Evolution of ragas

[SrinathK]

Now here's a topic that could be discussed enough to write a couple of books on the subject. I have a collection of recordings going back to the turn of the century till the present day and it's nothing short of amazing how different the same ragas sounded about a hundred years ag

Just about 150 years ago, all the major ragas of today might have sounded really "folksy" by comparison. I have heard some of the Sangeetha Sampradaaya Pradarshini versions of Dikshitar Krithis and see how the treatment of ragas of the Dikshitar school differed dramatically back in the day to Thyagaraaja's or others.

Here a few points to start off :

There has been an explosion in gamakas in the last 150 years or so to where it is now and it's still evolving. The influence has come from various vocal and instrumental influences. Thodi for one is a raga that evolved gigantically to say the least. Compare the old Desiya thodi to the current Hanuma Thodi.

We can also the Ariyakudi style vs Semmangudi or GNB and you see the evolution for yourself. However some also aver that the gramaphone records forced musicians to cut out some gamakas so that they could sing fast enough to fit within the tape. This also caused an evolution of the average listeners' attention span to around 6 min or so.

Interestingly, even in the same vocalists, look at the records in the 1920 and 1930s and then see the same by the 50s and 60s. I will probably recommend the GNB centennial collection as a prime example of a vocalists' evolution. There is also a cinema video of MLV singing Entha Veduko which you can compare to the later MLV.

Madurai Mani Iyer's style of singing is especially unique as it is actually an older style with less (or only essential) gamaka focusing more on simpler melodic beauties and some short approximating brighas where heavy gamakas would be used today. For eg. p,dp m,pm g,mg are used where today we would sing DP-PM-MG. This device goes back to at least the trinity period. Unfortunately he was probably the last of that kind.

ATaaNa for one is still evolving and the Antaara Gaandhara note seems to be becoming rarer and rarer.

Khamas added a N3 at one point courtesy of Mysore Vasudevaacharya. Veena Dhanammal added a M2 in Paras, but this didn't catch on like Khamas did.

Listen to the Jagadodharana of Raja Iyengar with that of M S Subbalakshmi. There's another.

The Hindustani influence in many CM ragas and vice versa and the import and export of ragas.

Abheri. Enough said. That wasn't as much of an evolution as it was the loss of an original raga altogether and personally I think that is something to be avoided. At the moment there are 4 different ragas being labelled Abheri out there.

Maanji and Bhairavi have nearly become the same raga and the jury's out as to whether they were indeed two versions of the same raaga.

Many ragas that Annamacharya composed in don't exist today.

Gowda Malhar, Mohanakalyaani, Karnaranjani, --- all just over a century old but almost immediately settled into their identity.

GNB created a few ragas himself -- Amrita Behag, Shivashakti. The story is Amrita behag came out of some really vakra phrases that TNR attempted in Kalyaani which inspired GNB to turn them into a full fledged raaga.

BegaDa changed so much over time that in a music academy lec dem, PSN said that variability was the only constant in that raga. Even ariyakudi's begada varnam contains phrases like P M1 R2 and D2 R2 S R2 and S D2 P and I haven't heard them since.

Vivadis are still evolving. No one explored them to that level of individuality as much as Thyaagaraja did in his time and all later composers' efforts were still in pursuit of establishing their identity (Personally I think he himself created 60 or so ragas unique to him). I think Rishabhapriya at some point gained a distinctive identity in the past century.

For all the things that purists may say, evolution is still happening. The Dwi madhyama ragas are a prime example and from my experience with Suryashree, I don't understand what's this idea that 2 madhyamas cannot come in a raaga when Sindhubhairavi is the leader of that lot.

Might I add all the fine tuning that Veena Dhannamal carried out on varnams and krithis? Or how many vivadi krithis of Thyagaraja have been retuned in other ragas?

And now days you have started hearing some chord progressions at some points in ragas and swaras in instrumental concerts.

Evolution is the bottom line.

All those interested to chip in with their insights are most welcome

[VK RAMAN]

Great topic. 6 minutes attention span - is this valid for rasikas interested in RTP. How will rasikas respond 3 hour concerts without RTP. How can artist prove their mastery in 6 minutes

[rshankar]

Srinath - Great post and thoughts, as always! A distinctly amateurish response from me will be that I like the rAgas as they are today - for instance, I have heard the CDs of the project of vidvAns TMK and RKSK to show how kRtis would have sounded following the notation in the SSP and how they sound today - and in almost all instances, the newer version appealed to me so much more. So, I assume that some, if not many of the changes were incorporated to improve the perceived esthetics of a given rAga.
These changes/evolutions in the rAgas remind me of similar changes and evolutions that have occured in other art forms - in bharatanATyam for instance, with absolutely no formal training in kinesiology, and going purely on esthetics, the amazing nATyAcAryas of yore came up with variations in the presentations of the aDavus, positioning of the body in various planes and on the stage which have lead to the evolution of many distinct 'styles' of the same dance form such as vazhuvUr (rounded), pandanallUr (sharply symmetric with a forward bend at the waist), and kalAkshEtra (upright stance, angular symmetry) as examples. But here, all these forms continue to co-exist.
I think that as with any other 'tradition', change denotes being alive, and moving with the times, and should not be condemned without detailed discussion....

[cacm]

Madurai Mani Iyer's style of singing is especially unique as it is actually an older style with less (or only essential) gamaka focusing more on simpler melodic beauties and some short approximating brighas where heavy gamakas would be used today. For eg. p,dp m,pm g,mg are used where today we would sing DP-PM-MG. This device goes back to at least the trinity period. Unfortunately he was probably the last of that kind.
Dear S,
YOUR OBSERVATION IS INTERESTING BECAUSE I happen to have discussed MMI'S singing STYLE with him as well as the connosiour& expert late B.V.K.Sastrywho said in articles in Illustrated Weekly that MMI was adhering to the Dhikshithar style of singing. MMI himself said(Mali too) that it requires ENORMOUS KNOWLEDGE, TALENTS, AND PATIENCE AS WELL AS RASIKAS KNOWLEDGE to deal with DHIKSHITAR COMPOSITIONS ESP. in presenting them to typical concert audiences. As a consequence BOTH preferred Thyagabrahmam Compositions. I am curious to know your views based on your investigations INCLUDING THE MEANING& USE OF THE LANGUAGE of the compositions....VKV

[SrinathK]

Yes, those brighas are Veena based.

I'd say Dikshitar is a lot like Mozart in a way -- most famous violinists have agreed that among the most difficult concertos are those of Mozart -- not so much from a virtuoso viewpoint, but the other musical demands. I really feel that without an idea of how they sound on veena, it's tough to get the raaga out of Dikshitar's songs, esp. in the slow movements (and yes, it is as challenging as the slow movement of any concerto). More fundamentally, this challenge lies in the very nature of that particular tempo range. Slower the tempo, the more and more your gamaka knowledge is tested to the limit. There are no repeated melodic lines in Dikshitar's songs, so one has to be patient to hear it to the end to get the full picture of the raaga and that particular tempo range (~Grave-Adagio) is challenging. I mean take a Suryamurte or a Bala Gopala or a Kamalambam Bhajare, you have to listen till the very end to get all the raga phrases out of it. These take more time to learn, as much as an ATa Tala Varnam.

His Sanskrit is actually not difficult at all for the most part -- even a 12 day spoken sanskrit course and a decent vocabulary of common well known words, an idea of basic Sanskrit sentences and a good knowledge of holy places all over the country can help you decipher most of them. I can follow Dikshitar krithis easily but my knowledge of Telugu is zilch and I have regrettably known a couple of hundred of Tyagaraja's songs with no idea of what I'm listening to until sahityam.net came along. IMHO, the real challenge with Dikshitar is LOTS of lyrics -- more challenging than anything is probably the patience it requires to follow lyrics that run to paragraphs accompanied by ever new melodies. (Not all his krithis are like this, you can blast a Ramachandram Bhaavyami off the rails, but in the slow tempo, it will make it sound like a lot of lyric even when there is not that much lyric)

It shows, even in this age of media, it's hard to get Dikshitar's compositions as plentifully as Thyagaraja's. After years and years of collecting, my Thyagaraja collection is close to 250 while Diskhitar's is around 70.

Thyagaraja's on the other hand offers the raga on a platter, even in compositions as complex as the pancharatnams. It's easy to get the raga svaroopa in his compositions. Sangathis play a massive role in his compositions and this is also a hugely significant factor in bringing out more and more raga with less lines to remember -- by the time all the Sangathis are done, the pallavi line is burned into your brain. Which is why the 1st set of lines of the charanam of many of his krithis are more difficult -- less sangathis there. This is probably why the average listener is familiar with more of Thyagaraja style compositions than Dikshitar style ones.

The largest of his songs are the Pancharatnams and the lyrics of most others would fit in 3 small paragraphs. The madhyama kala overall is easier to follow -- many songs are at such a tempo that all you have to do is sing and the raga with all its gamakas will simply play itself out. He chooses a wide variety of eduppus that add an easy to follow rhythmic punch (like the almost universal Deshaadi rhythm)

Also, in most of his compositions, he prefers an A-B-CB or A-B-B melodic style which means a melodic passage of the anupallavi will get repeated -- this means those raga phrases are picked up more easily and it becomes easier to remember the lyrics.

There are exceptions too, like Dhaarni Thelisukonti -- which is more like Dikshitar's style & a true MONSTER of a composition with all those sangathis -- but the madhyama kala and sheer number of sangathis sells it. The variety he brings out in one raga is mind boggling. E.g. His Jagadaanadakaaraka is something truly unique out of all Nattai compositions. 34 krithis in Thodi alone! ATaana, Mohanam, the sheer range of compositions from Bhajans to Pancharathnams.

And those chitta swaras and the swara patterns in the sangathi phrases of the Pancharathnams -- Oh my God, that's it! Like MMI, Thyagaraja Swami would have been the emperor of swaras of his time! -- yes, it WAS the swaras!

[cacm]

His Sanskrit is actually not difficult at all for the most part -- even a 12 day spoken sanskrit course and a decent vocabulary of common well known words, an idea of basic Sanskrit sentences and a good knowledge of holy places all over the country can help you decipher most of them. I can follow Dikshitar krithis easily but my knowledge of Telugu is zilch and I have regrettably known a couple of hundred of Tyagaraja's songs with no idea of what I'm listening to until sahityam.net came along. IMHO, the real challenge with Dikshitar is LOTS of lyrics -- more challenging than anything is probably the patience it requires to follow lyrics that run to paragraphs accompanied by ever new melodies. (Not all his krithis are like this, you can blast a Ramachandram Bhaavyami off the rails, but in the slow tempo, it will make it sound like a lot of lyric even when there is not that much lyric)
Dear s k,
I am not talking about the words in Sanskrit Dhikshithar has used; Actually I spent close to a month with experts in the language as well as the
sculpture aspects as well as the mythological& philosophical aspects not to mention astrological connections being described in the compositions in various locations. The wonder on the part of experts in various areas is how D has managed to integrate all these aspects. Thats why MMI probably felt if one rendered a DHIKSHITHAR KRITI PROPERLY NOTHING ELSE WAS NEEDED & MALI PREFERRED TO RENDER T'S KRITIS AS THERE WAS SCOPE FOR ONE'S OWN CRATIVITY......vkv

[SrinathK]

Yes, but when talking about Thyagaraja, that last point -- he was a genius in swaras. Just look at the pancharathna krithis. All the elements I have earlier observed in MMI's swaras -- I find all of them (and more) in the Pancharatanams. He was another master of the janta swara combinations. I'd be ready to bet my money that MMI was definitely inspired in some way by Thyagaraja's use of swaras -- some of those chittaswaras are like a mini tani avartanam in themselves. From that view point, I REALLY miss not having more pancharatna style krithis in many other ragas -- only God knows what sort of genius that would have come out and what new raga dimensions would have been revealed.

[sureshvv]

Srinath - Great post and thoughts, as always! A distinctly amateurish response from me will be that I like the rAgas as they are today - for instance, I have heard the CDs of the project of vidvAns TMK and RKSK to show how kRtis would have sounded following the notation in the SSP and how they sound today - and in almost all instances, the newer version appealed to me so much more.

Agreed. But it should not come at the cost of morphing the pre-existing raga. It could be presented as a variant with some qualification added to the raga name. Like "Nagumomu" in Shuddha Abheri or something like that. Another raga that has been cannibalized is Karnataka Kapi.

[ganeshkant]

All art forms have a main as well as parallel stream.for e.g the movies by shyAmbenegal,ray and mrinal sen are typed as art movies and attract a thin audience.these films win accolades in international film festivals but many of them don't get theaters for their commercial release.Nevertheless such films are produced for the art's sake and they get support from certain quarters.

And regarding cannibalizing of rAgas let us explore and introspect a bit about their cause and need.The answer is to please the general public.nagumOmu in AbhEri is sedate and slow,so naturally karnAtaka dEvagAndAri took over .Everything has changed with time .Our dressing,cuisines,functions (for e.g I am unable to tolerate the way betrothals are conducted now a days.so much of ostentation) and classical music as well.Some one laments for the poor attendance for nAgaswaram concerts.But I for one enjoy rAja iyengar's music,his voice unleashing brighas in consonance with the harmonium.

We in Rasikas,org are trying to convert more people into art form by our discussions and reviews which is good I think.

[vasanthakokilam]

Some of those chittaswaras are like a mini tani avartanam in themselves.

Indeed, very much so. Good observation. Most of us here know that raga essence can be gleaned from the songs and used as inspiration for an alapana. But many may not know that laya used in compositions can be extracted and used as an inspiration by percussionists. Our Mridangam Balaji explained that while teaching us about Korvais a long while back which I did not fully understand then but I recently got a bit of clarity on that through an email exchange with him. Quite gracious of him.

Even going one step further, a song that 'feels' quite different from other songs in the same raga and thala can in large part be due to creativity in the laya aspects by the composer. The reverse is also seen in T's compositions as Srinath alludes to. Once you have a laya template that works, it can be used across compositions in different ragas with some creative variations.

[narayan]

SrinathK,

I think you really should write the book that you feel this topic deserves. Probably too much in your post for a full discussion via follow up posts. not having studied the specific issue as much as you have, here are still some opinions.

* It is not surprising that we relate to the current versions more than the older variants (apropos rshankar's opinion). The argument is a bit circular, because what survives does so precisely because many like that version. The few times that I have heard some 'old' versions of ragams, they do sound odd and a bit flat (apropos your 'explosion of gamakas' comment).

* Some or other influential person puts a stamp on certain ragas and they become the standard for some years. The obvious cases are the 'inventors' of the raga, including Muttaih Bhagavatar and GNB, in recent historical times, but also some performers who interpret some slightly older ragas in a distinctive and convincing style. Without any evidence, I have a feeling that Lalgudi and GNB in our listening era probably did this for a few ragas, whose raga style and grammar we take as a standard. Semmangudi for Kharaharapriya is probably a safe bet?

* For Begada, I would put a small side bet on Ramnad Krishnan, who has sung several alapanas, with variety and punch, and probably influenced many musicians (this is referred to in the DVD on Ramnad's music, by a few current day musicians).

* What is also intriguing is how some melakartas become solid ragas over some period of time, mainly to do with introduction of some characteristic gamakams in alapana (without going so far as your gamaka explosion). Shanmukhapriya may be because of nadaswaram players at some point, although the equally prevalant Natabhairavi does not seem to have caught on. Both Simhendramadhyamam and Kiravani have caught on, and one sure sign of their lasting value is probably solid film songs based on their melody.

But do write the book.

[harimau]

I have heard some of the Sangeetha Sampradaaya Pradarshini versions of Dikshitar Krithis and see how the treatment of ragas of the Dikshitar school differed dramatically back in the day to Thyagaraaja's or others.

If you are talking about the so-called Audio Archival Recording of the SSP by T M Krishna, I have some fundamental disagreements with the premise upon which that interpretation is based.

Dr R S Jayalakshmi was the advisor to the project. I took the trouble to read her PhD dissertation on interpretation of the gamaka signs in the SSP.

One would think that such interpretation would not be undertaken in a vacuum without trying to corroborate at least some of them with sources who could provide insights. Specifically, I mean persons such as D K Pattammal, B Rajam Iyer, S Rajam, Sandhyavandanam Srinivasa Rao, Muktha Amma, etc., who had the good fortune to learn from the descendants of Sri Muthuswamy Deekshithar and Sri Syama Sastry and most of whom were alive at the time the research work was undertaken. One would think that the descendants of the composers would have the greatest incentive to present the original patantharam as they would have been taught. I don't remember reading that any effort was made to ascertain their views. (In this connection, I have heard R K Sriram Kumar say that the version of certain Todi krithis as sung by D K Pattammal and D K Jayaraman differ from the version commonly heard today.)

Without such corroboration from trusted oral transmissions of the music, the entire effort at recreating Sri Deekshithar's music is suspect, to say the least.

Since the SSP is supposed to contain also some varnams as well as krithis of Sri Thyagaraja and Sri Syama Sastri, perhaps some of those krithis could be interpreted using the conclusions presented in the thesis and we can then determine whether they sound as weird as Sri Deekshithar's compositions sound under this interpretation. If they do, a logical conclusion may be that the analysis and conclusions of the thesis may require further work; after all, Thyagaraja's krithis have been in wide circulation when compared to Deekshithar's and we have sishya paramparas that have jealously guarded Thyagaraja's music.

Another point someone has made is that Sri Deekshithar was the conservative whereas Thyagaraja was the rebel. By this, it is meant that Deekshithar continued the asampoorna mela paddhathi which was in vogue in earlier times and Thyagaraja used the sampoorna mela paddhathi and caused its widespread adoption in later years. The total degeneration. -- in my opinion -- this has caused can be seen when one hears Deekshithar's krithis in Vivadi ragas and compare them to the rendition of Sri Kotiswara Iyer's composition in those Vivadi ragas.

[bhakthim dehi]

In my opinion the version of Sri Dikshithar krithis portrayed in SSP were authentic. They highly concord with the version given in the book Dikshitha keerthana prakashika
; both were written by disciples belonging to the direct lineage of Dikshithar. These versions very much differ from the so called authentic versions rendered by DKP, Sandhyavandanam Srinivasa Rao or Muktha amma. But I don't want to argue that the CD released by TMK exactly adhere to the version given in SSP

[kvchellappa]

Interesting like reading Ramayana or Atomic physics, most portions of which go over the head. The views are classic like the Ramayana or Atomic Physics (I mean even non-classical views of physics). It gives me a small pride that I like this music and am in a forum of learned critics.

[tkb]

thanks for this great topic and it does give a good insight in to the subject.

[sureshvv]

The total degeneration. -- in my opinion -- this has caused can be seen when one hears Deekshithar's krithis in Vivadi ragas and compare them to the rendition of Sri Kotiswara Iyer's composition in those Vivadi ragas.

Can you give a couple of examples and explain?

Thank you in advance.

[balakk]

I'd like to second sureshvv's request. Are the renditions inadequate or are the compositions themselves inadequate?