Great parampara, gifted composers
KRIPA SUBRAHMANIAM
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LECDEM Information-packed papers on the Dikshitar lineage, Swati Tirunal and Mahavaidyanatha Sivan were presented at the Music Academy.
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Photos: K.N. Muralidharan.
Vedavalli
Vidushi Vedavalli's lec-dem was based on the Dikshita Parampara, the lineage of Muthuswami Dikshitar. The life history of this illustrious Parampara can be learnt from Subbarama Dikshitar's magnum opus, Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini.
Ramaswami Dikshitar has composed Darus, Chauka varnams, Swarasthana varnams, kritis, and ragamalika with his command of Telugu and Sanskrit and a sound knowledge of music. Ramaswami Dikshitar's guru was Thanjavur Veerabhadraiyya and he learnt veena from Venkata Vaidhyanatha Dikshitar.
Manali Muthukrishna Mudaliar, a patron of arts, made a significant impact on the entire Dikshitar family. Sriranjani ragam was taken up for a demonstration of Chauka varnam. It is unique because the second swaram in the charanam was composed by Syama Sastri, third by Chinnaswami Dikshitar and the fourth by Muthuswami Dikshitar. A swarasthana padam in the raga Thodi was demonstrated.
The genius of Ramaswami Dikshitar is seen where the sahitya is full of swarakshara. Special mention was made of the daru. Vedavalli said it was like Vikatakavi, which reads the same both ways like a palindrome. The grand raga Hamsadhwani was his creation.
T.N.Krishnan
The third son of Ramaswami Dikshitar was Baluswami, a versalite genius, who introduced western violin to the Carnatic music system. He could play the veena, swarabhat, violin, sitar, and mridangam. He was a brilliant composer and a musicologist. Baluswami Dikshitar composed a brilliant chittaswaram for the kriti `Gajavadana' in Thodi composed by Kumara Ettendra, which showed the myriad shades of the Thodi gandhara and Vedavalli demonstrated this.
The second son of Ramaswami Dikshitar, Chinnaswami Dikshitar, was a brilliant composer and the first line in his Thodi composition, `Ganalola Karuna' was often taken for a pallavi exposition. Vedavalli demonstrated the song as well the pallavi.
Subbarama Dikshitar, the grandson of Baluswami Dikshitar, at the age of 17, became a vaggeyakara of great merit.
He was taught veena, vocal, Telugu, and Sanskrit. His beautiful Surutti varnam, Parthasarathi (Yadukula Khambodi), a jatiswara in Yamunakalyani were taken up for demonstration.
B. Krishnamurthy
Taking up Muthuswami Dikshitar, Vedavalli dwelled on the kriti, "Thyagaraja Mahadhwajaroha" in raga Sri. Ramaswami Dikshitar was instrumental in organising and deciding the music and dance for the temple and the ragas to be played in nagaswaram for particular occasions in the temple.
The Sri raga kriti describes Vasanthotsava, the famous Thiruvarur temple car, the vahanas, the utsava murthi etc. Muthuswami Dikshitar makes special mention of the term nagaswaram, not nadaswaram as it is mentioned these days. His mudra was "Guruguha."
Vedavalli's disciples — R.Abhiramasundari, V.Sumithra, and Sumathi Krishnan — sang the difficult pieces and brought forth their beauty.
T.N.Seshagopalan commended Vedavalli's erudite presentation. He said Vedavalli's lec-dem was like veda pramanam. He said all the composers lived in Tamil Nadu but wrote songs in Telugu and Sanskrit. He emphasised that Veda Adhyayanam helped them to be great vaggeyakaras. Dikshitar's kritis are so rich in raga bhava that they can be taken as the base for raga delineation. Our ragas can be shown by singing a single swara with oscillation. He said the vainikas have an edge over vocalists since the placement of the swaras can be perfectly assessed in veena and played as well. He mentioned that we have in our midst, many composers and he rightly pointed out that compositions that stand the test of time are the true validations of the term vaggeyakara.
Enormous contribution
Violin maestro T.N.Krishnan dealt with the greatness of composer Swati Tirunal, who made an enormous contribution in his brief span of life. He is the author of varnams, kritis, ragamalika, Khyal, Thumri, and operas like `Kuchelopakhyanam' and `Ajamilopakhyanam,' and these works project his mastery over lakshana and lakshaya. All his kritis are totally bhakti oriented the mudhra being Padmanabha, Pankajanabha, and Sarasijanabha.
Krishnan mentioned that one can perform a whole concert with Swati kritis and added that Swati Tirunal's festivals are conducted all over the world these days.
Krishnan with Mannargdui Easwaran on the mridangam demonstrated Swati kirtanas to the delight of the rasikas.
In his comments, Seshagopalan said Swati Tirunal was a Kavya Chironmani who dealt with both Siva and Vishnu without "bheda" in his compositions. Seshagopalan referred to T.N.Krishnan as having three "Ts" in his armour, the 3 Ts being timbre, tone, and tune and he excelled in all three categories. VidwanB.Krishnamurthy threw light on the works of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. He was accompanied on the violin by Hemamalini and on the mridangam by Madipakkam Suresh. He was given vocal support by Shoba and Sharada.
Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer used to observe that the music of Maha Vaidhyantha Sivan and the sahitya of Ramaswami Sivan achieved a perfect blend. The title Maha was given to Sivan by Kallidaikurichi Pandarasannadhi Subramanya Desikar. Maha Vaidhyanatha Sivan had tristhayi sareeram. He learnt initially from Aanaiyya and came under the tutelage of Manambuchhavadi Venkata Subbaiyer. He was versatile in Telugu, Sanskrit, and Tamil. He was also proficient in Katha Kalakshepam. He travelled widely visiting Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Ettayapuram, Thiruvavaduthurai, and Sringeri. Maha Vaidhyanatha Sivan has composed 72 Mela Ragamalika. The opening lines were on the Lord of Tiruvaiyaru, Pranathartihara Swami.
Sri Ramaswami Sivan has composed kirtanas on Periya Puranam and both the brothers sang together. There are many varnams, kritis, and tillanas to Vaidhyanatha Sivan's credit. He had many sishyas among whom were Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer, Palakkad Anantharama Bhagavathar, Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar, and M.S.Sabesa Iyer.
Krishnamurthy sang the Khambodi piece starting with Pankajakshi. He proceeded to sing Mahaganapathi in Hamsadhwani raga. The highlight of the programme was a tillana in Simhanandana talam, which consists of 128 aksharams.
T.V.Gopalakrishnan, B.Rajam Iyer, and Vellore Ramabadran complimented B.Krishnamurthy for his eloquent presentation. Seshagopalan reminded the gathering about Krishnamurthy's guru, Mudikondan Venkatarama Iyer, who was a past master in executing this talam. He said though laya was present in Sukshma form, the talam has to be executed correctly by the performers. He said in those days mike was not available and Sivan could render in four-and-a-half kattai and his mesmerised everybody.
Vaidhyanatha Sivan was a great hero for Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar. Seshagopalan commended Krishnamurthy on his lecture demonstration, with special reference to his demonstration of the Simhanandana tillana.
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