Dikshitar Akhandam @ Music Academy, Chennai (08 Apr 2007)

ram · Post by **ram** » 08 Apr 2007, 23:55

Venue: Kasturi Srinivasan Hall, The Music Academy, TTK Road, Chennai

Date: 08 Apr 2007

Organizer: Bharatiya Sangeeta Vaibhavam Trust

Bharatiya Sangeeta Vaibhavam Trust organized a Dikshitar Akhandam (comprising concerts of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar kritis by different artists) at the Meccademy today from 9AM to 9PM. I could only be present there between 5PM to 9PM and attended concerts of Sri Malladi Suribabu & Sri Malladi Narayana Sarma, Smt. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam and Sri N. Vijay Siva. The following are the song lists and some details about the concerts. The song list for the Malladis' concert is not complete as I reached when they were singing the nATTai kriti.

5:15 PM? to 6:30 PM

Vocal: Vid. Malladi Suribabu & Vid. Malladi Narayana Sarma

Violin: Vid. Mysore V. Srikanth

Mrudangam: Vid. N. Manoj Siva

List of songs (partial):

* paramEshvara jagadIshvara - nATTai - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

* shrI chidambaranAdasya (slOkam) - saurAshTram - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

sUryamUrtE namOstutE - saurAshTram - chatusra dhruvam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

* shrI mahAgaNanAtasya (slOkam) - bhUpALam - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

sadAchalEshvaram bhAvayEham - bhUpALam - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (O)

* himagiri kumAri IshvarI - ravikriyA - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (A)

* shrI chakrarAja (slOkam) - dEvagAndhAri - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

kshitijA ramaNam - dEvagAndhAri - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

* vAgdEvi krupayA (slOkam) - kannaDa - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

shrI mAtrubhUtam - kannaDa - misra chApu - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

* subramaNya shaDakshari mahAmantra ratAtmanE (slOkam) - pahADi - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

* antahkaraNa sutAya (slOkam) - sindhubhairavi - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

* navagraha krupA pUrNa (slOkam) - madyamAvati - sistla satyanArAyaNa rAjasEkaram

6:35 PM to 7:50 PM

Vocal: Vid. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam

Violin: Vid. R.K. Sriramkumar

Mrudangam: Vid. J. Vaidyanathan

List of songs:

1) vallabha nAyakasya - bEgaDa - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

2) mahAlingEshvaram madhyArjuna - paras - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

3) gOvindarAjam upAsmahE - mukhAri - misra chApu - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

4) kalAvati kamalAsana yuvatI - yAgapriyA - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

5) madhurAmbikAyAm - hEmavati - rUpakam - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (O)

6) pAlayamAm pArvatIsha - kannaDa - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (O)

7) mAtangI marakatAngi - dhAtuvardhani - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (O)

8 ) karikaLAbhamukham - sAvEri - rUpakam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (A)

9) nandagOpAla mukunda - yamunAkalyANi - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

7:55 PM to 9:05 PM

Vocal: Vid. N. Vijay Siva

Violin: Vid. R.K. Sriramkumar

Mrudangam: Vid. J. Vaidyanathan

List of songs:

1) varalakshmIm bhajarE - saurAshTram - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

2) ananta bAlakrishnamAmava - IshamanOhari - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

3) parimaLa ranganAtham - hamIrkalyANi - tisra Eka - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (AS)

4) ambikayAh abhayAmbikayAh - kEdAram - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (AS)

5) krishnAnanda mukundA murArE - gauLipantu - misra chApu - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

6) mahAgaNapatim vandE - tODi - tisra Eka - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (A)

7) shivakAmIpatim chintayAmyaham - nATTaikurinji - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

8 ) kanaka sabhApatim - mALavasrI - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

9) shrI kamalAmbikE - srI - kanDa Ekam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar

10) swasti prajAbhyah paripAlayantAm (slOkam) - srI

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Sri Malladi Suribabu & Sri Malladi Narayana Sarma, disciples of Sri Voleti Venkateswarulu, kept the audience completely engrossed with their very beautiful presentation of Dikshitar kritis. Their concert was different in that each kriti was preceded by a slOkam on Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar written by Sri Sistla Sathyanarayana Rajasekharam. If one closed his eyes and didn't look at the stage, one would feel as though he/she were listening to Malladi Brothers singing. The only difference seemed to be that the Malladi Brothers have softer voices while the Malladi elders have voices that seem to have a lot of "azhutham". Before singing the ravikirya kriti, Sri Malladi Suribabu announced in a voice soaked with gurubhakti that his guru Sri Voleti Venkateswarulu and his parama-guru Sri Sripada Pinakapani used to like the song a lot.

Their concert was followed by that of Smt. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam. She took the not so popular compositions in many of the ragas she sang and communicated well with the audience. She said that usually the association of Chidambara kshetra is with Sri Nataraja. But Sri Dikshitar has composed the mukhAri kriti she sang on Sri Govindarajaswami whose temple is also a famous one in Chidambaram. She said that the composition "madhurAmbikAyAm" in hEmavati has a lot of swarAkshara prayOgas and has been handled by Sri Dikshitar in a way that is a lot different from the more 'in vogue' composition of his - "sri kAntImatim". She also said that in the composition "karikaLAbhamukham", there is a confusion as to what the word "dhundhi" in "dhundhi gaNEsham" in the pallavi line refers to exactly. She said that some feel the song has been composed on a temple in Mayiladudurai while some say it refers to a small village near Pune by that name. However the words "kAvEri taTastitam" seem to rule out the village theory. She said that this song has a very extensive treatment of the raga sAvEri.

The concert that, in my opinion, stole the show was that of Sri Vijay Siva. Every moment of the concert kept me totally involved. It gave me the feeling of having listened to a complete carnatic music concert despite Sri Vijay Siva singing for just over an hour's time. Everything about the concert was so good, be it the selection of kritis, the short but delightful raga alapanas or the beautiful, involved and clear rendition of the kritis !! As one of the organizers remarked, it provided a fitting finale to the akhandam.

A very enjoyable akhandam indeed. I was planning to set up my tent and camp there from the morning itself but other things that needed immediate attention kept me away

. But I thoroughly enjoyed the 4 hours time that I spent there. Hope more akhandams like this keep happening !!!!

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/04/ ... y-chennai/

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Apr 2007, 00:36

Thank you Ram, for the reviews. Reminds me of the tiruvaiyAru in Bangalore concerts in March. The time slots were only 45 minutes there. One and a half hours--since it is MD--sounds appropriate. I am not surprised about Vijay Siva's performance. 'kachchitham' (just right, clean and clear cut) is the word that suits Vijay Siva's concerts. Varied songs here, and that is another plus about these akhaNDAs. different artistes singing in succession and their singing unfamiliar kritis as well. I like slokams as intro for songs. Still, wasn't there a tad too many in Malladi Bros's concert? I have not heard Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam before (except for a few songs on World Space). Would like to hear her next season.
Anyone else attended the concerts? Who all sang from morning until the time Ram arrived?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 Apr 2007, 00:39

Ram
In your list for Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam

Item 4 kalAvatI kamalAsana yuvatI is in rAga "kalAvati", the 31st asampUrNa mELa. There is no yAgapriya in dIkShitar school. The 2 rAgas sre different.

Same with Item 7 mAtangi marakatAngi should be in dhautapancama, the 69th asampUrNa mELa, Not the sampUrNa mELa- dhAtuvardhini

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Apr 2007, 00:42

DRS,
Thanks. I wondered about the kalavathi kriti too...

ram · Post by **ram** » 09 Apr 2007, 08:57

DRS,

Thank you for pointing this out. Since the artists had announced yAgapriyA and dhAtuvardhini as alternate names for the ones used in the Dikshitar school, I simply put those in my post without knowing they were asampUrNa mElams and not equivalent to those in the Dikshitar school as I was trying to use a consistent naming scheme (ex. I used hemavati instead of the Dikshitar school name for one of the kritis). Can you also please let me know the arohaNa and avarOhaNa of kalAvati & dhautapanchamam? It will help me learn about these ragas. I will try to google them out in the meantime. Thanks once again.

Arasi madam,

The slOkAs in the Malladis' concert might look a bit too many on paper but believe me they seemed to be just perfect when heard live. I do not know much of sanskrit but using whatever little I remember from school days, even I could make out that they somehow seemed to fit well with the theme. Each one of them was on Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar. I thought the Malladis had chosen each slOkA to go along with the song following it; my poor knowledge of Sanskrit didn't allow me to verify this though.

The artists who were supposed to sing in the akhandam were Vid. Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Vid. Rama Ravi, Vid. Seetha Rajan, Vid. S.P. Ramh, Vid. K. Gayathri, Vid. Radha Bhaskar (lec-dem), Vid. Malladi Suribabu & Vid. Malladi Narayanasarma, Vid. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam and Vid. N. Vijay Siva

ram · Post by **ram** » 09 Apr 2007, 09:03

Forgot to mention this ... the organizers had video recorded the event. I hope they release it in some form and it doesn't sleep in an archive of some kind.

ignoramus · Post by **ignoramus** » 09 Apr 2007, 09:08

is there a recording available of any artiste of the compostion "mahAlingEshvaram madhyArjuna - paras " - mentioned in the song list above? i would like to have the same, have been to that temple a number of times. a place i love.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 09 Apr 2007, 09:29

What beautiful selections from all the above artistes.

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 09 Apr 2007, 12:22

Wanted to attend this so badly, but other commitments got me engaged. Trust shri Vijay siva to present such a nice concert with all the right ingredients.Hope this concert is released commercially very soon.
-bhaktha

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 Apr 2007, 14:33

ram wrote:as I was trying to use a consistent naming scheme (ex. I used hemavati instead of the Dikshitar school name for one of the kritis).

hEmavati is given as an alternate name for dESIsimhArava in the SSP itself. In the zeal to standardize or fit everything into the sampUrNa mELa schemesome artistes sideline or dismiss the differences and the aesthetics in the asampUrNa mELas. Let us Not fall into the trap too.

Can you also please let me know the arohaNa and avarOhaNa of kalAvati & dhautapanchamam? It will help me learn about these ragas. I will try to google them out in the meantime. Thanks once again.

kalAvati- 31st asampUrNa mELa

SR3G3M1PD1N1DPDS* | S*N, DPMRGMR, S||

The ArOhaNa can be represented in a simplified manner as SRGMPDS* |

dhautapancama- the 69th asampUrNa mELa

SR3G3M2PD1N3S* | S*NDPMRG, S ||

The ravikriya piece, himagirikumAri, you have correctly indicated as ravikriya, the 42nd asampUrNa mELa, instead of raghupriya, the ssmpUrNa counterpart.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 Apr 2007, 14:37

ram wrote:She also said that in the composition "karikaLAbhamukham", there is a confusion as to what the word "dhundhi" in "dhundhi gaNEsham" in the pallavi line refers to exactly. She said that some feel the song has been composed on a temple in Mayiladudurai while some say it refers to a small village near Pune by that name. However the words "kAvEri taTastitam" seem to rule out the village theory.

The famous DhunDhI gaNESa is the one in kASi/ Varanasi. Yes kAvErI taTasthitam certainly rules out Pune and kASI. IIRC there is also a DhunDHI gaNESa in karnataka, Hassan Dtpossibly kAvErI banks?).

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 09 Apr 2007, 15:17

Dr S Raghavan has made a sanskrit kavyam on Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar. It would have been really appropriate some artists could have sung some slokas from this also ?

ram · Post by **ram** » 09 Apr 2007, 17:14

Thank you DRS.

Regarding the sAvEri composition, someone from the audience had asked Smt. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam whether it was the gaNEsha of kAshi to which she said (just as you have written) that "kAvEri taTastitam" rules that out. I am not aware of the temple in Karnataka. Trust meena would be able to find us this information using her extraordinary searching powers.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 Apr 2007, 17:20

Welcome Ram

ram wrote:I am not aware of the temple in Karnataka. Trust meena would be able to find us this information using her extraordinary searching powers.

Not this time. I doubt very much. I have already done that search.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 09 Apr 2007, 17:24

Is the PhAras song rendered by Srimati Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam different from the kriti, Chintaye mahAlingamUrtim(PhAras) which I have heard Sri Vijay Siva render in a commercial recording?

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 09 Apr 2007, 20:26

As akandam programme was being documented for posterity, the artists should be careful about diction and authentic patantharam esp. when it comes to rendering Dikshithar's compositions. the above was wanting with a few.
Furtyherr,I heard one of the rasikas lamenting about use of Chathusruthi daivatham instead of Shadsruthi Daivatham by an aritist while rendering Himagirikumari in Raghupriya or may I say Ravikriya as is in the song. Will somebody clarify correct position for the benefit of all readers. Listenable music may not necessarily be authentic

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 09 Apr 2007, 21:07

drshrikaanth wrote:
ram wrote:She also said that in the composition "karikaLAbhamukham", there is a confusion as to what the word "dhundhi" in "dhundhi gaNEsham" in the pallavi line refers to exactly. She said that some feel the song has been composed on a temple in Mayiladudurai while some say it refers to a small village near Pune by that name. However the words "kAvEri taTastitam" seem to rule out the village theory.
The famous DhunDhI gaNESa is the one in kASi/ Varanasi. Yes kAvErI taTasthitam certainly rules out Pune and kASI. IIRC there is also a DhunDHI gaNESa in karnataka, Hassan Dtpossibly kAvErI banks?).

I am not aware of any dhuNDi gaNEsha in Hassan district

, and also none near Pune! The Pune theory can't hold much water, anyway.

-Ramakriya

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 09 Apr 2007, 21:59

I am sure Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar's tamil book on Dikshitar Compositions would have had some clue about the kshetra of this composition( karikaLAbhamukham)? or is it not listed in that book ??

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 Apr 2007, 23:37

Im unable to get info on the DhunDhi gaNESa in Karnataka. Near Pune- yes, there are lots of links on Google to a temple in Maharashtra. I dont think any of these are in the reckoning to be considered as the temple in question with regards to MD's kRti.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Apr 2007, 00:17

DRS,
Before considering geographical locations, how about mapping the contours of GaNESA's body? In thamizh, we say thondi gaNapathi. In sanskrit, I come across a similar word: thundam. Having a paunch is thundin!

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 10 Apr 2007, 00:25

Arasi
That is not the connection here. This is no new-fangled form of gaNapati and it is one of the 32 forms of gaNapati as described in iconological texts. gaNapati is generally pot-bellied, this is not unique to dhundhi ganapati.

tuNDa is face, mouth, snout.
tunda is a pot-bely (tOnd in Hindi).

DhunDhi is differen from bothh.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Apr 2007, 03:35

DRS,
At least, you are not getting at me by saying that I have a 'fertile' imagination--in a P for peaceful manner, of course

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 10 Apr 2007, 04:04

It has always been in a J for joking manner. Only it got to you last time

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Apr 2007, 04:06

W for another wink...

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 10 Apr 2007, 06:35

karikalabhamukham is on mAyura DhuDhi ganESa says one blueneck guy/lady in this google search result. mAyUram is also on the banks of kAvEri. May be he/she is right.

http://forumhub.com/indcmusic/2513.19637.07.51.54.html

More info about mAyUram at http://www.hindubooks.org/temples/tamil ... /index.htm

DRS, did dikSitar make a trip to karnATaka (then maiSur) any time? Hard to believe he didn't but there is no kriti on sringEri SaradAmbA or subrahmaNyA murugan or kOllur mUkAmbikA or yAdavAdri selvanAraNan or uDupi kRSNan. Of course there is one kriti gOkarnESvara in saurAsTra rAga. This is for gOkarnEsvarA in gOkarna, an atma linga kSEtram, which aDiyEn feels he could have sung about sitting in eTTayApuram or madurapuri or tanjAvUr. Correct me if aDiyEn is wrong.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 10 Apr 2007, 07:06

ksrimech wrote:DRS, did dikSitar make a trip to karnATaka (then maiSur) any time? Hard to believe he didn't but there is no kriti on sringEri SaradAmbA or subrahmaNyA murugan or kOllur mUkAmbikA or yAdavAdri selvanAraNan or uDupi kRSNan. Of course there is one kriti gOkarnESvara in saurAsTra rAga. This is for gOkarnEsvarA in gOkarna, an atma linga kSEtram, which aDiyEn feels he could have sung about sitting in eTTayApuram or madurapuri or tanjAvUr. Correct me if aDiyEn is wrong.

AFAIK, MD did not visit the shrines in karnATaka, even though some say that the kRti SarAvati taTa nivAsini was on a shrine on the river SarAvati. I really doubt it.

The gOkarNEshwara referred by MD need not be the Atmalinga kShEtra gOkarNa in karnATaka. It may be pulivanam (or somewhere around). Remember kalushApaha gOkarNa kShEtram in Sri venkata girIsham in Suruti. I do not know the sAhitya or iconography well to know if it indicates one of these shrines.

-Ramakriya

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 10 Apr 2007, 07:27

rAga: saurASTrA

P: gOkarNEshvara pAhi pAhimAm gOtrabhidAdi pUjita mUrtE sukIrtE

A: shrI kambu hEmagiri kArmuka dhara shrIpati shara dharaNIdhara purahara shOkahara hara shubha nikarAkara kOkanadapada guruguhAkara

C: bAla manDana tIrthatIravAsa bhAratIshanuta bhakta vishvAsa nIlalOhita vishvavilAsa nityAnandavallI manOllAsa pAHncAla saurASTra cOLadEsha pAla sEvitapAda mRkaNDubAla dIrghAyurArOgyaprada bAla shashidhara varada dakSiNa

Ramakriya, you are right, he mentions paHncAla sauraSTra cOLadESa pAla sEvitapAda in the song. Sorry for jumping the gun.

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 10 Apr 2007, 08:13

Elderly Rasika of GNB confirms that GNB used to fondly refer to the Ganesa on the banks of cauvery in Mayiladuthurai whenever he renderd this song

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 10 Apr 2007, 09:54

ksrimech wrote:rAga: saurASTrA

P: gOkarNEshvara pAhi pAhimAm gOtrabhidAdi pUjita mUrtE sukIrtE

A: shrI kambu hEmagiri kArmuka dhara shrIpati shara dharaNIdhara purahara shOkahara hara shubha nikarAkara kOkanadapada guruguhAkara

C: bAla manDana tIrthatIravAsa bhAratIshanuta bhakta vishvAsa nIlalOhita vishvavilAsa nityAnandavallI manOllAsa pAHncAla saurASTra cOLadEsha pAla sEvitapAda mRkaNDubAla dIrghAyurArOgyaprada bAla shashidhara varada dakSiNa

Ramakriya, you are right, he mentions paHncAla sauraSTra cOLadESa pAla sEvitapAda in the song. Sorry for jumping the gun.

This song could possibly be on Lord Siva at Tirukkokarnam (Gokarnam) near Pudukkottai... except that the song says "Nityanandavalli manollasa" and the goddess at Tirukkokarnam is named Brihadamba. So the mystery continues!

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 10 Apr 2007, 10:33

ksrimech wrote:rAga: saurASTrA

P: gOkarNEshvara pAhi pAhimAm gOtrabhidAdi pUjita mUrtE sukIrtE

A: shrI kambu hEmagiri kArmuka dhara shrIpati shara dharaNIdhara purahara shOkahara hara shubha nikarAkara kOkanadapada guruguhAkara

C: bAla manDana tIrthatIravAsa bhAratIshanuta bhakta vishvAsa nIlalOhita vishvavilAsa nityAnandavallI manOllAsa pAHncAla saurASTra cOLadEsha pAla sEvitapAda mRkaNDubAla dIrghAyurArOgyaprada bAla shashidhara varada dakSiNa

Ramakriya, you are right, he mentions paHncAla sauraSTra cOLadESa pAla sEvitapAda in the song. Sorry for jumping the gun.

If you look at the wrap-around from charaNa to the pallavi , the kShetra name must be dakShiNa gOkarNA

That reminded me of an article by Vidya Jayaram I read few years back - and it is indeed dakShiNa gOkarnEswara

, and his consort is AnandavallI.

Here is the link on www.guruguha.org

http://sky.prohosting.com/guruguha/gokarna.html

-Ramakriya

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 10 Apr 2007, 13:44

ksrimech wrote:karikalabhamukham is on mAyura DhuDhi ganESa says one blueneck guy/lady in this google search result. mAyUram is also on the banks of kAvEri. May be he/she is right.

mAyuram is mayilADuthurai" as originally posted here.

DRS, did dikSitar make a trip to karnATaka (then maiSur) any time? [Hard to believe he didn't but there is no kriti on sringEri SaradAmbA or subrahmaNyA murugan or kOllur mUkAmbikA or yAdavAdri selvanAraNan or uDupi kRSNan

I believe that "SrI subrahmaNyAya namastE" in kAmbOdhi is in praise of kukke subrahmaNya only. Please see the thread on my compositions for discussion of this (Under saurasEna kRti discussion) .

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 10 Apr 2007, 14:13

As MD visited kASi, he must have travelled through tha Karnataka- Andhra region only as there were no flights in those days. I find it hard to believe that he did not visit any temples on the way..

Ksrimech- here is the lnk for saurasEna discussion.

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=255&p=29

Not a great deal about SrI subrahmaNyAyanamastE, I mst say. Pointers are there.

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 10 Apr 2007, 17:40

I was under the impression that Renuka Devi in Kannada Bangala is on a shrine in Karnataka?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 10 Apr 2007, 18:17

Yes Venkat. There is a famous rENukAdEvi temple in savadatti (saudatti) near Belgaum. The deity is popularly called yellamma.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 10 Apr 2007, 21:45

venkatpv wrote:I was under the impression that Renuka Devi in Kannada Bangala is on a shrine in Karnataka?

Although there is a well known temple of Renuka devi in Savadatti,the is there a reference in the sAhitya? She is called vijayanagara sthithE . I am not aware of Savadatti being called Vijayanagara at anytime.

This vijayanagara may refer to hampe; but I do not know of any existing or fallen shrines of rEnukAdEvi.

Is there any town in tanjAvUr area that is/was referred to as vijayanagara? In some compositions I have heard Vijayawada being referred as Vijayapura. Is there a Renuka shrine there?

-Ramakriya

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 10 Apr 2007, 21:57

Renukadevi temple ( Mariammankoil) is situate at the outskirts of Tiruvarur. Place is Vijayanagaram

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 10 Apr 2007, 22:02

Dr S Raghavan has carried out extensive research on MD's compositions by visiting various shrines and checking the iconography/kshetra puranas etc., of the idols at these shrines and comparing the MD's compositions on these shrines. A full list of matching kshetras and compositions is available in "Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitacaritam Mahakavyam" by Dr S Raghvan, published in 1980.

Of course, he has mentioned in page 27 of the above book-
"There still remain the many kriti-s that we have often heard in concerts, but of the background of these compositions little is known. Most of them are in popular ragas. For example:
Svaminatha (Nata);Sadashivam Upasmahe(Shankarabharanam);Mahaganapathim(Thodi);Sri Subramanyaya(Kamboji);Karikalabhamukham(Saveri);Sarasadala Nayana(Khamas);Ramachandra Bhavayami(Vasantha);
Sri Satyanarayanam(Siva-Pantuvarali);Kshitajaramanam(Devagandhari)"

It's interesting to note that "Karikalabhamukham(Saveri)" , a composition under discussion here is also listed above.

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 10 Apr 2007, 22:02

Temple of Gokarneswara (popularly known as Konganeswara temple), is a small temple in Thanjavur city

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 10 Apr 2007, 23:13

DRS Thank you for correcting me. Ram had already mentioned it. I should have just reiterated. Thank you for link to the saurasEna kriti.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 11 Apr 2007, 06:57

ramakriya wrote:Is there any town in tanjAvUr area that is/was referred to as vijayanagara? In some compositions I have heard Vijayawada being referred as Vijayapura. Is there a Renuka shrine there?

-Ramakriya

Tiruvarur IS Vijayanagara. Check out the Kamalamba Navavarana kritis. Quite a few refer to Tiruvarur as Vijayanagara. Today Vijayanagara is a locality within Tiruvarur much like the ubiquitous Indira Nagar/Nehru Nagar in cities all over India.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 11 Apr 2007, 07:22

Rengarajan wrote:Elderly Rasika of GNB confirms that GNB used to fondly refer to the Ganesa on the banks of cauvery in Mayiladuthurai whenever he renderd this song

Could you elaborate on this? Where is the Ganesa shrine on the Cauvery river, if you know. I am from mayilADuturai. I am familiar with all the temples along the banks of the river there in the town. I just cannot place this particular shrine.

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 12 Apr 2007, 22:28

The same is near Tulasnanagattam in Mayiladuthurai

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 13 Apr 2007, 00:08

OK, I get it. There are so many temples there in that area. The sanctitiy associated with the month of aippasi for the bath in the river ther gave the name "tulA gaTTam" which got distorted to lAgaDam, which was used by various worksmiths. There is a nandi manDapam(?) right in the middle of the river there. It has been a long time since thsoe days when I used to cross the reiver there in knee-deep water from across the vaLLalAr sannidhi street to mahAdhana street. Sigh...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Apr 2007, 04:45

mahakavi,
A cup of soup--I mean, piping hot rasam would help?

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 13 Apr 2007, 06:04

Oh my kingdom for the days when I spent carefree days in mayilAdutuRai doing school. Summer was not something I looked forward to when the Cauvery riverbed was bonedry. It was a situation like "ARRupperukkaRRu aDisuDum annALum " time since every ounce of water was consumed upstream or held back. Middle of June was something we eagerly awaited when Mettur would release the water from the dam. We used to run and meet the first layer of water that arrived and run ahead of the water on the riverbed before it overtook us to fill the bed to a depth of six feet or more.

I remember the MArgazhi days when we got up at 5 AM to the sound of tiruppAvai/tiruvembAvai/tiruppaLLiyezhucci songs from the temples and rushed to the kASi ViswanAtar temple on kAverikakari for a handful of hot veNpongal (though not dripping with ghee) which was of divine taste (literally and figuratively). No piping hot rasam then at the temple!

How many times I have visited the abhayAmbikai and mayUranAtar temple without ever knowing MD glorified it!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 13 Apr 2007, 10:20

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/04/13/stor ... 090800.htm

mbr · Post by **mbr** » 18 Apr 2007, 00:10

Our organization, Bharatiya Sangeetha Vaibhavam, is eager to hear your valuable feedback on this festival we organized last week. You can read a review of the festival at our Blog-site: http://blogs.bsvm.org and post your comments on the same. While you are there, please take some time to visit the parent website: bsvm.org to know more about us.

Jyestha · Post by **Jyestha** » 30 Apr 2007, 15:58

great show--- hope its even bigger next year with more songs coming out!! Kudos to Bharatiya sangeeta vaibhavam for organising a super Sunday!!