shrI mAtR bhUtam-kannaDa

I have had a mixed last two weeks with some ups and downs. My dear friend Shreekrishna is in Bangalore and we met quite a few times in the last 3 weeks. A few days back, we had this great opportunity to meet, perhaps the greatest carnatic music rasika ever, Mr. B.V.S.Mani sir. He has been attending the december music season in chennai for the past 58 straight years and was given a "rAkshasa rasika" award. Though he has not learnt music formally, he has listened to so much music that he lives, breathes and sleeps music. He sings brilliantly (including a lot of 3rd speed GNB sangathis), plays veena with his mouth (phrases just like S.Balachandar) and even gets ghumkis and chApu's perfect when he plays mridangam with his mouth. An amazing man who will perhaps remain a role model for me till I die. He ofcourse has a huge collection of audio tapes and SK and I had the privelege of listening to such rich music that we will never forget those hours we spent with him. A big, big >--<-o @ mani mama.

I have not been sleeping well for 3 days now after listening to Shri Ramnad Krishnan's music. His bEgaDa, malayamArutham, mukhAri, sahAna etc have been ringing in my ears continuously and I have slept only 4 hours or so in the last 3 days. Tears run down my cheek when I realize how under-rated he has been. I know I am setting fire to a hornet's nest, but just like many other greats such as MDR and Tanjore S.Kalyanaraman sir, Ramnad was not even given a Sangeetha kalanidhi. How cruel..yet another victim of nasty politics :(. Anyway, his brilliance will shine forever. His music has completely captivated me and as many say, he is a true musician's musician.

Coming to the krithi I am taking up today, shrI mAtR bhUtam holds a special place in my heart, probably because I did my B.Tech at Trichy where this krithi was composed by dIkshitar at the famous rock fort temple. Trichy has some wonderful temples nearby like tiruvAnaikkAval, Srirangam etc. The rockfort is perhaps the flagbearer of this city. In the olden days, Trichy was called Trisirapuram because an asura by the name trisiran worshipped Lord Shiva here. Ofcourse, the other version is that there are 3 peaks on the rockfort hill occupied by Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvathi and the famous Uchchi pillayar. Because of this, rockfort is also called tri-shira-giri.dIkshitar beautifully incorporates many facts and stories about this temple. In the pallavi itself he brings out the location by addressing the Lord as tri-shira-giri-nAtha.

The Lord Himself gets His name as mAtR bhUtESwarar because he is known to have appeared as a mother. A devotee of Lord Shiva belonged to the Chettiar caste and she used to cross the Kaveri river everday and come to worship Lord Shiva at this temple. She continued to do so even when she became pregnant and on one such visit, the kaveri was flooded and she was not able to cross back over to her village after darshan. She suddenly developed labour pain and Lord Shiva Himself came in the disguise of that devotee's mother and helped her in delivery. Since Lord Shiva took this motherly form, He is known as mAtR bhUtESwarar here and in tamizh, He is referred to as thAyum-Anavar (translates as "One who is also a mother"). dIkshitar summarizes this whole episode in just one word in the caraNam when he describes the Lord as "vaiSya jAti strI vESa dharaNam" (the one who came in the disguise of a vaiSya woman). Anyway, moving on to the krithi now,

Pallavi:

SrI mAtR bhUtaM tri-Sira giri nAthaM hRdi cintayE
sugandhi kuntaLAmbA samEtam

Meaning:

dIkshitar straight away advices "to meditate in one's heart ("hRdi cintayE") on Lord mAtRbhUtESwara, the Lord of tri-Sira giri and the one who is in the company of ("samEtam") Goddess kuntaLAmbA, the one who has a naturally fragrant ("sugandhi") hair ("kuntaLa")."

In the pallavi itself, dIkshitar effectively brings the whole sannidhi and the temple in front of your eyes by describing Him as the Lord of Trisiragiri, the three peaked hill and bringing His consort, KuntaLAmba into the picture. The amsha of pArvati here is always described as one whose hair has a natural fragrance. The locals call Her as "maTTuvAr kuzhali" which compares Her locks of hair to the drops of honey which bring fragrance to flowers. Yet another interesting observation I have made is the similarity in structure between the pallavi of this krithi and the pallavi of the beautiful krithi in raga kuntaLam composed aptly on Goddess kuntaLAmba which starts as "shrI sugandhi kuntaLAmbikE" and proceeds along similar lines as "hRdi cintayE". But the similarity ends there :).

Musically, the serene gAndAram is once again used by dIkshitar to mark the beginning of the krithi. With phrases such as "GMDp" and "gmrs" at "shrI mAtRbhutam" and "dnsdsp" at "kuntaLAmba", he spreads the canvas for a beautiful picture to unfold upon, not to mention the thatu and take-off of miSra cApu which he has employed so well throughout the entire song. Moving on to the anupallavi,

anupallavi

sOma sakhaM nata Suka sanakaM
naLa kAmAdi vijaya kamanIyAngaM
sOmaM SirO-dhRta sUrya gangaM kOmaLa kara dhRta kurangaM
guru guhAntaranga lingam

Meaning:

dIkshitar describes the physical form of the Lord in the anupallavi as "The friend of ("sakham") the moon ("sOma") and the one worshipped by ("nata") sages Suka and sanaka. The one whose beautiful appearance ("kamanIyAngaM") conquers ("vijaya") Nala and Manmatha. The one who is with Goddess Parvathi ("sa+umam") and the one who wears on His head ("SirO-dhRta"), the calotropis flower ("sUryagangaM"-arka flower or erukkam poo as they call it in tamizh). The one who holds a deer ("kurangaM") in His tender hands ("kOmaLa kara"), the linga form that resides in the innermost caves ("guhAntaranga") of the meditative mind of a guru (the realized one)."

Wow..what a brilliant anupallavi. IMHO, this anupallavi takes the krithi to a whole new level and sets it up to be turned up yet another notch in the caraNam that ensues. dIkshitar captures the entire beauty of this raga by using the deivatham at the very beginning of the anupallavi. It is hard to believe that for the entire part of "sOmasa"kham, dIkshitar has just used the deivatham. As if to show the symmetry in the rAga, he uses symmetry in his words too..sOma sakham nata suka sanakam naLa and in the process incorporates the rAga mudra at sana"kam naLa"(La and Da can be used interchangeably). What a genius!!

Again at "sOmam" he uses his understanding of the raga to the fullest by employing the deivatham yet again. The ranchana that brings in is immeasurable. He then flaunts his grammatical repertoire by using something as contrary as "sOmam" and "sUrya" to describe the Lord and in the process he uses the two words to convey two entirely different meanings, i.e, sOmam here stands for "the one with Uma" instead of the typical meaning of the "moon" and sUrya as a part of sUrya gaNgam referring to the flower. What can one describe this act except as an audacious display of brilliance :). He finishes the anupallavi off with a word to the yOgis to meditate on Him, this form of the linga which is an embodiment of a guru who shines to drive away the ignorance. The "gmdp gmrs" end to the anupallavi facilitates an easy looping back to the gAndAram start for the pallavi. As I always say, I guess the beauty is a bit too much to explain by mere words :). Helplessly moving on to the caraNam,

caraNam:

vAsavAdi dEva vandita caraNaM
vaiSya jAti strI vEsha dharaNaM
vAsu dEva mahitaM bhava taraNaM
vAsanAdi rahitAntaHkaraNam
dara hAsa tri-purAdi haraNaM
vAsuki pramukhAbharaNaM
bhAsamAna navAvaraNaM
dAsa jana santOsha karaNam
suvAsita nava javanti pushpa -
vikAsa priya hRdayaM sadayaM
mAsa varsha pakshOtsava vibhavaM
sadASivaM parama Sivam

Meaning:

dIkshitar continues to describe the Lord as "The one whose feet ("caraNam") are worshipped by ("vandita") Lord Indra ("vAsava") and other dEvas. The one who took the form/disguise ("vEsha dharaNam") of a woman ("strI") belonging to the vaishya community. The one revered by ("mahitam") by Vasudeva and the one who assists in crossing ("taraNam") the ocean of life ("bhava"). The one (on whom by meditating) who puts an end ("anta karaNam") to all the karmic remnants ("vAsanAdi") (in the yOgi's mind). The one who has a smile ("hAsa") as bright as a white conch ("dara") and the one who destroyed ("haraNam") the three floating cities ("tripurAdi") of the asuras. The one who wears the snake ("vAsuki") as His primary ornament ("pramukhAbharaNam") and the one who is covered in new ("nava") robes ("AvaraNaM") that are as bright as the stars ("bhA-samAna"). The one who delights ("santOsha") his followers/devotees ("dAsajana")."

In the madhyamakAla sAhitya, dIkshitar continues to describe the Lord as "the one whose heart ("hRdayam") is fond of ("priya") the freshly ("nava") blossomed ("vikAsa") fragrant ("suvAsita") chrysanthemum flowers ("javanti pushpa"). The ever-compassionate one ("sadayam"). The omni-present one ("vibhavam") whose festivals ("utsava") are celebrated on a fortnightly ("pakSa"), monthly ("mAsa") and yearly ("varsha") basis. The one who is the ever-present and supreme consciousness ("sadASivam and paramaSivam")."

As I mentioned before, he pretty much sums up the story behind this sthalam in one word, "vaiSya jAti strI vEsha dharaNam". dIkshitar once again uses the gAndAra to establish a strong base in the first few lines of the caraNam and this enables him to bring in that killer deivatham once again on which he repeatedly stresses at "vAsu"dEva and "vAsu"ki to perhaps make this krithi a great dedication to this wonderful rAga. He employs similies at "dara hAsa" and "bhAsamAna" to highlight the Lord's beauty.

And as always, he never forgets to emphasize on the astral planes for the yOgi. dIkshitar describes the Lord as the one who destroys the vAsanAs. These vAsanAs are impressions which a soul accumulates over its countless cycles of rebirths as it gets entwined in the materialistic pleasures and pains that this world has to offer. For eg, when you lust for something/someone or when you judge a person, these form strong impressions or vAsanAs which get stored in the mUlAdhAra chakra as a signature. These vAsanAs accumulate in each of your births, thereby disabling the soul to progress. The only way to escape this cycle is by meditating and following specific techniques to help the soul regain its purity and destroy these impressions. Hence, for spiritual progress, dIkshitar yet again insists praying and meditating on Lord mAtRbhUtESwara.

And for all you wonderful devotees, the next time you pay a visit to this temple, buy some fresh sevanthi flowers and offer to the Lord as dIkshitar states that it pleases Him :). Finally, dIkshitar completes this masterpiece with reference to the festivals celebrating the Lord's greatness. The madhyamakala sAhityam is yet another treat with the words just dancing along with the tALa and thus ending the krithi on a happy, festive note :).

Please listen to MMI's and SSI's versions of the krithi to enjoy some prayOgams to the maximum. In my next post, I will take up one of the vibhakti series of krithis and hopefully will complete the entire series over a month or so. Salutations to the great gurus.

gIticakra ratha stithAyai - kannaDa

I apologize for the break in posting once again. I was a little busy working on the sahityam wikipedia project and trying to understand how to contribute to the dikshitar section after the enormously successful wiki available at http://guruguha.org/wiki. Hats off to all the contributors of the sahityam wiki project, which aims at creating a store house of carnatic music compositions with word by word meaning and explanations. If things go well, I am sure this will turn into a wonderful board in which some knowledgeable people can share their views and provide their own explanations and stories behind some of the compositions.

The game between Chennai Super kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers ended just now and Bangalore won the cliffhanger with 2 balls to spare. Though this year's IPL has been lacking that indian flavour and that excitement, I still find it to be decently interesting with some low totals and close fought games. Atleast, its giving me good company in the evenings :). The ISRO exam went ok. I did decently well but definitely not up to my satisfaction. As I was leaving the exam hall with a slightly heavy heart, I overheard a gang of students discussing the paper and everyone agreeing that the paper was tough. I hope that more candidates across the country found the paper tough too.

I find that the markets are recovering slowly and I have been seeing a lot more job openings over the last couple of weeks. So, hopefully something clicks soon. I am extremely excited that my dear friend Shreekrishna is coming to India this weekend and he will be here in Bangalore for a month. Its been a long time since we met and I am really looking forward to meeting him and spending some time with him.

Over the past few days, I have been smitten by kannaDa (note: not kAnaDA). I have been listening to SSI's shrI mAtrubhUtam over and over again and have been looping Sanjay's "gIticakra ratha" too. Hence, I thought I will take up these two krithis one after the other and try to do some justice. First, about the rAga itself, I have for a long time wondered why kannaDa is classified as a janyam of harikEdAragowLa (28th mELa) instead of shankarAbharaNam in the SSP. I still have not found the answer and I hope someone reading this blog will be able to help me out. Also, the SSP says that the "srg" prayogam is allowed, which baffles me once again.

Anyway, moving on to the krithi, I believe that dIkshitar composed this krithi at madurai, in praise of Goddess mInAkSi. As I mentioned in my post on the krithi "mInAkSi mE mudam", Goddess mInAkSi is referred to as shyAmala, the dark-hued one, rAja mAtangI etc. Goddess mAtangi is the yogic equivalent/tantric form of Goddess Saraswati and as I have once agained mentioned in the "mInAkSi mE mudam" blog, She is picturized as one holding a gem-studded vINa. Of the 10 mahAvidyAs, mAtangi occupies a very significant place and She is known to bless Her devotees with proficiency in music, poetry and other fine arts. Hence, dIkshitar straight away starts off by referring to Her as the one who resides in the chariot called gItichakra, the chakra of music/singing.

Goddess Shyamala is believed to have been created by Goddess Lalita and She is believed to have emerged from Goddess Lalita's sugarcane bow during Her battle with bandAsura. In Lalita Sahasranamam, there is a clear reference to Shyamala which reads "gEya cakra rathArUDha mantriNi pari-sEvitA" and since gEya and gIti have similar meanings ("song/the act of singing"), dIkshitar improvises straight away and replaces gEya with gIti to begin this krithi.

Sorry to continue with this big introduction for the krithi, but, I feel that once I create a good idea about the yogic import of the krithi and the Goddess Herself, no further detailed explanations would be needed. And, the krithi as such is short anyway. So, continuing with the tantric references in the krithi and talking about the gEya cakra in particular, please look at the image above that I have embedded in this post as I describe. There are quite a few versions(some of them,wrong) of this cakra, though the above one is perhaps the most pristine forms. The symmetries and geometric concepts are clearly visible. The gEya cakra, just like the shrI chakra employs the famous "golden ratio" quite extensively, beginning with the inner most triangle enclosed in a pentagon which is further circumscribed by the pentacle (more golden ratio). Finally the 8-petalled and the 16-petalled lotuses form the circumference around this figure and is enclosed within the square bhUpUra. The yantra of saNgIta yOgini is known to correspond with the gEya cakra which signifies Shyamala/mAtangi, further evidence connecting gEya cakra to saNgIta. With that introduction, I will now move on to the krithi itself.

Pallavi:

gIti cakra ratha sthitAyai guru guha nuta SyAmaLAyai
namastE namastE

Meaning:

dIkshitar sings "I prostrate before you again and again ("namastE namastE"), Oh Goddess SyAmaLA, the one who is present in ("sthitAyai") the chariot ("ratha") called gIti cakra and the one worshipped by ("nuta") Lord Guruguha".

As I have mentioned before, I love these double namastE, samASTi caraNam krithis. Just like the 20-20 cricket, these short krithis pack quite a punch :). dIkshitar seems to stress the importance of music as a marga to mOkSa in these lines. That's why, I presume that in addition to the straight-forward meaning of Goddess SyAmaLa riding the chariot corroborated by Lalita Sahasranamam, dIkshitar seems to refer to music, signified by the gIti cakra and devotion to Goddess mAtangi enables the bhakta to elevate himself to ride the chariot to salvation.

Musically, miSra cApu once again proves a perfect foible for the galloping that he seems to create in this composition. He starts off with a plain, divine gAndAra just like shrI mAtrubhUtam and straight away catches the ranjana that this rAga exudes. The "gmp gmr" at "ratha" followed by "ss mgm dd" at "guruguha nuta" pretty much seals the deal as he incorporates the rAga mudra with such elegance. Finally, the killer blow comes in the form of the double namastEs as "gmr(tAra sthAyi) rsnsdpm" and "gdp gmdpgmrs" to loop back to the gAndAra. Sanjay's version seems to capture some unique nuances very beautifully. Please do listen to it if you haven't already. Moving on to the caraNam,

samashTi caraNam:

gItAmRtAnanditAyai gIrvANa vanditAyai
hata vishanga samUhAyai kRta lOkOpakArAyai
nata bhairavAdi sEnAyai nava nava vidha bANa karAyai

Meaning:

dIkshitar continues to directly address the Goddess and describes Her as "Your heart rejoices ("AnanditAyai") in the blissful nectar of music ("gItAmRta").You are worshipped by ("vanditAyai") the best of Gods ("gIrvANa"). You killed ("hata") a community ("samUhAyai") of demons led by vishanga and hence did ("kRta") a great help ("upakArAyai") to the world ("lOka")". In the short madhyamakAla sAhityam, dIkshitar sings "Bhairava and other warriors ("sEnAyai") salute ("nata") you. You create ("karAyai") many new ("nava nava") arrows and weapons ("bANa")".

In the caraNam, dIkshitar once again refers to the Goddess being attached to music. He also portrays Her capabilities to destroy demons and pretty much creates an image of Her as suzerian-in-chief of the armed forces :). Also, he refers to vishanga. When manmatha was incinerated by Lord Shiva's third eye, two demons namely vishukra and vishanga were born out of the ashes. For a yOgi who is trying to achieve oneness, the two demons, vishanga in particular causes problems by disturbing the mind and thereby makes it not seek oneness. This demon was killed by SyAmaLa and dIkshitar brings in this yOgic aspect in this krithi, thereby indirectly advising bhaktas to worship Goddess SyAmaLa to overcome delusion and achieve that stillness.

Musically, dIkshitar stresses on the gAndAra once again to bring in that bhAva. Instead of phrasing out each sangati here, I think it would be best to leave it to the rasikas to enjoy themselves listening to it. The chitta swaram in the end begins with a peaceful "gmdp" which kind of gives it that ShankarAbharaNam/western classical tilt. If there were any doubts regarding allowed phrases in this rAga, the chitta swarams completely dispel them and serves as a nice appendix to the krithi itself. On the whole, it is yet another masterpiece composed by dIkshitar and serves as a wonderful starter for those who want to learn this rAga.

Continuing with my love for kannaDa, I will take up "shrI mAtrubhUtam" in my next post. Till then, ciao!!