa svaram of the rAgam. The usage of prati madhyamam is not present amongst the trinity. however, jAvaLis have this usage. This rAgam has a vichitra placement. It automatically becomes chAyagauLa if not sung with care. sAvEri is also very close. a few lines of the kriti 'sarasvatyA bhagavatyA' in chAyAgauLa were rendered.
trilOka mAtA nannu of shyAmA sAstri was rendered in Adi tALam. Presence of a version in vilOma cApu was also placed on record. 'madurAmbA jayati' of madurAmba vibakti kritis of Dikshitar was presented also. 'nIlAyatAkshi' of shyAmA sAstri was the next piece to be rendered. It was mentioned that this kriti is tough to sing because of its unique structure.
The next was the rare 'varamaina nEtrOtsava' of tyAgaraja. It was mentioned that this is the last kriti in the opera, 'prahalAda bhakta vijayam'. Sri Srivatsa said he had learnt this kriti from Dr. S Ramanathan's notation and Smt. Seetha Rajan.
The second kriti at thiruviDaimarudur 'mahAlingEsvaram' was presented and the mentioning of the 'brahmahathi-dOsham' in this kriti was emphasised with the story.
Sri Srivatsa said that he was running out of time and hence he cant render 'srI sukra bhagavantam'. He said that 'sukrA' belonged to the bhArgava gOthram, which is the same as that of jamadagni and parasurAma. It is probably this reason that made Dikshitar compose this kriti on 'sukrA' in paraju. He said, dikshitar addresses 'sukra' alone with the expression 'bhagavantam' as he is only graham with all the 8 lakshNams and fit to be addressed that way. Smt. Vidya Shankar raised an objection saying 'bhagavantam' is indeed used in some other compostions like 'rAmachandram bhAvayAmi'. Sri Srivatsa clarified that this observation was with respect to the kritis composed on the navagrahams and not with reference to all of Dikshitar compositions. Also, he said that Dikshitar has used 'bhagavantam' and 'bhagavatya' in many kritis on various gods. He mentioned that 'sukra' is a 'subha graham'. The 'vAmanAvatAra' episode is also told in the kriti and the poking of sukrA's eyes by vAmana, thus rendering him squinted, is all condensed in the line 'kEsava kaTAkshaika nEtram'. 'ati dEvata' of sukra is Sri Ranganathar of Srirangam. 'Sukra' bestows a lot of good boons on your and is associated with all the 'amsam's in the horoscope.
Sri Srivatsa concluded saying 'paraju' is a rAgam that establishes 'adbuta' rasam. It is a mangaLa rAgam. One can sing 'paraju' to finish a concert. However it is a very tough rAgam to sing. As the rAgam shows a lot of 'adbuta' and 'hasya' rasams, there are a lot of jAvaLi's composed in this rAgam. A line of the jAvaLi 'celinEnETlu sahiyinchunE' was also rendered.
Sri Krishnaswami and Sri Ganesh provided able support.
Lec-Dem on Trinity's Concept of Ragams - lalitA & paraju
Shanmukhapriya, Swamy's Hall
23rd November 2007 6:30 pm
Sri Srivatsa gave an informative lec-dem on the treatment of lalitA and paraju by the trinity highlighting their compositions.
lalitA
The first rAgam taken up was lalitA. The presence of 4 compositions of the trinity was mentioned. One each of shyAma sAstri and tyAgarAja and 2 compositions of Dikshitar.
The first piece rendered was 'nannu brOvu lalitA' in cApu tALam. The second line of the pallavi was rendered as 'bhakta kalpalatA' instead of 'kalpalatikA' as in popular versions. It was mentioned that this way the prAsam is maintained and the meaning does not change either. Part of the mInAkshi navaratnamAlikA, this is kriti in which the goddess gives darshan to SS after he pleads to her for talking to her in the Ahiri kriti, 'mAyamma' and this is also mentioned in 'dEvi nI pada' in kAmbhOji.
This rAgam is perfect to sing during the 'brahma muhurtham'. It is an early morning rAgam. It is also said to be fit for singing in the 'first jAmam'.
The rAgam is of north indian origin. 'auttara rAgam'. Many slOkams mentioning the relation of lalitA to be the janyA of mALavagauLa and mArva (which itself is a janya of mALavagauLa) were quoted during the presentation.
Sri Srivatsa mentioned that Sri Dikshitar has composed two kritis in most rAgam he had brought from the north, one in the complete carnatic style and the other showing touches of its hindustani origin, using the terminology as 'maDi' and 'ammaDi'. He sighted examples of gOvardana girIsham and nIrajAkshi kAmAkshi in hindOLam (mAL kauns), pancAshaTpITa rUpiNi and kAyArOhanEsham in karnATaka dEvagAndhAri (bhImpLAs), rAmanAtam bhajEham and srI sundara rAjam in kAsirAmakriyA (pUriyaA dhanasrI) as the 'maDi' and 'ammaDi' pieces respectively. Like wise, 'hiraNmayIm lakshmIm' and 'agastIsavaram' are the 'maDi' and 'ammaDi' pieces in lalitA respectively.
He sang both the pieces. There was an usage of prati madhyamam in the pallavi of 'agastIsvaram'. He said that there are references that suddha lalitA is a pUrNa rAgam and the prati madhyamam is occasionally used as the 7th svaram to make it pUrNam. Like mArva and rAmakali, suddha madhyamam is the predominant svaram in lalitA and the prati madhyamam is found only some special phrases. He said that the kriti refers to the consort of 'agastIsvarar' as 'Ananda valli' and this shrine is in vENNAttangarai, near tanjAvUr and not any other place like 'thalai kAvEri' or near kanyAkumari where a place by this name exists.
Sri Srivatsa also made an observation that great men think alike and supported his statement by sighting similar phrases in the lines of many kritis. He sang lines from 'ananta bAla krishNam' and 'dina maNi vamsa' to support this and also mentioned that there are many such occurrences. He also mentioned that Thyagaraja kritis are subject to maximum aberrations and sighted examples of 'nAda tanumisam' and 'jnAna mOsaga rAdA'. He said that, similar is the fate of 'sItamma mAyamma' which is mentioned as 'lalitA' in texts but rendered in 'vasantA' popularly. He said, its a kriti of deep contemplation and philosophy. He mentioned that it is appropriate to sing it in lalitA and cannot have been composed in 'vasantA' which is a rAgam that is known to depict sringAra and hAsya bhAvas. The kriti was rendered in lalitA. Sri T R Subramanian made an observation that 'eTla dorakidivO' of tyAgarAja is in vasantA and mentioned that way in texts also.
Presence of an elaborate gItam in lalitA was mentioned. It was also observed that all the three of trinity have used all the svarams to a similar extent and all of them have used the rAgam in the similar fashion. However, shyAmA sAstri emphasizes more on thAra sthAyI while tyAgaraja composition is more emphasizes on madhya sthAyI. dikshitar has used the full two octaves showing all the sthAyIs in his compositions.
paraju
The second rAgam of the evening was paraju. Paraju or parasu or pharaz or pfaras or however else it is pronounced also belongs to the same family of mALavagauLa. It is a sampUrNa rAgam and has lots of visEsha prayOgams. The etymology of the rAga name is attributed to it being the favourite rAgam of 'parasurAma' and hence 'parasu', or the usage of anya svarams ('para + ju'). Presence of 9 compositions of the trinity was placed on record. 4 kritis by Dikhistar. 3 kritis and 1 tamil gItam by shyAma sAstri and 1 kriti by tyAgarAja.
Sri Srivatsa started by saying that, when Dikshitar gets very fond of a kshEtram - rAgam pair, he composes 2 kritis at the same kshEtram in the same rAgam. He sighted ham vIru (the 2 'parimaLa ranganAtam's at thErezhundUr) and khamAs ('santAna gOpAla krishNam' and 'sArasa daLa nayana' at mannArguDi). He said thiruviDaimarudur and paraju form such a pair with two compositions on the presiding deity. This kshEtram is called 'madhyArjuNam' in sanskrit. 'arjuNam' is sanskrit for 'marudha' tree. Having a 'svayampu lingam' below this tree is supposed to be very auspicious according to the legends. There are 3 such places in south india. In north is srI sailam, one of the jyotirlingams. In south is a place called 'thirupuDai marudur' on the banks of tAmiraparaNi. In between these two is 'thiruviDai marudur' and hence, iDai marudur or madhya arjuNam. This kshEtram is called the mahA kshEtram. It has the big kshEtrams of deities according to the Agama rules on each side of it. svAmi malai murugan, chidambaram naTaraja, vEdAraNyam, tiruvArUr tyAgarAjA (sOmAskandar) were a few kshEtrams he named. And this placing led to the Lord being called as mahAlingEsvarar. The kriti 'chintayE mahAlinga mUrtim' was rendered in a rather slow kAlapramANam, compared to other versions i have heard in the past. The presence of rAga mudra was also highlighted.
The suddha madhyamam is the amsa svaram of the rAgam. The usage of prati madhyamam is not present amongst the trinity. however, jAvaLis have this usage. This rAgam has a vichitra placement. It automatically becomes chAyagauLa if not sung with care. sAvEri is also very close. a few lines of the kriti 'sarasvatyA bhagavatyA' in chAyAgauLa were rendered.
trilOka mAtA nannu of shyAmA sAstri was rendered in Adi tALam. Presence of a version in vilOma cApu was also placed on record. 'madurAmbA jayati' of madurAmba vibakti kritis of Dikshitar was presented also. 'nIlAyatAkshi' of shyAmA sAstri was the next piece to be rendered. It was mentioned that this kriti is tough to sing because of its unique structure.
The next was the rare 'varamaina nEtrOtsava' of tyAgaraja. It was mentioned that this is the last kriti in the opera, 'prahalAda bhakta vijayam'. Sri Srivatsa said he had learnt this kriti from Dr. S Ramanathan's notation and Smt. Seetha Rajan.
The second kriti at thiruviDaimarudur 'mahAlingEsvaram' was presented and the mentioning of the 'brahmahathi-dOsham' in this kriti was emphasised with the story.
Sri Srivatsa said that he was running out of time and hence he cant render 'srI sukra bhagavantam'. He said that 'sukrA' belonged to the bhArgava gOthram, which is the same as that of jamadagni and parasurAma. It is probably this reason that made Dikshitar compose this kriti on 'sukrA' in paraju. He said, dikshitar addresses 'sukra' alone with the expression 'bhagavantam' as he is only graham with all the 8 lakshNams and fit to be addressed that way. Smt. Vidya Shankar raised an objection saying 'bhagavantam' is indeed used in some other compostions like 'rAmachandram bhAvayAmi'. Sri Srivatsa clarified that this observation was with respect to the kritis composed on the navagrahams and not with reference to all of Dikshitar compositions. Also, he said that Dikshitar has used 'bhagavantam' and 'bhagavatya' in many kritis on various gods. He mentioned that 'sukra' is a 'subha graham'. The 'vAmanAvatAra' episode is also told in the kriti and the poking of sukrA's eyes by vAmana, thus rendering him squinted, is all condensed in the line 'kEsava kaTAkshaika nEtram'. 'ati dEvata' of sukra is Sri Ranganathar of Srirangam. 'Sukra' bestows a lot of good boons on your and is associated with all the 'amsam's in the horoscope.
Sri Srivatsa concluded saying 'paraju' is a rAgam that establishes 'adbuta' rasam. It is a mangaLa rAgam. One can sing 'paraju' to finish a concert. However it is a very tough rAgam to sing. As the rAgam shows a lot of 'adbuta' and 'hasya' rasams, there are a lot of jAvaLi's composed in this rAgam. A line of the jAvaLi 'celinEnETlu sahiyinchunE' was also rendered.
Sri Krishnaswami and Sri Ganesh provided able support.
posted by bharath at 1:23 PM
1 Comments:
Bharat,
I found the concept of maDi and ammaDi (Not-maDi?? ;) interesting. I had never heard/read of this terminology before.
It is also interesting to see that there was a pratimadhyama prayoga (similar to hindustAni) in agastIshvaram.
Another thing - I have always felt bhajarE rE chitta and ucchishTagaNapatou take more on the hinstUstAni side. What do you think of that?
-ramakriya
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