MYRIAD FORMS OF SIVA BY GAYATHRI GIREESH- EPISODE 3

[CRama]

The third episode of the above series was held at Tatwaloka Auditorium, Eldams Road on 6 April 2013 at 6 PM. I attended the programme and I am happy to share the proceedings for the benefit of the rasikas.

The Chief Guest of the day was Smt.E.Gayathri, Veena exponent, who presently adorns the post of Principal and Hon Director, Tamil Nadu Govt. Music College, Chennai and is also the Hon Director of all Tamil Nadu Music Colleges. In her address, she underlined the spirituality prevalent in CM and told that Music directly touches the soul without any carrier. She appreciated the sincerity of Gayathri in this project which she has taken up as a penance and she is bound to get the blessings of Siva in her endeavour and she would reach high scales. She also individually appreciated all the accompanists for their sincerity and vidwat which will reflect in their concerts. After a brief recap of the last two episodes, Gayathri commenced the third episode. The first song presented was Sree Mahaganapathy ravathumam in Gowla which is composed on the Matruraitha Vinayakar in Tiruvarur. She explained the story of Siva giving gold to Sundaramurthy Nayanar which the latter takes to Vinayaka for testing the purity of gold. She also presented a Sundarar Thevaram in the pann Nattaragam which is equivalent to Panthuvarali. The story is contained in the thevaram also.

The third episode will feature Siva as the Anugrahamoorthy. Out of the 138 kritis of MD taken up for the study, she observed that in 105 krits, Siva presents as Anugrahamoorthy along with Sakthi, a reinforcement of the Siva Sakthi concept.. IN the Aunugrahamoorthy series, mostly we see Siva in a calm posture along with Sakthi always ready to grant blessings to the discerning devotees. Anugrahamoorthy can be seen in various forms. The first Anugrahamoorthy taken up was Kalyanasundarar. This moorthy shows Siva in marriage posture along with Parvathi. The most common moorthy what we see is the Meenakshi Kalyanam idol with Vishnu doing Kanyaadanam. There are many stories connected with Siva’s marriage with Parvathy or Uma or Meenakshi or Dakshayani which is mentioned in many epics and literary works. One temple linked with Siva’s marriage is Thirumananchery. The song is Kameswarena Samrakshithoham in Sreeragam. It is very interesting to note that in this song MD has included all the rituals connected with marriage right from alankaram of bride and bridegroom, janavasam to panigrahanam , laja homam, all festivities connected with marriage etc. Interestingly Mangalyadharanm is not included. We can presume that this ritual was a subsequent addition to the marriage. Kalidasa’s Kumarasambharavam is also a work which describes Siva’s marriage with Parvathy in a detailed and exquisite manner. Gayathri rendered two slokas from Kumarasambhavam in lilting Simhendramdhyamam and Sahana. The tanam played by Mudicondan Ramesh before the slokam was very captivating.
Vedaranyam is a place associated with Siva’s marriage. During Siva’s marriage, all Devas and bhootha ganams assembled in one place with the result there was loss of balance in the earth. To maintain the equilibrium, Siva asked Agasthiar to go to Vedaranyam. Agasthiar felt sad that he will not be able to see Siva’s marriage. But the kind Siva gave darshan of his marriage to Agasthiar in Vedaranyam. This story is mentioned in the song Sree Parvathi Parameswarao Vande in the ragam Bhowli which was very sedately presented by Gayathri Gireesh.

The next Anugrahamurthy taken up was Vrishabhaaroodar. We all have seen the idol of Siva and Parvathy seated on the Rishabham. Mostly such idol is seen as Utsavamoorthy in Siva temples. Rishabham is the incarnation of Dharmadevata. There is another version in Thiruvasakam that Vishnu came as Rishabham on which Siva travelled. There are many songs of MD which describes Vrishabhaaroodar. One famous song mentioning Vrishabhaaroodar is Akshayalingavibho in Sankarabharanam composed on the lord of Keezhvalur which is also called Dakshina Badarikaranyam. There is a story that when MD visited the temple, the temple was closed after the puja. When he sang the song, the doors opened on its own and then only the archakars understood the greatness of the visitor. A brief alapna of the ragam preceded the song. She also presented a Sambandhar Thevaram in the pan Nattappadai which is equal to Gambheeranattai. Next Gayathri presented a beautiful rare song Nagalingam Namami in the ragam Mohanam in which there is reference to Appar, Sundarar and Gnanasambandhar.

The next Murthy in the series is Chandrasekharar. Siva is known by this name because he has kept Chandra on his locks. The story is that because of the curse of Daksha, Chandra lost his shine and he prayed to Siva for remedy. Siva took him and kept on his locks thereby Chandra regained his shine and power. While as Chandrasekharar, Siva keeps Deer and mazhu in two upper hands and the lower hands giving abhayam and varadam. In some places, Chandrasekharar is seen without Ambal and then he is known as Kevala Chandrasekharar as in Patteeswaram. In Thiruveezhimalai, he is known as Uma Chandrasekharar, as he is seen along with his consort. In Thiruvaduthurai he is called Alingana Chandrasekharar.as he is seen embracing Ambal. Gayathri then rendered the Kalyani song Kumbheswaraaya Namasthe. The song is on Kumbheswarar in Kumbakonam. It also mentions about Mangalambal, the Ambal in the temple. Mudicondan Ramesh played brilliant tanam in Kalyani before this song. In the Tiruvarur temple, Thyagarajaswami comes as Utsavar only on the first day. From second to eighth day it is Chandrasekharar and there is a specific ritual called Chandrasekharapattam which gives the right to Chandrasekharar. for being the utsavar. Gayathari then rendered the song Chandrasekharam sada bhajeham in Margahindolam. She also rendered a Sambandhar thevaram on the Chandrasekharar.at Thiruvakkarai in the pann Panchamam which is similar to ragam Ahiri. She concluded the episode with Kaayarohanesam on the presiding deity of Nagapattinam in the ragam Karnataka Devagandhari (Devagandharam).

The venue was shifted to Tattvaloka Hall as the audience far exceeded the capacity of Ragasudha Hall for the last two episodes. This hall is bigger and the Hall was full by 6.30. There was PP presentation also. The iconographic details, pictures of temples were displayed in the screen at appropriate places. The full lyrics of the songs was also displayed for better enjoyment of the audience. At the end, Gayathri offered her thanks to the resource persons with whom she had discussions on the subject and also the musicians from whom she learnt specific songs.VV.Ravi and S.Balasankar accompanied on the violin and Mridangam respectively. The programme concluded at 8.30 PM.

[rshankar]

Thank you CRama for these detailed postings. Allows many of us to vicariously live through these interesting performances. And what a gracious Chief Guest Smt. E. Gayatri must have made!

[rajeshnat]

I have heard all songs that is mentioned ,excepting the Kameshwarana samrakshitoham in shree ragam(are there any pointers in sangeethapriya or any where else). thank you - crama ,for this review

[CRama]

Rajesh, You would not have heard Nagalingam Namami in Mohanam also. I do not think these songs are available in Sangeethapriya.

[srini_pichumani]

There is an exquisite home rendition of "nAgalingam namAmi satatam" by Kalpagam mami... the canonical alapana she does for just a minute and a half before the kriti is stunning too !

https://archive.org/details/05.NagalingamMohanamKS

-Srini.

[ranjanimalavi]

http://www.sangeethapriya.org/tributes/ ... ithis.html

134) kAmEsvarENa srI Adi Sanjay


Raman