1. HR, All I said is that S
aundararAja is the deity of NagapaTTinam, while S
undararAja [aka SundarabAhu] is the deity of mAlirunjOlai or Azhagarkoil. I hope you noticed the difference in the names.
2.
So, is it Neelayathakshi or Soundararaja Perumal who saved Nagappattinam from the tsunami? We can have a nice Saivite-Vaishnavite debate on this matter!
a. Shouldn't it be shAkta-vaiSNavite debate.
b. There may not be enough grist for the debate mill for the following reason - While dikSitar explicitly refers to saundararAja's exploit of subduing the ocean, 'ambudhi-garva-nigraham', tyAgarAja's reference to the ocean is very poignant. While he has two songs on nIlAyatAksi, evaru teliyaka bOyeru (tODI) and Karmame balavantamAya (sAveri), the latter alone has an allusion to the ocean. Unfortunately the caranam referring to the ocean is never sung, and the last (mudrA) caranam 'kAsAsa leni' is most prevalent.
The 2nd caranam goes -
vAridhi madi garvinci I | vasudhaku tA rAnenci ninnu ||
sAreku kani tala vanciyuNDu | dhIra tanamu kalgu ninu poDagAncinA|| karmame balavantamAye..
Which translates to 'When the ocean was filled with pride, and decided to enter this land; he saw You standing there, resolute/brave' (and yet) Destiny is all powerful..
The implication here is that, despite seeing NIlAyatAkSi standing there, all intrepid, that the ocean entered the land, is a sign of inexorable fate. I interpret this as tyAgarAja's lament about whatever natural disaster he saw at NagapaTTinam, rather than as a praise of nIlayatAkSi's prowess in controlling the ocean.
3. Arun - Brindavani and brindAvana sAranga
Perhaps the confusion may be due to the differing raga lakshana (use of g2?) being used for the raga by differing schools in the past i.e. nowadays brindavana saranga is s r m p n3 s | s n p m r s, while use of g2 is labelled as nowadays as brindavani (??).
It is knottier than that.
The tyAgarAja krti 'kamalAptakula' and paTnam's 'sarasIruhAna srIrAma' only use n2, and have g2 as an anuswara used often in the pmr/(g)s. This confirms with SubbarAma dikSitar's notation of saundararAjam, only he uses g2 more explicitly in phrases like r-r/gr for 'saun-da-ra' and a beautiful tAra sthAyi r/gr for 'ambudhi'; lending a much more textured flavour to the rAga.
Subbarama diksitar however, has used the name brindAvani since that is the name given in the srIragam lakSana gitam, [there is no laksaNa slOkam of the venkaTamakhin pedigree for brindAvani]. He says that the 'sampradAyam arindavargaL' call it brindAvana sAranga.
The gitam given in the SSP uses only srmpns/snpmrs, and dikSitar has commented about how the gita doesn't demonstrate all the sancaras properly. Since the gitam is dedicated to tyAgarAja of tiruvArur, it may be a composition of some older musician from Sahaji's or Tulajaji's court.
The version with very, very sparing use of ga must have been established by Subbarama dikSitar's time, because the lovely song 'kamalAsanAdi pujita-pAdah' of the Ettendra king [which was most likely tuned by Subbarama dikSitar]has only one instance of the gandhAra.
The brindAvani/brindAvana sAranga with the kAkali N3, in my opinion emerged only in the second quarter of the 20th century, through one variant each of the songs 'rangapuravihAra' and 'kamalaptakula'. Balamuralikrishna's tillAna further popularised this version of the rAga.
This version may have emerged due to increased exposure to the North Indian Khyal treatment of BrindAvani sArang, which uses n3 in the ArOh and n2 in the avarOh. This is the most popular version of the rAga in circulation now, in the Carnatic concert sphere, with dozens of ranga! srIranga! brindAvana sAranga! type pallavis making the rounds.
We can take comfort in the fact the Pt. V.N. BhaTkhaNDE, too has discussed the confusion between brindAvani [the 2 nishada variety] and madhmAd sArang [very close to dikSitar's brindAvana sAranga].
--- ofcourse , Soundararajam is likely to be a part of the concert list - and yes, cannot agree more with you on what a lovely composition it is !