S.R.Janakiraman (Annamayya Kritis) @ STSVS, Chennai (03 May

ram · Post by **ram** » 04 May 2007, 00:50

Venue: Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam, Thiagarajapuram, Chennai

Date: 03 May 2007

Organizer: Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam (Sri Annamayya Jayanthi)

Vocal: Vid. S.R.Janakiraman

Vocal Support: Vid. Sriram Kannan

Violin: Vid. S. Varadarajan

Mrudangam: Vid. Tanjore Ramdas

List of songs:

1) srImadhvanIya caritAmruta ? (guru stuti) - rEvagupti

2) hari avatAramE - saurAshTram - Adi - pedda tirumalai ayyA &/or chinna tirumalai ayyA - tuned by rAyapaLLi ananthakrishna sarmA

3) cAladA brahmamidi - gambhIranATTai - kanDa cApu - annamAcAryA (OS) - tuned by s.r.jAnakirAman

4) lEdu bhayamu - vasantA - Adi - annamAcAryA - tuned by s.r.jAnakirAman

5) sahaja vaishnavAcAravartanula - sAmantA - Adi - annamAcAryA (A) - tuned by annamAcAryA

6) telisitE mOkshamu - kIravANi - kanDa cApu - annamAcAryA (ANS) - tuned by s.r.jAnakirAman

7) I pAdamEkadA - varada (today's hamsanAdam) - kanDa cApu - annamAcAryA (A) - tuned by s.r.jAnakirAman

8 ) nIcittamu nAbhAgyamu - shankarAbharaNam - rUpakam - annamAcAryA (ONST) - tuned by annamAcAryA

9) AkaTi vELala - subhALi - Adi - annamAcAryA (O) - tuned by s.r.jAnakirAman

10) srImadhvanIya caritAmruta ? (guru stuti) - rEvagupti

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

79 year old veteran Vid. S.R. Janakiraman presented a delightful concert of Annamacharya kritis on the Jayanthi day of the great composer, assisted capably by Sri Varadarajan and Sri Tanjore Ramdas. So clear were his raga outlines and alapanas that one could guess the raga name just by listening to their beginning portions. The way Sri Varadarajan played along with the songs would be apparent from the comment Sri Janakiraman made to the organizer when asked which violin artist he would prefer: "Put Varadarajan. He plays with such shruti sudham that there is no need even for a tambura".

The songs were interspersed with lot of gyaan about Sri Annamacharya's compositions, most of which I have tried to capture below. Corrections, if any, are most welcome.

* The song "hari avatAramE" imagines Sri Annamacharya as being in vaikunTam along with his guru Sri Adivan Sadagopa Yatindra Maha Desikan with Sri Narada and other munis singing his kritis. This kriti highlights the unnatha mahimA of Sri Annamacharya and has been composed by his son and/or grandson (Pedda Tirumalai Ayya and/or Chinna Tirumalai Ayya)

* Song 3 in the above list has been sung with Annamayya sankIrtana vaibhavam in mind. It perfectly fits with the structure of kanDa cApu tALam.

* Sri Thyagaraja has used Sri Annamacharya's abhiprayangal in many of his kritis directly or indirectly.
The bhAvam in the Thyagaraja kriti "manasu nilpa" in AbhOgi also appears in Sri Annamacharya's kriti "lEDu bhayamu" (4 in the above list). He asks in this kriti: "What is the use of keeping one's body clean from the outside without cleaning it from inside (from greed, jealousy etc) ?"

* Sri Annamacharya kritis which are available in their original tune (as codified in text) are in about 90 ragas. Of these ragas, there are some that were in vogue during his time but were not used much later, only to be resurrected by recent composers. One such raga is sAmantam in which there are easily about 20-25 kritis of Annamacharya. Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar was the composer responsible for resurrecting this raga. One such Annamayya kriti in sAmantam is "sahaja vaishnavAcAravartanula". In this kriti, Sri Annamacharya uses the words "kantuguruDu vEnkaTagirirAyani". He describes the Lord as one who charges interest on interest !!

* The second line of the first caraNam of "telisitE mOkshamu" kriti has been echoed by Sri Thyagaraja in his kriti "manasu svAdInamai" (Didn't get this one; need to check the meanings)

* hamsanAdam has been killed over the ages. Today's hamsanAdam (S R M P N S, S N P M R S) is actually a raga called "varada" in Nadamuni Panditar's Sangeetha Swara Prastaram.

* The uniqueness of the kriti "AkaTi vELala" is that it has an autobiographic touch. Usually Annamayya does not preach what people should do in his kritis. Instead, he has sung in a lot of kritis about the vaibhavam of Lord Venkateshwara. This kriti is different in this respect. The kriti has been tuned in subhALi which is subhapantuvarALi without the pancamam. The original tune is in the rAgA mukhAri.

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/05/ ... i03052007/

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 04 May 2007, 01:08

SRJ's presentations are always informative and educative. Thanks Ram for trying to capture the bits for us.

ram wrote:* Sri Annamacharya kritis which are available in their original tune (as codified in text) are in about 90 ragas.

And re- 5 & 8.--- I suppose SRJ meant that the kRtis are set to the same rAgas that annamAcArya specified for them (As seen in the copper plates). I am not aware of any of the notations surving for his songs.

In this kriti, Sri Annamacharya uses the words "kantuguruDu vEnkaTagirirAyani". He describes the Lord as one who charges interest on interest !!

Did you mix up two things here? Blame it on sleep

kantuguruDu means the father (guru) of manmatha(kantu). I am unable tp see a connection between this and charging interest. It of course charged me with interest

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 04 May 2007, 01:25

Very interesting, Ram--the subject matter, the performer and all of his (what else do you expect?) valuable information.
Yes, Varadarajan would have accompanied him very well. And Ramadas too. We don't hear Ramadas as often as we should. I have heard him a few times and get the feeling that
'anusaraNai' (going along with the main artiste and enhancing his performance) and aDakkam (low key playing) are his qualities--an adept mrudangist whose sound is very pleasing...

meena · Post by **meena** » 04 May 2007, 02:20

Revagupti comp is by Jagannatha vithaladasa ?

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 04 May 2007, 03:06

Should have been a delightful concert. I heard some of these in a LEC-DEM by the Prof. on Tyagaraja-Annamacharya.

kalgada78 · Post by **kalgada78** » 04 May 2007, 05:36

It of course charged me with interest

ram · Post by **ram** » 04 May 2007, 08:30

And re- 5 & 8.--- I suppose SRJ meant that the kRtis are set to the same rAgas that annamAcArya specified for them

Yes DRS.

Blame it on sleep

Sleeping while noting down as SRJ spoke or while posting it here

kantuguruDu means the father (guru) of manmatha(kantu). I am unable tp see a connection between this and charging interest. It of course charged me with interest

Here is what I have noted down ... SRJ said this in tamil .... "kantuguruDu nA vaDDi ki vaDDi vAngaravan. kantuguruDu yaaru? venkaTagirirAyan".

I draw a blank here as my knowledge of telugu is limited to a few words that form a very small subset of those listed in the back of a Thyagaraja swami kritis book. I could have noted this down wrongly but the probability of that seems quite low as in this case I have noted down the entire line he spoke. May be someone else who attended can clarify. May be Bharath can if he remembers what SRJ said regarding this line.

DRS: Would also request you to scan through the rest of the post and let me know if you see any other errors. Your posts/replies are always enlightening !!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 04 May 2007, 14:47

It was indeed a very nice concert. SRJ was his usual self and sang very inspiringly.

Sri Sriram Kannan who provided vocal support was good and a youngster, we should keep an eye on. Sri Varadarajan played very well.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 04 May 2007, 16:31

Ram
You always do a good job of summarising what you hear. Regarding some comparisons between annamayya and tyAgarAja mentioned by SRJ here, a lot more of such similarities have been seen in purandara vs tyAgarAja. Iam sure you know this. manasu nilpa Sakti is reminiscent of "manava nilisuvudu balu kaShTa" (Ah! One must hear this kRti from S.Sankar in nATakuranji. Great rendition. I heard it in haridAsanamana series around 7-8 years ago in Mallleswaram sangeetha sabhe, bangalore.) See this

http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/ ... tters.html

I did not get the bit about telisitE mOkShamu and manasu svAdhInamaina. Here are the links to both lyrics. Have a look and see if it jogs your memory.

http://www.telugubiz.net/lyrics/annamaa ... k_159.html

http://www.karnatik.com/c2545.shtml

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 04 May 2007, 16:37

ram wrote:Here is what I have noted down ... SRJ said this in tamil .... "kantuguruDu nA vaDDi ki vaDDi vAngaravan. kantuguruDu yaaru? venkaTagirirAyan".

The meaning may be clear in context of what he said before and after. But kantuguruDu does not add up to that meaning.

Lakshman. Please post the lyrics of "sahaja vaiSNava--". And also "lEdu bhayamu" and "manava nilisuvudu". Thanks.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 04 May 2007, 16:46

Take a look at this ugAbhOga of purandaradAsaru. And compare with manasu nilpa Sakti and "teliyalEru rAma"

manSuddhi illadavage mantrada phalavEnu |
tanuSuddhi illadavage tIrthada phalavEnu |
mindalli phalavEnu mInu mosaLeyante |
nindalli phalavEnu SrISailada kAgeyante |
horage mindu oLage mIyadavara kaNDu |
beragAgi nagutippa purandaraviThala ||

And also the song "kELanO hari tALano"

Some of these themes and ideas are common to many composerss. They may not necessarily be borrowings. But the choice and flow of words and meanings often reveal if there is a connection- either conscious or subconscious.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 04 May 2007, 21:42

DRS,
This I couldn't find in my book. Such a gem!

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 04 May 2007, 22:08

manava nilisuvadu. rAgA: nAtakurinji ? Adi tALA.

P: manava nilisuvadu bahu kaSTa haridADuvantha
C1: kAshig-hOgalu bahudu dEsha tirugalu bahudu Ase suTTante ira bahudu haridADuvantha
2: japava mADalu bahudu tapava mADalu bahudu upavAsa vrtadallira bahudu haridADuvantha
3: snAna mADalu bahudu mauna mADalu bahudu dhyanadi purandara viTTalana caraNadali haridADuvantha

This clip by Shankar was posted by Coolkarni. Can anyone repost ?

ram · Post by **ram** » 06 May 2007, 21:16

DRS,

Here are the lyrics from Sree Rama Chandra Murty Sistla's website:

sahaja vaishNavAcAravartanula

pa|| sahajavaiShNavAcAravartanula- | sahavAsame mAsaMdhya ||

ca|| atiSayamagu SrIharisaMkIrtana | satataMbunu mAsaMdhya |
mati rAmAnujamatamE mAkunu | caturata merasina saMdhya ||

ca|| paramaBAgavata padasEvanayE | saravi nenna mAsaMdhya |
sirivarumahimalu celuvoMdaga vE- |saraka vinuTe mAsaMdhya ||

ca|| maMtukekka tirumaMtra paThanamE | saMtatamunu mAsaMdhya |
kaMtuguruDu vEMkaTagirirAyani | saMtarpaNamE mAsaMdhya ||

lEdu bhayamu

pa|| lEdu Bayamu mari kAdu Bavamu | Adiyu naMtyamu delisina hariyAj~jEkAni ||

ca|| talapulugaDugaka voDalaTu tA gaDiginanEmi | velupali kAMkShalu vuDugaka vidhuluDiginanEmi |
alarucu SrIharidAsyamu Atuma galiginayAtaDu | celagucu panulaina sEsina mariyEmi ||

ca|| poMcina kOpamu viDuvaka BOgamu viDicinanEmi | paMcEMdriyamulu mudiyakapai mudisinanEmi |
viMcinadaivamu nammina nirBayuDayinAtaDu | yeMcuka yEmArgaMbula neTTuMDinanEmi ||

ca|| vEgamE lOpala gaDugaka veli gaDiginanEmi | yOgamu deliyaka palucaduvulu delisinana nEmi |
yIgati SrIvEMkaTapati nerigi suKiMDETiyAtaDu | jAgula prapaMcamaMdunu natamainA nEmi ||

I would need your help with the meanings for these songs and for the lyrics of Sri Purandaradasa you posted.

Thanks,
Ram

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 06 May 2007, 21:32

Ram
There is no suggestion of vaDDi or its collection in the first song- none at all.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 07 May 2007, 01:05

DRS, dont we have a tamil slang kandu vaDDi when we refer to the business done by some north indian lenders in Madras? I think it refers to the interest they get from the interest which borrowers are supposed to pay. May be its derived from the telugu word kantu. One more thing - doesn't kAntu refer to manmatan?

I do not know much about the connection between annamayya and dAsarvAL kritis but I can see a direct influence of AzhwArs on annamayya of course I think that is a well known fact.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 07 May 2007, 02:41

ksrimech wrote:DRS, dont we have a tamil slang kandu vaDDi when we refer to the business done by some north indian lenders in Madras? I think it refers to the interest they get from the interest which borrowers are supposed to pay. May be its derived from the telugu word kantu. One more thing - doesn't kAntu refer to manmatan?.

That is cakrabaDDi in kannaDa and cakravaDDi in telugu. No kAntu is not manmatha. It is husband/Lord/lover etc.
kantu is manmatha only and kantuguruDu is none other than the father of manmatha aka viShNu. This usage is neither unique to this song of annamayya nor is it unique to annamayya.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 07 May 2007, 04:33

Thank you DRS

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 07 May 2007, 05:20

I wonder if Thyagaraja heard the compositions of Purandaradasa? Could he have understood the kannada?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 07 May 2007, 05:24

mohan wrote:I wonder if Thyagaraja heard the compositions of Purandaradasa? Could he have understood the kannada?

He did hear and learn them. It is said that his mother taught tyAgarAja the songs of purandaradAsa and bhadrAcala rAmadAsu as a child. T respectfully mentions purandaradAsa as his mAnasa guru in his opera- prahlAda bhakti vijayam. This has been quoted a few times in this forum.

ram · Post by **ram** » 07 May 2007, 08:32

Thank you DRS. Will it be possible for you to post the meanings for the songs whenever you have some free time available or point me to a web site that has the meanings?

Thanks once again.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 09 May 2007, 00:33

ok Ram. Let me start with the ugAbhOga.

manSuddhi illadavage- he who does not have purity of mind/thought.
mantrada phalavEnu- Of what use is mantra to him?
tanuSuddhi illadavage- To him who does not have cleanliness of body;
tIrthada phalavEnu- what is the use of holy water?
mindalli phalavEnu- what is the use of bathing?; mInu mosaLeyante- like fish and crocodile;
nindalli phalavEnu- what is the use of standing; SrISailada kAgeyante- like the crow in SrISaila;
horage mindu- those who clean the outside; oLage mIyadavara- but are impure within; kaND- seeing;
beragAgi- astonished; nagutippa purandaraviThala- viThala will be laughing;

I hope our telugu friends will chip in with the meanings of the tleugu songs.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 09 May 2007, 00:49

Here's the link to manasu nilpa Sakti from the former sangeetam.com

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:C4D ... cd=3&gl=us

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 09 May 2007, 09:44

suji ram, just wondering if google's cache will have the full www.sangeetham.com website? I had so much of info and all is lost...

meena · Post by **meena** » 09 May 2007, 10:03

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 09 May 2007, 10:49

thats nice. thanks meena

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 09 May 2007, 11:02

meena wrote:bharath,

not all is lost, thanks to internet archive .
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sangeetham.com

If the link does not work just type in the URL.

Meena
Nice url, but it only lists the links upto 2 levels, I am still unable to get the content of the links. For eg type any url link say Dec31,2005, you can see the sangeetham home page , you can go to bulletin board,see say concert review , after that I am only able to see the subject titles , clicking on the subject title , I am unable to see the contents. Possibly if you have the solution even to see the contents, help us.

meena · Post by **meena** » 09 May 2007, 23:30

rajesh

I too have no luck, the sangeetham with 'new look', (Sriram switched to the new format sometime late '05 ) those pages cannot be accessed.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 May 2007, 17:03

Ok I have tried to capture them eaning of sahaja vaishNavAcAravartanula.

This song deals with the navavidha bhakti (Although I could not get 9). And the important thing is that annamayya does not differentiate between the Lord and his bhAgavatas. Serving the bhAgavatas is as good as/same as serving the Lord.

Those who know telugu well, please feel free to correct or add to my attempt.

sahajavaiShNavAcAravartanula- | sahavAsame mA saMdhya ||

The company of those abiding by the lofty/lovely tenets of vaiSAhNava way of life is our/my daily prayers(sandhyAvandane) (sakhyam)

atiSayamagu SrIharisaMkIrtana satataMbunu mAsaMdhya |

Marvellous singing of SrIhariâ€™s praise is ever my sandhyAvandane (kIrtanam)

mati rAmAnujamatamE mAkunu | caturata merasina saMdhya ||

SrI rAmAnujaâ€™s philosophy/opinion is also for me the wise and bright sandhyAvandane; (AtmanivEdanam)

paramaBAgavata padasEvanayE | saravi nenna mAsaMdhya |
Service to the feet of the great bhAgavatas is verily/rightfully my sandhyAvandane; (pAdasEvanam)

sirivarumahimalu celuvoMdaga vE- |saraka vinuTe mAsaMdhya ||
Listening incessantly(without boredom) to the beautiful glory/attributes of vishNu is verily my sandhyAvandane; (SravaNam)

maMtukekka tirumaMtra paThanamE | saMtatamunu mAsaMdhya |
Reciting/chanting/reading the tirumantra that is best for the intellect is always my sandhyAvandane; (smaraNam/arcanam)

kaMtuguruDu vEMkaTagirirAyani | saMtarpaNamE mAsaMdhya ||
Gratification of the Lord of the Venkata hill, father of manmatha is my sandhyAvandane. (dAsyam)

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 14 May 2007, 17:27

kantu guruDu - There is a story that Lord Venkateswara took a loan from - kubEra? - for his marriage and He has promised to pay back the same later. In kali yuga Lord Venkateswara is stated to be repaying the loan. Therefore he, colloquially known 'vaDDigAdu' or 'vaDDivAdu' - same as kantuguruDu - I shall try to trace the story for reference. He is also known as 'appula vADu'. When we deposit something in His hundi it is stated to go for the purpose of paying back only the interest. I don't know when He is going to pay back the principal

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 14 May 2007, 17:46

Venkateswara obtained a heavy loan from Kubera, god of wealth in Hindu Mythology. Princess Padmavati and Lord Venkateswara were then duly married. The story continues that as Vishnu borrowed the wealth from Kubera, the god of prosperity, he was (and according to tradition, still is) indebted to pay him back, and thus he spends time in Tirupathi repaying his debt to Kubera.

http://www.halfvalue.com/wiki.jsp?topic ... ara_Temple

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 14 May 2007, 17:59

drs,

daily players(sandhyAvandane)

It is a typo. 'daily prayers'.

Will not the last caraNa come under the category of 'kAntAsakti'?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 May 2007, 18:23

vgvindan wrote:drs,
daily players(sandhyAvandane)
It is a typo. 'daily prayers'.

Have corrected it. thanks.

Will not the last caraNa come under the category of 'kAntAsakti'?

Yes it can. I was trying to fit into one of the 9 forms of bhakti.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 May 2007, 18:27

vgvindan wrote:kantu guruDu - There is a story that Lord Venkateswara took a loan from - kubEra? - for his marriage and He has promised to pay back the same later. In kali yuga Lord Venkateswara is stated to be repaying the loan. Therefore he, colloquially known 'vaDDigAdu' or 'vaDDivAdu' - same as kantuguruDu -

VGV. Please explain how vaDDivADu is the same as kantuguruDu? They donot map to the samemeaning.Only to the same Lord. Am I missing something?

I don't know when He is going to pay back the principal

It is said that when 3 crore (mukkOTi) devotees gather together in tirumala at one time, vEnkaTESvara's debts will be cleared. That has not happened (logistically it may be impossible). Had it been cumulative, the debt would have been cleared many times over by now

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 14 May 2007, 19:39

drs,
I just happened to see earlier postings where 'kantu' had been interpreted as 'interest' and I thought that is settled.
It is a fact that in Tamil 'kandu vaDDi' means 'exhorbitant interest rate'. I just put 2 and 2 together and thought 'kantu guruDu' means 'vaDDi gADu' which is the colloquial name of Lord Venkateswara.

Now, I tried to find the word in Telugu and Tamil dictionaries - but could not.
I stand corrected. Sorry for misleading.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 14 May 2007, 22:23

drshrikaanth wrote:And the important thing is that annamayya does not differentiate between the Lord and his bhAgavatas. Serving the bhAgavatas is as good as/same as serving the Lord.

DRS,

If you are interested, please read the meanings of tiruvAymozhi 3.7, in which nammAzhvAr sings about bhAgavatha prabhavam. It is this padigam along with tiruvAymozhi 8.10 which stand as a basis of the dAsyatvam which annamcArya is taking about. IMHO, you will be able to find out most of the estorical what annamAchArya gives us in his songs in tiruvAymozhi (1102 verses) and the other 2898 verses. You can also find it in sAmpradAya grantAs like SrIvacanabhUSan of svAmi ulagAriyan), AcArya hrudayam of svAmi nAyanAr, 12000 paDi vyAkyAnam of svAmi periyavAcAn piLLai, drAmiDOpaniSad tAtparyaratnAvaLi & munivAhana bhOgam of svAmi nigamAnta mahAdESikan, etc. You can find the impact of SrImad rAmAnujar and SrIvaiSNavam on annamAcAryA very easily in his songs.

tiruvAymozhi 3.07 (payilum suDarOli mUrti) :www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/tvm/tvm3-7.html
tiruvAymozhi 8.10 (neDumArkku aDimai) :www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/tvm/tvm8-x.html

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 May 2007, 22:32

ksrimech
Could you tell me whether you agree or disagree with what I have said? (in your quote). Either way is fine with me. Yes annamayya was influenced by SrIvaiShNava profoundly it is generally accepted.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 14 May 2007, 22:36

Yes Sir, I agree completely with you. I feel that last line stands for vandanam and dAsyam. Would you agree?

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 14 May 2007, 22:38

Yes krishna- both are possible. I went for dAsya as "santarpaNa" means gratifying/appeasing. That pointed towards dAsay rather than vandana.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 14 May 2007, 22:43

I'm said that from a SrIvaiSNavan's point of view because we feel they are highly inseparable. It can be interpreted otherwise as well.