Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Thiruppugazh collection

Many great savants have extolled the glory of God in their devotional hymns, and saint Arunagirinathar was one of those whose soulful outpourings reflected the acme of Bhakti. It is believed that at a certain point of time, when he contemplated suicide in a fit of depression, Lord Subrahmanya appeared before him and with his `Vel' inscribed the words "Om Saravanabhava" on his tongue.

It was at that moment Arunagirinathar burst into song and composed almost 16,000 compositions of which only 1,300 have survived.

Aesthetic and devotional

Arunagirinathar lived in the 15th century. He visited many shrines in India and Sri Lanka, singing in praise of Muruga in his Tiruppugazh poems. Sudha Raghunathan has rendered the verses with a singular spark of aesthetic, musical and devotional fulfilment. The songs, 21 in number, cover a wide range of temples including Thirupparankunram, Thiruchendur, Thiruthani, Thiruvannamalai, Thirukkalathi and Pazhani. Hamsadhvani, Nattai, Shanmukhapriya, Kharaharapriya, Atana, Mohanam, Kapi, Asaveri, Suddhasaveri, Hemavathi, Sama, Vasantha, a folk tune, Poorvikalyani Sankarabharanam with a band like musical orchestration, and finally a Vazhthu in Surati have been chosen to tunefully attire the lyrics. Embar Kannan, violinist, is credited with the orchestration and Neyveli Skanda Subramaniam, mridangam vidwan, with the compilation of the Thiruppugazh verses. This devotional album of Sudha's deserves a special niche in the connoisseur's collection. R. Raman is the morsing artiste, who adds colour to the percussion wheel.

S.P.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail