ANALYSIS Unpublished varnas of Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatar T.R. Aravind

yyampettai, a small village on a composer par excellence and in the banks of the river Kaveri his Anandabhairavi kriti Guruvara Abecomes musically active in mahimala, he declares the divine the month of Masi, to commemorate vision of his guru in his dream; the birth of Walajapet Venkataramana Tyagaraja instructed Bhagavatar to Bhagavatar, one of the primary compose keertanas extolling Lord disciples of Tyagaraja, known for his Vishnu (Ninnareyi naa svapnamu…. devotion to his guru. His jayanti is maadhavu paramugaa konni kritulu celebrated every year as a three-day jatagurcchumanina). He has used celebration in Ayyampettai coinciding his birthplace as a sthala mudra in his with Moola, his birth star. The kritis as Ramachandrapura vara sree jayanti celebrations of Venkataramana Venkataramana or ‘Ramachandrapura’ Bhagavatar were conducted in mid (Ayyampettai was previously known February in Ayyampettai this year. as Ramachandrapuram). Though the Venkataramana Bhagavatar was an majority of his kritis are on Vishnu amanuensis (adept at taking notes and or his incarnations, there are rare copying manuscripts) and he recorded instances where he has composed the compositions learnt by him. This on Devi (Neeve nannu in Darbar). practice was later followed by his Venkataramana Bhagavatar spent the son Krishnaswamy Bhagavatar and Walajapet notations later part of his life in Walajapet, near this corpus, known as the Walajapet Arcot. manuscripts are now stored in The repertoire is not limited only Sourashtra Sabha, Madurai. Though to the compositions of Tyagaraja; Venkataramana Bhagavatar has these original manuscripts are not we find many unpublished geetas, composed several musical forms— easily accessible to all, the transcripts varnas and keertanas of various other geetas, swarajatis, varnas, kritis and preserved in the Government Oriental composers. Among these works are tillanas. He is perhaps among those Manuscript Library (GOML), a few unpublished compositions of composers who have made a mark Chennai, are more accessible. Venkataramana Bhagavatar. He was in all these genres. A study of his

Scripts on palm leaves written by Venkataramana Bhagavatar At the jayanti

46 l SRUTI June 2020 compositions reveals a unique style, connotation). Again, none of the Tala of these varnas distinctively different from that of his popularly heard kritis start with this preceptor. We do not have the exact note, though the charana, Tanamadhini The talas handled by the composer number, though the general opinion in the pancharatna kriti Dudukugala also make for an interesting study. is that he has composed around 2500 begins with this swara. Venkataramana Bhagavatar has compositions. Let us look at some of opted for rare talas like chatusra his unpublished, hitherto unknown Another example which reveals Jhampa, misra Jhampa, misra Triputa compositions, found in the Walajapet his prowess in raga lakshana is the and khanda Triputa along with the transcripts. handling of the Kedaragaula varna common ones like Adi and Ata talas. Inakulabdhi set to Jhampa tala. He The tala of the Abhogi varnam Sri Unpublished works in has given a different swaroopa by Rajagopala is mentioned as tisra Walajapet notations handling the known phrases in a ‘not Triputa in the published texts, but so often’ heard manner. The sequential given as chatusra Jhampa in these The compositions available here use of phrases like NSRPMG – transcripts, though the count remains can be divided into two genres— RMPNNDP – PMMGGR – RGRS can as seven. geetas and varnas. There are be cited as an example. A superficial three geetas in the ragas Vasanta, Conclusion examination definitely reminds us of Reetigaula and Mukhari; and about its ally Narayanagaula. But, there nine varnas set in the ragas Nata, Many of these varnas could be single was a practice in the past, to use Gaula, Jhalavarali, Arabhi, Bilahari, compositions in these rare talas. The nishada, gandhara and madhyama Saranga, Kedaragaula, Dhanyasi and handling of the raga considerably as a janta in Kedaragaula. These differs from that of his preceptor and Mukhari. Along with these, we also these unpublished compositions serve have the already published varnas swaras occurring as janta can be as a link to understand the music of in the ragas Devamanohari, Sree, seen in the kriti Neela- the past, like the compositions of Chakravakam, Abhogi, Kedaram, kantham bhajeham of Muthuswami Tyagaraja notated by Venkataramana Bhairavi and Kamalamanohari. Dikshitar, as notated in the Sangeeta Bhagavatar. A majority of these varnas were Sampradaya Pradarsini. Another composed on his ishta deva, Sri kriti Abhayambikayah of Dikshitar (The author is a dentist and a music Ramachandra. has the phrase MGRGRS. researcher)

Ragas handled PHOTOS FROM VENKATARAMANABHAGAVADAR.ORG As mentioned earlier, Venkataramana

Bhagavatar’s approach to a raga and Musicians participating in the aradhana in Walajapet handling of the required phrases differ considerably from that of his guru—he has used many rare phrases. In the Gaula raga varna Ninne nammina in khanda Triputa tala, phrases like SMMR and SMGMR are seen aplenty. These types of phrases are not seen in the commonly heard kritis and can be only found in a few old geetas. Another significant feature is the graha swara used to begin this varna. The nishada is an important swara for this raga as it serves the function of graha (starting note), nyasa (ending note) and amsa (frequently occurring note); this varna begins with this swara. It is to be remembered that the nishada was the graha for this raga (in the older

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