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Thyagaraja Aradhana: March 17, 2012
Thyagaraja Aradhana: March 17, 2012
Table of Contents
Welcome Note ......................................................................................... 3
Todays Program ...................................................................................... 4
Sruti Board of Directors 2012 ................................................................... 4
Spiritual Journey of Sri Thyagaraja - Shivram Viswanathan ................ 5
bhaktuDu - muktuDu - Prabhakar Chitrapu .......................................... 7
The Spirit of Thyagaraja Aradhana - Priyanka Dinakar ...................... 12
Blog Impressions - Harish Bevinahally ................................................. 13
Common Courtesy at Concerts - Rasikan ........................................... 15
Where was Thyagaraja born? - Prabhakar Chitrapu ............................ 17
Tyagarajas Confessional Songs as Epitomes of Repentance
Dr. William Jackson...........................................18
All About Carnatic Jumble - Kirena Manivannan ............................... 22
Carnatic Crossword - Anshul Ramanathan & Aditya Peri ................ 23
The Indian Arts in America - Veena Kanumalla ................................. 24
Solutions to Crossword and Jumble...................................................... 26
Sruti 2012 Calendar of Events................................................ Back Cover
*Please accept our apologies for any errors or omissions you may find.
Program
March 17, 2012
08:00 AM - Pooja
08:15 AM - Utsava Sampradaya & Pancharatna Kritis
10:45 AM - Individual Participation
12:45 PM - Lunch (Included as part of entrance donation)
01:30 PM - Vocal Concert by Shri Ashvin Bhogendra
Violin:
Shri L. Ramakrishnan
Mridangam:
Shri Akshay Anantapadmanabhan
04:00 PM - Individual Participation (Continued)
07:00 PM - Dinner (Available for purchase from Temple Kitchen)
Raji Venkatesan
Ravi Pillutla
Venkat Kilambi
Bhuvana Srinivasan
Ramana Kanumalla
Lakshmi Radhakrishnan
Nari Narayanan
Uma Sivakumar
Sundar Arunapuram
~4~
http://www.sruti.org/sruti/inc-newsAmazon.asp
~6~
bhaktuDu muktuDu
Prabhakar Chitrapu
TransliterationTelugu
(Transliteration as per Modified Harvard-Kyoto (HK) Convention)
(including Telugu letters Short e, Short o) a A (aa) i I(ii) u U (uu)
R RR lR lRR
e E ai o O au M (H or :)
(e short | E Long | o short | O Long)
k kh g gh n/G
c ch j jh n/J (jn as in jnAna)
T Th D Dh N
t th d dh n
p ph b bh m
yrlLv
S sh s h
Transliterated text is italicized.
Krishna Sastry garu was an aging music teacher. His students dwindled to a handful in numbers during recent years, as his energy and
voice decayed, though not his enthusiasm. Sansaya was one his former students, who now has a comfortable IT job, but visited his former
teacher on occasion.
An occasion indeed it was that Saturday, as the famous MS Venkateswarlu garu, fondly referred to as MSV, was giving a Carnatic vocal concert at the vara vINa - gAna mandiram in the western part of the town.
It was the home town of MSV garu and his performing there was special to all music lovers in town as well as to MSV garu himself.
Sansaya picked up his guruvu garu in his new Hyundai car and drove
carefully to the concert hall, dodging the people, vehicles and occasional animals on the road.
MSV garu was of a huge build. Seated on the stage in simple cotton
garments, he seemed like a small mountain. As he began to sing, with
his eyes closed most of the time, music flew like a river his AlApana
gently like the river in the plains and his kalpana swaras rushing like
impatient waters on rocks and in steep falls. As his audience listened
with rapt attention, the meaning and the feeling of the song ebbed and
fell in their hearts like youthful passion.
~7~
~9~
He got up, walked over to the bedroom and returned with a blanket as
the night began to nip. Pregnant silence ruled for a while. The only
thing one heard was ones own breathing and ringing in ones ears. It
seemed rude to speak and break that pristine state of stillness.
OK. Let me finish the rest of the kriti. Thyagaraja composed 3 beautiful charanams for this song. They are lovely ideas of how a true bhatka
is supposed to be or naturally is according to Thyagaraja.
japa tapamula tA jEsitinana rAdu: He should not say that I did all these
japas and tapas
adigAka mari: And still
kapaTAtmuDu manamai palka rAdu: He should not speak with a heart
of deceipt
upama tanaku lEka yuNDavalenani, Ura Ura tirugaga rAdu: He should
not go place to place, desiring that no one equal him,
capala cittuDai, Alu sutulapai sAreku bhrama kArAdanE: He should not
be fickle minded and deveop false beliefs in familial bonds,
hari bhaktuni
See how Thyagaraja uses the phrase adigAka mari such a mundane phrase that no one could imagine using it in musical setting into
a magnificent musical structure!
The next charanam is:
bhava vibhavamu nijamani yencaga rAdu: He should not treat worldly
grandiose as being real,
adigAka mari: And still,
Siva mAdhava bhEdamu jEyaga rAdu: He should not develop distinctions between Siva and Vishnu,
bhuvanamandu tAnE yOgyuDanani bonki poTTa sAkaga rAdu: He
should not achieve a livelihood by deceiving others by saying that he is
deserving,
pavanAtmaja dhRtamau sItA pati pAdamulanu yEmara rAdanu: He
should not let go of the feet of Sri Rama, steadfastly held by AnjanEya,
hari (bhaktuni).
~ 10 ~
Finally, Thyagaraja concludes like this in the third and last charanam:
rajasa tAmasa guNamulu kArAdu: He should not develop rAjasa and
tAmasa qualities,
adigAkanu: further still
avyAjamunanu rA lEdanakArAdu: He should not worry that luck did
not favor him,
rAja yOga mArgamu nI cittamu rA jUcuTa viDavaga rAdu: He should
not stop trying to get his mind on rajayOga path,
rAja SikhA maNi aina tyAgarAja sakhuni marava rAdanE: He should
not forget the jewel among kings, Thyagarajas friend, Sri Rama,
hari bhaktuni
See how Thyagaraja views a true bhakta to be! Although there are a
couple of references to traditional devotion to God, most of the qualities Thyagaraja describes are those of an even-minded, impartial,
dispassionate, tranquil, spiritual person, seeking to find truth of oneself and who is trying hard to not get caught in the dualities.
In fact, it reminds me of the Gita sloka, in which Arjuna asks Krishna
sthita-prajnasya kaa bhaashaa, samaadhi-sthasya kESava; sthitadhiih kim prabhaashEta, kim asiita vrajEta kim? - How is the language of one whose intelligence is firmly fixed and one who is in the
state of Transcendence? How does one whose wisdom is firmly fixed
speak, sit and walk?. If I recollect correctly, it is the 54 th sloka in the
second chapter.
Krishna replies in the next sloka, prajahAti yadA kAmAn, sarvAn pArtha manO gatAn; AtmanyEvAtmanA tushta: sthita-prajnas tadOcyatE (meaning O pArthA, when a man gives up all varieties of sense
desire which arise from mental processes, and when his mind finds
satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be of unwavering wisdom), where Krishna extols the qualities of one of fixed mind or is
unwavering mind.
Sansaya was fascinated. You know, guruvu garu? From the way you
explained it, Thyagaraja should probably have composed the pallavi
as prajnuni cAritramu vinavE, manasA, sthitha (prajnuni)! Or even
better, muktuni cAritramu vinavE, manasA, jIvan (muktuni) it even
keeps the original rhythm -J. What do you think, mAshTAru?
Sansaya seemed cheekily pleased with himself.
~ 11 ~
Blog Impressions
http://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.com
Harish Bevinahally
Sri V. Govindan of Chennai has done a great service to Carnatic music lovers through his blog. This is a content-rich, interactive resource
dedicated to saint Thyagaraja's works. It is simple, well organized,
and offers lyrics in several languages including English, Devanagari,
Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam . For each Kriti in the blog,
Sri Govindan has provided a gist as well as full translation. I like the
word-by-word translation, which brings out the linguistic richness of
the kritis, and can serve as a great teaching aid.
For example, Thyagaraja sings the importance of devotion in
"sangeeta jAnamu bhakti vinA":
pallavi
sangIta jnAnamu bhakti vinA
san-mArgamu kaladE manasA
O My Mind (manasA)! Mere knowledge (jAnamu) of music (sangIta)
bereft of (vinA) devotion (bhakti) will not lead (kaladE) to the right path
(of God realization) (san-mArgamu).
~ 13 ~
anupallavi
bhRngi naTESa samIraja ghaTaja
matanga nArada-Adulu-upAsincE (sangIta)
O My Mind! Mere knowledge of music
worshipped (upAsincE) by bhRngi (a devotee of Siva), Lord naTarAja
- Lord (ISa) of Dance (naTa) (naTESa), AnjanEya son of Wind God
(samIraja), sage agastya born of pitcher (ghaTaja), matanga, nArada and others (Adulu) (nAradAdulupAsincE),
bereft of bhakti will not lead to the right path (of God realization).
caraNam
nyAya-anyAyamu telusunu jagamulu
mAyAmayamu-ani telusunu durguNa
kAyaja-Adi shaD-ripula jayincu
kAryamu telusunu tyAgarAjuniki (sangIta)
Knowledge of music together with bhakti will lead to the right path of
(God realization) through which what is right (nyAya) and what is not
(right) (anyAyamu) (nyAyAnyAyamu) can be known (telusunu);
the truth that (ani) this universe (jagamulu) is of the nature (mayamu)
of illusion (mAyA) (mAyAmayamani) can be known (telusunu);
the method (kAryamu) of gaining victory (jayincu) over evil-some
(durguNa) six (shaD) (internal) enemies (ripula) - kAma (kAyaja) etc.
(Adi) (kAyajAdi) (kAma, krOdha, lObha, mOha, mada and mAtsarya)
can be known (telusunu);
O My Mind! To this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuniki) mere knowledge of music bereft of bhakti will not lead to the right path (of God realization).
Sri Govindan has provided alternative interpretations of lyrics where
literal translation may often miss the true intent of the saint. Also
posted on the blog are variations in practice, and appropriate usage. I
found search feature on the blog a bit tricky, but works reasonably
well.
As a personal journal on the Worldwide Web, this blog contains posts,
making it interactive and interesting. You can read posts from others,
post your questions for Sri Govindan, or connect with other Carnatic
music enthusiasts. Sri Govindan is passionate about music, loves to
write, and has done a great deal of research to compile this blog for
the public to enjoy the great works of saint Thyagaraja.
Happy Blogging.
~ 14 ~
~ 16 ~
~ 17 ~
Faced with such clear evidence to claim that tiruvayyAr is the right
answer, why does most literature claim the other thesis?
There is probably a good amount of supporting data for it. It would be
good to collect such evidence for the claim that tiruvaArUr is the
Saints birthplace!
[1] Thyagaraju - Rama darSanamu
by bhAshApravINa Dr. mulukuTla brahmAnanda SAstri, published
by nAgArjuna Printing & Binding Works, tenAli, AP, India in 1987.
~ 21 ~
Clues:
1. The five gems of Thyagaraja
2. Birth place of Thyagaraja
3. Ragam of the Jagadanandakaraka
4. Expression associated with a song
5. Part before Charanam in a song
6. Style of singing where the notes align with letters within
the lyrics
7. A person who composes Music and Lyrics
8. Homage to Thyagaraja
9. Concluding part of a concert
Master Clue:
~ 22 ~
Carnatic Crossword
Anshul Ramanathan & Aditya Peri
Across
2 Nadai with 4 maatras per beat
5 The Eldest of the Trinity of
Carnatic music (2 Words)
6 Name of the Fourth Chakra
8 Ragas containing all seven
swaras
11 Janya Raga with Anya (Foreign)
Swaras
12 Concluding part of a Kriti
13 Extended Solo played by the
percussionists in a concert
(2 words)
14 Melodic improvisation of a raga
Down
1 29th Melakartha Raga
3 Composer of
Pancharatna Krithis
4 Tyagaraja's birth place
7 Number of Aksharas for
Sankeerna Jathi Dhuruva
Talam (2 words)
9 Garland of Ragas
10 Hindustani Equivalent of
Mohanam
~ 23 ~
~ 25 ~
Answers to Crossword
Answers to Jumble
1. Pancharatnam
2. Tiruvarur
3. Nattai
4. Bhava
5. Anupallavi
6. Swaraksharam
7. Vaggeyakara
8. Aradhana
9. Mangalam
Master: RAGAM THANAM PALLAVI
~ 26 ~
[email protected]
~ 27 ~