Saiva Thirumurai concert - some concerns

[Rajani]

I went to attend the concert by Sri Neyveli Santanagopalan on the theme "Saiva Tirumurai", which was one of the programmes organised by Carnatica and SriParthasarathy Swamy Sabha as part of the Bhakti Utsav.

Before the concert, Artery - the new cultural magazine projected a PPT presentation on the Thevaara Moovar and other saints whose works are part of Saiva Tirumurai. With my limited knowledge I spotted at least three factual errors in the presentation. Probably there were more.

I was also disappointed that Sri Neyveli Santanagopalan chose to sing Thevarams in ragams other than the Panns they are set to. Of course there are others who do this, even some Oduvars do this. But someone of his stature, changing the Raga chosen by the composer did not seem right. I would like to know what our fellow-rasikas think about this.

I request people to keep the discussions civil and topical.

[mahavishnu]

Rajani, Avl: Thanks for your post. I appreciate your valid concerns and the constructive tone that you have taken in raising them.
I cannot comment on the errors in the presentation since I was not at the event.

However, I am wondering if it is fair to expect that the Thevarams be sung in the original Panns that they were composed in (if that can be suitably established historically). Many of these paNNs have morphed into modern ragams and it would be almost impossible to recreate what these were like in the pre-trinity period, since their treatment of these ragams has changed their flavour for posterity.

So, even if one sang Gambhiranattai (nattappadai), Harikambhoji (sempalai) and Mohanam (mullai) there is no guarantee that they will sound like they did in the 7th century (Sambandhar's time), leave alone Sangam and pre-sangam period. I once heard a lec-dem on Silappadikaram (5th century CE) by Dr. S. Ramanathan where he made the above point. It is said that much of the tune setting took place in Raja Raja Chola's period which was another couple of centuries later.

We think that the Oduvars have the most undiluted version (from the abovementioned period) of the Thevarams, but even they have been influenced by changes in the raga structures over the years. Unfortunately in the absence of a written musical notation system, we have no way knowing the original pann tunes. Given that, the question to ask would be: is it ok to take the liberty of changing the ragam of the piece altogether?

I hope Sri NSG would participate and answer this question for us. He obviously thought that it was acceptable to take this liberty.

Once again, thanks for raising this point and I hope this will be an illuminating discussion.

[arasi]

Rajani,
Always good to hear from you--wish we hear more from you.
On this topic, I'm sure many are eager to know more. NSG, one among us--affable and expressive as he is, will chime in, I'm sure.

As for you, to the extent I know you, I'm certain you are anything but a frivolous person and not a 'I feel like a fight" type. You also know your thamizh and sanskrit in depth and are keen on getting some answers.

[the_ARTery]

With my limited knowledge I spotted at least three factual errors in the presentation. Probably there were more...

Could you tell us what were the errors you found? You can write to us at "artery AT sensational dot co dot in"
Thanks!

[Rajani]

Thank you very much - Mahavishnu and Arasi. I complelely agree with your statement that . given the lack of written musical notations, the paNNs morphing into forms closer to modern Ragas is unavoidable. WHich is why an Alapana before a Thevaram, or Neraval at some suitable place etc do not seem out of place. But simply taking the words and using them to elaborate a Raga of our choice seems questionable.

The Artery - I have sent you the mail.