`Rasa' in Trinity's music
T. K. GANAPATHY
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At Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Pongal Festival, Radha Bhaskar explained the features of the Trinity's compositions.
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Radha Bhaskar.
The musical Trinity of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastry shared many common features. They were initiated into divine life by realised souls like Narada, Chidambaranatha Yogi and Sangeetha Swami. All of them were great composers in Tiruvarur and they were adepts in astrology and mantra sastra," said Radha Bhaskar, musicologist, in her lec-dem at the eleventh Pongal music festival at the Coimbatore Kendra of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, attended by a large number of music lovers.
While the musical content of the simple structure of Saint Tyagaraja's compositions was `draaksha rasa' (grape juice), that of Syama Sastri was like `kadalirasa.' One has to peel off the outer rind of the banana to taste the sweetness of the fruit. Likewise, one has to exert to an extent to relish the taste of the songs of Syama Sastri. She compared the compositions of Dikshitar to a tender coconut, which has to be broken before one can drink the sweet water inside.
In praise of deities
Tyagaraja composed 675 songs, whereas Dikshitar and Syama Sastri composed 463 and 70 songs respectively. Though all the three were Tamils, it is the Bard of Tiruvaiyaru who chose to compose his songs in Telugu.
Dikshitar made abundant use of Sanskrit while Syama Sastri was trilingual in his compositions. Unlike the other two, Syama Sastri wrote varnams, swarajatis and geethams. While all the kritis of Tyagaraja are addressed to Lord Rama, Dikshitar sang in praise of several deities. He went on a pilgrimage to all the sacred shrines of India, including the north and one could find the history and colour of the deity also in his compositions.
Bangaru Kamakshi of Thanjavur and Madurai Meenakshi are addressed by Syama Sastri in his songs. The tone is that of a child talking to its mother.
Explaining the spontaneous lyrical output of Saint Tyagaraja, Radha Bhaskar said that the bard's songs in over 200 ragas included some rare ones sucha as Kiranavali, Jayantasri, Bindumalini, Vijayasri, Pratapavarali, Jijahavi, Suposhini and Jayantasri.
Unlike Syama Sastri, Tyagaraja used kriti as a tool and gave structure to the ragas, many of which were scales.
Referring to the subtle difference between a kriti and a kirtana, the speaker said that while kriti was based on aesthetics, kirtana was rooted in bhakti and devotion. Tyagaraja excelled in sangatis.
The youngest of the Trinity, Muthuswami Dikshitar, was a vainika. The impact of Hindustani music was pronounced in his compositions and this explains their grandeur. He was unique in creating two parts — pallavi and samashticharanam — in his songs. He also formulated the madhyamakala sahitya in a faster tempo. Radha Bhaskar illustrated this feature by rendering "Sree Guruguhatharayasumaam" in Devakriya and "Sree Kantimati" (Hemavati) in vilambakalam. Dikshitar used madhyamakala sahitya in the anupallavi and charanam of his compositions and no tune of any part is repeated. It keeps flowing throughout.
Unique compositions
Dikshitar's musical and lyrical output included many samudayakritis and groups of songs such as Panchalingasthala kritis, navagraha kritis, Kamalamba navavarnams and Sodasha Ganapathi kritis. He was unique in Sanskrit sahitya compositions based on western melodies. His composition, "Sakti Sakita Ganapathim" in which he made use of SB scale with western mettu in Sanskrit sahitya is well known.
Syama Sastri, the eldest of the Trinity, composed swarajatis, varnams and geethams. He was unique in handling intricate time measure as well as common and rare ragas. He gave a definite structure to Anandabhairavi through his songs and he made abundant use of viloma chapu talam.
Radha Bhaskar was assisted by Guruvayurappan on the violin and Radhakrishnan on the mridangam.
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