Second consonant

Miscellaneous topics on Carnatic music
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narayan
Posts: 383
Joined: 05 Oct 2008, 07:43

Second consonant

Post by narayan »

I admit a little bit of an obsession with the dvitiaksara prasa rule for lyrics, checking in what ways it is applied and where it seems to be violated and perhaps why. I am actually aided by my primary lack of knowledge of Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil or Kannada, so I look at it purely as a technical issue.

The first rule commonly applied is that the second consonant (as per the Katapayadi scheme) is the same in the pallavi line and the anupallavi line (and second, third if any). Similarly, perhaps a different consonant, for the first, second etc lines of the caranam.
The second rule (less commonly applied - and pointed out by Dr Shirikanth in this forum many moons ago) is that the same principle is for the length of the vowel in the same lines as above - short vowels or long vowels. Short vowels are a, e, i, u, o and long ones are A, I, ai, O, au, ou (may have missed some?).

Numerous examples of rule 1 in all trinity songs, Purandaradasa, Annamacarya, Andal, Papanasam Sivan and many others including modern day composers.
Many examples of rule 2 in all the above also.

Almost all examples of lines beginning the full sentence before the tala beginning can be explained by applying this rule.

Example: (Ut)tunga vihanga in Ranganayakam, (dina)Mani and (a)gaNita, also in Ranganayakam

This is why the caranam of brOva bhAramA is (gOpi)kalakai, to rhyme with kalasAmbudhi.

It also explains why certain caranams are distinct and not really to be sung in 2 lines (e.g. nammina vArini in Bhairavi where Nedunuri sings the caranam as Asaminci … vAsi … etc. and then bhOgamulandu … Tyagaraja sannuta … I suppose these are actually separate caranams, as indicated in tyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot and other sources. Not that it matters too much.

The rule tells me that the song is mUlAdhAra and not Sri mUlAdhAra.

It tells me that Sritajana samsAra in Sri viswanAtham bhajeham is part of the pallavi and not the anupallavi of the song (the anupallavi begins Sri visAlakSI …)

Now some queries from me.

In vidulaku mrOkkedA, the 4 line caranam with ma as the second syllable is kamalA gauri …. amarEsa …. sumrkanDuja …. pramukhulaku, so the 3rd line strikes an odd exception. Is there an explanation?

candram bhaja mAnasa … indrAdi …. indum shODaSa … is the whole thing to be sung with second syllable da?

In panca matanga, which is really the second line of the caranam? It begins varadAbhaya …. and the madhyamakala line is vara guruguha …, but the second line cannot be kamalApura … but somewhere before that. Could not figure out.

Other exceptions that worry me: paradEvata in Dhanyasi, the sequence is cacarAtmake …. cidAnanda … and madhyamakala line kalAmAlinI …, which is all over the place.

dAksAyani (a song which I have not heard much at all), the madhyama kala line is prabala … whereas the caranam begins sakala ….

Second rule: numerous violations, which unfortunately make me suspect the authorship!

shankarank
Posts: 4042
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: Second consonant

Post by shankarank »

narayan wrote: 01 Nov 2021, 07:28
Now some queries from me.

In vidulaku mrOkkedA, the 4 line caranam with ma as the second syllable is kamalA gauri …. amarEsa …. sumrkanDuja …. pramukhulaku, so the 3rd line strikes an odd exception. Is there an explanation?
http://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.co ... -raga.html
su-mRkaNDuja kumbhaja tumburu vara
The R in sumR is capitalized and R is a vowel representation of a retroflex sound. So if pramu with a 'u' is acceptable then this also is fine.

narayan
Posts: 383
Joined: 05 Oct 2008, 07:43

Re: Second consonant

Post by narayan »

Live and learn, live and learn! shankarank, thanks very much. That is a perfectly convincing explanation.

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