THE JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY MADRAS

DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MUSIC

Vol. LIII

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'*1 dwell not in Vaikuntba, nor in the hearts of Yogin* -Aor in the Snn: (but) where my bhaktas sing, there be I, Narada!"

Edited by T. S. PARTHASARATHY 1982

The Music Academy Madras 306, Mowbray’s Road, Madras - 600 014 Annual Subscription - Inland - Rs. IS: Foreign $ 3.00 OURSELVES

This Journal is published as an Annual. i All correspondence relating to the Journal should be addressed and all books etc., intended for it should be sent to The Editor, Journal of the Music Academy, 306, Mowbray's Road, Madras-600 014.

Articles on music and dance are accepted for publication on the understanding that they are contributed solely to the Journal of the Music Academy.

Manuscripts should be legibly written or, preferably, type* written (double-spaced and on one side of the paper only) and Should be signed by the writer (giving his address in full).

The Editor of the Journal is not responsible for the views ex­ pressed by contributors in their articles.

JOURNAL COMMITTEE OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY

1. Sri T. S. Parthasarathy — Editor (and Secretary, Music Academy) 2. „ T. V. Rajagopalan — Trustee 3. „ S. Ramaswamy — ... Executive Trustee 4. „ Sandhyavandanam * ■ ' ' Sreepivgsa R id —r Member 5. „ S. Ramanathan 1 - — Member 6. „ S. Natarajan ■j Secretaries of the Music 7. „ R. Rangthathan > - Aoademy, Ex-officio 8. . M T. S. Rangarajan f . members,. ir!v v £ CONTENTS

The 55th Annual Conference of the Music Academy, M adras: Official Report Meetings of the Experts Committee The Sadas Samskrta and P. K. Rajagopala Aiyar (Continuities and Departures) William J. Jackson Nilakantha Sivan and his Contribution to Music Dr. S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer A Tale of Two Cities Bruno Nettl Kshetrayya and his Padams B. Rajanikanta Boo ) An Analytical Study of Tyagaraja’s Compositions S. R. Janakiraman Compositions of Balaswami Dikshitar Ritha Rajan Folk Songs of Central Josef Kuckertz The of Govindasamayya Michael J. Nixon The Role of Laya in Music T. S. Parthasarathy Traditional Compositions in Bharata Natyam Nirmala Ramachandran IV THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LHI

PAGB Some Rare Compositions of the Maharaja of Mysore (Tamil) R. K. Venkatarama Sastri 170 Music in Operas P. Srinivasan and Voleti Venkateswarulu - 176 Book Reviews N. Ramanathan Hema Ramanathan T. S. Parthasarathy S. A. K. Durga — 182 of Jayachamaraja Wodeyar (in notation) Appendix — 2 0 5 THE 55ra MADRAS MUSIC CONFERENCE OFFICIAL REPORT

THE OPENING DAY 20—12—1981

The 55th Annual Conference of the Music Academy, Madras, was held at the T. T. Krishnatnachari Auditorium in the premises of the Academy, 306, Mowbrays Road, Madras-600014, from the 20th December 1981 to 1st January * 1982. The Conference was inaugurated by Sri C. V. Narasimhan, Former Under-Secretary General, United Nations.

The inaugural function began with the singing of prayer by Smt. Malati Janardhanan and Smt. T. Vijayalakshmi.

MESSAGES

Sri S. Shunmugam, member of the Executive Committee of the Academy, read the following messages received from prominent persons all over India and abroad for the success of the 55th Conference of the Academy.

S ri S. B. Chavan, M inister of Planning, New Delhi. “ The Academy has rendered very valuable services over a period of 55 years, through its efforts to serve the cause of classical and promotion of better understanding between the Carnatic and Hindustani schools of music. I wish the conference all success. My best wishes to the organisers and participants for their continued success.”

Sri R. V. Swaminathan, M inister of State for Agriculture and Rural Recanstruction^New Delhi. “ I am happy to learn that the 55th Conference of die Music Academy, Madras, will be inaugurated by Shri C. V. Narasimhan, former Under-Secretary General of United Nations on the 20th Dec. 1981 and presided over byVidvaa Sri T. M. Tyagarajan, a leading Vidvan of Carnatic Music.” 2 THE JOURNAL OF THB MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L I I I

Sri K. G. Abraham, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Raj Bhayan, Hyderabad “ As a premier institution in music and dance, the Music Academy has played a significant role in the cultural history of the South in promoting classical music. The 55th Conference, I am sure, besides enhancing the prestige of the Academy, #illi immensely contribute towards awakening a new consciousness among the art lovers.

I have* therefore, great pleasure in giving my best wishes for the success of the conference and all other programmes contemplated during the period.** Sri N. Haldipur, Lieutenant-Governor., Pondicherry. “ The Music Academy, Madras, has played a significant role in the cause of promoting classical Carnatic music over the last 55 years. 1 hope that the Conference, besides offering a number of delightful programmes of music and dance, will also be a good opportunity for experts in music and musicology hailing from different parts of the country to have an exchange of their ideas and thoughts for mutual benefit.

I send my best wishes for the success of the Conference.**

Sri R. Gundu Rao, Chief Minister of Karnataka. “ The efforts of the Academy in promoting and encouraging fine arts are indeed commendable. I wish the Conference all success.**

S ri A. R. Antulay, Chief M inister of M aharashtra. Sent a message wishing the function every success. Sri P. R. Gokulakrishnaa, Oflfg. Chief Justice of Madras. “ The Premier institution in the field of music is in a fitting manner celebrating its 55th Annual Conference.

A leading musician in Carnatic style, Thiru T. M. Thyagarajan, is being honoured this year. I am glad that one of the connoisseurs of art and who is an artiste himself, that is Thiru C. V. Narasimhan, is inaugurating the Conference. Befittingly, the Sadas on 1st Jao, 1982, is being presided over by Smt. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, Joint THB 55t h m adras m u sic confbrbncb 3

Educational Adviser, Government of India, New Delhi. The services tendered by the Music Academy, Madras, in the field of fine arts, are praiseworthy. “ I wish the Conference all success.” Sri James Rubin of Pan Orient Arts Foundation. “ Best wishes on this auspicious occasion. May the splendid work of the Academy continue with ever increassing success.'*

Sri A. N. Dhawan, Secretary, Akademi, New D elhi. m “ I wish to convey most heartily my best wishes for the success of the Conference.'* Sri R. M. Veerappan, Minister for Information, Govt., of T a m il N adu “ Wish the Conference a fruitful deliberation and every success."

The President of the Academy, Sri K. R. Sundaram Iyer wel­ comed the distinguished guests, members of the Academy and the public. In his address Sri Suodaram Iyer said:

“ Sri C. V. Narasimham, Vidwan Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, Vidwans, Vidushis, Members of the Academy and its Experts Committee, Distinguished Guests who have responded to our invita­ tion. Ladies and Gentlemen. With great pleasure, I extend to you all a hearty welcome to the inauguration of the 55th Annual Conference and Concerts. Sri Narasimhan, I extend to you a warm and sincere welcome on behalf of all, the Executive Committee and on my own behalf. We are grateful to you for finding the time to inaugurate this Con­ ference. I realise that you had to adjust your programme in order to be with us in time for the inauguration. It is needless for me to elaborate on your distinguished place in the Indian Civil Service, as an Executive Secretary of the ECAFE, as Chef-d' Cabinet and above all, as Under-Secretary . General of the United Nations Organisation with many important and difficult assignments being entrusted to you by the Secretary General. 4 THB JOURNAL OF THB MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L I J I

Apart from this, 1 consider the inauguration of this Conference by you is particularly appropriate and significant. You belong to a family talented in Music and Fine arts. You are yourself a talented musician, may I say, a performing artiste and a distinguished disciple of Sangitha Kalanidhi Musiri Subramania Iyer. M Many may not be aware of your charitable disposition. You have helped and are still helping without any publicity many cultural, educational and charitable organisations by your munifi­ cent donations. The Academy in particular remembers with gratitude the munificent endowment of Rs. 32,000/- for an award to be given to the President of the Annual Conference of each year, in memory of your Guru Sangitha Kalanidhi Musiri Subramania Iyer.

I extend to Vidwan Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, the President­ elect of this Conference, a hearty and warm welcome. Vidwan Sri Thyagarajan is a genius in Carnatic music. He served the College of Music as a Professor and retired as the Principal of the institu­ tion. He has established a style of his own with his profound knowledge., He has been a performing artiste for nearly SO years. Starting his learning from his father Mahalingam Pillai, he belongs to an illustrious and distinguished Guru Parampara, with his im­ mediate guru Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, from him in the line, Mabarajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer who have all been distinguished Sangitha Kalanidhis.

In the current session, we very much look forward to his able guidance in the discussions and demonstrations in the morning sessions of the Experts Committee.

On this happy occasion of the inauguration of the annual Con­ ference, we remember with gratitude the services of eminent and dedicated persons, who inaugurated the Music Academy in 1927, chalking out far-sighted objectives, other stalwarts, musicians and Rasikas who took part in the inauguration then and in particular Sri T. T. Krishnamachari to whom we are deeply indebted for this imposing auditorium.

As I had mentioned last year, the then young Vidwan of the time, Sangitha Kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is happily with us to-day, as also two senior—most Members of the Academy Sarashri K. Chandrasekharan and Janab Basheer Ahmed Sayeed, our Vice-Presidents who had taken part in the inauguration.

Eminent and distinguished persons. Sir S. Radhakrishnan, Sir C. V. Raman, Dr. Karan Singh, and Dr. Sint. Devi have inaugurated the Annua! Conferences in the past. They have dealt with various aspects of Carnatic music and Fine Arts and made several valuable suggestions for preserving our traditional Music and Art, for making innovations for progress and growth, for establishing rapport between musicians and the Rasikas, which are all valid for all dine to come. It would be a rewarding ex­ perience to collect such ideas and publish them in a book foils, for the benefit of musicians, musicologists, music lovers and listeners.

Last year at the time of the inauguration, 1 made a special mention that we had budgetted nearly for Rs. 1.25 lakhs exclusively for academic activities.

You are aware of the encouragement given to the promising musicians, instrumentalists and performers, through our mid-year series, which were conducted in two sessions this year. All the Harikatha performances were a treat to the ear as well as to the heart. I commend to the lovers of Music and Art to en­ courage the Harikatha performers in a much larger way by giving diem opportunities during religious and other functions such as marriage etc. I request all to encourage them through large attendance in the mid-year series, which form the nucleus for the participants to make a mark and come to the forefront.

The monthly assistance of Rs. 100/- to six indigent musicians is being continued as in the previous years.

We are now having a two year course in our Teachers* College of Music for training students as teachers. We intend to make the course one of three years and also to have a senior class wherein instructions can be given for senior students to take up the profession of music. We are also conducting Veena classes for both beginners and seniors.

Among the valuable publications which we had programmed last year, viz., printing of the Sangita Sam pr a day a Pradarsini is 6 THE JOURKALOPTHB MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L U I nearing completioiL Certain special printing types required have* since been obtained by the Press. It will be availablein the begin-? ning of 1982.

The other publications like Nidhi, the collection of Javalis, Raga Lakshana etc., are now available in our^book stall in the foyer.

Our thanks are due to Sri T. S. Parthasarathy, Secretary of the Academy, for bringing out not only the arrear numbers but also the latest issue to complete the series of the Music Academy Journal, bringing it up-to date.

The activities of the Academy have increased in recent years. The construction of the Academy Annexe block is nearing comple­ tion and we have already occupied the same at an auspicious hour on the 14th December, 1981.

We propose to take up an intensive research programme after the Academy Annexe is fully equipped. We also Intend to have recordings of , Kritis and Javalis by eminent Vidwans, and classical Tamil songs, Kavadi Chindus etc.

I am glad to say that Sri C. V. Narasimhan, our distinguished guest, responded to our request for guiding and assisting us in the fulfilment of the tasks outlined by us. As an earnest beginning in this direction, at a meeting with him, when he was in Madras last, which was attended by eminent Vidwans in the city, certain proposals were discussed and the line of action to betaken indicated. It is proposed with the active co-operation of top ranking Vidwans to bring out Gramaphone L. P. records of vocal and instrumental renderings (Violin, Veena, Flute, Nagaswaram and percussion in­ struments) incorporating explanations in English of the distinguish­ ing features of our music iu general and Carnatic music in particular, the characteristics and the concept of Ragas and Kalpanaswaras, the Bhava and even items such as Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi. The basic srutis in our music and the distinguishing features of Western music will also feature in the records. These records would be distributed through sale abroad. By these, we hope to popularise Carnatic music and create a lasting interest in all parts of our country and foreign listeners, THB 55TH MADRM H U flC CXJNFBRBNCT 7

- a cQnQpftheasivc sdieoic, we propose to approach the Cultural Department of the Government for an . adequate financial aid.

I wish to place on record our grateful thanks to all my collea­ gues and particularly, to Sri S. Ramaswamy, our Executive Trustee for his .dedicated work, which required day to day supervision in the construction and completion of our new Annexe and also various other activities of administration, with his usual energy and drive.

I thank our members and the many well-wishers for responding in a very large measure to my appeal to enrol themselves as Patrons and Donors and for Donors to become Patrons and support us with their financial contributions.

We have almost fully utilised our resources in completing the new building. We need further assistance to the tune of Rs. 4 lakhs to avoid a bank loan, for equipping our research centre.

I would like to stress again that only such support will enable the Academy to maintain its progress and the proposed research programmes without swerving from its ideals.

Sri T. S. Parthasarathy, with the co-operation of the two Members of the Executive Committee, represented in the Experts Advisory Committee, Sri K. Chandrasekharan and Sri T. V. Raja- gopalan, has drawn up a comprehensive and interesting Agenda for this Conference, especially the morning sessions of the Experts Advisory Committe, demonstrations, discussions and lectures and reading of valuable papers.

With the growth and increase in the activities of the Academy, the work involved has been heavy. Secretaries Sarvashri S. - rajan, R. Ranganathan, T. S. Rangarajan, and Sri T.S, Parthasarathy were compelled to bear the burden with suitable division of work amongst themselves. It is a great pleasure for me to say that they have risen to the occasion by putting forth their dedicated efforts. They have done a commendable work in organising the Mid-year aeries, Annual Concerts, the publication of the Souvenir and in many other ways. On this occasion, I once again request them all to continue to render the dedicated service as hitherto. 8 THE JO O K taa* O FTH B MADRAS MUSIC ACAUEMT [V o l. L I 11

I thank also the Members of the Executive Committee fbr their active co-O(terati0n and particularly Sri P. S. Ramachattdran and Sri R. Santhanam for looking after the various competitions doting Annual Conferences.

I would like to conclude with the very relevant Words of Dr. Smt. R ukmini Devi in her address at the inauguration of our 51st Annual Conference.

“ Every boy and girl needs music. Everyone cannot perform as this capacity depends on the natural gift of the student. But everyone can be taught to understand and study and know some simple songs. Why is Music not part of the curriculum in all schools ?

Our Maharajas were also great patrons of art. It is now the responsibility of the temples, artists and educationists to give the leadership along right lines.

...... the true builders of India are those who work for our culture and I hope you and I and everyone here and all the institutions like the Music Academy and others will join together, united in this great effort, because India needs it and one day if we answer the prayer of India, we will have done such marvellous and noble service to our country

Ladies and Gentlemen, I once again extend to you all a hearty and warm welcome.*’

Sri S. Ramaswamy, Executive Trustee of the Academy, presented to Sri C. V. Narasimhan, a welcome address in the course of which he said:

“ With great pleasure we heartily welcome you in our midst to this our 55th Annual Conference and connected Festival of MuSio and Dance. We are grateful to you for accepting our invitation.

In requesting you to inaugurate our Conference we have made a choice which is appropriate in more ways than one. You know our institution well from its early years and' you are one of our oldest Life Members and sincere well-wishers. You have bees THB 55IH MADRAS mmccoHmMHCM 9

evincing. keen interest i a o a r varied and pioneering workwe have been doing for over five decades,

Apart from the eminent position occupied by yon in several capacities, you are a votary of music, art and letters, a lover of poetry, a connoisseur and a rasika. Your excellent translation into English of the Mahabharata bears an eloquent testimony to your erudition is Sanskrit and our Scriptures. In fact, you are yourself a finger of great charm, having \tzn ft bhava sanglta from the great master Sangita Kalanidhi Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer.

After a distinguished academic record, yon joined the M ian Civil Service and held many h

In addition to such intellectual attainments you stand unique for your human qualities and amiability (Saulabhyd). Few are aware of your many anonymous acts of generosity. Musicians and others visiting the United States have always found in yon a sympathetic friend and counsellor.

We look forward to your frequent visits and your active participation in our ambitious plans for the future.

We welcome you once again and request you to inaugurate our 55th Conference and the connected Festival of Music and Dance.**

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Sri C, V. Narasimban delivered the following inaugural address:

jbQw t jB($u>rr rrrr&sunrtu pQuorr pQuar trtr*Gttrm

'tfr.'ritiW N ni

Mr. President, distinguished musicians and musical experts, ladies and gentleme&r 2 10 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRA8 MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L I I I

I deem it a signal honour to have been invited to be with you on this occasion. I also consider it a privilege to be allowed to share a few thoughts with you this evening on a subject which is very dose to my heart>«ir/sirL.s sroiii^tb.

I would like to begin by offering my salutations to the memory of my revered and beloved Guru, Sangita KaJanidhf Sri Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer, who taught me the value and glory of Bhava Sangita—ur

May I also offer my respectful felicitations to Sangita Vidwao Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, who has been chosen to preside over this year’s music conference. What is the true greatness and glory of our music ? To me, the answer is simple: It is the spirit of Bhakti—u&j8 («rfa) that per­ meates all of our greatest music. Our music is great because it is designed, not just to please the ear, nor to titillate the intellect of the Rasika, (# * ) but because it is capable of touching our hearts and lifting our souls on wings of song to establish com­ munion with the Paramatma urwr£u>tr Himself.

In the Bhagavad Gita, our imperishable treasure, the Lord describes the three ways of reaching God: (1) by t&irjbttirirm (ffPTOfd) the way of knowledge, (2) by *«ru> wrirm (gdlirrf) the way of action or service to our fellow human beings, and (3) u&£l uirtr« the way of devotion to the Lord Himself: The Lord says:

“ uSi/siurr w/TU)LSg}ir(5 rr@ iurreufrisiu : &fri£l g p e u g : pG prr mirth jS&suQ&ir (G$rr<5 surr eB&Gp ** (xviii-55). a w ls I « ia r a g q w m THfi 55TH M&DHAS: MU8IC CONFERENCE 11

«‘IhrOugfc devotion, he comes to ksow Me, what my measure i*7 end who, I am in truth : he forthwith enters into Me.” fl'-T-vs’. ■ ;j/v. v* • ■ ‘ .M- 'v-; ■ ■ ■'• s ^ ‘ V' ' Of the three paths described above, the way or knowledge and the way of action are not given to every one of us to attain. But the path of Bhakti u £ j8 is not only open to each and every one of ns—it is not only the easiest way to the Lord—it is also the sweetest, if we try to reach Ood by the route of (fhftft).

But then, you might, say 1 am one of those unfortunate beings who cannot sing a note to save his life. As the Americans^Would say, that is no problem; there* is no need for you to sing the praise of the Lord—it is enough if you can hear it sung.

In the uar&sup qnraanh (mTOUSttvt), *n answer t0 a question by Hiranyakasipu, the uru> urn ft supreme devotee uffifosoirp (Hf^T9f) Prahlada describes the nine ways of u£<£ (vtfos) of which the first four are :

eyreusmib @tt£$&frui : siVLorrsmii u rrp G&oeujsw

fq«OTt: w r I

You will notice that Agrtvssanb ( ynrw i) listening comes first, even before <£rffptonb ( gftfcrqt) singing-the same priority to listen­ ing is given in the uco*(5 > 0 (q»«*Rr) portion of the tBs^ggn aOfiD&or jBtruhu>>

In more songs than 1 can possibly recall on this occasion, Tyagaraja carries the same message:

(t srom£ft & r PQP u £ j8 sQpr ervjBior irxQfi utjgemtr ?>* Also cr«n)rdtt}r£«r(r! jS oO/guAjS erotii&jg q&trp Qutirtb}(ip msoptr? ”

sHg aSRf^n «««% wwn?

bhwww I eifta *tag»i35[« 12 THB JOTOMItfOP THE «AD*M MUSIC ACAUBMY (Vol. LIU

CQB TtuB fOlOBf JttB U | WlKQ mttfiCmn uOeVOI fOfi TO IDB^lilnO gO together, one ii verily transported to the seventhbeaven. **&mr fv m tfn>*»#rfcn>a|# uA0 «b*uimrumimQprrl ” (w Wl y tWgg *r% W fW *gtr). Svea the Trixnurtis shone by the practice of music. c(p«

V t ! Itwodld be-wrcrag'to assume, however, that the mere tinging of a kirtana by one of our great composers would be all that we need to do to es to Wish communion with the Supreme Being. It is essential-forsthe siiiger or musician to experience that transoendentoi emotion-himself; this is indeed the true meaning of u r m («**)• He has to forget himself*his ego*in the music-to become ur«**ib (WWt). If be is not in a state of u f oieie (qnrer) how can he hope to move his listeners to u p m rti> (tf* etJ? If be can forget himself and put this heart and soul into the music, he can lift not only •himself, but bis entire audience, to the ultimate bliss, the bliss o f union with the Infinite, which the poet describes as mm&mmuat**QP (Wlf ujwtrfiintr! craftier Q u ire S ® # q*fwt * How many of us were moved to tears whenim sang A fifi <£* &OrL- Q » fi0 G iomq.fr tr ? ritfvttj.

If the first pre-requisite in the task of moving one*s audience Is for the musician to be mowed himself, one can ask: how can the musician be moved himself when, very often, he does not know the meaning of the words which he is pronouncing.? What avails a musician if he is just mouthing words in Telugu, or Sans­ krit. or for that matter4n his native Tamil, ifrhe has no comprehen­ sion of those words, their meaning, their significance, their beauty? Let me pleadwith you all—my dear friends, who are the practitioners o f ih'u great Kalfi (m m ) which we call $aagita-rgleaflo*leaaitfco —>■ ning nf every word in every song, please iearn to, pronounce

•# One of the greatest attributes of our system of music, both in the Northern or Hindustani and the Southern or Carnatic tradition is the scope that it gives for the artiste to show his originality and imagination, or what we call bis u><3 jBr0 irut (apitai}). To begin with, there is Alapana ru p of the raga itself. Then our great composers have so constructed their Kirtanas that, apart from the Sangatis—finxwds^l—which are to a large extent governed by tradition, and which are designed to enhance the musical content or the meaning of the melodic line, there is plenty of scope for innovation and imagination in the Qjsyoicb and the msbujb oboir aspects. With so much scope already provided for, why do some of our musicians seek other avenues to show their originality? mmm# irirggwnrmmy) ftojb&aogirir dj3(Sm>? ?)

I am keenly aware of one of the handicaps of a rising generation of musicians—the virtual disappearance of the (*J«5®UTG) way of learning music—where music was not so much learnt as imbibed! The poet says QtuQajs&ruf. QopQturn Gutr& ig ife gfoifo *t%qir I believe, how­ ever, there is a remedy at hand, and the Music Academy, with the recent expansion of its premises and facilities, should be able to provide this remedy. It is to listen to the great performances available on recorded tape of the stalwarts of an earlier generation—not once- but again and again—so that their music is imbibed and eventually synthesized with the taGpruirmiUi (sprftrra) of each musician accord­ ing to his lights.

It is fashiooable for an older generation to decry the so-called " death'* of our great music. 1 do not belong to this group of 14 THE JOURN& OF THB MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L III

mourners. Oar music cannot, and will not, die. It is the business of all ofus, musicians, listeners, institutions, to cherish, preserve and propagate our great art form— avA& pw - not forgetting allied arts like Bharata Natyam -uirppinl.iuii.

Let me end this address by invoking the blessings, of the Lord jOn this illustrious gathering, so that the current seriel tpay long be remembered.

“ &Gp(}>ujfr L^tunrg, msseo ^m®ir®irLb »»

m s s

VOTE OF THANKS

Sri T. S. Parthasaratby, Secretary of the Academy, proposed a vote of thanks.

ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT

Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T. N. Krishnan, proposed Vidwan Sri T. M. Thyagarajan to be the President of the 55th Conference. The proposal was seconded by Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. D. K. Pattammal. Vidwan T. M. Thyagarajan then delivered his Presidential Address in Tamil an English summary of which is furnished below. The Tamil original has been reproduced elsewhere in this issue.

“ I must express my gratitude to the Music Academy for giving me the honour of presiding over the 55th Annual Conference. I have accepted this heavy responsibility in the hope that the Music Academy and the members of the Experts' Advisory Committee will fully co-operate with me in discharging my task.

According to our Indian tradition, music is the body of Ood. Our Sama Veda is music. Many Oods of the Hindu pantheon like Nataraja, Nandi, Saraswati and as well as the sage Narada 'are connected with music and dance. Particularly in , music and dance were being practised nabstly in temples. THE 55TH MADRAS MUSIC CONF8RBNCB IS

Sruti, Raga and Tala are the three essential ingredients of our" music. None of these aspects should be sacrificed in music concerts. Many Vidwans of the younger generation are coming up in the music field and elders should assist them in every possible way.

There is no short-cut to achieve proficiency in music. Hard work, following a good parampara and long experience are necessary to achieve expertise. There is no point in trying to ascend the dais by the short cut after learning ten or twenty compositions.

During the past 40 or 50 years, our music has undergone severs changes. Some critics have pdihted out that ragas should not be developed on the basis of . In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in this method. A famous singer of the previous generation used to sing difficult ragas effortlessly but he did not know the grammar of those ragas. There was every chance of his ragas getting mixed up. I, therefore, feel that musicians should know the lakshanas of ragas fully.

Musicians should not sacrifice the quality of classical music and introduce light music sangatis to acquire easy popularity. There should be no mixing up of styles.

I wish to make a few observations regarding the Gurukula method and the College method of teaching music .! It cannot be denied that many prominent musicians of the present day achieved renown by the Gurukula method. But the College method also has several advantages not found in the Gurukula tradition. Colleges teach a larger number of songs, instruments and also music theory which is of great assistance to music students. In both the methods humility, devotion and dedication-are indispensable. / i I feel sad that the tradition of presenting music and dance recitals in temples has ceased to exist particularly in Tamil Nadu. Even today temples in Kerala and Karnataka patronise these arts. The divine art of music should be dedicated to God and tbe best {dace to do so is the temple. Carnatic music is the only style of music which touches the heart and stirs the soul. A musician trained in Carnatic music can easily learn the other systems of music because of the excellent foundation on which Carnatic music Is built. 16 THE JOURNAL. GFTHB MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [ V d . U 1 I When a listener comes out from a music Baltafter listeniegto t good; concert, be shesdiLfed! net -iff he haa come outofa tempi** sod not from a cinema hall. Wilh all modern amen i ties like air* conditioning, listeners are not prepared to sit for more than two hours now-a-days. The reason for this is that a sense of dedication is lacking on the part of musicians. ^ ■ jj . .. . . Commercialisation of music should be totally avoided. Musicians should teach others what they received from their Gums. Such teaching should transcend caste, language and status in life.

The school of music to which I belong is closely connected with the Music Academy for three generations. Sri Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer was the first Sangita ICalanidhi in our paratnpara and bis disciple, Sri Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, also received the title laier. Sri Viswanatha Iyer was present when his disciple and my Guru Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer received the title of Sangita Kalanidhi. Similarly, 1 have the good fortune that my Guru Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer will be present when this title isioonferivd on me.” at&8p

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C^oiNeaee Sos^isir

The Souvenir of the 55th Conference* wkich Was brought out on the opening day, contained programmes of tbewbble Conference, the concerts, illustrated supplements and an account of the Music Academy and its activities. It alsocarried the following articles : Whither our Dancers ? by K. Chandrasekharan r Nafasvaranr by T .. S. Parthasaratby: Vidvan Tanjavur M. Thyagarajan by K. S. Mahadevan; The Versatility of by M. S. Ramaswami; Two.kritis of Tyagaraja by T. V. Rajagopalan t Tiruvidaimarudur Sivakkozhundu Nayanakkarar by B.M. Sunderam.

55th CONFERENCE Experts’ Committee Meetings, 1981-82

President: VIDWAN T. M. THYAGARAJAN

Agenda of the Conference

M onday, 21st Dec. 1981

Songs on Sri Kapalisvarar and Karpakamba—* by Sri Swaminatha Oduvar

Smt. Malathi Janardhanan Personality of Tyagaraja as reflected in his Nauka charitram Sri B. Rajanikanta Rao Kshetrayya and his Padas Sri Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer Raga Vilakkam

Tuesday, 22nd Dec. 1981

Sri T. S. Vasudevan—Selected Songs from Narayana Tirtha

Sri S. R. Janakiraman An analytical study of Tyagaraja’s compositions Srt S. Rajam Vivadi mela ragas in Kamatic music Siht. Ritfia Rajan Compositions of Balasvami Dikshitar 4 26 THB JOURNAL OP THE MADRAS IKfUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LUI

Wednesday, 23rd Dec. 1981

Smt, Kamala Sitaraman and Party- Devotional songs in different languages

Sri Sukumar Prasad Guitar as adapted for Karnatic music Sri C. S. Krishna Iyer The Teaching of Raga Singling Sri S. V. Parthasarathi Some allied ragss in Karnatic music

T h u rsd ay , 24th Dec. 1981

Kumari Rie Hisamitsu—Devotional Songs

Sri Titte Krishna Iyengar Application of ancient and modem ragas to Haridasas' compositions Sri B. Rajam Iyer Hindustani ragas handled by Muthusvami Dikshitar Smt. Vidya Shankar Subbaraya Sastri and his compositions

Friday, 25th Dec. 1981

Sri V. Muthukrishnan—Patmiru Tirumurai

Sri M. Sankaranarayanan The Chandams in the Tirnppugazh of Arunagirinatha Mr. Michael Nixon The Varnams of Govindasamayya Prof. Dr. Josef Kuckertz Folk songs of Central India with Daff Gan

Saturday, 26th Dec. 1981

Smt. Rajalakshmi Santhanam—Divya Prabandham

Smt. Gomathi Vis wanathan Padams in Tamil Sri Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana Gamakas of South Indian and North Indian music Sri T. V. Rajagopalan The influence of the scheme on Karnatic music (to be followed by discussion) ;:f t h & s St h m a&r a s m u s ic coHraaiNcti i t

27tli D»e. 1981

Gana Malila—Kritia of Swati Tfrunal Dr. S. Ramanathan Subrahmanya Bharatfs musical compositions Sri Narayana Rao Joshi The Essentials of Hindustani classical music Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, (President of the Conference) Demonstration—Tamil compositions V of Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai f i ' Monday, 28th Dec. 1981 Soundarya Ladies Association—Stotras of Vedanta Desika Kumari (Dr.) Indrani Chakravarti Vocal compositional forms adopted in the Sitar Smt. Gowri Kuppuswamy Pada Varnams of Swati Tirunal Mr. Robert Moran The influence of Indian thought and culture on Moran*s works Tuesday, 29th Dec. 1981

“ Sankara ManobariKritis on Devi

Smt. Nirmala Ramachandran Traditional dance compositions in Bharata Natyam Sri R. K. Venkatarama Sastri Some rare compositions of the Maharajah of Mysore Mr. William J. Jackson Tyagaraja—Continuities and Departures

Wednesday, 30th Dec. 1981

Sunadamala—Kritis of Annamacharya and Ramadasa

Dr. Bruno Nettl Improvisation in Iranian classical music Prof. V. Subramaniam Sanskrit compositions on a Buddhist theme Sri C. V. Natarajan Tala Quiz by percussion students 28 THB JOUlft** MAQRAS MUSC ACAOMf [Vol. UU

Sftpjt, ■■ Dims* -IBS I ,

Students of 4b* Tfeaobeis* OiHnge o f Music, Music Academy—Devotional Songs

Sri B. V. K. Sastry Visual Music Dr. S. Venkstasobratnoaia l | Iyer Niiakastha Sivan and his composition Sri P. K. Rajagopala Iyer Samskrita and Saagita / (Dr. V. Raghavan Shashtyabdapurti Endowment Lecture)

Rdday, 1st January 1982

Ksbira Sudha group—Pancha Ganapati kritis

Dr. R. Nagaswamy Dance Traditions in Tamilnadu paintings Staff Artistes—All India Radio, Vijayawada Kuchipudi dance compositions

Concluding Function of the Experts Committee

21st DECEMBER, 1981

The first day's meeting of the Experts’ Advisory Committee o f the Music Academy, convened in connection with its 55th Anapki Conference, commenced today with the rendering of devotional songs on Kapaliswtfra and Kajcpagambal of Mylapore hy Sri Lalgudi M. Swaminathan. Vidwan T. M. Thyagarajan, Resident of the Conference, was in the chair.

Smt. Malathi Janardhanan, Lecturer in the Teachers* College of Music of the Academy, presented a lecture demonstration on the * Personality of Tyagaraja as reflected in Ids Nauka Charitram *. She emphasized the fact that the opera represented a particular faeel of the many-sided genius of the composer. The plot was Tyagaraja’s own creation and was not found in the Bhagavatam. The story describes a boat trip undertaken on the river Yamuna by the Copts in the company of young Krishna during which he humbles their pride by creating a storm and making them surrender to him. The speaker sang a number of songs from the opera to show how Tyagaraja employed with great effect rakti ragas like , and as well as folk melodies like the boat song in .

Sri B. Rajanikanta Rao, Director of the Sri Venkateswara Kalapitham at Tirupati, spoke on ‘ Kshetrayya and his padams *. Introducing the speaker, Sri T. S. Parthasarathy, Secretary of the Academy, said that Sri Rao belonged to a family of poets and was a musician, composer and author of 4 Andhra Vaggeyakara charitram \

The speaker said that Kshetrayya was bora ia the village of Mowa near Kuchipudi in Andhra and was an adept in music and Bharata Sastra. • He travelled all over and composed padams on the deities of the places be visited. He spent many years in Madurai and where he was patronized by the 3 0 THB JOURNAL OP TUB MADRAS MUSIC A CA D Blif [V o L U I I

Nayak rulers like Vijayaraghava Nayak. His padas represented a unique amalgam of music, devotion and the essence of the Nayaka~ nayaki motif in Hindu philosophy. Sri Rao sang a number of padas like * Sripati sutubariki () and ' Vedukato * in Devagandhari to illustrate his points.

Sri K. Chandrasekharan complimented the sp&aipr on the clarity with which the latter explained the difficult subject and the true literary flavour of the discourse.

Sri Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer presented a lecture demon­ stration entitled * Raga Vilakkam*. He took up ragas like Dfiipakam (Ramaniyeda), Narayanagaula (Kadalevadu gade), Devamruta- varshini (Evarani) and explained bow, although these ragas closely resembled other ragas, they had their own individuality if sung according to their correct lakshanas. Balahamsa was another raga which had to be understood properly by singers. Its was sa, ri, ma, pa, dha, sa and sa, ni, dha, pa, ma, ri, mil, g», sa. He sang ‘ Ikakavalasinademi * of Tyagaraja to prove bis point. In many kritis of Tyagaraja. like * Nee muddu moma * (Kamalamanohari) and * Intanuchu * (Gundakriya) the ragalakshana was evident in the pallavi itself.

Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, President of the Conference, compli­ mented the speaker on his useful presentation which will be of immense benefit to musicians and students.

22nd DECEMBER, 1981

Sri T. S. Vasudevan, Sri V. Muthukrishnan and Sint. T. V. Sundaravalli rendered devotional music at the commencement o f the second day’s meeting of the Experts* Committee. They sang a selection of tarangams from the ‘ Krishna Lila Tarangini ' of Narayana Tirtha, which included * Jaya Jaya Svamin * (Saurashtram), Java Jaya Ramanatha ’ (Natal, ‘ Govinda ghataya* (Bhairavi) and 4 Viksheham’ (). The President thanked the singers for their excellent rendering of the compositions.

Sri S. R. Janakiraman of the Sri Venkateswara Kalapitham, Tirupati, presented a lecture demonstration on 4 An analytical study MflgnKOt o r ism e x p e r t s ’ c o m m it t e e 31 of Tysgaraja's compositions’. The speaker said that at the time of the advent of Tyagaraja, the previous musical tradition bad reached its saturation point and a new path had to be struck. Tyagaraja achieved this in an ample measure aud epitomized the music of his times, at the same time, making provision for its future development on entirely fresh channels. He employed the same ragas to serve different purposes and moods from small kritis to grand pieces like ‘Dotakuna* (). The speker cited many such examples and sang snatches from a number of kritis to prove his points. x

Sri T. K. Govinda Rao commended the speaker on his interest* ing presentation.

Sri S. Rajam, accompanied by Smt. K. V. Soumya, gave a lecture demonstration on “ Vivadi mela ragas in Karnatic music *. The speaker said that after Venkatamakhi wrote his * Chaturdandi Prakasika \ some notes came to be known as vivadi svaras and the melas in which they occurred were called vivadi melas. There wa* no justification for developing an aversion to such ragas as giants like Tyagaraja and Dikshitar had composed a number of pieces in such ragas. They did not find any ' dosba ’ in them. Therefore an attempt should be made to understand them correctly and render them avoiding all dissonant effects* He sang * Evarito * () and ‘ Lemi delpa ’ (), * Ne morabettite * (), * Phani- patisayee ’ (Jhankaradhvani) as illustrations and also * Ew art’ (Gangeya bhushani).

Smt. Ritha Rajan, Assistant Professor of Music, Queen Mary’s College, presented a lecture demonstration on Balaswami Dikshitar and his compositions. Balaswami was the younger brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar and was a versatile composer in his own right. He was patronized by the then ruler of Ettayapuram who made him his Asthana Vidwan. The lecturer sang a representative selection of Balaswami's compositions including * Sri Rajadhiraja ’ (ata tala in ), * Arti dirchi’ (Kannada), *Nive rasikasikhamani’ (Rudrapriya), *Samiki sari’ (Vasanta) and *Sri Subrahmanya * (Saranga). Balaswami Dikshitar was an adept in composing chitta swaras and other beautiful ornamentations to enhance the aesthetic value of his compositions: 32 THE JOURMAL & THB MADRAS MI78IC ACADBMV [ VoL LIIl

23*d DECEMBER, 1931

The meeting o f the Experts* Advisory Committee commenced with the singing of devotional songs in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam by Smt. Kamala Sitaraman and party. The composers covered included Annamaih&rya, Puran- dara Dasa, Mirabai and Tukaram. , V

Sri Sukumar Prasad gave a demonstration on the Guitar as adapted to play Karnatic music. Although the Guitar is a six- stringed and fretted Western instrument, it can be successfully employed to' play Karnatic music as its tonal quality is rich and it is possible to produce all the gamakas of our music. Sri Prasad played a varnam in , * Marakata vallim * in and a time in Sindhubhairavi.

Sri C. S. Krishna Iyer delivered a talk on the ‘ Teaching of raga singing * with suitable demonstrations of raga aiapatsa. The speaker said that raga was a unique feature of Indian music and was a part of manodharma sangita like neraval and kalpana swaras. Really speaking, raga singing cannot be taught by a guru in Its entirety but must be learnt by the student on his own by constant listening, practice and experience. The contours of many ntgas were to be found in the avarohana rather than in the arohana.

Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Sri T. Viswanathan also emphasized that correct teaching methods played an important role in musical education.

Sri S. V. Parthasarathi presented a talk on ‘some allied ragas in Karnatic music \ He said that as gamakas played a vital role in our music, the early swara exercises themselves should be taught with gamakas and correct emphasis on the key notes. The speaker sang snatches from , Devagandhari, Surati, and Saurashtram to show how, the way in which some notes were sung, distinguished one raga from an afliedt one. Sri Titte Krishna Iyengar endorsed the views expressed by tie speaker. W W W ? V W ,m m *\W W lTW 33

*W

Min Kie Hinmitsu fn»j t»MP,^jptopia M |f W music from (he Delhi University, rendered devotional songs at the commencement of todays meeting of the Experts Committee. She sang ‘ Krishna baro * and • Rama Rama ’ (Purandara Dasa), ‘Bhajare Gopalam ’ and ' Gayati Vanamali* (Sadasiva Brahmendra) "and • Pahi Ram * (Tyagaraja).

Sri Titte Krishna Iyengar presented a lecture demonstration on the ‘ application of ancient and modern ragas to Haridasag’ com­ position?’. He said that although Purandara Dasa is called gm * Karnataka sapgita pitamaha * hardly any of his original tunes are sung nowadays. Many pew ragas, which were not inexistence during the time of the Dasa, are now being employed for pis com­ positions. The original tunes had a charm of their own and new­ fangled ragas often did not fit in with the sahitya bhava of the compositions which are purely devotional. The speaker sang a number of compositions like * Be pariya sobagava ’ * Rama Rama eaniro* and ‘ Bhagyada Lakshmi baramma ’ in the old and new tunes to illustrate his points.

Sri B. Rajam Iyer gave an illustrated talk on * Hindustani ragas handled by Muthuswami Dikshitar He cited the authority of the late Sangita Kalanidhi T. L. Venkatarama Iyer who had opined that during the later part of his five years stay at Benares, Dikshitar availed himself of the opportunity to study Hindustani music in depth and imbibe the best elements from that style. Ragas like Hamir , Yamuna Kalyani, Brindavana Saranga and Suddha Vasanta were among the ragas which showed clear traces of Hindu­ stani influence. The speaker sang ‘ Parimala Ranganatham ’ (Hamir Kalyani), ‘ Kayarqhan^m ’ (Devagapdharam) and ‘ Nandagopala ’ (Yamuna Kalyani) a$ examples.

Srnt. yidya Shankar presented an illustrated talk on ‘ Subbaraya Sa$trj aad j)is compositions \ Subbaraya Sastri was the inheritor of a great quisical tradition. He was the son of Syama Sastri and a diy^pjeptf Tyagairaja. ff is compositions, although small in number, wet* o#sdJed t i t m tepiete the best elements of tradMiopal Karnatic music. He was a great Pevi bhakta and led a contented 5 3 4 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L U I

life devoted to music and composing. The speaker sang and played on the Vina excerpts from Sastri’s compositions to illustrate his unique style and swara sahitya excellence.

Sri T. M. Thyagarajan complimented the speaker on her excellent presentation.

25th DECEMBER, 1981

Sri V. Muthukrishnan rendered pieces from the Saivite Panniru Tirumarai at the commencement of today’s meeting of the Experts* Committee. He sang ' Samera sura* (Arabhi), « Mangayarkarasi (Bauli), * Allalen * () * Andanalan * (Kambhoji). and * Vin- nalum * ().

Sri M. Sankaranarayanan presented a lecture demonstration on. the * Chandams of Tiruppugazh *. He said that although Tiru Jnanasambandhar and Tirumazhisai Alvar had earlier composed in the Chandam style, the art form reached its acme of perfection at the hands of Arunagirinatha, the author of (he Tiruppugazh. Arunagirinatha was a versatile genius and his Chandams in Tamil have no equal in any language in the world. They were peculiar to the Tamilian genius. Arunagirinatha was also the inventor of numerous talas not found in earlier compositions or music treatises, the talas automatically flowing from the chandams handled by him. The speaker sang a number of Tiruppugazh songs to illustrate what are known as * Chanda-talams *•

Mr. Michael Nixon, assisted by Mr. Anantharajan, presented a lecture demonstration on “ the varnams of Govindasamayya ”► Govindasamayya, his brother Kuvanasamayya and Sarangapani, the famous pada composer were the Asthana vidwans of Karvet- nagar and belonged to the pre-Trinity period. Govindasamayya was known as the 'tana varna margadarsi*, the pioneer in composing tana varnas, some of which were of epic proportions. His patron was Venkata Perumal Raju who ruled from 1719-1732. The speaker sang the long varnam of Govindasamayya in Mohana as an illustra. tion of the composer’s extraordinary talents. MB8T1NC* WTHB EXPERTS’ COMMITHE 35

«: Dr, Josef Kuckertz, Head of the Institute of Comparative Musicology, Freie University of Berlin (West Germany) delivered a talk on the ‘Folk songs of Central India * with illustrations re­ corded on tapes. The examples included studies in the regional music of South India with compositions in Marathi. Kannada, Teluga and Tamil*

The speaker said that the recordings were made in the villages concerned to the accompaniment of the original musical instruments. The folk songs represented the joys and sorrows, the hopes and aspirations and the JodU traditions of rural people. Lavanis.^totras, padyas and khyalis formed ,the folk tunes and povadas described the deeds of heroes.

26th DECEMBER, 1981

Smt. Rajalakshmi Santhanam sang verses from the Tiroppavai of Andal and the Divya Prabandham of Alvars at the commence- ment of today’s meeting. The verses sung included * Margazbi Tingal * (Bauli) and pasurams by Nammalvar, Tirumangai Alvar, Kulasekhara Alvar and Periyatvar on the ten avatars of Vishnu.

Smt. Gomathi Viswanathan, Reader and Head of the Depart­ ment of Kamatic music, University of Delhi, gave an illustrated talk on ‘ Padams in Tamil \ Muthn Tandavar, Marimuthu Pillai, Ghanam Krishna Iyer, Vaithiavarankoil Subbarama Iyer, Kavi- kunjara Bharati and Gopalakrishna Bharati are among the leading composers of padams in Tamil. Tamil padams were replete with prosodical beauties, alliteration, local idioms, proverbs and witty sayings. The composers lived during the 18th and 9th centuries and their music was strongly influenced by that of the Trinity. Many Tamil padams had the same eduppu as kritis although later, jatis and tala intricacies had been introduced to make them suitable for dance and abhinaya. To illustrate her points, the speaker sang * Un adrishtam * (Dhanyasi—Kavikunjari Bharati), ‘Ini enna pechu* (—Subbarama Iyer), * Eonatan ’ (Saveri—Madhurakavi) and * Inda perumai ’ (Begada—Kadigai Mooku Pulavar).

Sri Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Principal of the Govern­ ment College of Music, Hyderabad, gave a lecture demonstration U t h b jou«ftAL m f*m *umte m m *emtmr lv o i. u t i

r n « t m f # Kftnttitifcaitf HfUddstaKi kyfcawiA dfcnwia* tefimmce lb GAinakas*. He Mf» that it #a» the gftftatkfti which gave He dVD 9t^idi«tiiici}vehfd^i^bftl(y and character. He euumifated the ifltpeitHre mrastbfififls add Sang the svataa With m n tmi aam m both the system ; some averts osemated between two notes in peculiar ways to produce the raga effect. He s^rig Durbari Kanada, Bhairavi, , , h ik t add btKer W is h * m&ftgtttn*.

SriT. V. Rijegbpilaif spoke on the ‘ Influence of the Mdlekatta scheme on Kamhtic music * and initiated a discussion bn the subject. Taking iwel+tf sV&fastbaoa# in sn betave, only 32 are possible. But. Venkatamakhi worked out a 72 melakarta scheme based on a 16 octave with four additional notes like Suddha Gandharaetc. It was a mere classification and all melas were not ragas. Some were only scales and skeletons. Venkatamakhi himself Was fully aware of the difficulties of handling vivadi svardS. Levant Venkata Rao was the first to compose a raga malika of the 72 melas called the ‘ Babattafa Mela Raga Malika’. This Was followed by Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer’s famous ‘ Mela Raga Malika* in Sanskrit. The speaker was not against new ragas but they should have an aesthetic appeal like time-honoured ragas like Kambhoji.

27th DECEMBER, 1981

The meeting commenced with the singing of Swati Tirunal’i Hindi in the original Hindustani ragas by the * Gana Malika ’ group. The notation for the bhajans has been published at Bombay in the Bhatkbande notation.

The bhajans rendered included ‘Jaya Jaya Devi’ (Durga), ‘ Nanda nandana' (), ‘ Sisa Ganga’ (Bairagi) ‘ Avadha Sukha ’ () and * Ramachandra Prabhu * ().

Dr. S. Ramanatban presented a lecture dembnsttation on * Subrahmanya Bharati’s musical compositions * He said that Bharati had a sound knowledge of music, and had good faga jnana and swara jnana. He himself set to music many of his compositions including two in Sanskrit. Bharati was a contemporary of Subba- rama Diksbitar at Ettayapuram and had great admiration and :

K. Cbandrasektfar&n released the book ‘Gifa Mafjkav, containing kritis 6f well-known composers set to notation by Vidwaa T. M. Thyagarajan. The first copy was received by Sangitft Kalanidhi Semmangadi Srinivasa Iyer.

Pandit Narayana Rao Joshi of Calcutta presented an illustrated talk on the ‘ Essentials of Hindustani music.’ He said that the old time became obsolete in course of time as gamed in popularity, and occupied the major part of present day concerts* ‘the was another attractive composition in North Indian music. He sang a Dhrupad (Sankara), Thumri (Khamach), Khyal, , Ohazal, Quwali and a and explained their features and importance in Hindhstani music.

Vidwan T. M. Thyagarajan, the President of the Conference, gave a demonstration of the Tamil Compositions of Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai who lived about 100 years ago. He sang * Jagadisvari ’ (), ‘ Ekkalattilum ’ ( Kalyani) and ‘ Sri Kamakshi ’ (Vasanta) and explained how the composer had fitted in beautiful swara-sahityas in them.

28th DECEMBER 1981

The Soundarya Maadar Sangam sang verses from the Stotras of Vedanta Desika at the commencement of today's meeting of the Experts’ Committee of the Music Academy. The verses had been selected from the Ooda Stuti, Bhagavad Dhyafta Sopanam, G^pala Virasati, Daya Satakam and Sri Stuti.

Dr. (Kumari) Indrani Chakravarti, Head of the Department of Music, Himachal Pradesh University, Simla, presented an illustrated 38 THE JODKNftL 0 * THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [ V d . U I I

talk on * Vocal compositional forms adopted in the Sitar *. the Sitar has many playing techniques, it also follows vocal com­ positional forms and has developed the Masitkhani and Razakhani Gats. She played different kinds of compositions like Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khyal and and illustrated how these forms were adopted to be played Oh the Sitar. The Sitar thus made a significant contribution to Hindustani music introducing new st|llt of play and widening the scope of improvisation.

Smt. Gowry Kuppuswamy, Professor of Music in the Mysore University, gave a lecture demonstration on the Padi Vanias of Svati Tirunal. Sbe said that there were 16 pad a varnams of the ruler in different talas and in rare ragas like Ghanta. They were full of rhetorical beauties like Svaraksharas, Yati patterns and prasa excellence. These formed a rich treasure of dance compositions which are becoming popular in the dance field day by day. The languages employed were Telugu, Samskrit and Malayalam. Sim sang * Sa vama rusha ’ in KLhamas, ‘ Dani Simajendra * In Todi and ‘ Palaya mam ’ in Purnachandrika as illustrations.

Mr. Robert Moran, a noted Western music composer from New York, spoke on ‘ the influence of Indian thought and culture ’ on his works. He played samples of his compositions evolved after a study of Indian music.

29th DECEMBER, 1981

The * Sankara Manohari * group sang selected kritis on Devi at the beginning of today’s meeting of the Experts* Committee. The songs included * Mahalakshmi * (Madhava manohari-Dikshitar), 4 Tappulanni ’ (Bauli-Muthayya Bhagavatar), 4 Minalochani * (Dhanyasi-Syama Sastri), * Visalakshim ’ (Pantuvarali-Dikshitar), 4 Tamasama’ (Kuntalavarali—Si van), ‘ Dharma Samvardhani' < Madhyamavati—Diksh itar).

Smt. Nirmala Ramachandran, a noted Bharata Natyam artiste and scholar, presented an illustrated talk on “ Traditional dance compositions in Bharata Natyam.** Sbe said that the present day jffitmot or IBB OBOfiTIBe 39

dance recital pattern Aied lisbBtt4 tlie ttme the Xanjoso Quartette who were not only palace vidwans bat were also attached to the firihadiswara temple for nattuvangam. It was possible that the brothers remodelled die old compositions with some artistic changes to tnake them suitable for Bharata Natyam which included Nritta, Nritya and Abhinaya.

The speaker sang an alarippu, jatiswaram and a sabdamas examples of traditional dance compositions. She then explained the characteristics of the pada varna and its main role in a dance recital. It was the pada varna. that served to bring out the best aspects of pure nritta and aritya with enormous scope for facial expression with sanchari bhavas. It was the piece de resistance that achieved a fusion of bhava, raga and tala. She sang the padam ' Mohamana ’ in Bhairavi and performed abhinaya to the Tamil padam ‘ Tiruvotriyur She also sang a Javali in Purvi- kalyani and a in .

Sri R. K. Venkatarama Sastri read a paper on some rare compositions of the Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamaraja Wodeyar. He said that Sri Wodeyar was a keen student of music, both Indian and Western and a composer of great merit in Karnatic music. He specialized in composing in rare ragas and giving them a unique form and shape. 94 compositions of this ex-ruler of Mysore were available now. By way of demonstration, the Rudra- patnam Brothers—Sri Tyagarajan and Sri Taranathan—sang * Gam Ganapate’ (Durvanki), ‘ Amba Sri Raja Rajesvari* (Bhoga Vasanta), Sarasvatim * (Hamsavinodini), ‘ Sri Ranganatha ’ (Kan­ nada) and * Bhuri bhogya ’ (Pratapavarali).

Mr. William Jackson of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University (U.S.), who is working for a Ph. D. thesis on Tyagaraja, read a paper on ' Tyagaraja—continuities and departures *. He said that Tyagaraja was a devoted follower of traditian and was strongly influenced by Annamacbarya. Kshetrajna, Bhadr&chala Ramadasa and Narayana Tirtha but struck out along new paths in music and sahitya. The speaker cited a number of kritls to illustrate his points. 0 THE m m * * W ty C AWfflSflr [Vol. LIII

m * w Q 8 M iii. m

The Sunadamala 0roup of ladies from Hyderabad $*0# scJeqted kritis frpm Annaraaebarya and $h%4m£M JRapi#dft$3 #t the beginning of the meeting of the Experts’ Cpmmittpp, Tt** songs rendered included * Dasaratha Ram# * (Varsljjb ‘ Ippuditu * (Raga Malika) and * Chateda * (Madhyamavati). '■* .• . i Dr. Bruno Nettl, Professor of Musicology, UDiversity of Illinois, (U.S.V delivered a talk on * Improvisation in Iranian classical mu$ic’ supported by recordings made in Iran during his stay there, lie said that there was much common ground between Indian music , and Iranian music. Modern Iranian music has both composed music and improvised music. The samples played by him included vocal music and recordings of the santoor and other instruments including drums. The san oor is a popular instrument in Kashmir and has been adapted for classical Hindustani music.

Assisted by Smt Hema Sampath of Hubli, Dr. V. Subramaniam of the Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, gave a demonstration of his own Sanskrit compositions on Buddhist themes. He had composed eleven dance-dramas on such thtmes nod published them in works like • Paneha Kaaya Tarangini \ ‘ Visa Kanya Vahipi * and * Sangbamitra*. The lasfrnamed dance drama had ahead* been staged at Madras and Other centres a number qf times. The compositions rendered included ‘ Kama Moha’ (Darhsr), 4 Ragaham ’ (), ‘ Vandeham ’ (), * Aya$i *

31st DECEMBER, 198!

The meeting commenced with the singing of devotional songs by students of the Teachers* College of Music of the Music Academy. The songs sang included a Divyanama by Tyagaraja, kirtana by Vijaya Dasa, Tiruppavai, a sankirtana by Annamacharya, a MP?$NGS' Of - EXPERT!*. COMMKTBB ,; , . 41

t*nW9>'Qcvacnima ty Puraodara Dasa, a Tevaram, Tiruppugazh and a of Diksbitar* Sri B. V. K. Sastry, musicologist and critic from Bangalore, presented an illustrated talk on ‘ Visual Music*. He said that dmsic Could not only be heard but also seen in inscriptions and paintings. In the West, machines had been devised to project colour music. . The idea of giving a concrete form to the aural beauty of music is an old one. The best known examples of visualisation of Indian music are the Ragamalo paintings. These are found in almost all books on Indian painting- Rafcamala paintings depict not only ragas but also sthayi, sruti, murchana, svaras and even talas as devatas with vahanas, garlands, crowns and ornaments. The depictions closely followed the slokas in various works which describe the ragas in great detail. These paintiogs are mostly found in Kangra Valley and Rajasthan. The speaker projected 27 miniature slides of the paintings and explained their significance.

Dr. S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer, retired Professor of Sanskrit, Kerala University, presented a lecture demonstration on * Nilakantha Sivan and his compositions*. Sivan was born in 1839 at Padma- nabhapuram and passed away at Trivandrum in 1900. Even as a boy, he studied works like Tevaram and organized bhajana among school boys. He served as a village magistrate for some years but resigned his post as he could not tolerate the indignities of office. He became a saint and embarked upon a life of composing songs of a devotional nature, kannis, padikams and ashtakams. About 300 of his kritis are traceable and some of them like * Navasiddhi ’ (), * Ihaparam * (Khamas), and * Anandanatam * (Purvikalyani) became very popular in concerts. Smt. Sarasvati Muthuswamy and Smt. Bhagyalakshmi Ramachandran rendered four kritis and one ragamalika of Nilakantha Sivan by way of illustration. These included * Vava kalai mate ’ (), * Karunai * (Varalij and * Nathanai nampum ’ (Ragamalika).

Sri P. K. Rajagopala Iyer, scholar and musicologist, delivered the Dr. V. Raghavan Shashtyabdapurti Endowment lecture, the subject being ‘ Samskrita and Sangita He said that Indian music originated from the vocal sama gana in which the rudiments of raga alapana and even niraval were found. Sanskrit cannot be 6 J|2 THE KMttMXL OP THB]iAt>*»«MU«lC n c s t U f t { V o l. u n

wparaMd fata SaogiOi M dotoom toe the fetaty'of Ob NflfjNr Dikshitar’s compositions. •*’'* * * 1 i.-f ..Ut - As regards row* treatises, authors right front the time of Bharata to Bhatkhaqde aod Kasiaatha Appa Tplasi of the 20th coatory chose to writs them io Sanskrit for aIM*4» readership, although they covered both the Hindustani and Kataatak styles* The speaker traced the contribution of Vidyaranya, Ramamatya, Venkatamakhi and others to the classification of melas and ragas. He sang examples from the gitas of * Sangraha Chudamani ’ of Govinda and a kriti of Dikshitar an illustrations.

1st JANUARY, 1982

The last day’s meeting of the Experts’ Committee commenced with the singing of the * Pancha Ganapati * kritis by the Kshira Sudha group of ladies* These songs formed part of sixteen such compositions in Sanskrit written by Mahakavi Sundaresa Sarma of Thaojavur. The songs rendered included * Bala Ganapati ’ (Nata), * Dvija Ganapati * (Hindolam), ‘Uchchishta Ganapati ’i(Karnbhoji), ‘ Vijaya Ganapati V(Kapi), ‘ Lakshmi Ganapati ’ (Bilahari).

Sri P. Srinivasao, Station Director, AH India Radio, Vijayawada presented a musical feature based on the dance-dramas of Kuchipudi. A number of artistes of the Vijayawada Radio station including well-known singers like Sri Voleti Venkateswarulu and Kumari Vinjamuri Lakshmi participated and sang compositions typical of the Kuchipudi repertory. Introducing the theme, the speaker traced the tradition of the South to which the Kuchipudi operas belonged. The darus of the operas, specially composed for different stories like Bhamakalapam, were mostly in Madhyamakala and Drutakala. The viiambita laya was seldom used in the Kuchipudi but it was found in the Bhagavata mela. In addition to such compositions, Kuchipudi bhagavatars made use of the padams of Kshetrajoa, tarangams of Narayana Tirtha, Ashtapadis and sabdams composed by Meiattur Kasinathayya.

Sri Voleti Venkataswarulu sang the popular versions of ragas like , Ahiri, Kapi and Sokavarali, which, although pleasant to hear, were not according to grammar. This was followed by the rendering of ‘Amba Paraku’ (Mohanam), ‘Rave Madbavi *• *mmm* mwrnmmM^ew^ ** (Ahiri),‘Mudau# «A»Md*blHHfavi)nod‘ Bodubotivi?(Mukhnri). The Gaoa|»M ,K»y?itv«ai and two sabdama w » « l» »uii* «f illustrations.

Dr* R, Nagaswamy, Director of Arcbaealogy, Govt, of Tamil Nadu, speaking on “ Dance traditions as gleaned from Tamil paintings ", drew attention to the changing patterns in dress, con- stumes and jewellery through the ceoturies. The mural paintings aod sculptures are: valuable sources in understanding the history of dance. Illustrating his talk with slides, he showed that in the Pallava and Chola periods, dancers paid great attention to the * Nritya* aspect emphasizing Bhava—as evidenced by the paintings of dancers in Sittannayasal and'Tanjore. The art of dance was at Its zenith in 10th and lith centuries A.D., wheo grace, elegance, rhythm and Bhava flowed in a natural hlend. The superlative bronze images of the Chola period, particularly the figures of Nataraja of the Cholas. stand witness to the height reached by th$ art of dance. A study of dance portrayed in paintings shows that as in literature, architecture, sculpture and society, the art of dance also showed a steady decline, after 11th century A.D., robbed of its classical elegance. Mural paintings of 17th and 18th centuries A.D., in places like the Ramalingavilasam at Ramnad, show the impact of Mughal traditions on Bharata Natya dance forms, which flowed through the Deccan. The lecturer showed illustrations of dancers of Tanjore court who were contemporary with the famous Tanjore Quartette. He said that the term ‘ Bharata Natyam ’ for- the classical dance was already mentioned in a manuscript of 18th century from the Kongu country and was not a new nomenclature of this century as has been held by some scholars. Dr. Nagaswamy also drew attention to the Tamil text * Kulappa nayakkan * virali vidu dutu’ written around 1725 A.D., (100 years earlier than the Tanjore brothers) giving a complete sequence of dance, performed by a dancing girl in the thousand pillared hall of Madurai, begin­ ning from Pushpanjali, followed by Ganesa Kaustubam, Alari, Kaiccalam, Sollukattu, Jati, Gitam, Prabandham, Padam, Abhi- nayam, Jaggani and Desi ending with Jayamangalam.

Concluding Function

Sri T. S. Parthasarathy, Secretary, gave a resume of the Experts’ Committee meetings of the 55th Annual Conference and 44 THE JOURNAL 09 THE MAORA8 MU&1C ACADfiatV [Vol. LIU said that a large variety of topics On both the theoretical and practical aspects of maste was covered during themoraing ttssiOns.

Vidwao T. M. Thyagarajan thanked the musicians and others who assisted him in conducting the proceedings of the Conference and said that every one must co-operate with die Music Academy to enable it to achieve its objectives. M

Sri K. R. Sundaram Iyer, President of the Academy, thanked the Vidwans and alt others who made the 55th Coikference a success.

Sarvasri V. Sethuramiah, V. V. Narasimhacharyulu, Aripirala Sathyanarayanamurthi, R. K. Srikaotan, C. S. Krishna Iyer and Dr. S. Sita spoke in appreciation of the manner in which the morning sessions of the 55th Conference were conducted. Speeches were made in all the four languages of South India, Sri Sethuramiah speaking in Tamil, Sri Sathyanarayanamurthi in Telugu, Sri R. K. Srikantan in Kannada and Sri C. S. Krishna Iyer in Malayalam. The Sadas (Convocation) of 1 Conference was held in the Auditorium of the Ac on 1st Jan. 1982 with Sint. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, 1 Adviser of the Govt., of India New Delhi, in the

There was a distinguished mbers of the Academy, music lovers, musicians a proceedings began with a prayer by Sait. R. Vedava an it

The Sadas was convoked by Sri S. Welcoming Smt. Dr. Kapila Vats; Sri K. R. Sundaram Iyer, President of the

“ Dr. Smt. Kapila Vatsyayan Vidw**: Ladies and Gentlemen: ft A IMro'Sf . !?i.\ ■ ■ V I extend to you this evening a warm Sadas (Convocation) of the 55th Annual Conference cr nod wish you all happiness and prosperity year commencing from today. vct ;

This morning we concluded a twclve-da| ipnp| our 55th Annual Conference. Our festival of m’villn fti continue till tomorrow evening. It is a matterJhrgpmfrM0|MMo ns that our concerts were well-attended despite were several other similar festivals concnrrentl^M iP pliM M I9 city. Our concerts covered not only veterans in but a number of young and promising artistes * !• iltf#Ui-tu JMt brought to the forefront. Nearly 150 vidwarib -9Bi- participated in the concerts and I thank them fo ^ ^ ' performances. \. Vidwan T. M. Thyagarajan, the President of this year’s con- ference, gave a concert on 22-12-1981 and it was greatly appreciated by a large and discerning audience. He also gave an interesting demonstration on the 27th December. A publication entitled * Gita Malika containing 25 kritis by various composers set to notation by him, was released on the same day. 4 6 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [V o l. L U C

The morning sessions of AUr Experts’ committee attracted large audiences of musicians . %4p ipifsic' lowers and a wide spectrum of subjects was covered bjf the speakers. Musicologists from the United States and West GeN^any participated in the demonstra­ tions as also two musicians/from the Hindustani area in addition to Karnatic musicians anfd scholars. The classical music of Iran was covered for the fir^ft A Japanese woman linger in the Karnatic style took part b&our devotional music session. A rich fare was provided by ^ those who presented papars, talks and lecture-demonstrations./ Vidwan Thyagarajan attended the morning sessions regularly and/played an active part in the discussion. His summing up every d&y, irrespective of varied subjects, was scholarly and I wish to. empja&sise, educative.

Our Sad^s today is presided over by Dr. Smt. KapilaVatsyayan* a scholar who is eminent in more fields than one. She is a well- known art historian and writer on Indian dance forms. She is the Joint Educational Adviser to the Union Ministry of Education and Vice-Chairman of the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi. Commence ing her career as a teacher of English literature and Western art criticism, she turned her attentiontn a 1 itudy of Indian artistic traditioh. Her works, monographs and research papers like * The Classical Indian Dance’, ‘ in the arts of Asia’ and < Gita Goyinda in Indian Art tradition ’ are definitive works much respected in the field of scholarship.

She is herself a dedicated dancer and has done much to revive old dance traditions in different parts of India. Her recent attempt to revive the ‘ Tyagesar Kurayanji * at the thousand-pillared hall at the Chidambaram shrine and the offering of a ‘ Natyanjaji ’ to Lord Nataraja were warmly praised by lovers of Bharata Natyam. She is a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and also a recipient of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship. Her recent book—“Traditional Theatre—Multiple Streams” —dedicated to the memory of Dr. Raghavan—is an indication of the regard she has for our former Secretary. She has been showing a keen interest in the work of this Academy and has also referred to.it in many meetings in North India. It is in the fitness of things that she presides over this Sadas and I thank her for so kindly agreeing to do so without minding the heavy pressure on her time. In additiontatheusual usicians who had participated in coneertsduri die Conference and prizes for the successful Candida titions and certiflk cales to students of our Teac Music, we have selected a se n io r musician and this year to be awarded Certificates of Merit fo hed service to the cause of music.

; 1. Vina Vidwan Sri Devako1 2. Dr. S. Venkitasqbramonia1

I once again extend to all of Dr. Smt. Kapila Vatsyayan to presid the proceedings.”

Sri T. S. Parthasarathy, Secretary df Vidwan Sri T. M. Thyagarajan, Presided

VIDWAN SRI TANJAVUR M. THYAGARAJAN

“ Born at Tanjavur on 28-5-1923, His father, Tanjavur Mahalingam Pillaij* was a leading vocalist and Mridangam player. Became the disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer in 1941 and had intensive training in all aspects of vocal music. Acquired a large repertoire of musical compositions and expertise 4 8 THE JOURNAL OP THE M O R kS f llU SlC ACADEMY {V oL L I I I

in manodharma sangita. Serve® the Government College of Carnatic Music, Madras, as Professot* and Vice-Principal. Retired as Principal of the Government Music College at Madurai in July 1981. Well-known for his J creative approach to rsga alapana and proportionate swam prastaraf, Has composed vamams in rare ragas and set to music many compositions.”

The President of tb(e Sadas, Smt. Dr. Kapila Vat'syayan, con­ ferred the title of Sa^ita Kalanidhi’ on Sri T. M. Thyagarajan and presented him with t he Sanad and the Insignia of the title.

Sri K. R. Sundaj&m Iyer, President of the Academy, presented to Sri T. M. Thyagarajan a cheque for Rs. 3200/- being the interest from an endowment made by Sri C. V. Narasimhan, to be awarded to the President' of each year’s conference of the Music Academy, Madras.

The Academy had selected two senior experts who had done distinguished service in the field of music for the award of Certifi­ cates of Merit.

Sri S. Ramaswamy, Executive Trustee of the Academy, presented Vidwan Sri Devakottai Narayana Iyengar.

VIDWAN SRI DEVAKOTTAI A. NARAYANA IYENGAR

“ Born at Devakottai in 1905; Son of Azhagarsami Iyengar and Soundaravalli Ammal. lntially learnt Vina playing from Tiruvidaimarudur Gottu Vadyam Sakharam Rao. Then became t a t 4>«hb^ # Kxutai) tatarfc $»»*»- a w Inn- k M tm Vi** «rta«

Smt. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan awarded the Certificate of Merit to Sri Devakottai Narayana Iyengar and a cash award of Rs. 500/-.

* ' Sri T. S. Rangarajan, Secretary of the Academy, p&sented Dr. S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer.

DR. S. VENKITASUBRAMONIA IYER

“ Bom at Trivandrum in 1919 in a family of Sanskrit scholars and music lovers. Learnt music from Venkatadri Bhagavatar and Attingal Padmanabha Bhagavatar.

Drawn towards the music of Svati Tirunal from an early age; encouraged by T. Lakshmana Pillai and Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer. Author of several works like «Svati Tirunal and his Music * Sangita Sastra Pravesika Malayalam translation of Muthiah Bhagavatar’s ‘ Sangita Kalpadrumam and numerous research monographs on a variety of musical subjects. 7 3 0 THE JOURNAL OF THB MfcfMtATMUSIC ACADEMY [V oL L IU

Associated withtheMusicAcademyi MadrasftoitfI945j h it presented several lecture-demonstrations and contributed teaftfii articles to its. Journal. * A i

Served the Kerala University in different capacities and retired as Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit/’ zt

. ^ Smt. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan awarded to Dr. S: Venkita- suhmmonia lyer the Certificate of Merit and a cash award of RSi 500/-.

. Smt. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan then delivered her address as President of the Sadas. . \ x , a * • a She said that institutions like die Madras Music Academy must help to create among the masses an appreciation of dance and music. A big effort was needed by various organisations to take the fine arts to the masses. Years ago the country’s dance tradition was confined to temples. Later it moved to urban areas. Today there was a feeling that some of these forms of fine arts were languishing. We must evolve a strategy whereby these traditions could be taken to the rural areas.

The traditions of the North and South were complementary. There was inscriptional evidence to show that these traditions permeated to all parts of the country.

This outiook was broken only about a hundred years ago. It was this “ pan-Indian” movement which was needed to be revived.

Smt. Vatsyayan referred to the efforts being taken by the Kanchi Sankaracharya to bring various forms of art together during the annual arts sadas.

Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer and Sri K. Chandrasekharan offered felicitations to Vidwan T. M. Thyaga- rajan, Vidwan Sri Devakottai Narayana Iyengar and Dr. S. Venkita- subramonia Iyer for the honour conferred on them by the Music Academy.

Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T. M. Thyagarajan thanked the Music. Academy for the honour conferred on him and said that the THB SAHAS 51

Musiri Subramania Iyer award received by him would by utilised by him for the publication of the book Oita Malika.

Vidwan Sri Devakottai Narayana Iyengar and Dr. S. Venkita- subramonia Iyer spoke thanking the Academy for the honour done to them.

Sri R. Ranganathan, Secretary, introduced the musicians who had participated in the different concerts of the session and had been adjudged as deserving of special awards. The President of the Sadas gave away the awards (see list elsewhere). *.

Sri P. S. Ramachandran, member of the Executive Committe, introduced the winners of the various music competitions held during the Conference and the President gave away the prizes to the successful candidates (see list elsewhere).

Sri V. K. Ramaswamy Mudaliar, Trustee, proposed a vote of thanks. COMPETITIONS AND CONCERTS PRIZES lf81-82

COMPETITIONS DONORS WINNERS

1. Vocal Music, Gentlemen—Sangita Endowed by Smt. Rajeswari I Prize: NT. Y. Kasifiatihan Kalanidhi G.N.B. Memorial Prize Ranganathan IT JV K R Karnian 2. Vocal Music, Ladies - T. Ri Ven- Endowed by Sri T. V.Rajagopalan I Prize : Alamuru Sudka Rani katarama Sastri Memorial Prize II „ Girija Vaithianatha*, 1 Subasri Mam } IIT Cij V. Jay as re* 3. Violin-Kasturi Ranga Iyengar Awarded by “ The Hindu ” No Competitor Memorial Prize 4. Veena Dhanam Memorial Prize Endowed by late Sri ML Sudtoan

8. Maharaja Svati Tirunal Com­ Endowed by the R. K Murthi I Prize: D«v S. Swidar positions Murthi Memorial Prize Memorial Committee II „ G. V. Jayasree

9. Modem Compositions— Awarded by the- Executive I Prize: Kamali JCumar L. Muthiah Bhagavatar Memorial Committee of the Music Aeademy II „ S. Mathangi Prize

10. Tamil Songs—The “ Amarar Endowed by Sri T. Sadasivam T Prize r-GifV. Jayasree RalM ” Prize II „ SufeasriMswr

11. Purandaradas Padas Endowed by V*S;S K. Tobaeconist, Prize :Gfrija^^teanathan Jaffna 12. Kshetrajna Padas widowed by Mrs. M. C. Rajagopal No Competitor 13. Pallavi Singing—Dr. Sankara- Endowed by Dr. S. S. Krishnan I Prize: Subasri M ani. narayana Iyer Memorial Prize

14. Sanskrit Compositions—Dr. Awarded by Smt. Priyamvada I Prize: G. V. Jayasree V. Raghavan Memorial Prize Sankar II Prize : S. Visalakshi 15. Divya Prabandham, Lingappa Awarded by Vijayaraghavalu 1 Prize: Jayanthi Venkatraman Naidu Garu’s Kirtanas and Memorial Religious and Charitable Tevaram—Sri Vijayaraghavalu Trust, Sirkali Naidu Memorial Enze 16. Rajaiakshmi Jagannarayanan Endowed by Sri S. Jagannarayanan^ I Prize: C. N. Kamalam Prize for Tuiasidas Songs 17. Prize for Tamil Devotional songs Endowed by Sri V. Natarajan No Competitor 18. U. Ramachandra Rao Memorial Endowed by Sri U. Ramesh Rao I Prize: Dr. S. Sundar Prize for Mira Bai Songs 19. Papanasam Sivan’s Songs - Endowed by Sri K. V. Bala- I Prize: Girija Vaithianathan, Smt. Alamelu Viswanathan Prize subramaniam and Kum Lakshmi Jayanthi Venkatraman Viswanathan II „ T. Vanjula, S. Mathangi 20. Prize for G. N. B’s Songs Endowed by Dr. Sinnathambi of I Prize: S. Mathangi Ceylon 21. T. Chowdiah Memorial Prize Endowed by Sri V. Sethuramaiah I Prize: K. Sai Sankar . for Varaams and Sri R. K. Venkatrama Sastry II „ S. Visalakshi, B. Gayatri 22. S. A. Venkatarama Iyer Prize Endowed by Smt. Dr. S A.K. Durga I Prize: T. Raghunathan for Mridangam II „ K.V. Ram Kumar III „ K. Sriraman 23. Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri Prize Endowed by Teear Vee Trust I Prize: S. Nandini 24. Sri S. Ramaswami Prize for the Awarded by Sri S Ramaswami best competitor Shashtyabdapurti Commemmora- Subasri Mani tion Charitable Trust CONCERTS DONORS WINNERS 1. Sangita Kalanidhi Musiri Endowed by Sri C. V. Narasimhan Sangita Kalanidhi Subramania Iyer Memorial Sri T. M. Thyagarajan Award 1. Yogam Nagaswami Award for Endowed by Smt. Yogam Sri D. K. Jayaraman a Senior Vocalist Nagaswamy

3. Dr. Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar Endowed by his daughter Sri B Rajam Aiyar, Sri R.K Srikantan Memorial Award for one or Smt. Unnamalai Achi Sri Neyyantinkara Vasudevan more talented musicians Sri L. Shankar, Sri Palghat Raghu

4. Veenai Shanmukavadivu Endowed by M. S. S. Ladies Master Ravikiran Memorial Award Felicitation Committee

5. Sarada Krishna Iyer Memorial Endowed by Justice Sri S. Rajam Award for Mid-Year Concerts V. R. Krishna Iyer

6. N. V. Raghavan Memorial Endowed by Smt. Indira Sri V. V Subramaniam Award for a Senior Violinist Rangaswamy 7. V. T. Krishnamachari Memorial Endowed by Sri V. K. Rangaswamy Smt; Kamala Murthi Award for Harikatha

8. Smt. D. K. Pattammal Award Endowed by D. K. P. Ladies Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran for a young Lady Vocalist Felicitation Committee 9 T. V. Subba Rao Memorial Endowed by Smt. T. V. Manjula Sri Palai C. K. Ramachandran Award for the best Junior/Sub- Senior Musician

10. Sri K. R. Sundaram Iyer Awarded by Sri K. R. Sundaram Rudrapatnam Brothers Shashtyabdapurti Award for Iyer Shashtyabdapurti Trust best Sub-Senior Musician^ li. Sri 1C S. RamaswainySbashtyab- Endowed by Smt. Akilandeswari Smt. Nagamani Srinath dapurti Award for a premising and Smt. Chitra Artiste 12. Sri Coimbatore Ramaswamy Endowed by Mridanga Vidvan * Sri R. Ramesh Award for Junior Mridangist Coimbatore Sri N. Ramaswamy Pillai 13. Palani Subraraania Pillai Widowed by Sri Mahalingam Sri Tanjore Ramadoss Memorial Prize Kolappan of South A»frica, disciple of A. V. Raghu Prasad

14. Nyayapathi Sriranganayakamma Endowed by Prof. N.V.V.J. Swamy, SriR.Sundar Award for deserving Junior U.S.A. Artiste 15 Nyayapathi Ranga Mannar Endowed by Sri N.V.V.J. Swamy, Kum. Sudha Venkataraman Award U.S.A.

16. Naum Lichtenberg Prize for a Endowed by Dr. Johanna Spector, Sri Kovai Balasubraraanian Violinist, Junior/Sub-Senior New Yodk

17. Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Endowed by Sri V. Panchapagesan Sri K. K. Ravi ^ Aiyar Memorial Award for Junior Violinist

18. Lalgudi V. R Gopala Iyer Endowed by Sri Lalgudi Kum. Meera Narayanan Memorial Award for a Junior G. Jayarraman Violinist 19. Abhiramasundari Award for a Endowed by Late Violinist Sri Mysore M. Nagaraj Violinist (Junior/Sub-Senior) Abhiramasundari 20. Dr. Henry Cowell Award for Endowed by Dr. Henry Cowell, Tiruvarur Sri Vaidhyanathan the best Junior Mridangist U.S. / 2l. V. R. Sambasiva Iyer Memorial Awarded by Sri S. Natarajan Sri S. R. Krishnamurthi Award for Musician, Junior/Sub- Senior 22. Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Endowed by Sangita Kalanidhi Kum. B. Anuradha Iyer Memorial Award (II Prize) Semmangudi SriR. Srinivasa Iyer 23. G. V. Narayanaswami Iyer Endowed by Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. Sudha Varma Memorial Award (II Prize) G. N. Balasubramaniam

TALKS AND DEMONSTRATIONS

1. Dr. V. Raghavan Shashtyab- Endowed by Dr. V. Raghavan Sri P. K. Rajagopala Iyer dapurti Lecture Shashtyabdapurti Committee 2. Suryakanthamma Memorial Endowed by Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. Nirmala Ramachandran Award for the Demonstration Sri M. Balamurali Krishna 3. Award for the best Paper, Talk Endowed by Sri A. C. Rangarajan Mr* Michael ^ixon etc., at Experts Committee 4. Special Prize for demonstration Awarded by Sri V. D. Swami Sri^ukumar Prasad of classical camatic music on electric Guitar COLLEGE DONORS WINNERS

K. V. K. Iyer Memorial Endowed by Sri G. T. Sastri I S. Kausalya Studentship in the Academy’s II S. Choodamani College

Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar Endowed by Raja Sir Annamalai K. Sudha Prize in the Academy’s College Chettiar and Raja Sir M.A., for Practical Muthiah Chettiar

R. N. Sharma Memorial Prize Endowed by T. Alamelu Ammal K. Sudha in the Academy’s College for Theory. Samskrta and Sangita

P. K. RAJAGOPALA AIYAR (DR. V. RAGHAVAN SHASHIYABDAPURTI ENDOWMENT LECTURE)

Hie term denotes the Sanskrit language, which is refined and highly polished by processes of grammatical purification and specific verbal precision. The vVacaspatya definies it as ymfonffr u q* is the word uttered ; trf is its sense; and q^pfr, i.e., happy blend of both, makes for effective communication of thoughts and moods. And conditioned by the discipline of grammar and sweetened by delectable forms of literary usage, invariably touches and moves the heart of both the utterer and the listener.

Thus, basically, as a medium of expression, Sanskrit is an ideal language, not only in point of precision and fineness of finish, but also on account of its innate, unfailing appeal to the faculty of audition in the average sensitive man. And this is due to its own inherent melody. The appeal of Samslqta sShitya is mystic and two-fold: The first is that of the beauty inherent in its sound? pattern itself. And the second is that of the suitability of its particular sound-pattern for conveying and portraying the thoughts and moods of the composer, nurtured by the metallic clangour and jingle of its letters and syllables. For example, the words of the ‘ ‘ SudarSanashtak a ” of that great achSrya, J§rl Vedanta De§ika bristle with such sonorous reverberations in themselves; still more so if set to a suitable tune and rendered on a melodious voice:

II 60 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY fVbl l i l t

(fejteim-KMLM^arJnu 1

srq^rq

w t m n

It is indeed a marvel of sound effect that Sri Degika produces and that too with utmost ease! A bracing voice endowed with cadent intonation and distinct articulation can please the listener with the very utterance of Sanskrit words. How much more delicious would it be if those words were set to an appropriate tune and sung with firm adherence to gruti and laya!

The Mahabhfishya of sage Patafljali avers that the diction of Sfltmkfta, if applied in proper mode, is capable of elevating the aspirant to a position of glory and honour in the Devaioka:

“ q»w!g«w^ II ”

Such is the transcendence of the Samskfta bhasha which is also denoted as the $eaniUT, i.e., the language of the Oods. The script in which Sanskrit words are written is termed “ Devan5garl.” it is the medium of the Vedas. With its vast potentialities of effective phrasing, celebrated poets and titanic savants of yore had won awards for their luscious expressions in it from royal patrons such as the illustrious Bhoja Maharaja. In ancient times gigantic polymaths of extensive mysical learning such as Bharata, Dattila, Matanga, Nfirada and ‘Sarngadeva chose the Samskpta bfiisha to couch theh teachings in. No other language has con­ tributed as much as Sanskrit to the enormous wealth of technical literature on Sangita Sastra.

Music in the ancient, dim, pre-historic times, started with vocal sSma gana, employing the words of the Rgveda, though the rudi­ ments of manodharma features such as raga alapana and niraval were there; but it was all inqrBcft hi the "Itobhas,” interpolating amidst the intonation of the O0 gmal^^;,loii4^ 1rawn-out extensions o f the syllables. s a m s k r t a a n d s a n g it a 6 i

Thus, the function

slips the fuller significanc^of its latter half— •4

—Subha$itaratnabhapdagara—II-1-9

highlighting the full force of the sahitya in the spell of the rasas explicitly interpreted by the words: Our scripture identifies 44 ” with the Almighty:

||

—Taittirlya Upani§ad—II-7-6

Now, let us look into the features that conduce to the innate mellifluence of this sweet language: Every word we utter, has its own sonant shape, due to the laghu-guru pattern of the component syllables. This feature is termed Sage Bharata says that there is no word devoid of chandas; and conversely, there is no chandas-pattem without an appropriate word to sustain its structure: He declares

—NStyasfistra—XV-40

The genesis - of is in the Rgveda, the first-ever book of the world. The following mantras (couched in the chandas, ©f eleven gksltatae for a pada) of the Skanda Sflkta, bear this out: 62 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY {Vol. L I (I

■ • i . fffll lA ei# hi#... i ^ .. . .j .... 1

♦ v . ♦ fa& sfa r n n _ . ... i .... iNfWr av&lrg srpifa ii "~kg<^IUt ; 4; 7; 8 / The tenaka (the musical term for of the above lines is—

.

It is this chandas-pattern that got metamorphosed into the vftta termed ggfflfgl later in the science of Sanskrit metre, with the lak$apa

srtft a: ii

We have in the Ramayana of sage Valmiki:

m i ii • —Kishkindhakapda—XXX-51

Likewise, the following sloka of Kalidasa is another instance in point: awagsifci »ms!ra.

aWHWHWNia0 i S I# 8TO SW : HPit grow 3*lR »t II -~R&ghuvam£a~~XVI-79 jmmtmtM'Aim mmfh f / S fi i 1 ■ i f t The tune in which $k>le**of,this vrtta^etaadiripnally rendered, is called iiwfT. S'* ,.S1‘ - >The.above feature concerns the rhythmic beauty inherent in Sanskrit words. The s&hitya of a musical composition, as it is required to be’ sensuous, must be pleasing to the ear. The vSg- geyakSra must look to harmony, balance and mellifluous flow in his s&hitya Arthur Barriedale Keith, the WeHknowu Indological critic, considers that Sanskrit poets have certainly a better ear than others to {he music of |ht» words and the appropriateness of sound to sugges^ the meaning and the sentiment. ^ ^ Verity it is an amazing prodigy of sound effect that Muddu- svimi Dikshita produces in the sShitya of his compositions, with surpassing facility. One' cannot pick out in Dikshita, who was a master with the words. The average listener with keen aural sensibility, surely enjoys the metallic jingle of his inimitable phras­ ing, brimming with onomatopoeic effect present in all his sahityas throughout. To take only one example, the sahitya of the charapa of his Bhairavi kriti “ feivw iireqigNpqrai »* is a shower of the ambrosia of euphonious sounds:

•PWRpsr frWHH - 35,

3 5 3 0 ^ II

Now Sahgita, which is the most sublime of the Fine Arts, is an Upaveda termed GSndharva Veda, bearing out from the SSma Veda. That music evolved from the Sama Veda is averred by the great sage Saunaka, the reputed author of the Rgveda Prfitiifikhya. Sage Bharata says that music is termed “GSndharva** since it is practised by the Gandharvas profusely and that it delights the Gods very much: m THE JOURNAL OF THE MASMtAS JdjfcJSIC^GADEMY fV ol. L U I

5liivW\ 5*1* 'f s i • * ! « m w a w g P f l y ^ l u ' t — Nityas5stre*-XXVIII-9 The Gandharvas are a class of Gods who are the celestial musicians and who shower on their devotees a variety of especially high proficiency ifl the faculty of music and exo^tipqally melodi­ ous voices. ..* ,1- .. ' The term “ Safigita ** is generally 4efined as i;e., excellent, flawless performance of “ Gita ” or music. The correct vyutpatti, true to the term, is end *foRt, i**» the simultaneous and perfect blend and play of the components of music, “ laytfrir jNymR *» says the k ^ e d a -^ 1 9 1 4 . Kow^ ^hat are ihe coimpon- ents of Sangita ? They are (1) Bhava, (2) Raga, (3) Tsla. (4) Sruti and (5) Laya. The happy, simultaneous exercise and blend of all the above five essential adjuncts is denoted by the prefix “ " in the term “ Sangita ”. This blend is called “ laargpipa) ** or “ jgjsoajLf ” in Tamil and “ gfcTOT ” in Sanskrit. The ideal per­ former of music is an eitrlM frfr ThaT is, -he is bound to pay equal attention not only to the above five essential adjuncts, but also in addition concurently to ( l) *mr, (2) WWT and (3) In other words, he needs to heed (1) to whom he is singing (2) with whom he is singing, and lastly (3) he should be alive to his own capabilities and limitations, his repertoire and his moods:

f in a l# * i

fWT m \

*1|*4|| — Datila- 3 wue term iothisiloka refer* $0 Die ***Mft«rf* explained above. Datttfa Vtfts a f worthy disciple of bis august guru Bhatata as VailftmpSyaQft was of shge VySsa. Both Bharata and Dattila d&fcefe that QSndharVa is the artistry of a happy and simultaneous blend of dignified abd purposeful words (sahitya) set to a suitable tune, with closely aligned accompaniment on appropriate instru­ ments supported by brafcing rhythm set off orally through jatis j^WS-TO*), i.e., & # r jm il$ , as well as on suitable tgla instru­ ments.

MadhusUdana Sarasvati, the great yogin and author 6 f the celebrated philosophical grantha'** «f| * *> says in his “ Pra- sthanabheda ” that the Gandharva Veda £astra was promulgated by Bhagav&a Bharata Muni, who divided it sato three branches, viz. Natya, Gita and Vadya, and that the ultimate goal of its pursuit is the worship Iff God, leading to Die attainment of iSfvi- kalpa samadhi and moksha at the end:

'S ! ^ WIKI* I

»i w S >w iw w sw u^ra. ii —“ Prasthanabheda M.

Now, oe this -great &stra, ancient authoritative granthas such as the “ Natya Sastra *' of Bharata, the " Dattilam ” of Dattila, the " Siksha ” of Narada, the «Bfhadde$f ” of Matahga, the •• Makaranda ” of Narada, the “ SamayasSra ** of Pirtvadeva and the “ Ratnakara ” of Sfirngadeva, all of them treat of the subject as prevalent in practice throughout the Bh&ratade£a as a whole. But after the time of Ssfirhgadeva, many suDiors chose to write standard works specially treating of the North Indian and Die South Indian systems separately.

The system of music hi vogue in South India has come to be called “ KLarpataka Sahgita,” the North Indian system being called * Hindusthaai Saagita *\ The South Indian system was also called ‘VDSkshupatjr* Sahglta ” and “ Dakshina Sahgita **; whereas the North Indian astern was also called “ Uttara Sadgita ” and* “ Auttara Sadgita.” 9 66 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LIII Noticing some popular musical compositions somewhat di fferen* from those of the North, King Some&vara Bhfilokamalla, ruler of a part of the Deccan from 1116 to 1127 A.D., and author of “ Manasollasa,” a thesaurus of many arts, qualified the Southern system of Music with the adjective “ Karp&t&ka

though the term “ Karnataka ” is primarily gipjpraphical in connotation, and refers,only to that part o/Ipdia south of the river krshnft and north of the river Kfiveri yet it is significant that the music of the whole of/South India has continued to be called “ £arnataka Sa&glta ” : * .• We have in the Bhagavftta~ • • / /

? .< t 1; . . c: „ J - ' 7. - :f ? ■■ w w ®$r . . * , • ♦ • ;

—Bh»#»vaiafc-V-6-8 Likewise, Bilhaga of Kashmir* courtpoet of the Chalukya king VikramSditya VI, Tribhuvanamalla, of Kalyap (1076-1127 A.D.), says in his ** Vikramftfikadevacarita **, a historical poem on his royal patron:

—Vikramahkadevacarita—XVIII-102

Thus the term “Karnataka Safigita” has assumed the secondary additional connotation of “ OldSangita ” as opposed to the “ New” Hindusthani Sangita, which origifiated and developed during the regime of the Muhammadan rulers at Delhi. There are many North Indian ragas, the names of which smack of Persian origin The term “ Karpataka Sangita ” gradually came to be used in the sense of “ Older S a n g i t a when, on the advent of the Muhammadan invaders into India, there was a lot of commotion and dislocation of society. The application of such a term in the sense of “ old” is most appropriate, because it is not only really the older of the two systems of India, but rather the oldest o f the musical systems o f the world, having been in Vogue in South India for well over three thousand years now. South Indians have been highly accomplished musicians from the dim Vedic times. SAMSKRTA AND SANGITA m That theSouthfediang were highly advanced in classical music and dance in aadetft times is borne out by the folio wing observa­ tions of Bharata Muni:

.... ai% sffiHftwr i m : *... m . . . .

^ if ,1 \ m I.':* f " d" • ■ »• ■ .fdfcflW W{JKW WT fiWw I % gifagina n g 9 m m j r —NItyafi§8tra-XIV-3t;-39 ■ ' ■ r> j ' ■■■".■ -.:?;"i■: '' .. , ■ i-' s i „ :. ,f\ But, in spite of references to the bifurcation of India's music into t^o distinctly different subsystems* the Northern apd the Southern* surprisingly enough* lakgapakaras such as RAmgmitya and Soananfitha* do not at all mention anything about Karnataka Sahglta or Hindusthani Saflgita. They describe only one system,, and that is the- indigenous system of the Hindus. Of course they do highlight the major twofold classification of ragas* the generic mela ragas and the ragas. Karpitaka Sadglta has thus a common origin and tradition with Hindusthani Safigita and differs from it only in details and style of handling and practice* though in their fundamentals they are very near to each other. There is no ancient text in Sanskrit treating of the South Indian system exclusively. We come across numerous references to the technique of music in many of the classic literary works of the ancient Tamils* pertaining to the hoary Sangam era, such as the ** Perumpan5truppa4ai,” the “ Paftinap- palai ”, the ** Sirupanatruppadai,” the ** MalaipadukadSm,** the “MadhuraikkaAci.” the “Mullaippattu,” the “Kurinjipattu,” the ” TirumurugStruppadai,” the “ Kaliadam,” the “ Paripadal,” the “ Seyitriyam,” the “ Aganantlru,” the “ Purananflru,” and other great, classic Tamil literary works. Particularly* the £“ Silappadhi- karam ” of Saint I{adgo A

0$ the Art and Science of Music m prevalent amongst the Tamils of South India pf those times, this work* thoi^b primarily a literary text, provides ample and authoritative eviderwJe to sfcow that many ragas and other features of music now in vogue in the practice of our nipderp Karnataka Sangita, had been already prevalent in their practice of that distant age.

A definite bifurcation into the two, distinctly different sub­ systems (i.e., the Northern *n

«!TCWt w n SpWpW w ra 'RlfPi’u -r-Safigita SudhS—11-413

Though the above list of melas is but empirical, it serves as the genesis of the later scientific melakarti scheme of . However, the first work of clear-cut consequence, which rendered this drift established, is the “ Svaramelakalanidhi ” (1550 A.D.), of Ramamatya, a gfeat musician and a composer of SO mean order, who enjoyed the prestigious tides “ Bayakara ” (i.e. Ubhayakara) and “ Abhinavabharatacarya.’ ’ He was associated with Ramaraja or Ramaraya, minister of King Sada&varaya of Vijayanagar. He belonged to the Todararaalla family. But one should not be misled by the colophon

to think that Rimfimitya was patronized byRaja Todar Mai, the revenue minister of Emperor Akbar. That Ramamatya was an S A M f P ^ 49 elder coptemp^rgryof Raja To4ar Mai is correct; but whether at any stage he met Todar Mai or was patronized by him is not known so far. RamSmUtya was a grandson of Kallinltha, the commen­ tator on the “ Sangita Ratnakara ” and contemporary and comrade of fh|nt Ar\jna|irinatha, the author of Tiruppugazh. Besides the * Svaramelakalthidhi,‘’ RamamStya has composed many prabandhas sUbh t k the ** R5gakadamfcaka,” the " Bta," the '** Mstfka,*’ the “ Sutfaka”, the “ PaficataleSvara,” the Sriraftga,” the “ Dvipada,” the “ SvarShka,” the “ Srlvilasa,” the “ Dhruva” and the 4t Paflcaratna.” Mr. P. C. Buck says in his “ History of Music— # •‘ The various stages of music** progress of a people are not the inventions of the learned few imposed upon the less learned many, but rather a summing up and systematization by the former Of those practises and usages at which the latter had arrived by instinct.*’ This idea of a nation’s music being “ lakshya—pradhana ” is reiterated by Sarngadeva himself;

It —Safigitaratnflkara—VI-333 But Pupdarika Vitfhala chose to condense it into the following short, pithy maxim:

^ 9 I W It —Sadragacandrodaya—(XVI-XVII centuries A.D.) RSmamatya applied this principle of “Lakshya” to standardize his own system based upon that of Sarfigadeva; for, at his time, he had no other work to improve upon before him than the “ Sangitaratnakara,” though the “ Natya-sastra,” the “ BrhaddeSI ’* and the “ Sangita Makaranda” had been in existence long before. The first point of conflict between Samgadeva and RSmflmatya was with reference to the guddha and vikyta svaras. The seven iuddha svaras were, of course, common between them: s r g m p d n 4 3 2 4 4 3 2 70 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LU1 The ancient Sha4jagrgma was adownward scaled in the or&r $ n d p m g r. In laying down the grutisthanas of these svaras, sage Bharata chose to enumerate them in the ascending order, starting from yshabha, i.e, in the sequence r g m p d n g, just for practical clarity* thus making out their srutis respectively a s: '> -1

r g m p d n $ 3 2 4 4 3 2 4

fis h if* q* ■* i

l tarn fiA aEifsfc&fiui —Natya&stra—XXVIII-22

These were the suddha svaras of Sarigadeva mid Ramamatya also. Sarfigadeva worked up twelve vikfta svaras* whereas R&mamfitya recognized only seven* because* in actual practice* he could perceive* according to his principle of Lakshya* only seven svaras really different from the seven suddha svaras.

Next, Ramamatya merely specifies the mould of twenty melas* giving their popular names and describing their characteristics, without deducing them under any kind of principles. As regards the ragas, he divided them into three kinds: Uttama, Madhyama and Adhama. This system is now obsolete.

As for the viijas, while Sa^igadeva presented a viija of twenty- two strings to demonstrate his guddha-vikjta svaras, Ramamatya used only four strings. RamamStya’s vistas were provided with frets; and in his “ Sarvaragamela" Vipa, they were fixed and immovable,

Ramamatya coined the term “ Svayambhfi ” svaras for denoting the harmonics. Ramamatya, Somanatha and Venkatamakhin were all South Indian musicians, and devoted predominant portions of their works to the classification and description of ragas. The credit of having presented a four-stringed viija for the first time, surely goes to Ramamatya. Especially, the tuning of his SAMSKRTA AND SANG

Madhya-Mela Vipa is exactly that of the present day vlpa. Rama- mfitya was the first to perceive the expediency of using only twelve svaras to construct the raga system. Though he repeated the customary slogan of ranking Mukhari as the Buddha Mela, his mind leaned on M&yfimalavagaula, which he described as the best of all ragas :

■ tnwrte* . ■ • • wpmspijfant 11 —SvaramelakalSnidhi—V-40; 41

The next important work is the “ R5ga-vibodha ” (1609 A.D.), of Somanatha, unparalleled in its superb diction of the Sanskrit language. In point of his approach he exactly followed in the foot-steps of Ramfijnhtya and closely echoed his methodology of treatment in almost all respects. But he is inconsistent in point of his vikfta svaras. First he mentioned'only seven vikjta svaras. But in the wake of the enunciation of his fantastic scheme of nine hundred and sixty melas, he expanded the vikjta svaras into as many as fifteen. This is the one lone snag in the whole text.

After describing the lakshapa of the various ragas in vogue in his- time, Somanatha goes on to follow up with short strips of svara passages illustrative of the distinctive svarupa of the several ragas individually, just indicating, in broad outline, the charac­ teristic circuit of the sanchara of the raga, along with appropriate gamaka signs, which he himself has devised. Thus one can but grasp the naked silhouette of the mode with such a simple passage in barest solfeggio. Somanatha appends beneath his saficharin of each raga in his own vyakhyana, the “ Viveka ”, details of sanketa paribhasha, which he himself has devised, for playing it on the vipa, including directions as to the particular strings and the kosfha on the dapdi, to be plied for the respective svarasthanas.

The sancharins of Somanatha are unique in the following special feature:

Unlike other . lak$apakaras, Somanatha does not give an ordinary safichara and stop with that. He has couched every one of the saficharins in the shape of a sloka or two in the Arya Vftta, the metre in which he has written the entire text of his grantha. It 72 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY FVol. LIII

is, again, particularly note-worthy that this classicist of the highest level is remarkably at home in the rather tough art of composing such saccharins not only in a classic and di&cult poetical metre, but he has superbly succeeded in composing it throughout in the slippery Aryi vftta, which is based on a syncopated rhythmic pattern of syllabic instants, and not on the number, pattern and content of the laghu-gurus (hrasva-dirghas) o f‘ the particular syllables, as in other ordinary vfttas. At the same time, he has woven the specific rSga names into the structure of the respective stanzas, without, in the least, marring the rhythmic pattern.

One should not take it to be a fight job. Only geniuses who are masters alike of musical and poetical composition, and who have, at the Same time, a keen, alert and sharp ear for the rhythmic gait of both tone and word, can accomplish this arduous and dual task simultaneously and successfully. For example, Somanatha indicates the lineaments of the r&ga Todi in the following sanchara—•

G r G r s;—s r p m g r G r S;—s r G m P;—m nndpmGrS; —g R -G r S;~n 4 ^ R S j—s r G, M ; n d p M G R, S s r g S n srggrG ;~ p n d P; m g r G i—R g S ; R; G; M; n D; P ; ;-M , g r G;-sP; !?-s g R S *441* I— SRNdP, M, GjRS;; || —RSgavibodha - V-fil-63

The next note worthy work is the ** Sangita Sudha” (1625 A.D.) of Govinda Dikshita, written exactly on the plan of the “ Safigita RatnSkara ” of Sarpgadeva.« Most portions of the •• Safiglta Sudha *’ are practically a recast in Upajati metre of the text of the “ Sangita Ratnakara ’* and of its commentary “ KalSnidhi ’* by Kallinatha. It was Govinda Dikshita who perfected the modern Vina with the twentyfour frets. But for him we might not have known of the existence of the “ Sangita Sara ** of H. H. Sri Vidya- rapya. He has also composed some lakshapagitas.

Then we come to the ChaturdaudbprakaSika *’ (1655 A.D.) of Vefika|amakhtn. This work ushered in a new era, introducing the most scientific and complete scheme of the seventytwo melas, based on the world-wide-accredited twelve svarasthanas. Rather SAMSKRTA ANB SANGITA 7 5 it constitutes the most momentous milestone ia the history of Karnataka Sahgita. In the field of the rational classification of the sBgas under a systematic code of scaling (i.e., the formulation of the melas), H. H. Sri Vidyiragya set the ball rolling; and it was given to Venfcatamakbin to found the scheme on a broad-based and immutable fabrication of the svarasthftnas and bequeath its blue-print to posterity. Finally this marathon scheme found summation the '■ Safigrahachfid&n&Qi ” (1750 A.D.) of Akalafika Govindficharya, g&thsna jyotisha paoditn in the court of the ruler of Tanjfivflr. The present-day : “ Kanakafigi—Ratnapgi ” nomenclature o f the seventytwo melas in his gift tb us. He describes three hundred and sixtysi* popular ragas of his time and follows up With a lakshaga glta in each of them, including the seventytwo mela ragas. Significantly, all of these gftas are set in Tripufa Tala, all of them starting uniformly on the second druta (i.e., atlta graha by two aksharas) and ending at the same place. The sihitya of almost all of them commences with the phrase wr and all of them conclude invariably with the sentence . . . fen far . . . m m m sfbnn l| Another note-worthy feature in them is that, even in the case of the Yarja ragas, the varja svaras are also mentioned in the sahitya; but of course, their varjatva is mentioned subsequently. To cite only one example, his glta in Madhyamavati reflects the svarQpa of the raga as prevalent today. The following is its sahitya:

m ***** -

V CUTSIPI ------isA r, r f *ere**$ W W w flf

wirVf *****

wtfdhw

* w w s fii

h —Sahgrahachudamani—Lak$apagita No. 158 10 74 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LIII Govindacharya is the first to mention the modem name <* Madhyamavati,” whereas previous laksagakaras mention only the ancient name “ Madhyamadi It was called so by the ancients because, being a derivative of the Madhyamagrama raga, this raga, which has the madhyama as its “ adi ” (i.e., graha) svara, was derived from the Madhyama murcchana (Sauviri) of the Madhyama Grama. Thus, the source of this raga is the Madhyama Grama, which is an offshoot from the Shadja Grama, which again is derived from the SSma Veda. Now, this raga ’Madhyamavati has undergone a lot of change down the centuries: £amgadeva classified it as a raganga raga and a deii raga* and included it among his adhuna-prasiddha ragas. Pargvadeva (thirteenth—fourteenth Centuries A.D.,) desribed it as aragangft sampfirpa raga:

nmwr:. , . . . . ffa it —Sangltasamayasara—Prose passage following sloka 4—Chapter III He observes that this raga is used to commence public perfor­ mances with. This does not accord with the practice in vogue at present, since this raga is performed at the close of a concert as it is held capable of expunging any doshas that might have crept in the middle. The discrepancy is because the Madhyamavati of the thirteenth century was sampurga ; and the deletion of gandhara and dhaivata has brought about almost a revolution in its structure and functioning. Ramamatya is the earliest jto reflect the svarupa of the raga as in vogue in modern times, at least to a large extent. First of all* he puts it under Syiraga mela :

i ♦ • ■ * ♦ •

• * * * • •

— afcmite: || ^ ii —Svaramelakalanidhi—IV-IB; 19 SAMSKRTA AND SANG1TA 75

And his ^r|g%melit isthe sam eaaoi^^ And though his Srlraga was among his uttama ragas, he puts th0 raga MadhyamSdi under his madhyama ragas:

—Svaramelakalanidhi—V-7-9

So his picture of .the raga answers exactly to our present-day Suddha Dhanyasi, as he says it omits yshabha and dhaivata -

■—Svaramelakalanidhi—V-55

Pupgarlka Viflhala (sixteenth—seventeenth centuries A.D.) puts it under his Kedara mela, which corresponds to our Dhlra- Sankarabharana mela. Thus his Madhyamadi takes Kfikali mi$ada. It appears the North has all along been favouring Kakali mishada for it. The verson of the raga before the bifurcation into the two subsystems, the Northern and the Southern, had only Kaisiki ni$ada. This Pupdarika Vifthala went from South India to North India and became a court vidvan in the durbar of King Burhan Khan of Khajrfesh and later was patronized by Man Singh and Madhav Singh.

Thus, by about the time of Somanatha, the svarttpa of the raga had vastly changed, as he also puts it under his Mallari mela, which is the same as our Sahkarabharapa.

Following Sarngadeva, Govinda Dikshita says it is derived from Madhyamagrama raga, and puts it under the Sriraga mela, and adds that it omits fshabha and dhaivata, and that the yama after noontide is prescribed for performing it:

wwl«Rl {raft ( wuraraw wiftsa) n —Sangita Sudha—11-920 76 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. V III

Ibid—936 From the above, it is clear that the inroad of the tlvra mishada in this raga was but a passing phase," and it has by noW resumed its original shape. And Vehkatamakhin doe^vno$idi^er from his father ; only, he says that it is to be sung in the evening, and that its sweetness is set oft most on the flute. This raga Madhyamavati enters upon its mddern Sak&bda from the middle Of the seventeenth century A.D. Ahobala, in his Sahgita Pfirijata (1650 A.D.), puts it under the Madhyama miirc- chana of the Madhyamagrama, ^ays that it 'ttlfm%ii&!£lra and dhaivai* r

m v d *v% ft fwt «*£*t

Aid it etm now be deduced that the raga has retained this svarflpa Uftaltered, in the main, so far.

King Tulajaji of Taijavttr (eighteenth century A.D.), is more m ddem in his version. He gives the same description of the iSga, ifi his “ Sadgita Sgramfta ” (173d A.D.), as Vedkatamakhin, and improves upon it, adding that the gait of the mode is nonvakra in both the ascent and the descent:

«WRlsnO*sJl«wil5M5iii ji —Sangitasaramrta—X-p. 77—Music Academy Edition Thus, Tulaja is the first lakshapakara to germinate the concept of the arohaga-avarohaQa of a raga and speak of its being vakra or krama.

By the way, the world of music research cannot be over-grateful to this august Academy and to the late Dr. V. Raghavan for the timely edition and publication of this epoch-making, variorum Karnataka Trio—the “ Sa>ta Sudha,” the ** Chaturdagdi- putklsikft and the “ Sangita Saramj-ta.” SAMSRRTA AND SANOITA 77 Pandit Govindacharya, like Goyinda Dlk^hita, Vefikatamakhin, Ahobala and Tulaja, puts Madfiyamavati under Sriraga mela. But, by Iris ti&e, Srirfcga Melahadcome to be called Khaidharapriyat

fWt h iw \

oftsrfacpft t e l ii —SaAgrahachtUjamapi—III-6-42

And his pictureof l^adliyanAvatl is exactly what it istoday. He says that Madhyamavati is derived from Khafah&rfipriya mela. Madhyama is its graha, am§a and nyasa. As it omits gandhara and dhaivata both in the arohapa and id tile avorohapa, it is an aiujava raga. Its grohapa—avarohapa is

'■ s ; ' ' r ' m p ti ■ i i n p m r s

itefsiRireraKfiwit >i" w p b > i jpjpi q«wtwg«l^ it

endlsowdt^ row4 i

HtfwwiFftai n —Sangrahachiidamapi—III-8-? 2-4

The “ Sangita Sampradaya Pradar$ini ’* (1904) of Subbarama DIkshita is the first to mention that this raga is fit to be sung in the midday time :

«W!5 ^ * 5 ^ 9 3 II —Sangita Sampradaya PradarSini—p. 648

Further he observes that it nullifies any doshas that might befall both the singer and the listener when ragas are rendered out of their prescribed time and season, and adds that this raga can shower prosperity both on the performer and the rasika: 78 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY {VoL'LIIf

sfsrcFW® «*wi8 ” •Sanglta SampradSya Pradarrini—p. 648

Now, finally, as it passes today, the svarftpa of the rftga MadhyamSvatl, as can be gathered from) the versions of Pandit GovindScharya and Subbar&na DIkshita, has come to stay in the present day practice.

Well, it' can be seen now, from the above study, that Sanskrit has contributed most to the evolution of Karpataka Sahglta from the earliest times up to the present day, in the never-exhausting conduit of Lakshapa as well as in the ever-bubbling channel of Lakshya. Tyagaraja

Continuities and Departures WILLIAM J. JACKSON

Firstly, I believe we must sacrifice something of ourselves to approach Sri Tyagaraja. Listening to his songs we shed a part of ourselves naturally, because his music demands it as it carttes us to inner elevations where we cannot take all our external baggage. We are like the laden camel which must be unloaded to pass through the narrow space of the mountain pass known as “ The Eye of the Needle We eagerly give up Our small oppressive? selves to become aware of a greater reality, and this tydga, this letting go, we taste as a liberation, not a loss. The reason for this process of transcending our usual limits is the fine non-worldly plane of existence from which Tyagaraja’s songs flow—from his high spiritual-artistic level of consciousness. His music is a part of the tradition of the “ pavitramaina Bhdrata samskriti,” the purifying Indian culture, as Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said.

Only an i nspired soul with refined sensibilities and clarified intuition can be a kavi and see the next step and move culture forward through masterpieces created out of his or her deepest experiences. But even he or she must have accumulated materials with which to work, and there must be sensitive rasika-s to ap­ preciate the excellence of the new art. In studying these accumulated materials, these inherited strands woven anew, I do not wish to explain away or reduce Tyagaraja’s greatness, but rather wish to appreciate better how a spiritual genius works in the creative process within a traditional society. I feel that most people living in the modern world do not understand the way of the artist who works in a traditional society. I believe this way is one of con­ tinuities combined with fresh departures.

The school of thought which says that Tyagaraja composed all his songs spontaneously, in inspired trance states, minimizes the 80 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADBMY [Vol. LIU

relationships which historians of ideas and students of religion and art find fascinating. In the world of guru-sishya learning, of com­ munity traditions, of reg ^i^ cultural-rfligious practices there is a wealth of inherited background and contextual continuity in each work of art. No rpan is an island. All are waves of the river of tradition. - \ 1 It has been said that “ the law of all living development [is] that each successive stage must incorporate the modes of existence of the previous one.- (Victor Zuckerkandl) This statement seems to hold true for the developmental stages which Purandaradisa and Tyigarfija wrought in South Indian music. But their works not only gathered from the past, but also utilized new possibilities for the future, musical elements and ideas which had accumulated in the Vijayanagar and Tanjore empires respectively.

Put in another way, tike religion, “ music is one great whole, it is a special . . self-contained revelation of the world. Yet the music of each people is a whole by itself, which again is divided into different characteristic forms, till we come to the genius and style of the individual. Each actual instance of this inner revelation in the individual contains all these unities. Yet while nothing is possible for a musician except in and through the unity of the music of his people, and the unity of music generally, he presents it in the charm of sound with all the pleasure and joyousness of boundless caprice, according as his life stirs in him, and the world influences him”. (“ On Religion” by F. Schleiermacher). And he conveys that songful beauty-charged consciousness and moves those who can appreciate it. He carries the great ideas and traditions forward in a new incarnation as it were, bending his principled energies not only to the mastery of assimilation, but also to the freshness of advance, innovation. In traditional terms the true artist is the master of samprad&ya (the ways which have been handed down) and manodharma (creative imagination). Each great work, however effortless and spontaneous it seems, is the outcome of long evolution and cultural refinement which takes place in the applied intuitions of the inspired soul who must utter his or her glimpse in such a way that it may sink roots in the minds of others and peren­ nially serve and please with flavourful fruits. TYAGARAJA 81 If we ask what is happening when we see continuity and new departures—originality—in traditional arts, we are led to explore traditional learning, the taking of the inherited teachings, and also the incarnating of that tradition in a specific time in an individual who is being with that time and responding with the ideas stimulated by practice and experience. Authenticity in tradition depends on working within the norms, yet no art goes on endlessly making exact copies. There is grace, inspiration, the flash of intuition, discovery; there is the ecstatic trance. There is the collective music of the people, but also the person of genius with the all* consuming passion for his or her ideal. This person assimilates, grows and for the sake of the ideal even becomes an institution, his or her dedicated and inspired life at last achieving a priveleged anonymity, merging with the past, immortal in an impersonal, archetypal traditional way. Having assimilated the strands of the past, the great artist innovates, and then is assimilated into the tradition. If we look at his or her life and works we find continuity —refashioned strands forming a vivid new synthesis, t hope to demonstrate this by exploring the sahitya of certain Tyagaraja kritis.

I. IMPACT OF HISTORICAL ERA AND ENVIRONMENT Before presenting some of the cultural continuities which we find in Tyagaraja’s work, let me mention briefly an important factor in any artist’s work. That is, the impact of the age, the historical events and one’s contemporaries' responses to them. Tyagaraja’s Tanjore was an interesting place in a time of change. I will mention only two factors which I feel had a major impact on Tyagaraja and his work, one negative and one positive. First, the invasion of Hyder All in 1781. Tyagaraja was then-fourteen, around the age that some accounts give as the time he composed his first songs. At this time, the Gazetteer of Tanjore District reports, Tanjore villages suddenly lost ninety percent of their rice­ growing capacity. It was rare to see a strong man—most people looked like “ wandering skeletons”. “ Such distress l have never before witnessed and God grant I never may again,'* wrote a European witness, (“ Gazetteer of the Tanjore District, Vol. I Madras, 1906, page 148.) It is possible that the pinched look of Tyagaraja’s face as seen in the Umayalpuram portrait (which would not have been worshipped 11 82 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY (Vol. LIII by direct disciples of Tyagaraja unless it bore some resemblance to the revered teacher and composer) derives from the traumatic experience of those famine years. We kpow of Tyagaraja's father, Ramabrahmam, that he was known for his learning and piety. No doubt the father’s reliance on the Lord in this time of trial made a lasting impression on the growing boy Tyagaraja. The presence of foreign forces—-Muslim, British and European, must hlvl threatened with an unsettling effect the traditional ways of the people of Tanjore, especially conservative Telugu Brahmins. Little direct evidence is seen in Tyagaraja’s songs, but one wonders if in the kriti “ Parasakti manuparada ” the line pleading “ Protect me! Make the wretches who despise the innocent stay far away!” (“ niraparadhula nirakarince duratmakula nindu raka seyaga radu”) refers to the invaders of those times. Also in “ namo namo raghavaya,” thought by some to be his earliest song, there is more than one mention of the Lord as protector, the Guardian of the poor. In any case this sort of environmental factor leaves some impress on a religious artist—it is a test which tries his faith and intensifies spiritual practices, strengthening his bond to his chosen deity. “ When a people feel threatened, when they lead a debile life, glorious indeed but highly insecure, their art become complic­ ated ”, writes Mr. N. S. Ramaswami in his “ Tanjore Paintings ”. The fillagree-fine tones of Tyagaraja’s complex music were perhaps partly hammered into fine designs by pressures of the times upon his sensitive consciousness. The fire which heats the cauldron of transformation in arts can consume the fuel of hardships in bad times in its alchemical process. The second factor, a positive .one, to which l must draw atten­ tion, is the wealth of musical and artistic culture in Tanjore im­ mediately preceding and concurrent with the time Tyagaraja. Dr. Seetha has recently published her research in this culturally fertile field (** Tanjore as a Seat of Music ”) so I need not go into it here. Suffice it to say Tyagaraja grew up in a fecund, varied and erudite musical atmosphere.

II. IDIOMATIC LANGUAGE One form of continuity in which I am interested consists in the inherited linguistic elements of idiomatic phrases. Some rasikas and musicologists seem almost ashamed to admit the assimilation TYAGARAJA 83 oC/olk elements in classical art, such as Tyagaraja’s kritis, whether the elements be catchy folk melodies or idiomatic sayings and symbols. These represent to me an enduring Wisdom and a way of keeping in touch, with thelife of the people. I feel they con­ stitute a source of vitality and charm. Tyagaraja does hot seem embarrassed by this element, but his drawing oh this level of culture fnd life shows his love for it. A commonplace beauty can be his refuge, and he can transform it into an expanded classical structure.

The French poet’Mallarme believed it was the role of the poet to give a greater sense to the idioms of a people. He thought the folk bard’s song capable of lifting the idioms of the ordinary people to the highest level, making a living art of them, thus letting them reach their most expanded meanings. The German author Herder wrote : “ The idioms are the elegances of which no neighbour can deprive us and they are sacred to the tutelary goddess of the language. They are the elegances woven into the spirit of the language and this spirit is destroyed if they are taken out . . . the idioms of every language are the impressions of its country, its nationality, its history.” An idiom is an idea-phrase which through use becomes an entity as substantial as a word. (A cliche is such an idiomatic phrase which due to poor quality or overuse does not sing up responses of charm in the mind when it is heard.) The artist seizes and perfects idioms, invents, refurbishes and redis­ covers them.

Tyagaraja often sings with the natural elegances of Telugu idioms, just as Potana, Kshetrajna and Bhadrachala Ramadasa did. He thus awakens the listener to an awarenesss of the natural beauty of the language whieh was previously taken for granted, and in its simplicity the language becomes a vehicle of the most exquisite feelings. This strand woven inextricably with melody is very im­ portant in Tyagaraja’s work, in which we find an extraordinary conjunction of homey melodic ideas and resonant lyrical thoughts.

There are continuities of idiom in Tyagaraja’s songs shared by Annamacharya and Ramadasa. To give one example, Annama- charya opened one of his songs with the words “ Na morala kimpa- vemayya . . .” Ramadasa begins a song with the words " Na itfiorala kimpavemayya O Rama, Rama. . . .” Tyagaraja starts a 84 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. L III

kriti with (he words " N& morala kimpavemi Sri Rama.’* All the songs ask why the Lord appears not to hear the singer’s cries. Tyagaraja s song is thus in direct continuity with those of his predecessors, at least in phraseology and sentiment. His in­ novation is to be more concise with his lyrics. Not wordiness, but the beauty of the music is his power, and he has shown that he can sketch the Ramayana in a pallavi, an anupallavl an

One more interesting continuity along these lines (out of many which might be mentioned) involves the image of the lover waiting at her gate so long that it becomes her home. In the Prahldda Bhakta Vijapa Tyagaraja in the song Andwtdakane vega sings “ illu vakili aune ” “ My gate, or threshold, will become my home.” This idiomatic expression is found in Kshetrajfia’s padam which begins with the words “ Aftevundevu suml na praganatha ” where it is phrased as “ talavakile yillusumi na pra^anatha ” meaning “ Until you arrive my main gate (talavdkili) will be my residence.” In the same song he says that if the beloved does not come “ my tears will flow like a stream of the .” The composer Muwanallur Sabhapatayya in Emdtalddina in the plaintive rdga Yadukulakambhoji sings: “ Whatever she says it’s always about you, O lotus-eyed Raja Gopala—her abode is the threshold of her home, there she anxiously awaits your coming. Tears flow down her cheeks like streams.” Also in *' Dari jucu cunnadi ” he uses this idiom. Tyagaraja in “ Andundakane” uses this exact same idiom in the first charmam: “ My tears will flow like a stream, my gate will become my home.”

The longer slower songs of Kshetrajna and Muwanallur Sabhapatayya are in the padam tradition; Tyagaraja developed the usually brisker and more compact kriti form. But all these artists were free to draw on the natural resources of fine expression in colloquial speech, to lift idioms to their highest potential in a refined work of art, and swiftly to communicate with people in an easy­ going but charming compact language.

Perhaps we could look at folk melodies incorporated into songs as the melodic equivalent of inherited idioms. Tyagaraja’s “ Namo namo Rgghavaya ”, held by some to be his first song, is a kirtana based on a folk melody. And just as there are carving desigpt* TYAGARAJA 85

from wooden architecture recapitulated in later stone carvings in South Indian temples, there are probably melodic tone patterns in some classical songs carried over from the age of harp music* Nothing is lost, all things are salvaged in the progressive recycling of evolution.

in. SANSKRIT CONTINUITIES Tyagaraja at times echoes the Sanskrit phrases of the trailblazer MSrgadarSi SeSayyangar, an important and interesting composer who lived a century before Tyagaraja. For example, Tyagaraja’s “ Pahi parama dayalo ” contains the words “ Pankajapta harifeanka nayana *’ and this phrase occurs in Margadarsi SeSayyangSr’s “ Ranganayaka bhujanga ”, which shows how a traditional artist feels free to draw on the lyrical common phrases in songs current in his time. But it is in the Prahlada Bhakta Vijaya that we see Tyagaraja drawing on classical Sanskrit sources. For example the sloka beginning “ Abhyarchayitva Govindam . . on the importance of keeping good company, is found in the Srimad Bhagavatam. There are at least three such quotes in the Prahlada Bhakta Vijaya from the Bhagavatam. The Mukundamala of Kula- Sekhara is directly quoted when Prahlada asks for the boon of steady piety, and the Valmiki Ramdyana is directly quoted when Prahlada, like asks only to be embraced by his Lord and desires no further boon. These famous Sanskrit quotes occur amidst the Telugu text at points where the sloka from the old work will be especially effective.

From these and other examples of quotes we can see the traditional artist’s ability to incorporate great lines especially appropriate to the situation in the work at hand. Those who in the traditional audience would understand the Sanskrit would also probably be familiar with its original source. The artist could carry forwatd these gems, either as quotes without any explicit quotation signs or could paraphrase them in the language, embed­ ding them in his works unselfconsciously. The great ideas of the past merge into his works, and he merges into the tradition. Originality or individualism was not sought out for its own sake. The transmitter of the tradition humbly passes the inheritance on, possibly with a new touch. The idea is important, not the historical person who first spoke it, or later repeated it. Thus there is a fluidity of great sayings, lines and ideas. 86 THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vol. LHI A number of other influences and continuities are discernible in the Praht&da Bhakta Vijaya, including similarities to other yak?t& ganas or musical plays in Telugu and Tamil. And just as Sanskrit dramas do, the Prahlddx Bhakta Vijaya has five acts. Uniquely, it takes place in one setting, the seashore, and the image of the sbfc rising at the end is a beautiful new dramatic touch. ^ .

IV. THEMATIC CONTINUITIES WITH SANSKRIT AND REGIONAL,WORKS There is a rich literary tradition in India relating to devotion to the feet of the Lord. Visnu’s feet in the Vedas, the worship of Buddha’s footprints, and the devotion to the feet in the Purands give some indication of the popularity of the practice of devotion to the Lord’s feet. Sanskrit poet Vedanta Desika wrote one thousand verses on the sandals of the Lord. Bhakti literature is full of praise of the feet. The Gopikdglta section of the Bhagavatam (X. 35) declares to the Lord in song:

“ Thy hallowed feet with which Thou followest the grazing cattle and which are covered by the goddess §rl, the embodiment of all ultimate values, set at nought the imperfections of those who resort to them. O Supreme Lord of our hearts, deign to place those feet of thine, which gracefully danced on the hood of Kaliya, on our parched bosoms and rid us of the sorrows lurking in our hearts.” (Ramakrishna Math translation published in the Popular Scripture Series II.) (X. 35. 8). In several other verses the feet are extolled and entreated—X. 35.11; X. 35.13 ; X. 35.19.

Goda in the Tiruppavai song number 24 singS : “ Hail! Thy feet that measured the worlds in days of yore. . . . Hail Thy feet that killed Vatsasura who beguiled in the guise of a calf.”

Annamacharya wrote a song in Mukhari raga, “ - gadigina ”, in which he says. “ The foot washed by Brahma, that same foot of yours is Brahman. Your foot is worshipped by the rejoicing mother earth and is the foot carried by Bali on his head. The foot which boldly kicked the sky, the foot which saved Indra, the foot which cleansed lustful Ahalya’s sin, the foot placed on the head of Kaliya, the foot squeezed with love by Lakshmi.. . . Your foot showing the best yogis the various ways to heaven, Your TYAGARAJA . 87 foot that showed Tirupati hillas everlasting paradise—praise to that sacred foot.”

Tulsidas also wrote in “ Bhajamana ramacharapa sukhadai’’ “ Worship Rama’s feet O mind, they are the givers of happiness. Those feet from which the celestial Ganges flowed and landed on Siva’s matted hair—worship those feet., the sandals of which Bharata brought, those feet which Guha rowed, which sages worship, which through their contact with Ahalya granted her highest heaven^ those feet which ran behind the golden deer, which were worshipped by your enemy's younger brother, Vibhishana . . .’’ and s# on. Thus we can see that the tradition was pan-Indian and well established for many centuries when Tyagaraja appeared on the scene and wrote three songs on the feet: “ 3rlRamapadama” » “ Vinayamunanu ”, and “ Sandehamu” but he does not simply list the famous episodes which remind of the glory of the feet. He does something new in each case. Purandaradasa had sung Ninyako Ninnahangydko. *• Your name is enough.” Tyagaraja in Sri Rama­ padama addresses the feet: “ O feet! your favour alone is enough for me.” This is a unique song in Amritavdhini, a new r§ga.

There is a new thought in Tyagaraja’s Sandehamu, also on the feet. In that song he ponders : “ Which are superior, your feet in heaven worshipped by Nanda and others, or the feet that walk in Ayodhya?” and he cleverly reasons that “ Your feet in Vaikuntha only gave people liberation, but your feet in Ayodhya gave you yourself to the people.”

In Vinayamunanu Tyagaraja begins with the description of the feet—how they humbly followed in the footsteps of Visvamitra, revived Ahalya, shattered diva’s bow, were washed with milk by Janaka—and throughout he repeats the question *' When will I get to see them ? ” (The hands, arrows, eyes and great glory of God are also sung and yearned for.) The evocation of the holy feet by recalling their heroic deeds is enhanced with the same device Ramadasa employs in the song “Pavana rama nama”—the repetition of the impatient question. ** When will I see that beloved sight, when will the day dawn? ” This song of Tyagaraja’s unlike nearly all of his others, is written like a musical poem, with no pallavi or anupallavi but only stanzas. a THE JOURNAL OF THE MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY [Vot. LIU

Many comparisons o f Tyagaraja songs with PurandaradSsa songs could be made to show similar patterns.* Let us take one in which the theme is the same—the description of a successful devotional song. In “ Tala beku " Purandaradasa lists the requirements “ Rhythm is needed and there must be suitable accompaniment; there should be a peaceful time and people present who want to listen. First syllable rhyme, alliteration are requited; the pace of the song must be maintained; there must be a deep love for Yispu. One must have a clear voice; one must know what one is singing; one must discard discordant grief; one should have a happy face. There should be knowing people there; there must be ever more ecstasy. We must regard Vithala as the Supreme Lord.** Tyagaraja in “ Sogasuga mrdanga talamu ” composes a self- portrait : “ Who is the stalwart able to melt you ? Coordinating an ensemble with the drumpulse so graceful, with truthful words full of the gist of vedanta, and with great purity of the tones, and with such elegance of mfdangam rhythm—coordinating this ensemble, who is the stalwart soul able to