Lukewarm fare
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Review The CD turned into more a make and break exercise in music, than serving its spiritual purpose.
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It is a good attempt to translate the 5000 year old Sanskrit text of Agastya Maharshi -Sri Lalitha Astotthara Sata Namavali (108 names of Divine mother Sri Lalitha) into Telugu verse, to make it more comprehensible for the devotee
s. But then choosing 27 ragas to set these 27 Telugu quatrains (each of four lines in Telugu translation, running into 108 single line sthotras in total) and taking the services of a Carnatic vocalist to render the
m into a CD is simply a mis-adventure in the realm of spirituality.
The Ssthotras are, in fact, a set of great attributes to the Universal Mother who is considered to be the one and only Goddess, who caused the creation of Universe. According to the Hindu scriptures and Devi Bhagavatham, this Mother
also created the Holy Trinity of Gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. The shortened form of these chants, Ashtotthara Sata Namam in Sanskrit is meant for daily prayers, which is read at one stretch. Dr. Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad a wel
l known poet and Avadhani and director, Department of Culture, who takes the credit for this commendable translation, went a step ahead in converting those Telugu quatrains written by him, in a rare meter of verse writing, into song format to rhythm. Rar
e ragas were specially chosen for this purpose. This CD was released last week at Ravindra Bharati at a huge function, held under the auspices of ‘Krishna Patrika’ Durbar.
Converting this Telugu translation into musical form deprives of its sanctity. Instead of a continuous rendition, an orchestral interlude was there providing breathing space (silence) between each of the quatrains in this Telugu rendition. The obviou
s purpose was to introduce a different raga. With the result the Sri Lalita Ashtottahra Satanama Stotram, turned into more a make and break exercise in music, than serving its spiritual purpose. This kind of renditio
n distracts the attention of the ‘listener - devotee’. Of course the vocalist who rendered them is talented D.Vardhani, a product of Viziangaram College of Music.
The work itself is a little more than a translation. Sanskrit original is a sacred text used in the worship of Goddess Lalitha, Universal mother. It is equivalent of a Mantra with Beejaksharas. This is to invoke the Goddess during
worship. The translation surely does not serve this purpose. Nor does it explain the full meaning of a single sacred name of the Goddess. Each one of the names is a definition by itself not just a word or an epithet.
The title Nakshatra Ragamalika itself is a distraction from this original Mantra concept. This can never replace the original Sanskrit text as far as playing that in temples is concerned.
The whole thing appears to be a bit over ambitious. One fears that playing of such a CD may not create a spiritual atmosphere as do the CD of original Sanskrit renditions do like M.S. Subbulakshmi’s Lalitha Sahasranamam, or Venkateswarza Suprabhatham. A Carnatic vocal recital by D. Vardhani followed the function.
G.S.
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