SrI: SrI rAmacandra parabrahmaNe namaH

krtis of SrI tyAgarAja swAmi

Dear Raama BhakthAs: Saint Thyagaraja is one of the greatest Raama BhakthAs that ever lived. Sangeetham and Bhakti intermingled ever so graciously in his kritis, which are anjalis with the naama kusumams (pushpams) of the Lord of AyOdhya. The outpouring of his parama bhakti is captured raptourously in his Ghana Raaga gem of kritis known collectively as Pancha Ratnams (http://www.sadagopan.org/nk/nkmain.htm). His masterly handling of Sangeetham and bhakti is a marvel (http://www.sadagopan.org/sb/sbmai.htm). Essays on Saint ThyagarAjAs Raama bhakti drenched Kritis in various Janya and Janani rAgams are covered further in (http://www.Sadagopan.org/sb/Sbarticles1.htm). Please enjoy them. Sriman Ramanujam Thiruvenkataswamy sent me recently a fairly complete list of the krithis of the Saint from ThiruvayyARu. He had received it from another friend of his in KeraLa. When I went thru them, it occurred to me that it will be good to make them available to all Sangeetha rasikAs and Raama BhakthAs in the form of one Kriti a day with some additional notes by myself beyond the text of the kriti and its meanings. adiyEn prays to Jaanaki Raaman to shower the blessings on a group of four devotees, who are going to help me present this Naadha NaivEdhyam. The central goal of this Kaimkaryam is to bring out the pulsating Raama Bhakti of Saint ThyagarAja, who was blessed to see the Lord and His family twice with his own physical eyes at the Thirumanjana Street house of his at ThiruvayyARu. Saint Thyagaraja who had completed 92 crores of Raama Naama Japam at a fairly young age was blessed to have the subha darsana soubhAgym of the Lord once with LakshmaNa and on another time with His Piratti and AnjanEya. Such is the power of the Saints Raama Bhakthi and Raama Naama Japa phalan.

adiyEn refers you to the scholarly article by Vaikuntha Vaasi PudukkOttai Mahaa VidhvAn A.SrinivAsa RaghavacchAri Swamy on Music and Bhakti: Sangeetham and Bhakti in our SampradhAyam, appended to this document. With this Poorva Peetikai, adiyEn takes you to Saint ThyagarAjAs Brindhavanam on the banks of Mother Cauvery as She quietly flows listening to the Raama Kathaa as sung by the Saint of Panchanadheeswara Puri. adiyEn will start this Kaimkaryam with the help of four colleagues of mine from the Sundarasimham, Ahobilavalli and Sri HayagrIvan likhita Kaimakrya ghOshti: Srimathys Jayashree DesikAchAri, Kala Hari, KrishNa Priyaa and Geethaa Anand. adiyen thanks them on your behalf in advance. Raama DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

SRIRAMAJAYAM

By PUDUKKOTTAI SRI A.SRINIVASARAGHAVACHARIARSWAMY *** Music is a fine art which is a source of joy and attraction to all beings gods and men and beasts. The animal, the baby and the serpent know the sweetness of music is a wellknown saying. It can be heard in the houses of all rich and poor alike. If it is in a sophisticated form in the mansion of the former, it is in a rustic way in the huts of the latter. Serpents are made to dance with their hoods expanded by the tune of the pipe of the snake charmer. Animals like the deer are said to be caught by hunters in the forest by playing upon their horns. It is common experience that the child at home is lulled to sleep by the loving mother. Music was patronized by kings in ancient India andnow the public are its patron. Theaters, music halls, Television and Radio play an important part in bringing music to the doors of all people now. Strangely enough there is a Vedic Text which is rather unsympathetic towards musicians with the result that some who are steeped in Vedic lore are found to be averse to music. The three Vedas Rik, Yajus and Atharva are only chanted whereas Sama-Veda in its entire entirety is sung. The apparent contradiction should be explained by saying that song as such is not decried but only singing in praise of unworthy persons with selfish motive is prohibited. Singing before gods and godly persons is not only permitted but even enjoined. The institution of temples in our country has been a source of great encouragement to the various fine arts and particularly dance, drama and music. Certain occasions are set apart for the singing of songs and certain persons appointed for this purpose. Side by side with vocal music instrumental music also developed. During the procession of temple deities, playing on then pipe (nadasvara) to the accompaniment of drum and cymbals came to be an important item. Similarly in the worship of

MUSIC AND OUR SAMPRADAYA

the deities in temples, the last phase at night was singing with vina. If the Lord is lulled to sleep at night with one tune of music (neelambari by name). He is awakened at dawn by another tune (namely bhoopala. There were minstrels known as Vandins and Vaitalikas in the Royal Courts in our country, who by their songs woke up the kings in the early morning or announced the different parts of the day to apprise the kings of their duties. Thus music has been and is occupying a very enviable place both in our religious and secular sphere. There has been an unbroken development in the art of music from the Vedas downwards. Reference to music and musical instruments are in plenty in our Puranas, Ithihasas and kavyas. Tamil Literature also abounds in such references and in fact there is a three-fold division of their literature as Iyal (classics) Isai (music) and natakam (drama) Music has been given the status of a Veda since it is known as Gandharva-Veda.Sage Bharata is the fist to give us a treatise on the act of dancing known as Bharata-Natya. The letters of the name Bharata are interpreted suitably to given us an idea of the nature of Natya-Sastra. The letter bha indicates that there is Bhava or sentiment. Ra that there is a Raga or Music and Ta is Tala which shows that time is kept upon. (Bharata Bhava, Raga and Tala) : : : There has been an equally great development in the field f musical kinds and of diverse patterns and are chiefly classified under four heads: thata or Chordophone (like Vina and Vipanchi); Avanaddha or Membranophone (like Mridanga and drum); Ghana or Autophone (like Ghata); and Sushira or Aerophone (like flute and Nadasvaram) Frequent mention is made of these musical instruments in our poetical works both Sanskrit and Tamil. By way of illustration I shall take up the Sundarakanda of Valmiki Ramayana. Hanuman goes to Lanka in search of Sita and in the course of his wanderings enters the harem of Ravana. There he sees beautiful Rakshasa damsels all asleep wearied by the nocturnal revels, each of them holding a musical instrument in her warm embrace which she should have been playing upon for the delectation of Ravana. The Atodya or

musical instruments mentioned therein are: Vina (Lute), Vipanchi (lyre) Vamsa (flute); kalari, Madduka, Mridanga, Pataha and Dindima (kinds of drums); Dundubhi (kettle drum) Adambara (a battle drum) and Aanaka and muraja (large military drums beaten at one end). Similarly in the field of Music, Sapta-Svaras or seven major tunes have been distinguished and the pitch of each has been equated with the cry of a bird or an animal as follows: {I shall give below the names of Svaras in Sanskrit with their Tamil equivalents in brackets}. 1.The cry of the peacock is Shadja (kural - ) 2.The bellowing of the bull is Rishabas (Tuttam - ) 3.The bleating of the sheep is Gaandhara (kaikkilai - ) 4.The twitter of Krouncha bird is madhyama (uzai - ) 5.The cooing of the cuckoo in the spring is Panchama (Ili - ) 6.The neighing of the horse is Dhaivata (Vilari - ) 7.The trumpeting of the elephant is Nishada (Taara - ). : : The realm of music is so all-pervasive that in our country gods, goddesses and sages are associated with it. Tumburu and narada are wandering minstrels who ramble with Vina in hand singing the glories of Vishnu. Kusa and Lava sang the entire Ramayana to the accompaniment of Vina Sarasvati the goddess of learning is represented as gently playing on the Vina. Siva wields a small drum. Krishna is always associated with his flute as the name Muralidhara will show. The sweet notes proceeding from his flute sent into raptures and a trance all that heard it and all that came to hear it. Periazwar (Sri Vishnuchitta) has devoted a whole decad to depict the melody of flute.Rambha and Menaka, Urvasi and Tilothama, kinnaras and gandharvas all were charmed by the music. The deer stood motionless as in a picture not knowing that the grass in the mouth was falling down. The calves forgot to continue to suck milk from the udder and stood enchanted. Plants exuded

streams of honey. The tiny branches with leaves and flowers of the creeper turned towards the direction from which sweet note of Sri Krishna proceeded. The hymns of Alwars are replete with references to music and musical instruments. Within the thirty hymns of Tiruppavai, Andal refers to songs and singing in fourteen (14) places. Sapta-svara (Ezisai-) occurs repeatedly in the hymns of other Alwars. The Lord himself addressed as the note of the Lute (Yaazin isaiye) by Sri Satakopa (Nammlvar). The bees and birds in the holy places sanctified by the presence of Baghavan in Archa (consecrated Idol) form sing in various times which have separate names in Tamil Literature (eg.marul,Kurinji,Naivalam)The tunes and Ragas Bairavi, Ahiri, Pantuvarali, Yadukula-kamboji and Sankarabarana are respectively known in Tamil as Pan Kausikam, Pan-Panchamam, Pan-Saadhaari, Pan-sevvazhi, and pan- Panchuram. All the hymns of the Alwars have been composed that they can be set to music and in certain editions the names of Pans or Ragas in which they have to be sung are also given. In one song Tondar-adi-podi Alwar gives the names of several musical instruments Tannumai, Ekkam, Maddali, Yaazh, kuzal, Muzhavam - played upon the divine beings when they come to sing and wake up Lord Ranganatha in Srirangam. Our Acharyas also have kept up this musical-set-up of the hymns of the Alwars. Sri Vedantadesika refers to Natha-muni, the foremost Acharya in the Hierarchy as the noble and broad-minded Seer who gave us sweet music of the Dravida-Veda (the hymns of Alwars known as Divya-prabandham) so as to be sung keeping time. Sri Vedantadesika again describes himself as the Vina that was played by Lord Venkatesa when he sang Daya-Satakam a panegyric on Daya. It is stated that one well versed in the art of playing Vina in accordance with the Science of Tunes inmusic, and keeping time is really on the path of Salvation without effort. : : Sri Andal (Goda-devi) corroborates this when she concludes her Tiruppavai by saying that by music one will become recipient of all-round Bliss by the

grace of Sri and Narayana. And we who tread the path of the Alwars and Acharyas shall also sing our way to the Lord and attain the bliss of Service to Sri Vaikuntanatha here, there and everywhere. Salutations to Alwars Salutations to Acharyas Written by father on 16.9.74