Trend in usage of ragas
RAGAS WHICH EMERGED DURING THE POST-TRINITY PERIOD AND THEIR LAKSHANA: M.B.Vedavalli; The Karnatic Music Book Centre, 23-A, Sripuram I Street, Royapettah, Chennai-600014. Rs. 500.
Lalithaa Krishnan
What images are conjured up by lyrical names such as Amarasenapriya, Chakrapradipta and Divyamalathi? Most likely, those of princesses of yore. Actually, they happen to be the names of ragas. Scrolling through musical history with the searchlight trained on the usage of ragas during the age of the Musical Trinity (mid-18th to mid-19th century A.D.) and after, a trend is seen to emerge. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s compositions are said to encompass the 72 melakartas with their designated names in Venkatamakhi’s Asampoorna Mela Paddathi, for instance, Phenadyuti (Ratnangi) and Chamaram (Shanmukhapriya). His penchant for Hindustani ragas and the vilambit gait inspired inimitable masterpieces in Brindavanasaranga and Hamir among others.
Tyagaraja’s prolific oeuvres include rare gems set in hitherto largely unexplored ragas such as esoteric Rasali and Ranjani, while Syama Shastri unveiled the beauty both overt and hidden in recurring favourites including Todi, Kalyani and Anandabhairavi. Thus, the focus was on strengthening the preserve of weighty ragas with the Trinity adding numerous significant pieces to the composition bank. Simultaneously, they set the ball rolling for the exploration of uncommon ragas. Swati Thirunal’s (1813-46) pioneering spirit led him to seamlessly adapt a slew of Hindustani ragas to the Carnatic idiom in a wide spectrum of compositional forms. Consequently Bagesri, Dhanasri and Behag comfortably rubbed shoulders with home-grown bounty in ghana ragas and rakthi ragas.
Post-Trinity
The author emphasises that however clearly the details of swaroopa and arohana-avarohana are specified in theory texts, intellect and emotion must coalesce to give life to a raga in concrete form, the composer being the creator and the composition being the ideal medium. Where a storehouse of compositions illuminating swaroopa exists, it serves as a reference point, inspiring the musician to explore the raga further in manodharma and kalpita forms. Post-Trinity composers therefore faced a challenge in structuring a composition in a raga not previously handled by their predecessors.
Creativity had to go hand in hand with extraordinary insight and judgement, with lakshya tempered by lakshana to paint an accurate picture. With few guidelines and no known precedents to light up their path, they fashioned defining oeuvres that gained widespread acceptance, testifying to their high calibre. Such vaggeyakkaras include Mysore Sadasiva Rao, Pallavi Seshayyar, Patnam Subramania Iyer and Muthiah Bhagavathar as well as contemporary composers like M.Balamuralikrishna and Lalgudi G.Jayaraman.
In compiling the ragas that emerged in the post-Trinity period along with their historical significance, lakshana and sancharas, the author presents a work that holds material to inspire present day artistes to explore them further.
Snippets
Interesting snippets draw attention. For example, there is just one known kriti in ragas like Abhiramam, janya of mela 49, Dhavalambari (Abraham Pandithar’s kriti). In recent times, M. Balamuralikrishna has been credited with the creation of the raga Lavangi (janya of first mela, Kanakangi) and a kriti in the same. The author has won recognition for distinguished service in the field of music education. The enclosed CD featuring the ragas discussed is an apt accompaniment to the book.
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