Chetulara prior to Pancharatna kritits

[arvind.brahmakal]

Yesterday, one of the rasikas asked me why Chetulara is played ahead of the pancharatna kritis as a convention ? and why specifically on the flute and not any other instrument / vocal ?
Unsure, if this topic has been covered in the past....any leads ? Thanks

[vasanthakokilam]

I searched for it in the fourm but I could not find any discussion on the 'why Chetulara' aspect. There are some discussions on different ragas in which it is rendered ( Karaharapriya or Bhairavi ), though at the aradhana it has been in bhairavi.

On an extra-curricular point, I am glad this convention exists since for the most part that is the only piece that is consistent and coherent during the group singing (of course, when the wobbliness and pitches settles down there are sections when the group singing is indeed exhilarating to hear )

[arunsri]

I heard in a lec-dem or semewhere (artiste -I do not remember) that a senior flautist (whose name I do not recall) used to be given #1 slot in the 'Aradhana function' at Thiruvaiayyaru. And he used to play chEtulAra - so even after his time - the protocol stuck - first - a flautist, who has to play chEtulAra

Arun

[VK RAMAN]

Interesting. why chEtulara and why flute and its significance

[Rsachi]

My guess:
cEtulAra is a kriti that describes how the devotee decorates the lord with various ornaments and embellishments. That is the sequence during the Shodasha षोडश puja, before geetham, vadyam etc. That also creates the right atmosphere for group singing. Hence the convention, maybe.
Why flute? A loud and melodious instrument that draws everyone's attention so they may settle down for the pancharatnas to follow.
There is some discussion how this was originally sung in Kharaharapriya but now is rendered in Bhairavi...

[venkatakailasam]

An interesting write up is provide by Ramanuja society is

at.....

http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/raman ... ssage/4600

[uday_shankar]

My late father-in-law, Shri M Rammohan, the grandson of Soolamanagam Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, told memorable stories about the history of the Tyagaraja Aradhana at Tiurvaiyaru. The history of Tyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru is of recent vintange. Of even more recent vintage is the practice of group singing of pancharatna kritis.

Here's some salient points:

1. The Tillaisthanam brothers (Narasimha, the elder and Panju) started the Aradhana in the early 1900's in a small way at the behest of Tyagaraja's direct disciples, the Umayalpuram brothers...
2. Soon enough, the brothers fell apart and agreed to conduct the celebrations separately and thus began the "Chinna Katchi" and the "Periya Katchi"; musicians chose their preferred group. All men, steeped in the bigotry of the time, kept it an exclusive male club. No nagasvaram either. One group chose the run up to the Aradhana day to organize katcheris and the other following the aradhana. No pancharatna yet.
3. After the Tillaishtanam brothers passsed, the Periya Katchi was led by "fiddle" Malaikottai Govindaswamy Pillai and the Chinna Katchi by Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bhagavather,
4. This status quo continued till about 1941, when the Bhagavathar withdrew from the Aradhana activity...the winds of change and modernity were blowing...Bangalore Nagarathnamma, an activist and visionary, bestowed her munificence on the Aradhana, forced the acceptance of the participation of women and soon enough all factions were united and the Aradhana attained its current form. It was at this time, sometime in the mid-forties that the Pancharatna group singing began for the first time in the history of the world. At this time, Palladam Sanjeeva Rao was the leading flautist of the land and for some reason he set a precedent to the pancharatna by playing chetulara (in Bhairavi, per his paadam!). This immediately became a "tradition" and he continued it year after year. Sanjeeva Rao passed on in 1962 and I don't know upon whom the chetulara mantle fell. I daresay it wasn't Mali ! If I were to guess, I'd say Tirupambaram Swaminatha Pillai. For the last three, maybe four decades Ramani sir has been continuing the "tradition".

I wish everyone good luck who's trying to figure out the "profound significance" behind the chetulara tradtion .

[VK RAMAN]

So aradhana was not solely confined to brahmin community? Thanks Uday_Shankar for detailed explanation in chronological order.

[arvind.brahmakal]

Thanks all for bringing out the plausible reasons. Wondering if there is any documentation with the Sri Tyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha that organises the Aradhana at Thiruvaiyyaru ? Request anyone going to Thiruvaiyyaru to check this. Have written to the Sabha to confirm...will let you all know as I hear back

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Uday has stolen my thunder on the origin of the Uthsavam--the foibles and fractiousness.

Forumites wishing to know the background(most of it is covered by Uday in his post) would do well to read the book in Tamil( Sree Thyagabrahma Aradanai Uthsava Varalaru" written by Soolamangalam Radhakrishna Iyer(Uday's Father-in-law).This is a --only 68 pages- a compact book---written in a very breezy --very objective despite the author's relationship to one of the Principals in initiating the Aradhana tradition--the last back page listing the organisation is a veritable compendium of who's who of that time!--Poochi Iyengar--Vice President,Soolamangalm Vidyanatha Bhagavathar--Secretary,Palladam Sanjiva Rao(JT.Secy)-T.S.Sabhesa Iyer(Treasurer-he was Musiri's Guru and was probably the first Principal of Annamalai University Music College--boasting of several leading alumni--Govindaraja Pillai Violin,S.Ramanathan,T.K Rangachary(??) et al), T(Thiruppazhanam Panchapakesa Sastrigal)--leading Harikatha exponent of his time(Thiruvaiyaru Annaswamy Bhagavathar was his prime disciple--check out my posts on the MS Amma thread for some funny sidebars on Annaswami Bhagavathar @ kalki gardens --- and Accountant Mangudi Chidambara Bhagavathar--another leading harikatha exponent of his times noted for his portly firame with lots of jokes about his girth--most of it unprintable in this forum!!!

NOW FORUMITES WOULD WONDER WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH THE CHETULARA TRADITION

-NOTHING!!
Just another piece of trivia that forumites have by now may have got accustomed to from me!!!!

[RaviSri]

uday_shankar is largely correct about the Aradhana festivities. Women and nagaswara vidvans were not allowed to perform in the Chinna Katchi or the Periya Katchi. It was only after the advent of Nagaratnamma that women musicians and nagaswara vidvans got a chance to perform. That too because the two Katchis conducted their Aradhanas away from the Samadhi, one at the Kalyan Mahal and the other at the College. Nagaratnamma bought the whole of what is now the Samadhi area, built the manTapa around the Samadhi and conducted the Aradhana there itself. She organised a big feast everyday and all were invited, including non-brahmins, who were not allowed to dine at either the Chinna Katchi or the Periya Katchi festivities. Nagaratnamma invited the devadasis from Madras, notably the Dhanammal family, Naina Pillai etc., as also the Nagawara vidvans who were allowed to perform sitting on stage. It was a seamless coup by the indomitable lady which saw huge crowds thronging to the Aradhana conducted by Nagaratnamma and the two Katchis steadily losing steam. In the late 1940s, Musiri Subramanya Iyer and S.Y.Krishnaswami ICS took efforts to unite all the factions. The Katchis had to come to terms with reality and the Thyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha was formed.

The Pancharatna renditions came about later in the early 1950s. Chetulara was played by Palladam Sanjeeva Rao as a prelude to the Pancharatnams. The kriti is listed as being in Nata Bhairavi in the Walajapet manuscripts but is sung in Bhairavi and Karaharapriya now.

From the article by V.Sadagopan:

Semmangudi SrinivAsa Iyer and Vedavalli render it in original Karahara Priyaa.

Vedavalli sings it in Karaharapriya but Semmangudi sang it in Bhairavi which he had learnt from T.Brinda.

Sri Sarabha Sastri, Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, T.R. Mali, N.Ramani, Sikkil Sisters are the famous Flute VidhvAns, who took part in the AarAdhanais in the past years and for playing CetulAra.

Sarabha Sastri died in 1904 itself when there was no Aradhana at all, except for srAddhA ceremony by the Thillaistanam brothers Narasimha Bhagavatar and Panju Bhagavatar. And Mali, certainly did not play Chetulara at the Samadhi.

Wondering if there is any documentation with the Sri Tyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha that organises the Aradhana at Thiruvaiyyaru? Request anyone going to Thiruvaiyyaru to check this. Have written to the Sabha to confirm...will let you all know as I hear back

The Sabha is concerned only with conducting the Aradhana and its members indulge in backslapping, praising each other, currying favours with the Moopanar family etc., during the Aradhana celebations. Who has bothered about documentation? The Sabha has no office in Tiruvaiyyaru except a stool and a small table at what was once Thyagaraja's house, now demolished. At other times of the year at the Samadhi you can see only the priest doing puja and the occasional visitor, thus leaving Thyagaraja in peace. I wonder if the Sabha will write back to you. If they do, I'll be shocked.

[balakk]

S Rajam has performed this song in Natabhairavi .

http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunat ... ANADA-1982

In fact he says in this song that it was taught to him by Papanasam Sivan personally in Natabhairavi.

[rajeshnat]

Ravisri
Did the pancharatna krithis exist as a kind of theme during Thyagaraja's days itself(like a kovur pancharatnas , lalgudi set of krithis etc) . Or was krithis cherry picked up by disciples of T or may be grand disciples of T . Vaguely I recollect the varali pancharatna was actually tuned by disciples of T and sung by disciples when T was very old . Could you throw some light on this pancharatna krithis in general?

[Ponbhairavi]

The uncha vrithi in the streets of thiruvaiyaru precede the pancharathna krithis at the samadhi venue and are part of the "aradhana" which is a sort of shradha for the sanyasins( Thyagaraja got aabhatsanyasam in the last minutes) I do not know ,were there two unchavrithis in the days of peria katchi and chinna katchi ? I am told that even now the Bangalore Nagarathnamma group are having aradhana at the samadhi venue at 4 0clock earl;y in the morning.I do not know whether it is true or a mere oral story. it needs clarification.

[RaviSri]

rajeshnat, the Pancharatna kritis are in the five ghana ragas which classification was there even during the times of the Trinity. Therefore, these five songs must have been deliberately composed keeping in mind their common classification. Also all five have swaras as part of the songs themselves. The Varali kriti was not known to many in those days. We know that this version being sung now by everyone was given by Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. The Thillaistanam version of Varali is printed in their book and it existed even before the Aradhana singing of the songs. In this version the G1, the vivadi swara, is prominently stressed to bring out the true chAyA of the raga.

I have never heard that the Varali song was tuned by his disciples. This is news to me. Judging by the structure and the tonic beauty and the finesse of the song I personally feel it was the bard himself who composed it. Judging from his disciples' compositions I am not sure they were capable of such finesse and depth.

I have heard that only one Katchi conducted unchavritti on Aradhana day.

A case pertaining to the Aradhana went on for several years at the Munsiff court, District court, Tanjore for many years. As a result, to satisfy all parties, three abhishekams were allowed to be performed on Aradhana day. One at 4 A.M. by the Thillaistanam descendants of disciples, immediately after that the descendants of Thyagaraja's brother Jalpeshan (who still perform the puja) and then followed by the Nagaratnamma trust. A ridiculous thing to do. I'll describe this funny business tomorrow.

[arasi]

RaviSri,
All ears

[RaviSri]

Earlier, Ramudu Bhagavatar, a grandson of Jalpeshan wanted to assert his right and he supposedly prevented the Thillaistanam people from performing the puja during a particular year in the late 1940s. Scuffle broke out, there were untoward incidents, Nagaratnamma had to intervene, pacify Ramudu and allowed the Thillaistanam people to perform puja.

All was going well in the initial years of the Aradhana when Nagaratnamma, who had formed a public trust in her name, Musiri, Maharajapuram etc were involved. All contributed to the abhishekam, puja on Aradhana day. By convention, i.e., by long practice, the Thillaistanam people were entitled to perform the abhishekam, puja etc., but the then big names ensured that there was only one abhishekam. This went on smoothly for many years until one by one the big names started disappearing from this earth. One year disagreements arose at the Aradhana committee meeting as to the mode of abhishekam. Jalpeshan's descendants claimed rights which the others were not prepared to concede. It was then decided by the worthies that dragging the Aradhana to court was the only way out. Many witnesses, claims and counter claims left the Tanjore Munsiff court wringing its hands in despair.

In its wisdom the court decreed that three abhishekams could be performed, one each by the Nagaratnamma trust, next by the descendants of Jalpeshan and third by the Thillaistanam descendants. Then came Balamurali in the late 1970s. He assumed dual roles as Chairman of Nagaratnamma trust and also the Secretary of the Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha which is responsible for conducting the Aradhana. He ensured a semblance of order and camaraderie amongst the rival claimants. Balamurali however quit, leaving the way for mischief makers to enter in the early 1980s. Abhayamba (hope everyone knows who she was) became Chairman of the Nagaratnamma trust. A few years ago she sold the trust to the Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha. An old hand of the trust ensured that the courts in Tanjore did not forget Tiruvaiyyaru or Thyagaraja. The district sessions court was approached and the prayer was to throw out the descendants of Jalpeshan from the sanctum ('They should not enter the sanctum') and that the daily pujas should be conducted by the Mahotsava committee. 17 witnesses were arraigned to give evidence against the Jalpeshans. But, strangely all of them turned hostile. Ultimately, its head reeling, the court ruled that the Jalpeshans and the Mahotsava should perform pujas on Aradhana day and that the Jalpeshans have the authority to conduct daily pujas for the rest of the year. The old hand of the trust, mentioned earlier, has approached the Madras High Court for overturning the Tanjore court's ruling. He is very young, only 98 years old!!!!

Now my head has started reeling. Nevertheless, I must finish this story, which I described as funny first, but in reality it is a sad story where people forgot that they were playing with fire, that they were indulging in a brutal crime against Thyagaraja, that too inside his shrine.

The Samadhi consists of Thyagarajs's brindavanam in which he was interred and in front of that his statue. The abhishekams (including the daily ones) would be for both brindavanam as well a for the statue. On Aradhana day,the first abhishekam starting at 4 A.M. would finish with dIpArAdhanA at about 6 A.M. The abhishekam would be done with milk, curds, honey, sandal paste, panchamritam etc. Then a new saffron vastram would be placed around the idol, garlands placed, archana performed ending with the dIpArAdhanA. Quit the Thillaistanam people with their priests, enter the Jalpeshans. They would remove the garlands, vastram etc., and start pouring water, milk, curds etc., on Thyagaraja, ending with puja and dIpArAdhanA at 8 A.M. Quit they and enter the Nagartnamma trust (now defunct, so in its place, the Mahotsava Sabha). With their left hands the new entrants and the last to perform puja would throw out the previous garlands, vastram etc., and, yes, pour water, milk etc., So much of milk, curds, honey etc., the beggar-composer would not have even seen in his entire lifetime.

The man all along his life had to face opposition and berating from his cousins, community etc., for the way he was living his life Why don't people leave him in peace at least now? But no, they won't.

[arasi]

My head reels too. What a relentlessly continuing story of malice and self-importance! Everything the saint (whom they think they're paying homage to) tried to run away from is what they indulge in!

So, which series of abhishEkams is the one we see on the screen? Heaven forbid that they start another bout of mean fighting about television coverage:(

[RaviSri]

What we see now on TV is the 3rd abhishekam supposedly belonging to the Mahotsava sabha which also claims to represent the Thillaistanam people. But now by consensus the descendants of Jalpeshan perform both abhishekas.

Best thing in my opinion to do is not to see the TV and get frustrated, visit Tiruvaiyyaru at any other time of the year. There will be no one except the Jalpeshan descendants. Sit and sing, or meditate, that being the best homage to the bard. Best time to visit will be from July to November.

If you are in Tanjore or Trichy area around bahuLa panchami of any month go to Varahappayyar lane, Tanjore. At 10 A.M. the caretaker of the Rama icon worshipped by Thyagaraja begins abhisheka to the icon. He will first remove the garlands, cloth etc. You can see the icon without any cloth or flowers. It is a beautiful sight. One can sing there too.

[kunthalavarali]

uday_shankar,
"Sanjeeva Rao passed on in 1962 and I don't know upon whom the chetulara mantle fell"

If my memory is right Palladam Rajan and later H Ramachandra Sastri took over from Palladam Sanjeeva Rao. I wonder if T Viswanathan was a participant with other flutists!

It may be surprising to note that in the earlier days Vidwan's sang krithis from other composers too. I remember listening to ARI sing Seshachala Nayakam (Varali) and SSI sing kannanai pani maname at the aradhana (could be listeners request, of course). The leading artistes would sing for one to two hours. The national program of music (saturday) would feature one artiste for 90 minutes.

[arvind.brahmakal]

tera teeyagarAda ...lOni mada matsaramane tera

[ajit]

One correction: Palladam Sanjeeva Rao did not play Chethulara in Bhairavi. he used to play it in Natabhairavi. The legend goes that he was playing it in Karaharapriya but changed to playing in Natabhairavi.

[Ponbhairavi]

coming back to the initial queries at post no 4 ,why Chetulara seems to have found an explanation at post no 5. Why flute remains.
Udayshankar's post at 7 says: "Palladam Sanjeeva Rao' leading flautist of the time( also Jt secy of the sabha)' for some reasons he set a precedent....
My guess is : It is our tradition to begin all solemn functions with nagaswaram. But since Nagaswara widwans in those days were not allowed to perform there, the next similar wind instrument is that of the Jt secretary' .....

[mahavishnu]

This is also an illustration of how "arbitrary" the origins of many of our traditions are. And the irony is how much people are willing to fight to keep them the way they were.

[uday_shankar]

And the irony is how much people are willing to fight to keep them the way they were.

, often retroactively applying an elaborate narrative to attribute some profound significance to the practice. This is true of many mainstream religious "injunctions" - religion X forbids eating this - religion Y can, etc, etc...It may have been a whim of the founder or some epidemic affecting one particular plant or animal species at the time of founding, etc etc...And the nonsense is propagated for eternity.

[mahavishnu]

Couldn't agree more, Uday.

[varsha]

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. ..... The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.
GK Chesterton in Orthodoxy

[vasanthakokilam]

often retroactively applying an elaborate narrative to attribute some profound significance to the practice. This is true of many mainstream religious "injunctions" - religion X forbids eating this - religion Y can, etc, etc...It may have been a whim of the founder or some epidemic affecting one particular plant or animal species at the time of founding, etc etc...And the nonsense is propagated for eternity.

A minor fix. IT is not the nonsense but propagating it without knowing the original context is. That is what you most probably meant.

Going outside of the context of this thread a bit: Though a lot of such things are blind faiths and false beliefs, some of it is about
truly respecting the tradition of our ancestors which is quite a human thing to do. Such respect for the past provides considerable societal level stability. And some practices are indeed time tested and painfully learned truths which need not be reinvented or relearned. Knowing these differences are indeed the hallmarks of maturity and wisdom. It is not as straightforward as one may think on first blush. Railing against that is nonsensical too which is the mistake the rationalists commit. Varsha's quote captures all that very nicely indeed.

That said, the general observations of Uday and Mahavishnu are quite apt. Give respect and celebrate in all sincerity. We are all standing on the shoulders of all that for good or bad. But do not fight over it to the extent of impeding the relentless march towards the future. Lest, we will be left behind looking backwards while time marches on.

Moving on is not necessarily a sign of lack of respect.

For every new identity to be born, there have to be necessary losses.

[advaitin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9LcVC1oMQ8 - interesting, an old gramaphone recording i think

[sureshvv]

...And the nonsense is propagated for eternity.

I am afraid that you could be easily dismissing something that you don't entirely understand and whose origin you may never know. "traditions" have quite deep roots and sometimes the roots get lost and only the adornments remain but calling it nonsense just because it does not make complete sense to you is not right

[uday_shankar]

Sureshvv, poor choice of words certainly. I think vk's post above clarifies it correctly.
I like many traditions...in general I like doing things "mindfully" as the Buddists call it, but in fact I don't have very strong feelings about following traditions blindly either...life itself is a ritual anyway .

[vasanthakokilam]

btw, the movie Life Of Pi has an angle on this, obliquely related to this topic. I do not want to give anything away except to say it took me many hours after the movie to understand what that one line of dialog meant.

[sureshvv]

I have heard that baseball players on a hitting streak refuse to change their socks or insist on wearing the same mismatched socks... Many of them have a certain routine when they get to the plate, sometimes for every pitch. While this may be viewed as stupid superstitious ritual, it points to a certain somber seriousness in the mind of the player which I find admirable. In one of his books, Pirsig traces the etymology of ritual to "rite" and doing the right thing.

[vasanthakokilam]

Forgive me for a little detour, hopefully it is somewhat relevant to this thread as a general observation ( and not pro or con of any specific points raised in this thread ),

I was watching the swearing-in ceremony of the American President today. This is an example of an event with many rituals that date back a couple of centuries. The thing that was interesting to me is that there are bitter fights among the people and the political leaders all the time but such an event brings people of opposing views together for a couple of hours. Not that such events magically solve the problems that are extremely intractable. People hold positions that are polar opposites, but decent people can look beyond all that and reflect on something that is common to all of them. These are such opportunities that are built into the system.

This led me to a thought that people can employ this in their own personal lives. It is not uncommon in families for close relatives to be bitter towards each other ( and sometimes multi generational ). In Tamil the common saying goes 'vIttukku vIDu vAsappaDi' ( every house has steps - that every family has such problems ). It is all quite corrosive and prevent people from being together in the same room let alone enjoy each other's company. Blessed are those who do not have these issues. One technique is to hold an event that celebrates the forefathers that are common to them. Or it can be about the community they belong to or the village they come from. And talk about the trials and tribulations and the successes of those people. Sharing a common past of successes and failures allow them to feel good that they belong to such a great tradition and also commiserate on their common misfortunes of the past. This in a way provides some clarity about their differences. And in some rare cases allow them to think about where the other camp is coming from.

It can not be too abstract otherwise they will relegate it to a rote ceremony. It has to be by name and as close to the present as possible that are common to the feuding parties. For example, for two brothers it can be about their grand father's generation/village/life etc. I think that is one of the benefits we all got by hearing about these family stories from our grand parents that strengthened such bonds. This of course requires a good account of the family's past. That is another reason to keep a good family history. Who knows what kind of use that will come to. On top of all this, the individual personality of a few determine the outcome. That is the role of leadership even in families, just as it is in political leadership.

I know the specifics above are off topic but the remote relevance is the thought that the events like the ones we are discussing here can serve such purposes in the interest of art. Many of these rituals and practices provide for such opportunities for people to look beyond the differences and come together under a unifying theme at least for a limited period of time. As described in other posts about multiple Abhishekams etc, these differences do not go away even when all of them have Thyagaraja as a common theme and in fact such differences get institutionalized and become part of the rituals. But hopefully the net systemic benefits are still worth it.

[ajaysimha]

How did the Pancharatna kritis originate?
V. SRIRAM

Story behind the Five Gems: Did Tyagaraja lay down the Pancharatna kritis arrangement?
Today, no matter where it happens, the Tyagaraja Aradhana is synonymous with the choral singing of the Ghana Raga Pancharatnam — the five songs being ‘Jagadanandakaraka’ (Nata), ‘Dudukugala’ (Gaula), ‘Sadhinchene’ (Arabhi), ‘Kanakanaruchira’ (Varali) and ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu’ (Sri), all in Adi tala. The most famous of the group-singing sessions is the one that takes place at Tiruvaiyyaru during the Aradhana celebrations of the composer.

And yet, given Tyagaraja’s time span (1767-1847) and that of the Aradhana (from the early 20th century), this joint rendition is a relatively recent phenomenon. As per an article in the Adal Padal section of the Ananda Vikatan dated January 30, 1949, it was only in that year that the Aradhana’s organising committee hit upon the idea, as a means of getting all musicians to sing together.

On Aradhana day, Bangalore Nagarathnamma, the woman who had built the samadhi was asked to sing the 108 names of Tyagaraja that she had composed, as verse. This she did even as she performed the Kumbhaharati — the traditional right of the Devadasi. It was followed by Palladam Sanjeeva Rao playing ‘Chetulara’ on the flute. And then the assembled musicians sang the five songs in chorus. Today, Nagarathnamma’s ashtottarashatanamavali on Tyagaraja is forgotten, and the performance begins with the assembled flautists rendering ‘Chetulara,’ following which the Pancharatnam are sung.


Challenging Varali

The week leading to that first choral singing had seen hectic activity. Not all the musicians assembled knew all the songs. The Varali piece in particular posed a challenge given the taboo that existed on learning this raga directly from a guru.

It was Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer who found a way out. He sang the song from the first floor of a building. The assembled musicians sat a level below and followed him line by line, thereby overcoming the bar on learning songs in Varali directly.

This interesting anecdote was related to me by Tiruvaiyaru Chellam Iyer, a veteran of several Aradhanas, and who passed away last year at 100. Even today, while the remaining four are sung with gusto, ‘Kanakanaruchira’ has muted participation.

Were these songs really grouped together by Tyagaraja? It is very difficult to say ‘yes’ with certainty. And what exactly is meant by ‘ghana’ ragas? This term is given various interpretations and today, we follow Prof. Sambamoorthy’s explanation that these are ragas whose “individuality is brought out by playing madhyamakala (medium tempo) or tanam.”

Given the importance of tanam playing especially among vainikas, it is interesting to see that the concept of ghana ragas is more evolved among practitioners of that instrument.

In a later addition to the 17th century Chaturdandi Prakasika of Venkatamakhin, we see, according to Dr Premeela Gurumurthy’s monograph, The Ghana Raga Pancharatnas of Sri Tyagaraja, the first arrangement of eight ghana ragas — Nata, Gowla, Varali, Bowli, Sri, Arabhi, Malavasri and Ritigowla. Later, there is mention of a second set of five — Kedaram, Narayana Gowla, Salanga Nata, Ritigowla and Bowli. That the Tyagaraja school was quite familiar with this concept is buttressed by his disciple Veenai Kuppaiyyar’s varnam ‘Inta Kopa,’ which has pallavi in Nata, the anupallavi in Gowla, muktayi swaras in Arabhi and Varali, and the charanas sequentially in Sri, Narayanagowla, Ritigowla, Natakurinji and Kedaram. It is clear that while some ragas change in the set, the first five are constant.

But were the five songs ever intended to be sung together? They are not thematically united, unlike the ‘Kamalamba Navavaranam’ or even the Kshetra Pancharatnas that Tyagaraja composed at Srirangam, Lalgudi, Tiruvottriyur and Kovur. The songs vary in length and while the Nata piece is in Sanskrit, the rest are in Telugu. The Varali piece was relatively unknown and sung without the swara passages in concerts. In fact it is omitted altogether in Subbarama Dikshitar’s Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini. In subsequent works such as Sangita Sudhambudi (1929), there is mention that the music of many charanas are unavailable.

In terms of structure too, the pieces, all excellent individually, have striking differences. There are also variations in the order of charanams as per some lineages of Tyagaraja’s disciples. The composer’s name appears three times in the Nata song, twice in the Sri piece and once in the others.

Their grouping was perhaps one of convenience. Historically it was the practice among musicians to sing their favourite pieces immediately after the Aradhana. That worked when just a few were present, or when the three factions in charge of the worship followed individual itineraries. Effective 1941, following the unification, this became difficult.

In 1942, we see the announcement that a Pancharatna kriti would be sung after the Aradhana. This was usually done in pairs. By 1949, the numbers necessitated choral singing and these five became the chosen songs. In retrospect, the choice was for the best.