Lecdem-Tyagaraja krtis of Dikshitar-Malladi Brothers,SVT,MD.

[vidya]

Lecdem on Tyagaraja krtis of Dikshitar - Malladi Brothers – SVTemple, MD.

As part of the Dikshitar (now Dikshitar + Syama Sastri festival ) conducted by the Gitāmrta school at the śivavishnu temple, there was a lecdem by the Malladi brothers Malladi Sreeramprasad and Malladi Ravikumar. This was followed by a concert in the evening. They took up the topic of “Tyāgarāja(eśvara) Krtis of Muttusvāmi Dikṣitar”. The brothers began with a set of 5 lovely shlokas beginning with a vāggeyakāra parampara vandana invoking, Brahma, Narada, Dattila, ṣārngadeva to Dikṣita and Tyagaraja. They followed it up with a set of five ślokas on Muttusvāmi Dikṣita. They announced that it was composed by someone in Vijayanagaram who was a shrividya upāsaka ( by the name of Shriyānanandanātha). The brother’s impeccable pronounciation of sanskrta ślokas particularly the mahāprānas (the b vs bh etc) was nice to hear. A picture of the Sricakreśvara installed on the samādhi of Cidambaranātha yogi at Hanuman Ghāt was shown and they mentioned their trip there and their plans to conduct an annual Dikṣitar festival at Vāranasi.

Given that this is a complex, broad and esoteric topic that not only requires an understanding of several elements in philosophy, religion, mythology but also localized mythology specific to the Tiruvārur temple, the brothers tried their best to do justice to the topic and cover a wide gamut. Their explanations were hardly superficial and revealed a great deal depth in understanding of the terms involved. They did justice to the chosen topic in the amount of time and covered the following:

1. The significance of the tripuṭi in shrividya and related it to dhyāna, dhyātR and dhyeya - process of knowing, knower and the known and various references to it starting from the first composition shrInāthādi.
2. The concept of tyāga – with respect to moksha and karma phala tyaga and the significance of the name tyāgarāja
3. The aspect of the dvandvas of bhoga-Yoga as a repetitive theme highlighted in these compositions was also explained.
4.The significance of Rāja Yoga, the references and allusions to Kundalini yoga in the lines referring to nāgarāja mani valayam and so on.
5. The presence of the Gopuccha and Srotovāha yatis in the ānandabhairavi composition and the relevance of ajapa nature of the hamsa mantra and the idea of the Lord encompassing and extending beyond the 36 tattvas.
6.The significance of Vāg and artha and nāma and rupa etc
7.Tiruvarur being known as the place free of the afflictions of Kali and the jananat kamalalaye and followed by snippet of smaranat kaivalya , saranga from Arunacalam.
An interpretation of hari vāncitārtha prada rājo and the sama bhāva of śiva and Vishnu worshipping each other[1]. They related this to the Rameśvara kshetra which I have an issue with.* They also explained aneka lIlā vicitra vikāso in a very generic sense.[2]
8.The idea of Niscala tatva and the permeation of the concepts of advaita in these compositions
9.Coming from a school known for its presentation of rakti ragas they presented the following compositions in addition to Tyāgarāja Pālayāśu mām – Gaula, Tyāgarājāya Namaste – Begada, Tyāgarāja yoga vaibhavam – Anandabhairavi, Tyagarājām Bhajeham - Yadukulakāmbhoji and briefly mentioned Tyagarajo virājate - Athana

I definitely did not expect a viravasantham or even a rudrapriya and was pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear the concluding item of a well-presented tyāgarāja mahādvajāroha in shrI raga.[3]

Now for what I would have liked better / wish-list items so to speak..

* It is my belief that any interpretation of the Tyagaraja compositions solely based on Shrividya, Vedanta, Rajayoga minus the localized temple legends of Tiruvarur is incomplete. There are several localized, Tiruvarur-region-specific allusions in these compositions that their interpretation seemed to miss out on

Examples:
[1] The original Tiruvarur temple myths speak of Vishnu meditating on Siva as Somāskanda for progeny and the references to the burning of Kāma and Siva and finally Somāskanda granting Vishnu’s desire that Kāma would continue to live. It is this that is alluded in Mukundādi pUjita somāskanda murtaye and in harivāncitārtha phala prada rājo and even though bringing in Ramesvaram is not an incorrect it violates the principle of occam’s razor when there is a direct and clear explanation for something.
[2] aneka lIla vicitra vikāso. A familiarity with the Tyagaraja temple legends would know of the Tyāgarāja lIlaigal where Tyāgarāja is said to have performed the 360 odd lilas and that is what the allusion to anEka lIlA vicitra vikAso is supposed to mean.
[3] The festival was continuously referred to as dhvajārohana festival. The dvajarohana at the Tyāgesa temple merely marks the start of the 15-day festivities. Again these are very specific and local reference to the sequence of festivities in this temple connected with the vasantotsva.

* I would have liked a few more insights into the musical aspects of the compositions. Example: The Kanada-ish prayogas in the Darbar composition, the usage of nishada(e) in begada, the requirement or otherwise of RGMRS in Dikshitar’s Gaula etc etc The lecdem solely focussed on the sahitya.

[PUNARVASU]

Being a 'Tiruvarurian'(by birth), I am thrilled to read about this.Added to this is my love for MSD's kritis, for the Sanskrit language and philosophy.
Vidya, thanks for pointing so many facts unknown to me.
Thanks to the Malladi brothers on their 'educative' mission.

[rshankar]

Vidya - thanks for the report that was probably more erudite than the presentation itself! Does the gItAmRta school record programs and make them available?

[rajeshnat]

I definitely did not expect a viravasantham or even a rudrapriya and was pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear the concluding item of a well-presented tyāgarāja mahādvajāroha in shrI raga.

Vidya,
Tx for your great writeup, certainly there were lot of new educative pointers. It is not clear if the brother sang the sri thyagarAjasya bhakto (rudrapriya) and viravasanta thyagarAja (viravasantham) from your communication.Did they render both?

[thanjavooran]

Vidya,
Excellent writeup. Many thanx.
with wishes,

Thanjavooran 10 11 2010

[vidya]

Rshankar, No clue abt recordings etc. I was just a visitor for a day.
Rajesh,
No Viravasantham and rudrapriya were not sung. I meant I did not exect those two compositions to be sung - The writing ended up being circuitously unclear

[arasi]

Vidya,
Thank you! Some day, I hope to listen to 'you' give a lec-dem.
Are you going to be in Chennai for the season?

[Rajani]

Thanks Vidya for that wonderfully detailed report. I second Arasi's wish

[sivakami]

Many Thanks Vidya for that erudite write-up on the esoteric subject( as rshankar and you wrote)...It provides a deeper insight. . It also improved my vocabulary....

The brother’s impeccable pronounciation of sanskrta ślokas particularly the mahāprānas (the b vs bh etc) was nice to hear.

very true, for two reasons: 1. their native tongue being telugu, where again there is lot of emphasis about b vs bh etc.,;
secondly, their grandfather was a well-known Harikatha exponent, and hence the rigorous training...