The brilliant touch of Tyagaraja
LAKSHMI DEVANTH
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Though he was not a pioneer Tyagaraja made his musical plays special.
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`PRAHLADA BHAKTI VIJAYAM': The bard identified Hari with Rama.
Two operas of Tyagaraja "Geya Nataka Margadarsi" — "Trailblazer of Musical Drama" was how yesteryear musicologist Prof. P. Sambamoorthy admiringly described Tyagaraja after perusing his musical plays — ``Nowka Charitram" and ``Prahlada Bhakta Vijayam" also known as Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam. However, Tyagaraja was not a pioneer of this art form but then neither was Sambamoorthy wrong. Such were the brilliant touches that Tyagaraja infused into his musical plays that they emerged with never before seen dimensions.
The Cauvery belt under the patronage of the Nayak and the Maratha rulers literally reverberated with the cadence of music and the lilt of dance. Musical plays were being created in abundance. In fact, as early as the 12th century, in another part of the country, Gita Govinda of Jayadeva had set the trend for such ventures. It was against this backdrop that Tyagaraja appeared. This loyal Rama bhakta, when he decided to try his hand at operatic compositions dedicated one to Krishna and the other to the sterling devotee Prahlada. Yet another musical play that he is reputed to have composed, ``Sitarama Vijayamu" is not available.
Special mention
The Walajapet manuscript, `Sri Tyagarajaswami Charitram' makes a special mention about the time and occasion of the composition of the Nowka Charitram and Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam. It says that a young boy with a flute appeared before Tyagaraja after the composer had performed his daughter's marriage and requested that the bard compose songs on him. Thus emerged the Nowka Charitam or Boat Story and the very next day was created the Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam or the victory of Prahlada's devotion. These plays are a blend of musical excellence and literary worth. Conversations employ both direct and indirect speech. The composer's mudra (signature) figures in every song and one finds a repetition of ragas not uncommon in such compositional forms.
The Nowka Charitram is a one-act musical play. Except for a few colloquial touches the verses are in fine literary Telugu. The play is textured by a combination of verse (padyas), prose (vachanas) and song (darus). The theme is the `Garvabhanga of the Gopis' or quelling of the gopis' pride. The predominant emotion is Sringara (love) that Tyagaraja has deftly handled. The core message is Saranagati.
The storyline of Nowka Charitram has no basis in the Bhagavatam. Scholars in an attempt to find the source of inspiration for this unusual and uncharacteristic creation of Tyagaraja have put forward various views on possible source materials. They range from the composer's own imagination to North Indian Schools of Vaishnavism to Bengal literature and paintings as also to Marathi literature that use the `boat motif.' The entire opera is in Telugu barring the benediction (phalasruti) at the end, which is in Sanskrit.
Versatile
The variety of metres handled by Tyagaraja showcases his versatility in handling literary forms. The 51 vachanas function as admirable link passages between the two.
In true Yakshagana style the opening and mangalam are in the same raga, in this case Suratti.
In many respects, as a contrast to ``Nowka Charitram" comes Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam. In five acts comprising forty-five songs in 28 ragas, the musical play is indeed a treat to the ears and contains the potential of being staged as a delightful play.
Differing in another way from Nowka Charitram is the presence of a sutradhara (director) in the PBV. Other than adopting the same raga, in this instance Saurashtram, for his opening and closing pieces, the influence of Yakshagana is apparent through other devices he has adopted.
"Sri Janaki Manohara" — Tyagaraja opens his play with a prayer to his favourite God. The surprise element surfaces in Act 2. Its first song, ``Vandanamu Raghunandana" (Sahana), sung by Prahlada, has Tyagaraja identifying Hari with Rama. Tyagaraja does not seem to be unduly bothered that Rama is a later avatara to Narasimha and viewed either historically or from the angle of mythology, did not exist during Prahlada's time. In fact, throughout the play there is no mention of Narasimha the saviour deity of Prahlada.
Some popular compositions
Unlike those of the Nowka Charitram, the songs from PBV are popular on the concert platform. Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer once observed that Carnatic musicians were rendering its kritis without knowing that they were from PBV.
The play opens with the famous kriti, ``Sri Ganapatini" in Saurashtram. The Dwarapalaka enters the stage singing the now familiar Kalyani kriti, `Vasudevayani.'
Narada's visit to Prahlada has the composer creating "Naradamuni Vedalina" in Pantuvarali.
The opening song of the third act is "Ennaga Manasukurani" where Prahlada moans "of what use are these eyes that cannot see Hari?" The same mood is portrayed in the Varali song, "Eti Janmamidi." When Hari gives his darshan, Prahlada wonders about his good fortune in the Bhairavi kriti, "Enati nomu Palamo?" The penultimate piece of the fourth act is the song "Anandamananda." in Bhairavi. This is today invariably played on the nagaswaram after the wedding muhurtam. In the fifth act Prahlada invites Hari to his house with the song, "Ra Rama, inti daka."
The play concludes with the famous mangalam in Saurashtram, "Ni nama rupamulaku."
Among the trinity, it is only Tyagaraja who has composed musical plays.
He is also the first to have composed a mangalam in Saurashtram. Rare ragas like Nagagandhari and Parazu, homely proverbs, thought-provoking similes, references to flora... the two operas reveal a mastermind at work. But these constitute just a fraction of his work.
Such has been his immense contribution to the world of music that after his departure in 1847, the history of South Indian Classical Music simply got divided into three sections — pre-Tyagaraja, Tyagaraja, and post-Tyagaraja.
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