Versatility of Tyagaraja - Part 2
I had earlier written about the various types of song structures given by Tyagaraja. Now let us examine the themes that were dealt with by Tyagaraja.
Basically lot of people feel that Tyagaraja's krithis are mainly 'bhajanais' or that they have a pleading tone. 'Azhugai' as they call in Tamil. This has mainly to do with the fact that many people who listen to Carnatic music dont know Telugu. That Tyagaraja's krithis all portray a similar mood is far from truth. So let us examine the different themes that Tyagaraja dealt with.
First lets look at the krithis of his in which portray the 'karunya rasa'. These are the ones wherein Tyagaraja asks Rama to come and save him, give him moksham etc. A lot of his followers, who became vaggeyakaras later, used this tone often. The beauty of Tyagaraja's krithis was that they were very poetic even when the tone was imploring. You just need to check out the meaning of the krithi 'Nagumomu' in Abheri to know what I mean.
Next we can check out the krithis which are more impersonal. Here is where the description of god is given and adjectives to describe him/her are used. The vaggeyakara here is more an observer and recorder of events. Most of Dikshitar's krithis are in this format. Someone in a bulletin board had pointed out that many of Tyagaraja's Sanskrit krithis fall under this category. The Kambhoji krithi 'Sree Raghuvara Prameya' would fall in this category.
The other deviation from this are those krithis wherein Tyagaraja is describing the beauty of the Lord but he himself is enjoying the description. The way in which the krithi is structured shows Tyagaraja's enjoyment. Some sample krithis in this vein would be 'Meru Samana Dheera' in Mayamalavagowla, 'Nanu Palimpa' in Mohan, 'Koluvayunnade' in Devagandhari. In all these krithis, the charanam is one of great beauty. Similarly there are krithis of great beauty like 'Lekana' in Asaveri and 'Pahi Rama Rama' in Karaharapriya where he shows how people like Sita, Hanuman, Bharata etc have enjoyed the beauty of Rama.
The other type of krithis are those wherein he describes some incident from the puranas and does it well !! A example would be the krithi 'Alakalalla' (Madhyamavathi). Here he says that Rama looked at Vishwamitra, who with his eyes gave him the signal to go and break the Siva Danush. 'Entanine' (Mukhari) talks about Sabari and her 'bhagyam' for having served Rama. In 'Na Moralagimpa' (Devagandhari) he recalls how Rama saved Sugriva from Vali. 'Rama Bana' (Saveri) talks about the incident wherein Lakshmana is floored by the arrow of Indrajit. There are any more krithis which talk about incidents from Puranas.
S Ramanathan used to say in his lecture that Tyagaraja was one who spoke about enjoyment in his krithis. This is in total contrast to those krithis where he adopts a pleading tone. S Ramanathan used to cite the krithi 'Kanugonu Sowkyamu' in Nayaki to bolster his case. In this krithi Tyagaraja says that he has discovered such great Sowkyam, which even Brahma wasnt able to obtain. He has written many krithis about Sowkyam. In the famous Kapi krithi 'Inta Sowkhyamani' he says that only Siva, who understand the beauty of Rama Nama knows what Sowkhyam is. Similarly he makes Prahladha talk about his pleasure in 'Enati Nomu Palamo' (Bhairavi). Another song in the same vein is 'Inta Bhagyamu' in Saranga.
Lets turn to another subject which was close to Tyagaraja's heart. No prizes for guessing. Music. He probably was the only composer who had composed krithis on music itself. The famous ones include 'Sogasuga Mridanga Talamu' in Sriranjani, 'Naada Suda Rasam' in Aarabhi, 'Nada Tanumanisham' in Siddaranjani, 'Raga Sudha Rasa' in Andholika, "Sangeetha Sastra Gnanamu' in Mukahri, 'Sitavara Sangita Gnanamu' in Devaghandari, etc. These krithis give an idea of what Tyagaraja felt about music. All these krithis are beautiful and it would take a genius immersed in music to come up with such krithis. Infact he says that only with 'Nadopasana' (Begada) did Vishu, Brahma and Siva become great. In the other great Shankarabaranam krithi, 'Swara Raga Sudha' he says that finding the exact places of each swara is the route to moksham.
(Small digression : One of the krithis most misused is 'Mokshamu Galada' in Saramati. This actually talks about people not getting Moksha if they dont have 'sangita gnanam' and 'sadbhakthi'. This is a krithi dealing with the greatness of music. Just because it starts as 'Mokshamu Galada' they play it DD everytime a national leader dies !! A most inappropriate krithi to be played then since Tyagaraja is not talking about death and most of our politicians are tone deaf to music anyway !! In a way DD is saying that these people will never get moksham!!)
Another subject very close to Tyagaraja's heart was the hypocrisy of people and lack of morals. He was very vehement in his krithis when it came to talking about these subjects. In 'Teliyaleru Rama' (Denuka) he says that people have no clue on bhakthi and just put on a facade. Similarly in 'Manasu Vishaya' (Natakurunji) he says that if you let yourself be ruled by the five sense when will you ever obtain the grace of Rama. In 'Dudukugala' (Gowla) and 'Etula Brothuvo' (Chakravaham) he lists the various sins that a person can commit. There are many songs of this nature by Tyagaraja. Some more examples would be 'Yagnadulu' (Jayamanohari), 'Manasu Nilpa shakthi' (Abhogi). There also krithis wherein he gives good advice and says how we should live. Some examples would be the Shankarabharam krithi, 'Manasu Swadhinamaina', 'Chakkani Raja Margamu' in Kharaharapriya, 'Nidhi Chala Sukama' in Kalyani. Balamurali has given a recording which has only the philosophical krithis of Tyagaraja !! Some other krithis that come to mind are 'Chede Buddi Manura' (Atana) and 'Buddhi Radu' (Shankarabharanam)
Tyagaraja used to be with his Rama the whole day. So in his Utsava Sampradaya krithis you see that he has associated himself with Rama throughout the day. Starting from waking him up with a 'melukolupu', 'Meluko Rama' (Bowli), 'Meluko Dayanidhe' (Sourashtram), giving him something to eat, 'Aaragimpave' (Todi), asking him to come in carefully, 'Hecharikaga rara' Yadhukula Kambhoji, making him sit on the swing and gently pushing the swing, 'Uyyala Ugavayya' (Nilambari), describing his marriage to Sita, 'Sita Kalyana' (Kurunji), asking him to sleep 'Badalika Theera' (Ritigowla). The Utsava Sampradhaya krithis, to me, are the most personal and poetic of Tyagaraja works and I enjoy these very much.
The poetic nature of Tyagaraja comes to the fore when he describes nature in krithis like 'Muripemu Kalige' (Mukhari), where is talks about the beauty of Tiruvaiyaru. In the krithi 'Choodare Chelulara' (Pantuvarali) is wonderfully describes the beauty of Yamuna.
If you thought that Tyagaraja was always praising Rama, you would be right most of the time but there have been 'nindastutis' which he has composed. The famous Kambhoji kriti, 'Maa Jananki' tells Rama not to feel too proud of himself and that his fame was due to Sita. He says that Sita could have burnt Ravana with just a look but she refrained doing so since she wanted Rama to get all the fame !!!
We will not normally associate Sringara rasam with someone like Tyagaraja but he has composed songs in this rasa as well. In the 'Geya Natakam' Nouka Charitram, he has composed the krithi, 'Odanu Jaripe' (Saranga). Here he describes the beauty of the gopikas. Similarly, from the same 'Geya Natakam' we have the krithi, 'Evaru Manaku Samanamu' in Devagandhari. Here the gopikas are very proud of their beauty and tell how the trimurthis are slaves to their beauty.
This brings me to the Geya Natakas. Geya Natakas mean dance dramas. Tyagaraja is supposed to have composed three Geya Natakas, 'Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam', 'Nouka Charitram' and 'Sita Kalyanam'. We dont have the krithis of 'Sita Kalyanam' but luckily we have the krithis of 'Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam (PBV)' and 'Nouka Charitram (NC)' with us. Tyagaraja not only wrote the krithis but also the gadyam and padyams for these dramas. (Padayams and Gadyams are the poetry and prose pieces). These are generally sung by the characters before the krithis start. They are wonderful to hear.
The krithis of 'PBV' are quite popular and many people have enjoyed the krithis without knowing that the krithis are from PBV. Some of the popular krithis from PBV are, 'Sree Ganapatini' (Saurashtram), 'Vasudevayani' (Kalyani), 'Vandanamu Raghunandana' (Sahana), 'Nannu Vidachi' (Reetigowla), 'Eti Janmam' (Varali), 'Narada Muni' (Panthuvarali), 'Enati Nomu Palamu'(Bhairavi) etc. In PBV, there is no Hiranyakashipu. The whole drama portrays the love and devotion of Prahlada towards Vishnu (by extension to Rama). The NC krithis are not very popular and very few musicians sing it.
When he has dealt with so many subjects, wouldnt Tyagaraja pay homage to his gurus and the great men before him? There are many krithis in which he pays his tributes to them. The most famous of them is 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu' (Sri). Similarly he pays his tribute to a whole list of people in 'Vidulaku Mrokkeda' (Mayamalavagowla). He says that you cant learn anything is you dont have a guru in another famous piece of his, 'Guru Lekha' (GowriManohari). He used to consider Narada as his guru and he has written many krithis on Narada. 'Sree Narada Mouni' (Bhairavi), 'Sree Narada Nada' (Kanada), 'Narada Guruswamy' (Darbar) are some of those krithis. In the famous Shankarabharam krithi, 'Enduku Peddala', he asks the lord to give him the qualities of great men.
Other than Rama/Vishnu, he has sung on other deities as well. He has sung 5 krithis, called Kovur Pancharatnam, on Lord Sundareshwara at Kovur. The krithi, 'Sambho Mahadeva' (Pantuvarali) is the most popular of the lot. He has also sung 5 krithis on Tripurasundari at Tiruvottriyur, near Chennai. These are more popular with 'Sundari Ni Diva Rupam' (Kalyani) and "Darini Telusukonti' (SuddhaSaveri) being the most popular. He has sung 5 krithis on the deities at Lalgudi. These are called as Lalgudi Pancharatnam. 'Eesa Pahimam' (Kalyani) used to be famous but I dont find too many people singing it now. He has also a Pancharatnam on Srirangam. The krithis in this pancharatnam are more often heard. 'O Rangasayi' being the most famous. 'Chootamu Rare'(Arabhi) used to be a favourite of Santhanam while Semangudi was partial to 'Vinaradha Na Manavi' (Devagandhar) and Ariyakudi took a liking to 'Raju Vedale'(Todi). The one sung rarely is 'Karuna chuda vayya' (Saranga). S Ramanathan used to sing it. He also has many krithis on the deities at Tiruvaiyaru, 'Pranatharthiharan' and 'Dharmasamvardhini'. 'Ilalo' (Atana) is a famous krithis from this set of krithis.
I hope this has given an idea of the various subjects that Tyagaja dealt with and his versatality.
Basically lot of people feel that Tyagaraja's krithis are mainly 'bhajanais' or that they have a pleading tone. 'Azhugai' as they call in Tamil. This has mainly to do with the fact that many people who listen to Carnatic music dont know Telugu. That Tyagaraja's krithis all portray a similar mood is far from truth. So let us examine the different themes that Tyagaraja dealt with.
First lets look at the krithis of his in which portray the 'karunya rasa'. These are the ones wherein Tyagaraja asks Rama to come and save him, give him moksham etc. A lot of his followers, who became vaggeyakaras later, used this tone often. The beauty of Tyagaraja's krithis was that they were very poetic even when the tone was imploring. You just need to check out the meaning of the krithi 'Nagumomu' in Abheri to know what I mean.
Next we can check out the krithis which are more impersonal. Here is where the description of god is given and adjectives to describe him/her are used. The vaggeyakara here is more an observer and recorder of events. Most of Dikshitar's krithis are in this format. Someone in a bulletin board had pointed out that many of Tyagaraja's Sanskrit krithis fall under this category. The Kambhoji krithi 'Sree Raghuvara Prameya' would fall in this category.
The other deviation from this are those krithis wherein Tyagaraja is describing the beauty of the Lord but he himself is enjoying the description. The way in which the krithi is structured shows Tyagaraja's enjoyment. Some sample krithis in this vein would be 'Meru Samana Dheera' in Mayamalavagowla, 'Nanu Palimpa' in Mohan, 'Koluvayunnade' in Devagandhari. In all these krithis, the charanam is one of great beauty. Similarly there are krithis of great beauty like 'Lekana' in Asaveri and 'Pahi Rama Rama' in Karaharapriya where he shows how people like Sita, Hanuman, Bharata etc have enjoyed the beauty of Rama.
The other type of krithis are those wherein he describes some incident from the puranas and does it well !! A example would be the krithi 'Alakalalla' (Madhyamavathi). Here he says that Rama looked at Vishwamitra, who with his eyes gave him the signal to go and break the Siva Danush. 'Entanine' (Mukhari) talks about Sabari and her 'bhagyam' for having served Rama. In 'Na Moralagimpa' (Devagandhari) he recalls how Rama saved Sugriva from Vali. 'Rama Bana' (Saveri) talks about the incident wherein Lakshmana is floored by the arrow of Indrajit. There are any more krithis which talk about incidents from Puranas.
S Ramanathan used to say in his lecture that Tyagaraja was one who spoke about enjoyment in his krithis. This is in total contrast to those krithis where he adopts a pleading tone. S Ramanathan used to cite the krithi 'Kanugonu Sowkyamu' in Nayaki to bolster his case. In this krithi Tyagaraja says that he has discovered such great Sowkyam, which even Brahma wasnt able to obtain. He has written many krithis about Sowkyam. In the famous Kapi krithi 'Inta Sowkhyamani' he says that only Siva, who understand the beauty of Rama Nama knows what Sowkhyam is. Similarly he makes Prahladha talk about his pleasure in 'Enati Nomu Palamo' (Bhairavi). Another song in the same vein is 'Inta Bhagyamu' in Saranga.
Lets turn to another subject which was close to Tyagaraja's heart. No prizes for guessing. Music. He probably was the only composer who had composed krithis on music itself. The famous ones include 'Sogasuga Mridanga Talamu' in Sriranjani, 'Naada Suda Rasam' in Aarabhi, 'Nada Tanumanisham' in Siddaranjani, 'Raga Sudha Rasa' in Andholika, "Sangeetha Sastra Gnanamu' in Mukahri, 'Sitavara Sangita Gnanamu' in Devaghandari, etc. These krithis give an idea of what Tyagaraja felt about music. All these krithis are beautiful and it would take a genius immersed in music to come up with such krithis. Infact he says that only with 'Nadopasana' (Begada) did Vishu, Brahma and Siva become great. In the other great Shankarabaranam krithi, 'Swara Raga Sudha' he says that finding the exact places of each swara is the route to moksham.
(Small digression : One of the krithis most misused is 'Mokshamu Galada' in Saramati. This actually talks about people not getting Moksha if they dont have 'sangita gnanam' and 'sadbhakthi'. This is a krithi dealing with the greatness of music. Just because it starts as 'Mokshamu Galada' they play it DD everytime a national leader dies !! A most inappropriate krithi to be played then since Tyagaraja is not talking about death and most of our politicians are tone deaf to music anyway !! In a way DD is saying that these people will never get moksham!!)
Another subject very close to Tyagaraja's heart was the hypocrisy of people and lack of morals. He was very vehement in his krithis when it came to talking about these subjects. In 'Teliyaleru Rama' (Denuka) he says that people have no clue on bhakthi and just put on a facade. Similarly in 'Manasu Vishaya' (Natakurunji) he says that if you let yourself be ruled by the five sense when will you ever obtain the grace of Rama. In 'Dudukugala' (Gowla) and 'Etula Brothuvo' (Chakravaham) he lists the various sins that a person can commit. There are many songs of this nature by Tyagaraja. Some more examples would be 'Yagnadulu' (Jayamanohari), 'Manasu Nilpa shakthi' (Abhogi). There also krithis wherein he gives good advice and says how we should live. Some examples would be the Shankarabharam krithi, 'Manasu Swadhinamaina', 'Chakkani Raja Margamu' in Kharaharapriya, 'Nidhi Chala Sukama' in Kalyani. Balamurali has given a recording which has only the philosophical krithis of Tyagaraja !! Some other krithis that come to mind are 'Chede Buddi Manura' (Atana) and 'Buddhi Radu' (Shankarabharanam)
Tyagaraja used to be with his Rama the whole day. So in his Utsava Sampradaya krithis you see that he has associated himself with Rama throughout the day. Starting from waking him up with a 'melukolupu', 'Meluko Rama' (Bowli), 'Meluko Dayanidhe' (Sourashtram), giving him something to eat, 'Aaragimpave' (Todi), asking him to come in carefully, 'Hecharikaga rara' Yadhukula Kambhoji, making him sit on the swing and gently pushing the swing, 'Uyyala Ugavayya' (Nilambari), describing his marriage to Sita, 'Sita Kalyana' (Kurunji), asking him to sleep 'Badalika Theera' (Ritigowla). The Utsava Sampradhaya krithis, to me, are the most personal and poetic of Tyagaraja works and I enjoy these very much.
The poetic nature of Tyagaraja comes to the fore when he describes nature in krithis like 'Muripemu Kalige' (Mukhari), where is talks about the beauty of Tiruvaiyaru. In the krithi 'Choodare Chelulara' (Pantuvarali) is wonderfully describes the beauty of Yamuna.
If you thought that Tyagaraja was always praising Rama, you would be right most of the time but there have been 'nindastutis' which he has composed. The famous Kambhoji kriti, 'Maa Jananki' tells Rama not to feel too proud of himself and that his fame was due to Sita. He says that Sita could have burnt Ravana with just a look but she refrained doing so since she wanted Rama to get all the fame !!!
We will not normally associate Sringara rasam with someone like Tyagaraja but he has composed songs in this rasa as well. In the 'Geya Natakam' Nouka Charitram, he has composed the krithi, 'Odanu Jaripe' (Saranga). Here he describes the beauty of the gopikas. Similarly, from the same 'Geya Natakam' we have the krithi, 'Evaru Manaku Samanamu' in Devagandhari. Here the gopikas are very proud of their beauty and tell how the trimurthis are slaves to their beauty.
This brings me to the Geya Natakas. Geya Natakas mean dance dramas. Tyagaraja is supposed to have composed three Geya Natakas, 'Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam', 'Nouka Charitram' and 'Sita Kalyanam'. We dont have the krithis of 'Sita Kalyanam' but luckily we have the krithis of 'Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam (PBV)' and 'Nouka Charitram (NC)' with us. Tyagaraja not only wrote the krithis but also the gadyam and padyams for these dramas. (Padayams and Gadyams are the poetry and prose pieces). These are generally sung by the characters before the krithis start. They are wonderful to hear.
The krithis of 'PBV' are quite popular and many people have enjoyed the krithis without knowing that the krithis are from PBV. Some of the popular krithis from PBV are, 'Sree Ganapatini' (Saurashtram), 'Vasudevayani' (Kalyani), 'Vandanamu Raghunandana' (Sahana), 'Nannu Vidachi' (Reetigowla), 'Eti Janmam' (Varali), 'Narada Muni' (Panthuvarali), 'Enati Nomu Palamu'(Bhairavi) etc. In PBV, there is no Hiranyakashipu. The whole drama portrays the love and devotion of Prahlada towards Vishnu (by extension to Rama). The NC krithis are not very popular and very few musicians sing it.
When he has dealt with so many subjects, wouldnt Tyagaraja pay homage to his gurus and the great men before him? There are many krithis in which he pays his tributes to them. The most famous of them is 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu' (Sri). Similarly he pays his tribute to a whole list of people in 'Vidulaku Mrokkeda' (Mayamalavagowla). He says that you cant learn anything is you dont have a guru in another famous piece of his, 'Guru Lekha' (GowriManohari). He used to consider Narada as his guru and he has written many krithis on Narada. 'Sree Narada Mouni' (Bhairavi), 'Sree Narada Nada' (Kanada), 'Narada Guruswamy' (Darbar) are some of those krithis. In the famous Shankarabharam krithi, 'Enduku Peddala', he asks the lord to give him the qualities of great men.
Other than Rama/Vishnu, he has sung on other deities as well. He has sung 5 krithis, called Kovur Pancharatnam, on Lord Sundareshwara at Kovur. The krithi, 'Sambho Mahadeva' (Pantuvarali) is the most popular of the lot. He has also sung 5 krithis on Tripurasundari at Tiruvottriyur, near Chennai. These are more popular with 'Sundari Ni Diva Rupam' (Kalyani) and "Darini Telusukonti' (SuddhaSaveri) being the most popular. He has sung 5 krithis on the deities at Lalgudi. These are called as Lalgudi Pancharatnam. 'Eesa Pahimam' (Kalyani) used to be famous but I dont find too many people singing it now. He has also a Pancharatnam on Srirangam. The krithis in this pancharatnam are more often heard. 'O Rangasayi' being the most famous. 'Chootamu Rare'(Arabhi) used to be a favourite of Santhanam while Semangudi was partial to 'Vinaradha Na Manavi' (Devagandhar) and Ariyakudi took a liking to 'Raju Vedale'(Todi). The one sung rarely is 'Karuna chuda vayya' (Saranga). S Ramanathan used to sing it. He also has many krithis on the deities at Tiruvaiyaru, 'Pranatharthiharan' and 'Dharmasamvardhini'. 'Ilalo' (Atana) is a famous krithis from this set of krithis.
I hope this has given an idea of the various subjects that Tyagaja dealt with and his versatality.
Comments
a good run down of Tyagaraja's greatness in composing kritis with appropriate meanings and contexts.
In my view the beauty comes from the choice of ragams and talams, for these kritis.
for ex, no other ragam than Todi would suit Aaragimpave..it is like a mother requesting her child t come and eat..
even while waking up Lord Rama, choosing Bhowli is great. as we know the ragams are meant for certian times to give the maximum melody and beauty and this is what Thyagaraja exploited in his most of the kritis. There are innumerable instances like Prakkala nilabadi in misra chapu is most appropriate..
Hats off to the ever great saint and vaaggeyakaraka,Tyagaraja..
Suresh : congrats..I look forward to more such articles..
M Dakshina Murthy