Influenced by the Maratha kings
RANJANI GOVIND
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Lec-dem Ravikiran's session on Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi, for Chennai Fine Arts, included expert vocal demonstration.
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Said Chitraveena Ravikiran: "There cannot be any Kuchipudi or Bharatanatyam dancer who does not know Oothukkadu Venkatasubbayyar's "Alaipayude'' in Kanada or "Thaye Yashoda'' in Todi, given the stimulating lyrics that lend themselves to bhava or the rhythmic gait that offered madyamakala beats for jatis."
Ravikiran, who has researched on the work of the Kavi, spoke with vocal demonstrations at a lec-dem session organised by Chennai Fine Arts recently.
"Oothukkadu Venkatakavi's musicianship is also evident from the fact that he was the first to attempt a Kamakhshi Navavarnam on the Goddess of Kanchipuram employing some rakti ragas as Shanmukhapriya, Kalyani, Anandabhairavi or the rare Balahamsa and Desakhshi," said Ravikiran.
The poet's repertoire
The Kavi's repertoire includes kritis jathis, tillanas, laalis slokas and virutams. He was a lyrical vidwat who had a mixture of both colloquial Tamil and simple personalised Sanskrit in Sambhodana style to convey his thoughts, said the Chitraveena exponent. Several of Venkatakavi's work had mythical, religious and historical references, said Ravikiran.
Oothukkadu is 15 km. south of Kumbakonam and is known for its legendary Bhagavata Mela, apart from the swayambu vigraham of Kalinga Nartana where the saint composed and sang in front of the Lord. Venkatakavi was a loner and did not want to be in the limelight. Gati Bhedham was Kavi's forte, we were told. `Shankari Srirajarajeshwari,' one of Oothukkadu's navavarna kritis has alternating chatushram and tisra gatis. The vaggeyakara in him also reflected in the `Sahitya-Sangati' that he employed where the tune is constant with sahitya change as in Tyagayya's "Brochevarevare'' in Sriranjani, said Ravikiran.
The Kavi's laya gnanam saw rare dimensions as non-even metres were employed in Khanda-Triputa, Khanda Druva, and Sankeerna-Matya, said Ravi. We have about 300 kritis of the poet, out of some thousands. He lived in the early 17th Century and was influenced by the Maratha Kings, patron of arts and culture.
Chennai Fine Arts had prime evening time allotted for lec-dems in their annual festival. Their thematic series this year was dedicated to Devotional Composers. Prof. V. V. Srivatsa spoke on Purandaradasa, Dr. T. N. Ramachandran on Syama Shastri, and B. M. Sundaram on Swati Tirunal and Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna's compositions. The lec-dems were followed by discussions and concerts that focussed on the same composers and demonstrated by experts.
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