Can some one give the reason as to why some charanams are not sing in thyagaiyas krithi
For example krithi telisirama we sung only the first charnam
Also swararga Suda and nannuvidachi and elanedayaradhu-only one charanams is sung
Mostly
Is this because of sampradhayam or due to meanings
Thanking in advance
Missed charanams
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vgovindan
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Re: Missed charanams
engAttukkArarum kacchErikkup pOnAr
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Sundara Rajan
- Posts: 1088
- Joined: 08 Apr 2007, 08:19
Re: Missed charanams
Most compositions of ThyAgaraja have several chraNams, as many as 10 or more. It is difficult to memorize and present all the charaNams, hence most artists sing only a few and include the last one containing ThyAgarAja's mudra. His pancharathna krithis are exceptions and these are usually presented in full. It is true of other composers' songs also. Again SwAthi ThirunAL's bhAvayAmi raghurAmam is another exception. Even when only a few charaNam are sung, now a days artists depend upon lap tops, tablets, smart phones etc. One famous musician who used sheets of paper for ALL his songs in the past, now uses his lap top for ALL his songs and still makes occasional mistakes in lyrics.. Rasikas also are not patient enough to listen and enjoy entire compositions, in the present days.
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Purist
- Posts: 431
- Joined: 13 May 2008, 16:55
Re: Missed charanams
There is a technical reason perhaps. The swara notations (tune) for all charnams invariably being the same, it would sound repititive except for the sahityam. To compound it, the second half of each charnam is sung as in anupallavi.
So singing all charnams will not have musical variance, but only sahitya variance.(may be montonous to sing & listen too).
In that sense pancharathna kritis are not 'exceptions'(as SR notes above) but they are of different structure, each charnam having different set of notation.
Music theory specialists will have to confirm,if this makes sense.
So singing all charnams will not have musical variance, but only sahitya variance.(may be montonous to sing & listen too).
In that sense pancharathna kritis are not 'exceptions'(as SR notes above) but they are of different structure, each charnam having different set of notation.
Music theory specialists will have to confirm,if this makes sense.
Last edited by Purist on 19 May 2015, 10:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Ranganayaki
- Posts: 1765
- Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 06:23
Re: Missed charanams
I don't even NEED to say I'm no specialist, but you expressed my thoughts exactly. Sahitya has always had a lower status than sangeetha in our music and the repetition makes it less interesting to musicians. So we pick and choose the most beautiful charanas or the one with the mudra.Purist wrote: Music theory specialists will have to confirm,if this make sense.
Also, life has been constantly speeding up and the effort to listen to a long kriti with multiple charanas makes demands on an attention span that has been waning in the audience. It is a fact of life, the busier we are, the less we focus. We see this in literature.. The action in novels moves much more briskly now, conversations in these are more clipped, sentences are shorter now than they were in the 19th or even the early 20th centuries, and so are the paragraphs.
For Tamil audiences, with kritis being mostly in languages other than Tamil, the philosophical beauty and interest are lost on us anyway, so what we have access to is only the tune, and listening to the same tune again and again is uninteresting to most listeners. But if we start becoming aware of the meaning and the non-musical beauty, the repetitiveness becomes less uninteresting and actually more conducive to focusing on the content which could become more interesting, but it demands a greater time commitment from us, and most of us don't have it.
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keerthi
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Re: Missed charanams
Nice question, Chellam,
I think bhaktim dehi gives us a succinct and accurate answer. We can maybe use this opportunity to speculate a few more reasons for this practise getting entrenched firmly over the last century. Like it or not the question will leak into the allied issue of the status of sAhityam in music. I will pose a few questions that may be regarded offshoots of your original query, and try to answer them.
1. How many caraNams are there?
Songs with one caranam – TyAgarAja does have many songs with one caranam. The ekaika kRtis in some uncommon rAgas usually have one caranam – rasALi, saraswati manohari, jingla, bahudhAri, naLinakanti, ranjani, vanaspati etc [there are exceptions like andhAli and vasantavarALi with more caranas, that I think are divyanAma songs]
There are a few rare instances of songs with two carana-s, that I believe may either be an innovation of tyAgaraja, or may have lost a foot to the vagaries of time. Mundu venuka in darbAr readily comes to mind, I knew more examples, but am unable to recollect. [Others please pitch in if you have examples]
There is a large number of krtis by tyAgarAja in the pallavi-anupallavi-3 carana format . This covers both common rAgas like bEgaDa, tOdi, sAranga, asaveri, bilahari and uncommon ones – sogasu jUda - kannadagaula, , ramAramaNa - vasantabhairavi, kanulu takani - kalyAnavasanta and vakuLAbharanam, hindOlavasanta, Takka.
The songs that have more than 3 carana-s are almost always divyanAma type songs, meant to be sung in bhajana choruses. Some exceptions are E pApamu and munnu rAvaNa bAdha dIrpa, which were probably divyanAma-s, now sung as major krti-s, with only the last carana being sung by concert artistes.
[The haridAsas do have songs with more than three caraNa-s. There are some long songs with many caranas that narrate a big story, and like some of bhadrAdri ramadAsu’s kIrtana-s the number of caranas can exceed three]
1.1. Which are the ones where all carana-s are sung?
Songs wherein all the carana-s have different musical as well as lyrical setting - the ghanarAga pancaratna set, enduku nirdaya in harikambhoji, srIraghuvarAprameya in kambhoji, brOcEvArevare in srIranjani are exceptions.
One song that belongs to this set – nI padapankajamula - begaDa, which has three carana-s with different musical setting is sung by some musicians in an amputated version, with two carana-s lopped off.
The same was the fate of the bhairavi song Sriraghuvara, till recent – respectable mahAvidwans sang the amputated version, with the mudra carana alone. Now however the situation has been remedied – they have stopped singing this song altogether.
I think bhaktim dehi gives us a succinct and accurate answer. We can maybe use this opportunity to speculate a few more reasons for this practise getting entrenched firmly over the last century. Like it or not the question will leak into the allied issue of the status of sAhityam in music. I will pose a few questions that may be regarded offshoots of your original query, and try to answer them.
1. How many caraNams are there?
Not true. The 'commonest' number of caraNam-s is three [like the sivagaNa bhRngi]. And this is in continuation of the pattern set by the pada-s of the haridAsa-s, annamacArya- kSetrayya and muttutANDavar-marimuttA piLLai in kannaDa, telugu and tamizh respectively.Most compositions of ThyAgaraja have several charaNams, as many as 10 or more.
Songs with one caranam – TyAgarAja does have many songs with one caranam. The ekaika kRtis in some uncommon rAgas usually have one caranam – rasALi, saraswati manohari, jingla, bahudhAri, naLinakanti, ranjani, vanaspati etc [there are exceptions like andhAli and vasantavarALi with more caranas, that I think are divyanAma songs]
There are a few rare instances of songs with two carana-s, that I believe may either be an innovation of tyAgaraja, or may have lost a foot to the vagaries of time. Mundu venuka in darbAr readily comes to mind, I knew more examples, but am unable to recollect. [Others please pitch in if you have examples]
There is a large number of krtis by tyAgarAja in the pallavi-anupallavi-3 carana format . This covers both common rAgas like bEgaDa, tOdi, sAranga, asaveri, bilahari and uncommon ones – sogasu jUda - kannadagaula, , ramAramaNa - vasantabhairavi, kanulu takani - kalyAnavasanta and vakuLAbharanam, hindOlavasanta, Takka.
The songs that have more than 3 carana-s are almost always divyanAma type songs, meant to be sung in bhajana choruses. Some exceptions are E pApamu and munnu rAvaNa bAdha dIrpa, which were probably divyanAma-s, now sung as major krti-s, with only the last carana being sung by concert artistes.
[The haridAsas do have songs with more than three caraNa-s. There are some long songs with many caranas that narrate a big story, and like some of bhadrAdri ramadAsu’s kIrtana-s the number of caranas can exceed three]
1.1. Which are the ones where all carana-s are sung?
Songs wherein all the carana-s have different musical as well as lyrical setting - the ghanarAga pancaratna set, enduku nirdaya in harikambhoji, srIraghuvarAprameya in kambhoji, brOcEvArevare in srIranjani are exceptions.
One song that belongs to this set – nI padapankajamula - begaDa, which has three carana-s with different musical setting is sung by some musicians in an amputated version, with two carana-s lopped off.
The same was the fate of the bhairavi song Sriraghuvara, till recent – respectable mahAvidwans sang the amputated version, with the mudra carana alone. Now however the situation has been remedied – they have stopped singing this song altogether.
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keerthi
- Posts: 1309
- Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10
Re: Missed charanams
2. What is the logic of the three caranam song?
In compositions like the sRngAra-padas of kSetrayya and bollavaramuvAru, an idea that is initiated in the pallavi is expanded in the anupallavi [rarely vice versa], and the three carana-s delineate three consecutive stages in the narrative of viraha sRngAra or whatever other theme is being portrayed.
Hence, it was essential that the musician and the dancer went through all three caraNa-s to convey a meaningful narrative, which was faithful to the poet-vaggEyakAra's intent. This practise of presenting the full story/full song was acceptable and intelligible subject to the following conditions:
a. The audience has cultivated enough knowledge to receive the melody, poetry and mime as an integral, inseparable synthesis, and knew well enough when there were changes or transgressions.
b. The performers were trained and acclimatised in an environment where they believed not in according equal position to these three, but in the inviolable aesthetic unity of these aspects. That is to say, be it a composer, singer, instrumentalist or dancer, they would have internalised all three elements as a whole and reflect that attitude in their presentation.
c. The performers and audience were both in consensus about the relative importance of the composition and the performer; about how the performer's abilities and creativity could only subserve the purpose of the presentation of the piece in its appropriate ritual/ musicopoetic context.
TyAgarAja, in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessors (such as the early haridAsas and annammayya), experimented with all possible variants of the p-ap-3c format. In all these composers cases, there are at least two types of 3 carana songs – Those where the carana-s dovetail into one another for the development of the story, and those where there a weak connection between the caranas. In this latter case, the connection between the carana and the pallavi is strong, and that is the narrative structure of the song.
In the carana-s of brOcevArevare (sriranjani) the rAmAyana story is summarized, and it is rather unacceptable to leave out caraNas. The same is true for the long divyanAma ‘vinayamunanu’, which too is a synopsis of the epic.
In dAcukOvalena or heccarikagA rA rA, while there is some degree of completion even if one sings just one carana; when we look at the song with all carana-s we can understand a certain progression from simpler descriptions to more poetic or abstract allusions in the later carana-s.
The flavour and savour of this gradient/journey is lost when we hear/sing just one caranam. The difference is comparable to the difference of walking from the gopuradwAra, where one only gets a faint vision of the sanctum, till the dhwaja stabha, where the picture is a bit clearer, and then stepping through the outer prAkara-s into the vestibule of the sanctum. The pleasure of this gradual telescoping into the content of the sanctum is now replaced by a VVIP darshan ticket that leads you straight from your car to the sanctum.
In compositions like the sRngAra-padas of kSetrayya and bollavaramuvAru, an idea that is initiated in the pallavi is expanded in the anupallavi [rarely vice versa], and the three carana-s delineate three consecutive stages in the narrative of viraha sRngAra or whatever other theme is being portrayed.
Hence, it was essential that the musician and the dancer went through all three caraNa-s to convey a meaningful narrative, which was faithful to the poet-vaggEyakAra's intent. This practise of presenting the full story/full song was acceptable and intelligible subject to the following conditions:
a. The audience has cultivated enough knowledge to receive the melody, poetry and mime as an integral, inseparable synthesis, and knew well enough when there were changes or transgressions.
b. The performers were trained and acclimatised in an environment where they believed not in according equal position to these three, but in the inviolable aesthetic unity of these aspects. That is to say, be it a composer, singer, instrumentalist or dancer, they would have internalised all three elements as a whole and reflect that attitude in their presentation.
c. The performers and audience were both in consensus about the relative importance of the composition and the performer; about how the performer's abilities and creativity could only subserve the purpose of the presentation of the piece in its appropriate ritual/ musicopoetic context.
TyAgarAja, in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessors (such as the early haridAsas and annammayya), experimented with all possible variants of the p-ap-3c format. In all these composers cases, there are at least two types of 3 carana songs – Those where the carana-s dovetail into one another for the development of the story, and those where there a weak connection between the caranas. In this latter case, the connection between the carana and the pallavi is strong, and that is the narrative structure of the song.
In the carana-s of brOcevArevare (sriranjani) the rAmAyana story is summarized, and it is rather unacceptable to leave out caraNas. The same is true for the long divyanAma ‘vinayamunanu’, which too is a synopsis of the epic.
In dAcukOvalena or heccarikagA rA rA, while there is some degree of completion even if one sings just one carana; when we look at the song with all carana-s we can understand a certain progression from simpler descriptions to more poetic or abstract allusions in the later carana-s.
The flavour and savour of this gradient/journey is lost when we hear/sing just one caranam. The difference is comparable to the difference of walking from the gopuradwAra, where one only gets a faint vision of the sanctum, till the dhwaja stabha, where the picture is a bit clearer, and then stepping through the outer prAkara-s into the vestibule of the sanctum. The pleasure of this gradual telescoping into the content of the sanctum is now replaced by a VVIP darshan ticket that leads you straight from your car to the sanctum.
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keerthi
- Posts: 1309
- Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10
Re: Missed charanams
3. Where are all carana-s sung?
Musicians for whom the composer, his music and his lyric are important and more central than the singer’s own flamboyant ‘creative output’ will surely sing all carana-s. Have you seen a tiruppugazh maNDali where they skip one or more of the caranas of a tiruppugazh song. Have you seen a temple goSThi sing a decad from the divyaprabandham with more or less verses? Is there a bhajana group that will leave out caraNa-s from the particular aSTapadi they are singing, just because the tune is repetitive?
I don’t question the musicianship of these singers. It has greater value in my book than ‘performers’ who use the krti opportunistically as a stepping stone for the pageantry of their ‘manodharma’.
Prof Sambamurthy records a story about a vidwan singing a pallavi that ridicules the sAmudri [Zamorin] ruler who wanted to know the lyric of the ragam-tanam pallavi. [Since the pallavi’s lyrical content is supposedly unimportant]. The same is the fate of kRtis today.
The artistes and rasikas have all spoken. The language of music is universal, it is unfettered by the parochial boundaries of language and lyric. The lyrics are merely placeholders for this adequately universal, secular scaffolding called a krti, that the musician uses to display the brilliance of her honed imagination, [that is steeped in classicism or somesuch]
We had a discussion on this very forum, where someone thought it was no big deal if a singer took two lines of one caranam, and two other lines from another caranam of a song by ShyAma shAstri, since it was all anyway beautiful and suitably pious poetry. I have seen dancers perform half a varnam, or choreograph some outlandish piece on Cupid or Hercules or Brhannala or even tyAgaraja using half a Sanskrit verse. When I point it out, they are unruffled by the violence of cutting a verse or a song into half.
It may be worth to bear in mind that by relinquishing these carana-s from the brain and larynx , we are also washing our hands of a certain style of knowledge production - the oral-aural. The human mind and memory are no longer the locii of that song, the book is.
4. What can/should we do [if we want to]?
It may be a pragmatic reality that the current concert practice as well as the attitude of performers/teachers/rasikas is not amenable to respecting or appreciating lyric. This is a symptom of a deeper malaise – one of a certain cultural illiteracy, which people are proud of.
However, my teacher has made it a point to teach me all carana-s for every single song I have learnt. It is said that Naina Pillai used to sing the same songs, but with different carana-s in his concerts. These also furnish more fertile swarakalpana/neraval points. Chittoor Subrahmanya Pillai and more recently Nedanuri-gAru did this to good effect. If learners see any merit in this practice, they could choose to emulate it.
It may help to recollect Brinda-Mukta’s rendition of vAcAmagOcaruNDAni , which is like a musical 7 tier gopuram built for pArthasArathi. We have all regaled and relished the all-caranam version of the saurAStra mangalam by MDR or Pantula Rama. Maybe that is the only song for which we want all the caranams sung.
satkRtAyAstu mangaLam.
Musicians for whom the composer, his music and his lyric are important and more central than the singer’s own flamboyant ‘creative output’ will surely sing all carana-s. Have you seen a tiruppugazh maNDali where they skip one or more of the caranas of a tiruppugazh song. Have you seen a temple goSThi sing a decad from the divyaprabandham with more or less verses? Is there a bhajana group that will leave out caraNa-s from the particular aSTapadi they are singing, just because the tune is repetitive?
I don’t question the musicianship of these singers. It has greater value in my book than ‘performers’ who use the krti opportunistically as a stepping stone for the pageantry of their ‘manodharma’.
Prof Sambamurthy records a story about a vidwan singing a pallavi that ridicules the sAmudri [Zamorin] ruler who wanted to know the lyric of the ragam-tanam pallavi. [Since the pallavi’s lyrical content is supposedly unimportant]. The same is the fate of kRtis today.
The artistes and rasikas have all spoken. The language of music is universal, it is unfettered by the parochial boundaries of language and lyric. The lyrics are merely placeholders for this adequately universal, secular scaffolding called a krti, that the musician uses to display the brilliance of her honed imagination, [that is steeped in classicism or somesuch]
We had a discussion on this very forum, where someone thought it was no big deal if a singer took two lines of one caranam, and two other lines from another caranam of a song by ShyAma shAstri, since it was all anyway beautiful and suitably pious poetry. I have seen dancers perform half a varnam, or choreograph some outlandish piece on Cupid or Hercules or Brhannala or even tyAgaraja using half a Sanskrit verse. When I point it out, they are unruffled by the violence of cutting a verse or a song into half.
It may be worth to bear in mind that by relinquishing these carana-s from the brain and larynx , we are also washing our hands of a certain style of knowledge production - the oral-aural. The human mind and memory are no longer the locii of that song, the book is.
4. What can/should we do [if we want to]?
It may be a pragmatic reality that the current concert practice as well as the attitude of performers/teachers/rasikas is not amenable to respecting or appreciating lyric. This is a symptom of a deeper malaise – one of a certain cultural illiteracy, which people are proud of.
However, my teacher has made it a point to teach me all carana-s for every single song I have learnt. It is said that Naina Pillai used to sing the same songs, but with different carana-s in his concerts. These also furnish more fertile swarakalpana/neraval points. Chittoor Subrahmanya Pillai and more recently Nedanuri-gAru did this to good effect. If learners see any merit in this practice, they could choose to emulate it.
It may help to recollect Brinda-Mukta’s rendition of vAcAmagOcaruNDAni , which is like a musical 7 tier gopuram built for pArthasArathi. We have all regaled and relished the all-caranam version of the saurAStra mangalam by MDR or Pantula Rama. Maybe that is the only song for which we want all the caranams sung.
satkRtAyAstu mangaLam.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10141
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi
Lovely q&A post . Apart from all points you and others put. I think if Neraval and swarams are to be sung for a krithi , I was thinking the musician needs enough lung break so singing another round of charanams can be tiresome . Already for say certain songs like karthikeya kangeya after singing a standard neraval and swaras there is lot of lines to complete the taken up charanam .
I was thinking pragmatic angle of lung space for a musician is also a key point . Some like B&M may have did all charanams, but in that concert may be she skipped RTP or even a submain . Musicians like chitoor subramania pillai are a bit of outliers they had so much energy.
In short All suggestions have to get boxed with time and also with a pragmatic dose of lung space of a musician
Lovely q&A post . Apart from all points you and others put. I think if Neraval and swarams are to be sung for a krithi , I was thinking the musician needs enough lung break so singing another round of charanams can be tiresome . Already for say certain songs like karthikeya kangeya after singing a standard neraval and swaras there is lot of lines to complete the taken up charanam .
I was thinking pragmatic angle of lung space for a musician is also a key point . Some like B&M may have did all charanams, but in that concert may be she skipped RTP or even a submain . Musicians like chitoor subramania pillai are a bit of outliers they had so much energy.
In short All suggestions have to get boxed with time and also with a pragmatic dose of lung space of a musician
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Lakshman
- Posts: 14213
- Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52
Re: Missed charanams
Thanks Keerthi: You have covered the topic so well that it reads like a dissertation. Congratulations.
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munirao2001
- Posts: 1334
- Joined: 28 Feb 2009, 11:35
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi,
I am very happy to read your posts with great clarity and understanding. I would like to share few more important aspects.
1. Any performance has to be in relationship with the intent, content and delivery. The intent of offering the devotion and prayer with the content supporting the expression and emotion is given primacy in 'devotional' music, with the art of delivery, delivery of pleasure taking a secondary state. Keertana and pada forms are essentially devotional with simple varnamettus. But simplicity is not of saahithya bhavam, in general but raaga bhaavam. Simple varnamettus do contain the raaga and tala giving the glimpses of the grandeur. The charanams more than three in the lyrics attempt to express the varied sattva gunas of the Divine qualities. The repetition of set tune of the first charanam is to register the bhaavam very deeply and the retention of the attention and the focus. Keertana is impersonal in creativity of both the original and re creativity of the original. The performer and the listener establishing relationship on the intent and content with occasional foray in to delivery, enhancing the effect. The sampradaya is to perform the keertana as per the original creativity in the patanthara of the respective school-bhajana, naama sankeertana and saastreeya music.
2. Kruthi is personal in creativity, both the original and re creativity of the original. Art form takes the primacy with intent and delivery and secondary state to the content. Performer has to deliver the pleasure of both saahithya bhaavam and sangeeta bhaavam with primacy for sangeeta bhaavam. Performer has the sampradaya sanction for re creativity of the original and also offer original creativity of rasaanubhuti with personal selection of the lyrical content-charanam (s) supporting his manodharma. For achieving one's own deep insights of beauty/aesthetic, the study of complete saahithya and its bhaavam, is a must. The complete study enables inspiration of select line (s) of any charanam at different creative moment (s). This inspired moment (s) and performer's manodharma with higher values, in relationship with the listeners and other practitioners, become the sampradaya. The excellence achieved and attained, time tested and proven become the tradition with the potentialities and possibilities of creativity in continuum.
3. Another form of either Keertana, Pada or Kruthi with equal emphasis on intent, content and delivery of kaala pramana-mostly turita is also established in the sampradaya. The intent is for temporal pleasure of rhythm with goal of establishing the relationship between the performer (s) and the listeners. The aim is to achieve riveting attention, either in the beginning or in the middle stage of the performance. The performer has the sanction of the sampradaya in selecting the charanam (s) or use of all the charanams.
4. Yet another form of Sthotra ( keertana in content) with many slokams/ugabhoga/sooladi/virutham/prabhandam/gamakam is also established in the sampradaya. In the devotional intent and content performance, performer has no sanction for selectivity. In the art form intent and content performance, the performer has the sanction of sampradaya to be selective. The aim of delivery in both the forms is devotional-heightened pleasure with creative use of saahithya bhaavam and sangeeta bhaavam sans kala or explicit kala pramanam.
Karnataka Sangeetham, one of the perfect and greatest art form with the ideals of Ananada-Bliss and mano ranjakatvam, temporal pleasure has the edifice to offer enriching and enlivening experiences. With this total understanding and realization as precondition only performers and the listeners can derive either Bliss or pleasure.
I am very happy to read your posts with great clarity and understanding. I would like to share few more important aspects.
1. Any performance has to be in relationship with the intent, content and delivery. The intent of offering the devotion and prayer with the content supporting the expression and emotion is given primacy in 'devotional' music, with the art of delivery, delivery of pleasure taking a secondary state. Keertana and pada forms are essentially devotional with simple varnamettus. But simplicity is not of saahithya bhavam, in general but raaga bhaavam. Simple varnamettus do contain the raaga and tala giving the glimpses of the grandeur. The charanams more than three in the lyrics attempt to express the varied sattva gunas of the Divine qualities. The repetition of set tune of the first charanam is to register the bhaavam very deeply and the retention of the attention and the focus. Keertana is impersonal in creativity of both the original and re creativity of the original. The performer and the listener establishing relationship on the intent and content with occasional foray in to delivery, enhancing the effect. The sampradaya is to perform the keertana as per the original creativity in the patanthara of the respective school-bhajana, naama sankeertana and saastreeya music.
2. Kruthi is personal in creativity, both the original and re creativity of the original. Art form takes the primacy with intent and delivery and secondary state to the content. Performer has to deliver the pleasure of both saahithya bhaavam and sangeeta bhaavam with primacy for sangeeta bhaavam. Performer has the sampradaya sanction for re creativity of the original and also offer original creativity of rasaanubhuti with personal selection of the lyrical content-charanam (s) supporting his manodharma. For achieving one's own deep insights of beauty/aesthetic, the study of complete saahithya and its bhaavam, is a must. The complete study enables inspiration of select line (s) of any charanam at different creative moment (s). This inspired moment (s) and performer's manodharma with higher values, in relationship with the listeners and other practitioners, become the sampradaya. The excellence achieved and attained, time tested and proven become the tradition with the potentialities and possibilities of creativity in continuum.
3. Another form of either Keertana, Pada or Kruthi with equal emphasis on intent, content and delivery of kaala pramana-mostly turita is also established in the sampradaya. The intent is for temporal pleasure of rhythm with goal of establishing the relationship between the performer (s) and the listeners. The aim is to achieve riveting attention, either in the beginning or in the middle stage of the performance. The performer has the sanction of the sampradaya in selecting the charanam (s) or use of all the charanams.
4. Yet another form of Sthotra ( keertana in content) with many slokams/ugabhoga/sooladi/virutham/prabhandam/gamakam is also established in the sampradaya. In the devotional intent and content performance, performer has no sanction for selectivity. In the art form intent and content performance, the performer has the sanction of sampradaya to be selective. The aim of delivery in both the forms is devotional-heightened pleasure with creative use of saahithya bhaavam and sangeeta bhaavam sans kala or explicit kala pramanam.
Karnataka Sangeetham, one of the perfect and greatest art form with the ideals of Ananada-Bliss and mano ranjakatvam, temporal pleasure has the edifice to offer enriching and enlivening experiences. With this total understanding and realization as precondition only performers and the listeners can derive either Bliss or pleasure.
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sweetsong
- Posts: 556
- Joined: 29 Nov 2009, 16:48
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi ji. I really hope you will bring out a book with your musical insights.
It would benefit musicians and music students much more than most of the
existing books on the subject for sure. If not a book, at least a blog.
It would benefit musicians and music students much more than most of the
existing books on the subject for sure. If not a book, at least a blog.
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rshankar
- Posts: 13754
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi...clear, and concise. Thank you!
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Rajani
- Posts: 1247
- Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 19:52
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi, you have put things so eloquently and unambiguously. It was lovely and educative to read.
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aaaaabbbbb
- Posts: 2409
- Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 14:19
Re: Missed charanams
keerti Ji
Very informative.
The famous kriti of SrI Tyagarajaswami in Raga Athana,{Ela nI daya rAdu] has 3 chranams,
as beautiful as the one which is regularly heard.
Pity, nobody sings them.
to be a wee bit away from the topic,
even our national anthem has three charanas,
with lovely sAhityam, how many people know that?
who cares for that?
DhanyavAdagaLu.
Regards.
Very informative.
The famous kriti of SrI Tyagarajaswami in Raga Athana,{Ela nI daya rAdu] has 3 chranams,
as beautiful as the one which is regularly heard.
Pity, nobody sings them.
to be a wee bit away from the topic,
even our national anthem has three charanas,
with lovely sAhityam, how many people know that?
who cares for that?
DhanyavAdagaLu.
Regards.
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Lakshman
- Posts: 14213
- Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52
Re: Missed charanams
Savitri: A small correction. Our National Anthem has 5 caraNAs.
janagaNa mana adhinAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgyavidhAtA
panjAba sindhu gujarAt marAThA drAviDa utkala vangA
vindhya himAcala yamunA gangA utkala jaladhi tarangA
tava shubha nAmE jAgE tava shubha Ashisha mage gAhE tava jaya gAtA
janagaNa mangala dAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya hE
aharaha tava AhvAna pracArita shuni tava udAra vANI
hindu bauddha sikha jaina pArasikha musalmAna kristAnI
pUraba paschima AsE tava simhAsana pAshE prEma hAra haya gAnthA
janagaNa aikya vidhAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
patana abhyudaya bandhura panthA yuga yuga dhAvati yAtrI
hE cira sArathi tava ratha cakrE mukharita patha dina rAtrI
dAruNa viplava mAjhE mI tava shankhadvani bAjE sankaTa duhkha trAtA
janagaNa mana patha paricAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
dhAra timira ghana nibiDa nishithE pIDita mUrchita dEshE
jAgrta chila tava avicala mangala nata nayanE animiSE
duhsvapnE AtankE raskSa karilE ankE snEhamayI tumi mAtA
janagaNa duhkha trAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
rAtri prabhAtila udila ravicchavi pUrva udayagiri bhAlE
gAhE vihangama puNya samiraNa nava jIvana rasa DhalE
tava karuNAruNa rAge nidrita bhAtara jAgE tava caraNE nata mAthA
jaya jaya jaya hE jaya rAjEshvara bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
janagaNa mana adhinAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgyavidhAtA
panjAba sindhu gujarAt marAThA drAviDa utkala vangA
vindhya himAcala yamunA gangA utkala jaladhi tarangA
tava shubha nAmE jAgE tava shubha Ashisha mage gAhE tava jaya gAtA
janagaNa mangala dAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya hE
aharaha tava AhvAna pracArita shuni tava udAra vANI
hindu bauddha sikha jaina pArasikha musalmAna kristAnI
pUraba paschima AsE tava simhAsana pAshE prEma hAra haya gAnthA
janagaNa aikya vidhAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
patana abhyudaya bandhura panthA yuga yuga dhAvati yAtrI
hE cira sArathi tava ratha cakrE mukharita patha dina rAtrI
dAruNa viplava mAjhE mI tava shankhadvani bAjE sankaTa duhkha trAtA
janagaNa mana patha paricAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
dhAra timira ghana nibiDa nishithE pIDita mUrchita dEshE
jAgrta chila tava avicala mangala nata nayanE animiSE
duhsvapnE AtankE raskSa karilE ankE snEhamayI tumi mAtA
janagaNa duhkha trAyaka jaya hE bhArata bhAya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
rAtri prabhAtila udila ravicchavi pUrva udayagiri bhAlE
gAhE vihangama puNya samiraNa nava jIvana rasa DhalE
tava karuNAruNa rAge nidrita bhAtara jAgE tava caraNE nata mAthA
jaya jaya jaya hE jaya rAjEshvara bhArata bhAgya vidhAtA
jaya hE jaya hE jaya hE jaya jaya jaya jaya hE
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Govindaswamy
- Posts: 120
- Joined: 21 Feb 2010, 06:55
Re: Missed charanams
Mr Lakshman.
Can you please give the meanings? Who is the 'janagaNa mana adhinAyaka' to whom it is addressed? We refer to our country only as mother and not as adhinayaka. I have read that this song was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in praise of George V King/Emperor. If it is so, it is shameful that this was selected as national anthem instead of vandhEmAtharam.
Govindaswamy
Can you please give the meanings? Who is the 'janagaNa mana adhinAyaka' to whom it is addressed? We refer to our country only as mother and not as adhinayaka. I have read that this song was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in praise of George V King/Emperor. If it is so, it is shameful that this was selected as national anthem instead of vandhEmAtharam.
Govindaswamy
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Purist
- Posts: 431
- Joined: 13 May 2008, 16:55
Re: Missed charanams
Thanks Lakshmanji, that was a revelation to me.
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aaaaabbbbb
- Posts: 2409
- Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 14:19
Re: Missed charanams
Thank you very much Lakshman Sir.
Have a feeling that the language is mainly
Sanskrit and partially Bengali.
Regards.
Have a feeling that the language is mainly
Sanskrit and partially Bengali.
Regards.
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Lakshman
- Posts: 14213
- Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52
Re: Missed charanams
Meaning of Jana gaNa mana:
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny
Thy name rouses the hearts
of the Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha,
of Dravid, Orissa and Bengal.
It echoes in the hills of the Vindyas and the Himalayas,
Mingles in the music of yamuna and Ganges,
And is chanted by the waves of the Indian sea.
They pray for thy blessing and sing thy praise
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
Day and night, thy voice goes out from land to land,
Calling Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains round thy throne
And Parsees, Mussalmans and chjristians.
Offerings are brought to thy shrine by the East and the West
To be woven in a garden of love.
Thou bringest the hearts of all peoples
Into the harmony of one’s life,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny,
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
Eternal charioteer, thou divest man’s history
Along the road rugged with rises and falls of nations,
Amidst all tribulations and terror
Thy trumpet sounds to hearten those that despair and droop,
And guide all people in their paths of peril and pilgrimage.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
When the long dreary night, was dense with gloom
And the country lay still in a stupor,
Thy Mother’s arms held her,
Thy wakeful eyes bet upon her face,
Till she was rescued from the dark evil dreams
That oppressed her spirit,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny
Victory, victory, victory to thee.
The night dawns , the sun rises in the East,
The birds sing, the morning breeze brings a stir of new life.
Touched by the golden rays of your love
India wakes up and bends her head at thy feet.
Thou king of all kings,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny,
Victory, victory, victory to thee.
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny
Thy name rouses the hearts
of the Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha,
of Dravid, Orissa and Bengal.
It echoes in the hills of the Vindyas and the Himalayas,
Mingles in the music of yamuna and Ganges,
And is chanted by the waves of the Indian sea.
They pray for thy blessing and sing thy praise
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
Day and night, thy voice goes out from land to land,
Calling Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains round thy throne
And Parsees, Mussalmans and chjristians.
Offerings are brought to thy shrine by the East and the West
To be woven in a garden of love.
Thou bringest the hearts of all peoples
Into the harmony of one’s life,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny,
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
Eternal charioteer, thou divest man’s history
Along the road rugged with rises and falls of nations,
Amidst all tribulations and terror
Thy trumpet sounds to hearten those that despair and droop,
And guide all people in their paths of peril and pilgrimage.
Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.
When the long dreary night, was dense with gloom
And the country lay still in a stupor,
Thy Mother’s arms held her,
Thy wakeful eyes bet upon her face,
Till she was rescued from the dark evil dreams
That oppressed her spirit,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny
Victory, victory, victory to thee.
The night dawns , the sun rises in the East,
The birds sing, the morning breeze brings a stir of new life.
Touched by the golden rays of your love
India wakes up and bends her head at thy feet.
Thou king of all kings,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny,
Victory, victory, victory to thee.
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Pratyaksham Bala
- Posts: 4207
- Joined: 21 May 2010, 16:57
Re: Missed charanams
Check this for the translation by Rabindranath Tagore :-
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Morning_Song_of_India
Scroll down for the translation in Tagore's Handwriting !
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Morning_Song_of_India
Scroll down for the translation in Tagore's Handwriting !
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rshankar
- Posts: 13754
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi - can you please share the beautiful thoughts penned by Sri Harivanshrai Bacchan on this topic?Govindaswamy wrote:If it is so, it is shameful that this was selected as national anthem instead of vandhEmAtharam.
Govindaswamy
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arasi
- Posts: 16877
- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi,
Thy name is clarity.
You are a breath of fresh air in the dense woods of scholarly utterances.
Sweetsong and some others,
I do not know if you know how 'old' Keerthi is. He has dealt with all the points which have occurred to all of us put together and more in a way he only can. That's Keerthi! May his contributions increase!
Thy name is clarity.
You are a breath of fresh air in the dense woods of scholarly utterances.
Sweetsong and some others,
I do not know if you know how 'old' Keerthi is. He has dealt with all the points which have occurred to all of us put together and more in a way he only can. That's Keerthi! May his contributions increase!
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Sreeni Rajarao
- Posts: 1290
- Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 08:19
Re: Missed charanams
Keerthi,
I would love to see a series of books with your writings - why not start now with Volume 1?
I would love to see a series of books with your writings - why not start now with Volume 1?
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vgovindan
- Posts: 1952
- Joined: 07 Nov 2010, 20:01
Re: Missed charanams
I may mention that most of single caraNa kRtis are the 'inspired' ones - they go beyond vAk and gEya. These songs can be relished if the performer knows the purport and delivers with the same spirit. Unfortunately most such kRtis have been reduced to tukkaDas. There is so much scope for neraval and sangati in these kRtis that one can keep the audience spell-bound for hours. (Some have even questioned the use of the word 'inspired' in regard to tyAgarAja - I have no dispute with them - it is their opinion and I respect that - that's all)keerthi wrote: Songs with one caranam – TyAgarAja does have many songs with one caranam. The ekaika kRtis in some uncommon rAgas usually have one caranam – rasALi, saraswati manohari, jingla, bahudhAri, naLinakanti, ranjani, vanaspati etc [there are exceptions like andhAli and vasantavarALi with more caranas, that I think are divyanAma songs]
The purpose of neraval is to present the centre-piece of the kRti in all its dimensions - both musically and bhAvically. But there are many instances where even veteran musicians have chosen the most absurd points for neraval - just to demonstrate their vidvat. The best (worst)? example is 'dArini telusukoNTi'. Towards this, they even dare to interpolate words of kRti. This has been discussed earlier also.
In all this the greatest casualty is the bhAva - the communication aspect. Enough has been said on that. 'nAn enna pADarEnO adudAn pATTu - adai kETTagaNum - adu un talaiyezhuttu' - What I sing is music and it is your fate to hear that - I am reconciled to that.
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munirao2001
- Posts: 1334
- Joined: 28 Feb 2009, 11:35
Re: Missed charanams
vgovindan Sir
Thyagaraja (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847) compositions, the mainstay of Karnataka Sangeetham concerts and other forms-studies, research, lecture-demonstrations and Katha Kaalakshepams, attaining immortality, is beyond doubt and questioning. I dispute and disrespect 'some who have even questioned the use of the 'inspired'.Some have even questioned the use of the word 'inspired' in regard to tyAgarAja
Sir, is it not 'What I sing is music and it is your 'choice & decision' to hear that ?What I sing is music and it is your fate to hear that
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keerthi
- Posts: 1309
- Joined: 12 Oct 2008, 14:10
Re: Missed charanams
Thanks all for those kind words of appreciation.
Per Ravi's suggestion, I am uploading an excellent essay by the Mahakavi Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Those interested in the National Anthem discussion do please take a look. The article is a rare example of the various streams of scholarship and wisdom that HRB embodied.
https://archive.org/details/HamArIRAsht ... raiBacchan
The national anthem is in a Bengali 'MaNipravALam'. Unlike the krti-s of tyagaraja that we discussed, the version with the refrain and the first carana alone was designated as the national anthem, so it would be inappropriate to sing the all-caraNa-s version as the anthem.
The same is true of vandE mAtaram, wherein the carana-s that refer to a population of seven crores no longer applies to India; and the carana-s refering to durgA,kamalA and vANI make it problematic for all citizens to participate in singing the song. Bachchan discusses this in his essay.
Savitri avare, I think I have heard Sri Balamuralikrishna sing all the carana-s of Ela nI daya rAdu. Let me check if I have a clip. Similarly, I have had te pleasure of listening to Vid T.S.Satyavati sing pArvati ninu [KalgaDa/ ShyAma shAstri] and telisi rAmacintanato [pUrNacandrika/ tyAgarAja] with all caraNa-s.
Per Ravi's suggestion, I am uploading an excellent essay by the Mahakavi Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Those interested in the National Anthem discussion do please take a look. The article is a rare example of the various streams of scholarship and wisdom that HRB embodied.
https://archive.org/details/HamArIRAsht ... raiBacchan
The national anthem is in a Bengali 'MaNipravALam'. Unlike the krti-s of tyagaraja that we discussed, the version with the refrain and the first carana alone was designated as the national anthem, so it would be inappropriate to sing the all-caraNa-s version as the anthem.
The same is true of vandE mAtaram, wherein the carana-s that refer to a population of seven crores no longer applies to India; and the carana-s refering to durgA,kamalA and vANI make it problematic for all citizens to participate in singing the song. Bachchan discusses this in his essay.
Savitri avare, I think I have heard Sri Balamuralikrishna sing all the carana-s of Ela nI daya rAdu. Let me check if I have a clip. Similarly, I have had te pleasure of listening to Vid T.S.Satyavati sing pArvati ninu [KalgaDa/ ShyAma shAstri] and telisi rAmacintanato [pUrNacandrika/ tyAgarAja] with all caraNa-s.
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braindrain
- Posts: 587
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:25
Re: Missed charanams
This one ?keerthi wrote: I have had te pleasure of listening to Vid T.S.Satyavati sing pArvati ninu [KalgaDa/ ShyAma shAstri]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lKeNnGVEs