CHAPTER -6
SAINT TYAGARAJA
A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF A SOUL THROUGH MUSIC
INTO MUSIC
We are going to talk about the greatest musical legend on
earth. He was not a composer, singer in any ordinary sense or even in extra ordinary
sense. He was divine incarnation and a Saint who happen to choose music as a
medium. I am not trying to deify or idolize any ordinary mortal but trying to
make ordinary mortals understand his uniqueness and how he made it known to
human race that music is not merely a medium to express various emotions, to
exhibit musical skills, to explain subjects through lyrical splendour , to
entertain the mind with marvellous music etc all of which many great composers
and musicians have done all over the world but what he has done uniquely is to enmesh human soul
with the vibrations of universal divine soul especially in different moods of
human soul from the silly, sentimental, short tempered, selfish seeking to the
sublime.
He has at once grasped and given various vibrations of the
divine soul in a very systematized but simple and spiritual manner so that
anyone can follow the musical vibrations irrespective of the his knowledge of
the language or lyrics [the knowledge of the lyrics will of course make one savour
the nectar in its entirety], knowledge of the musical system with its musically
most evolved system of Ragas [modes] and intricate Tala [rhythmic patterns].
This is possible because his compositions are imbued with divine spiritual
vibrations of which we are all part.
What is the justification of including him in a chapter on
Andra rather than in Tamilnadu where he was born and where he lived and also
attained Siddhi [left his mortal body] because the bulwark of a great culture, the
Vijayanagara Empire fell at the end of the 16th Century. The invasion from the
North brought in its wake a great exodus of population towards further down
south. Quite a few Hindu families had to flee to southern areas which were
still peaceful. Many found shelter under the benign rule of the Nayakas and the
Maratha Kings of Tamilnadu. Particularly, a number of Telugu families went to
South and formed nuclei of art and culture and Thyagaraja’s ancestors belonged
to one such stock, as he describes himself as descending from a family of
immigrant Vaidiga Brahmins of the Muriginadu sect belonging to Kakarla family
(Kakarla is a village in the Kurnool District of Andhra). They moved to Tamil
Nadu Country during the Vijayanagar period in early 1600’s.
He manifests the experiences of a divinely inspired
individual soul and its musings with the universal divine soul. So as an
individual soul nesting in a physical frame he experiences different emotions;
goes through many difficulties; forced
to react to inferior aesthetic sensitivities even among students he has
scrupulously groomed; forced to cause unpleasantness to his blood relatives
because they are more keen on making material advancement using his talent
which is against his saintly principles; he incurs the displeasure of the society
because of his unwillingness to toe certain rituals devoid of intrinsic values
etc. There are not only anecdotes to each and every one of the few aspects of
life that I have mentioned above but there are even kritis [songs] composed by
him imploring answers through divine intervention.
His bhakthi was with such total intensity and intense
totality that he was more communicative with Lord Rama whom he just not
worshiped as a God incarnate and manifestation of the universal divine soul but
considered as his friend, philosopher and guide that he expresses all his
sentiments that of joy, sorrow, desolation, anger, helplessness, disgust, he
even complains about the society and its people for their misplaced values etc
to Lord Rama. Thank God he chose music as his medium that we are blessed with
such exalted music because it has emanated from a soul manifested with divinity
and communicating only with Universal Divine vibrations through music.
So, the anecdotes about all the instances good, bad, ugly
must be studied only in the background of these basic frameworks of who Saint
Tyagaraja is and what he valued rather than critically analysing them based on
any common, mundane , normal academic evaluation and conclude that he was very
susceptible person prone to anger, parading false modesty etc .On the contrary
even what some biographers have indicated as his anger towards his own students
I would like them to see it as his reasonable feeling of disgust towards his
own students whom he so scrupulously groomed pandering to or falling prey to
inferior aesthetic sensitivity.
Besides I would like everyone to remember that even the
greatest of saints and the divine incarnations when they take on human frame or
form are obviously subject to the gullibility and the fallibilities that happen
as a result of human physical and emotional limitations. But normally, on a
matrix of evaluation since the quantum of their positive contributions are so
high and their impact is so intense and complete that everyone becomes oblivious
to their small weaknesses and insignificant and slight negative aspects.
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder all virtues and vices
are in the mind of the evaluator and the tools and standards of evaluation.
Evaluations themselves are very subjective on one hand [based on the
evaluator’s perceptive abilities] and on the other hand they are also
influenced by the context or environment or situation when the evaluation takes
based on certain existing traditions, trends and taboos of that place and time.
Besides it is too haughty to presume that human reason or logic or conforming
to socio morals alone as the ultimate adjudicator or judge of everything
because there are many things which are [of which many nice and wonderful
things] far beyond the ken of human logic, perception etc and all behaviours
need not be approved by social sanction and all works need not necessarily have
to have the stamp of scientific methodology.
Creativity and creative geniuses, spiritually enlightenment
and the spiritually enlightened souls, scientific discoveries and scientific
discoverers, all these people, normally as a rule because their activities
are inspired, their souls getting tuned
in with the universal souls, are hyper sensitive and highly sensible , and
hence never bother about fitting into or
following any existing or established criteria and that’s why they are able to
create something new, discover something new and in this process anything that
creates a friction or hampers the function of their creativity or discovery
will be an irritant testing the human physical and emotional limitations of the
creator or discoverer. The reaction from the great creators and discoverers are
not signs of intolerance or of revenge but they are activities to smoothen the
path of their sensible sensitivity.
Ordinary mortals can never understand certain extraordinary
behaviours with their limited tools of perceptions and narrow socio religio
morals. At best they can go on debating and discussing about certain
activities.
Both types of biographers, on one extreme of the spectrum
those who venerate, idealize, idolize, deify and on the other extreme of the
spectrum the criticism hungry ruthless reviewers who are looking for faults, searching for
scandals, erecting edifices of highest moral standards reserved exclusively for
those whom they have decided to evaluate in terms of these standards , in
brief, the unloving critics and uncritical lovers fail to see the intrinsic
value, wisdom and worthiness of the souls that they are trying to get
enlightened by or want to evaluate
or emulate or exterminate through
derogation or damage.
That’s why while writing or reading about biographies of
great souls even the details of their date of birth, place of birth and time of
disappearance of their mortal frame and the interim period of their personal
life are of relatively lesser significance than their intrinsic contribution of
wisdom and worthiness. For, they are not creatures confined by chronology or
curtailed by circumstances, but free and flamboyant spirits who live forever
through their works and words of wisdom which is what is of importance to us
rather than the chronological aspects and small fallibilities in their personal
life.
So Saint Tyagaraja too in that sense must be studied for his
extraordinary contribution to music and bhakthi which he manifested through his
music all of which he did against all odds and we need not bother about how he
looked like? How many wives he married? What he ate? How he treated his
students? Why he reacted in a particular way at a specific situation towards
some of his students? Etc
I am making this preamble because there have been some write
ups to that effect in some books, blogs and web sites.
Any art form reaches its pinnacle when from tradition there
is a transition leading to transformation. When this happens there are lot of
criticisms some valid and some wild. In any case the transition itself is not
that easy. However, most original and creative artists have somehow managed to
evolve out of the tradition and managed to carry on with the transitions
gradually leading to transformation but in the case of Saint Tygaraja as he was operating with a
divine soul , he enriched and enhanced the existing traditions carrying out the
ultimate refinement thereby not creating any uneasiness or friction with the
lovers of tradition and instead of the
usual route of transition and transformation he at once transported the whole
of humanity into higher realms of ecstatic revelations of divinity inherent in musical vibrations or conversely he made
every one realize that musical vibration was the best method to grasp
divinity and transformed music from that
of mere source of entertainment to a tool for devotion leading to permeating
with the divine in a method involving very pleasant and natural vibrations and
frequencies.
In other words he brought out the hitherto hidden aspect,
nature and purpose of music that of a medium to the
wisdom of perceiving Brahman [The Divine Universal Soul] the intelligence to
analyze and experience Divinity; the diligence to seek Divinity; and the
patience to wait for enlightenment. He described his Rama
[Divine Incarnation] as an embodiment of Nada. No other composer has in
such simple and appealing ways taught music as art, science, philosophy and
ultimately, as a means to spiritual enlightenment.
All his compositions are eternal melodies imbued
with the imprints of a divine soul in structure, sound and substance in the
form of lyrics. He wrote on a wide range of subjects, of course, all relevant
to spiritual enhancement with the majority of the songs are in praise of Rama
and a few on other deities, there are numerous songs on ethics and morals,
worldly wisdom, mental control etc But other than these there is one subject wherein
he imprints his uniqueness, let see what it is.
Uniqueness in the case of Saint Tyagaraja is what you may
call as a contradiction in spiritual enlightenment. Usually if we scan through
the annals of human history great artists get too attached to the medium of
their art to the negligence of everything else and seekers of enlightenment
brush aside the medium of enlightenment once enlightenment is reached, for,
they feel the relative irrelevance of the medium once the goal for which the
medium was adopted is attained. But, in the case of Saint Tyagaraja he elevated
the status of medium [here music] as the very goal and thus blunted the
difference between the medium and goal. For Saint Tygaraja music or Nadha was
God personified, for him music was very sacred and has to be approached with
utmost sanctity and reverence. Here, it is imperative to mention the many
kritis that he devoted to extolling Nadha and explained the proper way to
handle it with reverence etc these are phenomenal and no other composer has
ever talked about the grammar of rendering music. This shows his involvement
and intimacy with music. He was primarily in love with music and then through
that with Rama [Divine Incarnation].
Saint
Thyagaraja had a unique combination of the bhakti of Prahlada, the music of Narada
and the vakpatutva of Valmiki. Passionate in his music,
profound in his knowledge of it, pure in his devotion he petrified everyone
with his music. In fact the best way to approach his biography, rather the only
way available at our disposal is through the study of his compositions wherein
most of the events, instances of importance to his life are depicted in the
lyrics and therefore that would be more authentic rather than the narrations
passed on by people who may have lived around him in terms of geographical
proximity but may have been far removed from understanding such a divine soul.
So such accounts may not be very reliable.
In 1827, at the age 60, he celebrated Sastiaptha Purthi. In
1839 during the month of April, he visited Tirupati, but when he went to the
temple, it was closed. In sadness, he sang "Teratiyagaraadaa" and the
temple officials gathered round in admiration when they saw the door opening by
itself and the screen falling aside. He sang "VenkaTEsha ninu sEvimpa"
in his happiness at seeing the Lord.
While returning to Thiruvaiyaru, he visited
Chennai-Kovur, where he composed Kovur Pancharatna during his stay with Kovur
Sundara Mudaliar. Later he composed Thiruvetriyur Pancharatna while he was
staying with Veena Kuppier. At the invitation of his disciple LaalguDi
Raamayya, he composed the Laalgudi Pancharatna. He also composed the Shreeranga
Pancharatna in praise of Ranganaata of Shreerangam and 5 kritis in praise of
Sage Naarada.
On completion of this spiritual tour he reached
Thiruvaiyaru at the end of October, 1839. In 1841, Gopalakrishna Bharathi
visited Thyagaraja at his residence in Thiruvaiyaru. The Ghana Pancharatina
Kriti, 'Endaro mahanubhavulu..' was composed when Chatkalam Govindamaarar
visited him in 1843.
It was said that Lord Rama appeared before him
on 27-12-1846 in his dream and offered him Motsa after 10 days. Next day he
revealed this to his disciples and relatives during 'Egadesi Bhajanai'.
Accordingly everyone believed that 6-1-1847 would be the day when he was
expected to attain Mukthi. The Saint
took to Sanyasa on 5-1-1847 when he felt the premonition of his approaching end
to his mortal life and called himself Nadha Premmananther. He attained Siddhi
on the Pushya Bahula Panchami day in the year Parabhava 1847 A.D. (6-1-1847).
His mortal remains were interred at a spot on the left bank of the river
Cauvery at Thiruvaiyaru with the honor and religious rites due to a Sanyasi.
For example through his songs he makes
known the metamorphosis of a spiritual soul in its journey in which it
meanders from an intensely focused love bordering on almost a fanatical bond
with Rama claiming that Rama alone is superior to everything even the Trinity
of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva through these kritis he wants to establish Rama’s
distinct superiority “eka maata oka bhanamu oka pathni vrathude”
(Harikamboji); “Vaadera daivamu manasa” (Pantuvarali) and “Sarmegani anya marga
vicharameti ke Oh manasa” (Pantuvarali) etc., he asserts that Rama is the
embodiment of virtures and that the Trimurthis worshipped him. However, at a
very later stage of his life that he composed songs like “Paramathmudu velige”
(Vagadeeshwari) in which he stresses the immanence and universality of God in
everything, the animate and the inanimate, by whatever name we may choose to
call Him. To stress this, he explains these further in the charana of the
kriti. This kriti is well worth reading several times and understanding fully.
[Biography Of Sri
Thyagaraja Swami (1767 - 1847 AD)part IV http://www.brahmintoday.org/magazine/2012_issues/bt97-0308_thyagaraja.php]
Though many literary
scholars, philosophers, scientists, musicians, mystics, poets etc all over the
world have expressed the importance of music as a medium of religious worship
and one of the pleasantest medium of spiritual seeking none rendered this fact
itself in music and also lay out the grammar as to how this can be carried out
as Saint Ttyagaraja has done.
In his Kritis Ni Bhakti Bhagyasudha (
raga ; Jayamanohari : tala ; Rupaka ) he sings :"The rituals elaborated in
the Vedic scriptures result in rebirth and the attendant misery. O Master of
Tyagaraja, you are the embodiment of the musical sound. You are
immeasurable" (S Krishna Murthy, T N Padmanabhan : Tyagaraja Vachanamrita
).
As Vasan mentions in www. brahmintoday.com in the chapter titled Biography Of Sri
Thyagaraja Swami (1767-1847 AD)II
“One
important group of songs is those based on his study of the Sangita Sastras and
his practice of Nadopasana. Some composers have made passing reference to the
occult and mystic aspect of nada, sangita, and swara, but it is only the
Sadguru Thyagaraja Swami, who has left nearly 25 songs on the origin (divine)
structure and purpose of music and how the knowledge of Sangita could by itself
offer liberation from bondage of the cycle of birth and death. As Mr. T. S.
Parthasarathi says, arranging these kritis in the order of their subject
matter, one can create a text book on the subject of Nada upasana, Sangita
upasana, and attaining moksha in this life itself. A discussion of these kritis
is matter enough for a separate paper, and so I shall content myself with
briefly mentioning some of the songs and their appropriateness. Such a list
would include songs such as: Nadopasana, Mokshamau Galada, Seethavara, Sangita
Sastra Gnanamu, Sobhillu Sapthaswara, Nada Thanumanism and Swara Raga
Sudharasa. The importance of these and other songs and how Sri Thyagaraja Swami
used his compositions to energize our inner spiritual forces and attain moksha
in this life are discussed in the article “Nadopasana for Salvation.”
As his soul was submerged in
music both as the medium and goal, however one approaches the kritis of
Saint Tyagaraja either technically or
devotionally or for mere musical entertainment one is either consciously or sub
consciously or unconsciously led to feel
the spiritual vibrations because all his compositions are the result and
manifestations of spiritual experience of a divinely inspired soul engaged
in spiritual journey . There is a superb and sublime simplicity about
many of his kritis. Wherein the raga [mode], tala[ rhythm] and lyrics gel
seamlessly.
Again I would like to quote a full page
from Vasan’s Biography Of Sri
Thyagaraja Swami (1767-1847 AD)II in www.brahminstoday.com
“The
centre of Thyagaraja’s existence and the summit of his aspirations was to
experience in every breath the bliss of Rama bhakti and thereby gain a vision
of his Ishta Devata. In many of his songs, this longing finds eloquent
expression. The dimensions of his music include not only sangita sastra, but
also contain a core of spirituality. It is because of this great quality that
his compositions, like the Atman, endure. The consummation of spirituality in
his songs is really the Voice of the Eternal.
Through
the apertures of his songs, the depth of his bhakti is revealed. The
inspirational potentialities of his kirtanas to lead a sincere votary in the
bhakti marga are infinite, because every song breathes the fragrance of one
aspect or other of the nava vidha bhakti. It is only a devotional approach to
Sri Thyagaraja that can unlock the treasures of his spirituality.
Sri
Thyagaraja’s life was a confluence and symphony of three streams –
spirituality, saintliness and sangita and the harmony of these find spontaneous
self-expression in every syllable of his sahityas. The divine words come
vibrating from his soul. To describe them as kirtanas would be superficial for
his utterances are authentic revelations of what he directly experienced. They
comprehend the one and only purpose of music, that is, moksha sadhana. The
value of his music is instrumental, a means, but the goal is intrinsic, to lay
one’s soul at the feet of Sri Rama.
The
greatness of Sri Thyagaraja is the way he linked the human to the divine. What
is the saint’s message to humanity? Aspiration is human. Grace is divine. Only
through God’s grace can one realise his aspiration, bhakti in the case of a
saint. The ascent of human aspiration has to be facilitated by the descent of
divine grace. The echoes of this Truth reverberate in many of his songs. The
saint has emphasised that man in samsara is like one who has lost one’s
identity, lost track of his goal of existence and is in a trance. Through his
kirtanas, Sri Thyagaraja has taken on himself to guide, admonish and appeal to
erring humanity. His songs give a thrust to open man’s inward eye.
Sri
Thyagaraja with his rich gift of felicitous expression in his sahityas, takes
us to the very empyrean of poetry. His is the greatest single achievement in
music – the most perfect pieces of musical compositions existing in the world.
The astonishing vigour and reach of his music touch our hearts and address
strongly our admiration Sahityas fall from his lips full of wisdom and
devotional fervor. The most moving songs owe their composition to particular
incidents and the state of his mind. The process of his creations are far
beyond our comprehension. But the product is before us, each a jeweled beauty.
While all his kirtanas are soulful, Sri Thyagaraja has outclassed himself in
his Pancharatnas where he is at his greatest and perhaps touched the pinnacle
of Carnatic music.
The
fusion of lyrics and melody, the fusion of bhakti and sangita form the very
essence of his songs. The melody and sahityas are outwardly distinct, the depth
of spirituality is embedded in them. One can well discern from the effusion of
his songs that his was not tame bhakti but heroic bhakti. A consideration of
the diction in the Pancharatnas and other songs shows that Sri Thyagaraja was
not after tricks of rhetoric or a fondness for word play.
In all
his compositions, Sri Thyagaraja’s style shows a greatness of manner which
marks him as a vaggeyakara par excellence. The outward form and inner meaning
is so well meshed that the kirtanas remain unexcelled. At Sri Thyagaraja’s hand
each song, each raga gains individuality and in every one of them is reflected
the working of a bhakta’s yearning in his soul.
While
hearing a Thyagaraja song we are introduced to a world of divinity and each
syllable, the pulse of bhakti beats strongly. The sublime relations between the
human and the divine, which lie beyond our comprehension find an eternal place
in his kirtanas. We recognise in Sri Thyagaraja a master spirit combining in
himself the bhakti of Prahlada, the music of Narada and the vakpatutva of
Valmiki. Sentiments are passionate, his reflections on music and life profound.
His works therefore stand apart in the history of vaggeyakaras.
His
Contributions to Raga Lakshana and Musicology Thyagaraja Swami had made
significant contributions to raga lakshana, raga lakshya, and raga swaroopa, or
in general, to the development of musicology. A support for this claim is
provided to us by Sri A. Vasudeva Sastry of the Saraswathi Mahal Library, in a
book titled “Ragas”. The Ragas study examines the manuscripts of Sahaji, who
died in 1710, about sixty years before Swami was born. After analyzing the work
of Sahaji and all the materials available on raga lakshanas, Sri Vasudeva
Sastri concludes that thirty of the 72 melakarta ragas were given a raga
swarupa and acquired their ranking solely from Saint Thyagaraja Swami giving
them these qualities. Quoting from Madikeswara Samhita, a work on srutis of
which only extracts are now available, Sastry points out that 12 swara moorchanas
were in existence and Swami used it to give Karaharapriya great charm in his
composition, Rama Nee Samana mevaru. Quoting the sangatis of this composition
in great detail, Sri Vasudeva Sastry points out that the “closed curve” melodic
effect which can be got by the vadi-samvadi usage.
As it is believed, Swami created many new
ragas. Many scholars however believe that he activated or unearthed many ragas
which has been labeled and were lying dormant because their lakshanas or
characteristics were not defined in clear terms. However, the fact that only
one composition exists in a certain ragas and these compositions have been
composed in these ragas only Sri Thyagaraja Swami lends credence to the claim
that ragas like Pratapa Varali, Nabhomani, Jaya Narayani and many others, were
Swami’s creations. Similarly, sangatis or usages that enrich the musical
context of a kriti, are mostly found in Swami’s compositions. Although some
scholars point out that sangatis are as old as music itself and were known under
the name prayaogas. However, since they became widely used only through the
kritis of Swami, it will not be wrong to assume that sangatis were Swami’s
innovations. He used sangatis to bring out the raga bhava or their fundamental
characteristics”
Though
there are only 729 kritis of Saint Tyagaraja available now there are many
sources where it is said that he composed some
24, 000 kritis aligning with the number of slokas in Valmiki’s Ramayana.
There is possibility that this could be true why because as Vasan says,
“Saint
Thyagaraja also created two musical plays, commonly called operas. However, I
call them music plays as neither Geya Nataka nor opera seems correct and
appropriate. Prahlada Bhakthi Vijaya, a play without Hiranya Kasipu or
Narasimha, has some 48 songs and over 120 padyams. It has in addition,
invocative, descriptive and introductory gadyas, choornikas, and other forms of
prose passages of great merit. Nowka Charitha, the other play is equally
fascinating and once again a creation without any basis derived from
Bhagavatham. This play has 21 songs and many padyas and gadya passages. Swami’s
poetic genius is brought out vividly in these plays and the language he has
used in some of the lengthy passages highlight this opinion.
Magnum
Opus, Some scholars believe we have inherited only the less important natakas
of the Swami and that the magnum opus is missing or are available only in
fragments, awaiting some scholar to put the pieces together. In support of this
view, they mention that in 1876, a printing license was issued to a Loka
Narayana Sastrulu of Wallajahpet, to print “Seetha Rama Vijayam” by one
Thyagaraja Brahmam of Tiruvayaru. They cite the kriti Eppaniko in Asaveri,
where the saint refers to his desire to write the Ramayana in song and ask
whether after such a statement, he would have failed to carry out what he
considered his mission. One scholar in urging researchers to look for and put
together the songs to make the sampoorna Ramayana drama suggests, that Ma
Janaki was sung in the drama by Janaka; Rara Seetha Ramani Manohara by
Soorpanaka; Sri Rama Padama by Gauthama and so on. Of course, there is nothing
more than belief to justify this view. Prof. Sambamurthi, who made great
efforts to locate the press in Choolai, Madras, mentioned in the printing
license gave it up in despair. He however, suggested that Ma Janaki in Khamboji
and Vanaja Nayana in Kedara Gowla were songs from Seetharama Vijayam, the songs
representing “Sambandhi Kelikka” or benign taunting of the sambandhis by groups
belonging to both sides.”
True to
his name THYAGA-RAJA meaning the ‘King of Renunciation’,
he renounced all worldly honours, gifts etc. He declined the offer of the king with all the
riches to be part of the royal court and rendered the wonderful kriti ‘Nidhi
sala sukama’ but this is said to have irked his brother so
much that threw the idol that Saint
Tyagaraja was worshiping into River Kaveri but ultimately Lord Rama himself
helped him get it back.
The same Saint Tyagaraja however accepted a gift once out of
sheer reverence for his Guru from his Guru. The teacher was so stunned by Tyagaraja’s remarkable
talent that he openly praised his disciple as being far better than him, a
praise few teachers would be prepared to give. Not only that, Sonti Venkataramaniah
presented Tyagaraja with a gold medal that he had once received as an award at
a royal court. Tyagaraja was averse to receiving such tokens but
made a one-time exception for the sake of his Guru. Later, Tyagaraja presented
the medal and the chain at the wedding of his teacher’s daughter; thus he
managed to dispense with what was perhaps the only worldly reward he had ever
received.
His superior musical skills and techniques that are taken for granted
because he has in-built those subtleties, defining and distinct features of
ragas so well in the kritis for example
there are many in number but I would like to quote again from Biography Of Sri
Thyagaraja Swami (1767 - 1847 AD) III http://www.brahmintoday.org/magazine/2012_issues/bt96-0209_thiyagaraja.php
“Mrs.
Vidya, in an excellent paper presented to the centenary session of the Madras
Music Academy (Swami’s death centenary), has used a number of examples to
illustrate how Swami used sangatis to highlight the use of right srutis. He
used these also in kritis intended for children so that they can learn the
sruti values early and by understanding the proper imitation of the instrument
or voice teaching them. Let me point out one example provided by Mrs. Vidya. In
the kriti, Mariadagadura (Sankarabharanam), she points to the numerous sangatis
used in the pallavi and shows how the tri-sruti gandhara of Sankarabharanam is
deftly handled by Swami. Both Sankarabharana and Kalyani have the same
gandharas in their structure but Kalyani use the Chatursruthi and the note
clings to the Madhyama. She also points out how the sahitya splits perfectly
into the right tisra syllables and how the visesha prayoga, Sa Da, Pa in the
sangatis just preceding the complete avaroha brings out the bhava.
Mrs.
Vidya also says that by using a deerga daivata, Swami has skillfully managed to
bring out the raga bhava of Kambhjoji in Evari Mata, although he uses only the
swaras common to Sankarabharanam and Khamboji. The commencement of the charana
of this song also brings out the value of Khamboji’s deerga daivata prayogam.
Often,
when using a new raga, Swami employs the arohana and avarohana in the opening
phrase itself. For example in Binna Shadjam, raga derived from the ninth mela,
Dhenuka, the opening words Sari Varilona, fit in with Sa Ri Ga Ri Pa Ma Pa Da
Sa Da Pa Ma Ri Ga Ri Sa. The opening phrase in Evaraina lera peddalu (Raga:
Siddha Sena), the notes are Sa Ga Ri Ga Ma. Take Bahudari, is there a more
appropriate characteristic phrase than Pa Da Ni Pa Ma Ga? When employing vivadi
swaras, Swamiji makes sure that the vivadis occur in the opening phrase itself,
e.g. Paramatmudu in Vagadheeswari; Evare Ramayya in Gangeya Bhushani. Even for
an ancient and well known raga like Bhairavi, he uses common swaras to great
effect. For example, in the short rupaka tala kriti, Upacharama Jese Varu, he
opens with Ri Ma Ga without the slightest trace of Karaharapriya. The
chatsruthi rishabha of Karaharapriya is aligned to the Madhyama, a fact so well
demonstrated. Karaharapriya and Hari Kambhoji are Swami’s gifts to Carnatic
music. The Tana Sampradaya Kirtanas and indeed even the simple rhythmic ones
teach the ease with which all or most of Swami’s songs fall into the sarva
laghu ,in addition to demonstrating the scope of the raga alapana, swara
singing paddathi and neraval. Koluvayyunnade in Bhairavi and Kori Sevimparare
in Karaharapriya are examples.
Other
examples of where Swami had used sangatis to bring out the raga bhava ‘include:
Najeevadhara, Chetulara Srungaramu, Thappi Brathiki Brova Tharama; in these
compositions, the sangatis are in the passage containing the message of the
kriti. In the Pratapa Varali song, Vinanasa Koniyannanu, the phrase Da Pa Sa is
used for Aa Aa in words to emphasize that Swami wants to not only have sweet
words, but to also as he says “Madhuramaina Palukulu,” the sweet words that
Vathathmaju (Anjayaney) and Bharatha heard.”
I would
love to portray his life and spiritual journey of the soul of Saint Tyagaraja
through the available 729 kritis of his but I would rather end it here and
listen to his songs rendered by great stalwarts so that I please my soul.
