bhUshAvati - Dikshitar

[SrinathK]

You saw bhUshAvaLi already. This is bhUshAvati. t, not L. This is Dikshitar's asampoorna version of vAchaspati.

Dikshitar has composed the following songs in this rAgA.

abhirAmIm akhila bhuvana rakSakImAshrayE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NjtOQndrX0 (Only recording I could find)

He has then gone on to do some of his lyrical tricks, by composing two songs with nearly identical opening lines

bhUshApatim manju bhAshApatim bhajEham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_5Fm1YjwnQ (Again only recording)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI85-Ke11Ao (A different version by Vedavalli mAmi)

and bhUshAvateem manju bhAshAvateem bhajEham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuG7SrBUKF4 - this version tends to use SG and NDS phrases

So we have 2 versions, one that is identical to vAchaspati and one that leans towards bhUshAvaLi instead with PDS and NDS phrases.

Now, prepare yourself for the SSP version of bhUshAvateem - it's very different : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6F2rpEp-jM

Apart from the non-linear phrases, the handling of the N2 is also much more plain. Not only that, it uses PDNDS, PDNP and SD and PGRS phrases also! There are many phrases eschewing the madhaymam (M2) and (N2) !! What do you do with a rAgA that says bye bye to the Arohanam Avarohanam concept like this?

There is one more kriti pArvateeswarENa rakshitOham that I could not find.

[bhakthim dehi]

What do you do with a rAgA that says bye bye to the Arohanam Avarohanam concept like this?

This is the case with majority of the ragas extant during 18 CE. This includes the raganga ragam too.

Though we normally equate the melakartha ragam in the two schemes, practically, excluding a few , they are dissimilar. You cannot find a straight forward phrases in many of these raganga ragam.

[SrinathK]

What do you do with a rAgA that says bye bye to the Arohanam Avarohanam concept like this?

This is the case with majority of the ragas extant during 18 CE. This includes the raganga ragam too.

Though we normally equate the melakartha ragam in the two schemes, practically, excluding a few , they are dissimilar. You cannot find a straight forward phrases in many of these raganga ragam.

I do not know how ragas used to be, but never have I seen ragas so "blatantly" dump and add notes as they feel like these older ragas - today, dumping or adding such notes in a sampUrna raga would change them totally and create completely new ragas. It is not even seamless like today's yamunA kalyANi or behAg or sindhubhairavi (though sindhubhairavi gives a slight feel of that). It is not like nATakurinji either where there is more than one possible descending sequence. These changes are in fact quite abrupt and identity altering.

Did you hear how he handled bhairavam in kAla bhairavam? It's literally skipping or adding any note at will each time! If today's shankarabharaNam was handled with this level of "skip notes at will" as SSP's bhUshAvati, garuDadhwani would cease to exist!

bhUshAvati in the SSP sounds like some strange interjections of mOhanam and bahudAri inside vAchaspati at least expected places. And the changes come in complete linear sequences too, so you have multiple ascending and descending sequences.

The old ragas, and in particular the Dikshitar style, seem to be more like chameleons that change colours in distinct ways unlike the modern raga which is a unique individual of phrases.

[bhakthim dehi]

The old ragas, and in particular the Dikshitar style, seem to be more like chameleons that change colours in distinct ways unlike the modern raga which is a unique individual of phrases.

modern raga which is a unique individual of phrases.

Are we more obsessed with the phrases ? What I feel is we are more attached with the phrases (in any ragam). For example, if you listen to Sri narasimha in Phalaranjani (in that channel), it sounds more like Kannada, especially in the phrase GMRS. I just tried to substitute the antara G to sadharana G in the same phrase; it sounded like Kaanada.
What I would wish to say is ours ears got sensitized to certain phrases and our mind is programmed to associate those phrases with a particular ragam.
When we are listening to the older presentation of a ragam, we are unable to relate with those ragams, partly because of our sensitization and partly because our ignorance about the handling of ragam during the period when these composers lived.
Perhaps, the information given in the slides might help to some extent to understand these presentations.
These are my personal views and wish to get corrected.

[bhakthim dehi]

Did you hear how he handled bhairavam in kAla bhairavam? It's literally skipping or adding any note at will each time!

Yes. Very unpredictable. There is another raga of this sort - Kapi.

What I would say is have we lost ragas like these ? Yes, I too agree in that they are like split personalities; having multiple identities. Yet they have an individuality and we need to spent a lot of time to understand them. Remember, we have a keertanam of Melattur Veerabhadriah in this indicating the privilege that it enjoyed during its hay day (I don't believe 'mariyada gadayya' can be tagged to Bhairavam).

Though it had multiple possibilities of weaving a phrase in both arohanam and avarohanam incorporating two dhaivatam and nishadam, it has some key phrases like SRSgm , mdmgrs (upper case denote tara sthayi). We can very well incorporate these ragam if we understand these intricacies. (You can very well listen it to Sarada bhujangam in the same channel wherein Bhairavam was used).

My point is though these ragas are difficult to comprehend having exposed to modern ragas, they are to be retained at least to know about the ragas employed by our composers.

[SrinathK]

That is true. Having grown up on the modern paradigm where rAgA lakshanas have been frozen for around 50 years, my ears are not used to these things. Of course, 2 weeks of listening and it will be familiarized. Nevertheless this music has a different value system!

It is not the use of highly non-linear phrasing itself, but the coherency of it. Dikshitar is a difficult composer because to understand his raga you must study the entire composition and it will take some time before a full picture of the raga emerges - he likes to build it note by note sometimes (this is not true of his compositions which have been doing the rounds for a long time, but it is very noticeable in the ones fresh off the book). Thyagaraja on the other hand almost spoon-feeds you.