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Home , Geetam, Mohanakalyani, Narayaniyam, Purandara Dasa

PAPER 5 DANCE, POETS AND POETRY, RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND

MODULE 19 MAHARAJA SWATHI THIRUNAL AND PURANDERADASA

PURANDARA DASA (1494 AD -1564 AD) was born to a pawn broker Varadappa Naik in Pandarapura in . Varadappa Nayaka and his wife Bai had been childless for several years, and finally, after praying to Lord Srinivasa of , they had a son whom they called Srinivasa. Srinivasa Nayaka grew up and took over his father's business. However, unlike his father, he was a miser, so much so that it is said that he even shied away from spending money on his father's treatment when the latter was ill. His wife Saraswatibai on the other hand always gave in charity, much to the displeasure of her husband.

One day, Lord in the guise of a poor priest visited Srinivasa Nayaka's shop asking for alms to perform the thread ceremony of his son. Srinivasa Nayaka kept putting him off for six months. Finally, fed up with the 's persistence, he gave him a fake coin that he played with as a child. Lord Vishnu as the priest then went to Srinivasa Nayak’s wife and narrated the pitiful story of how a miserly pawnbroker made him come to his shop every day for six months only to give him a fake coin in the end. Saraswathibai's heart melted and she gave the Brahmin her nose ring which was a gift from her parents. The priest promptly took the nose ring back to Srinivasa Nayaka's shop, asking to pawn it for money. The pawnbroker recognized

1 it as his wife’s and locking it up in his safe, hurried home. He asked Saraswathibai’s for her nose ring. Struck with fear, Saraswathibai locked herself in the kitchen and tried to swallow poison. Miraculously, the nose ring dropped from the heavens into her cup of poison and she was able to show it to her husband. Puzzled, he returned to his shop and opened the safe, only to find that the nose ring in the safe had vanished. This made him realise that the priest was none other than the Lord himself and he felt extremely ashamed of his behavior. He recalled all the incidents that had transpired in the previous six months and decided to renounce all material belongings and become a dasa (servant) of god. became a disciple of the great Raya, who titled him "Purandara

Vitthala / ऩुरंदर विट्ठऱ," which became his signature, which he uses in all his compositions. In gratitude for this transformation in his life, he would later compose a song dedicated to his wife, for having shown him the path to God. From that day onwards he became a devotee of the Lord. The man who had turned away countless people away, now himself went around collecting alms and living the life of a mendicant. He had an immense influence on and literature. Though initially a moneylender and known to be a miser, Navakoti Narayana as he was called had a life- changing experience that caused him to give up all his riches and pursue a spiritual life. He became a disciple of Vyasaraya who titled him "Purandara Vittala," which became his signature. He is said to have composed 475,000 songs in both Kannada and . In addition to these, other compositions attributed to him are

‘Gajendramoksham / गजेन्द्रमोऺम’, ‘Draupadi Vastrabhaharanam / रौऩदी िस्त्राभहरणं ’, ’Sudama Charite /

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सुदामा चररते ’ and ‘Baratatvasara / भरत配िसार’. About a thousand of his compositions have been handed down through the generations and some of these are actively sung till today. However, the original tunes for many of these compositions have been lost to us. Purandaradasa realised the importance of teaching music and is responsible for systematizing the , tala and prachara / प्रचार. He is credited with creating the building blocks for students of Carnatic music by formalizing the early music lessons, Swaravalis / स्त्िरािऱी, Saptatala alankaras / सप्तताऱ अऱंकार, Pillari Gitas / वऩ쥍ऱारी गीत , etc and also choosing as the raga to be used for these. The famous ‘Sri Gananatha / श्री गणनाथ ’ () is also attributed to him. It is incredible that even four centuries later, Purandaradasa's teaching models have been handed down to us with no variation. The Malahari raga gitas are ideal dvidhatu prabandhas / 饍विधातु प्रबंध.

Purandara Dasa’s compositions cover the following musical types: , Kirtanas, Padas, Lavanis / ऱािणी, Kandapadya / कन्द्दऩ饍य, Ugabhoga / उगाभोग (also Umabhoga), Bodabudika among others. He has also used Misra gati, Ratimala / रततमाऱा and other rare musical models. Purandara Dasa’s kritis, in simple Kannada, use colloquial language and are often set to folk , thus being understood and remembered by the common man. He identified 84 ragas, including ragas such as

3 , , todi, , and , which are popular in use today.

Being both a devotee and composer, Purandara Dasa had a very strong influence on , who praises him in ‘Prahalada Vijayam’. For being a vaggeyakara, a lakshanakara, and the founder of musical pedagogy and given the enormous influence that he had on Carnatic music, musicologists call Purandara Dasa the ‘Sangeeta Pitamaha / संगीत वऩतामह’ (grandfather) of Carnatic music.

The verses he sang were his own compositions on a variety of themes. Some of them described Sri 's adventures in this world. Some others sang about God's kindness to man. A few more verses were simple compositions expounding the philosophy contained in the , and in simple words. In yet other verses Purandaradasa praises Lord Krishna affectionately. In some verses Purandaradasa has even made fun of the Lord. His songs which preached surrender to Vittala have a distinct flavour, poetic fervor, extraordinary logic as well as satire.

Purandara Dasa set the highest value on good conduct. The strength and greatness of Sri ’s name have been beautifully enshrined and sung in this world. People who do not know Sanskrit find it hard to understand the Vedas and Upanishads. But Purandaradasa has successfully presented the quintessence of both the Upanishads and in his devaranamas. The language of the devaranama , though simple, so as to be understood by the layman, contains lofty and sublime thoughts, beautiful similies as well as thought-provoking

4 proverbs. He conveyed through his songs that God was easily approachable by all irrespective of status or caste. He is to be remembered at all times and our tongue is to be used to sing about his glory. He advocated offering simple worship within one’s means with sincerity. He held the views that elaborate rituals or ostentatious worship without involvement was of no use. He was irked by intolerance of people on the basis of caste, caste discrimination and other social ills. He would break out into a song whenever anything bothered him.

Purandaradasa’s devaranamas are immensely popular among both dancers as well as musicians. The most popular kritis for dance include Chandrachooda Shankara / चंरचूड शिि िंकर ऩािवती in Ragamalika, Sharanu Siddhi Vinayaka / िरणु सीवि विनायक in Saurashtram, Neene anatha bandhu / नीने अना थ बंधू in Mayamalavagowla, Gajavadana beduve / गजिदन बेदिू े in Hamsadvani, Gummana Kareyadire / गु륍मान करेयाददरे in Telang, Entha Cheluvage / एन्द्थ चेऱुिागे , a ninda stuti on Siva in , Adidano Ranga / आदददानो रंगा in , Aada Hodalle Makkalu / अदा होद쥍ऱे मक्काऱू in Ragamalika, Bhagyada Lakshmi baramma in Sri raga, Mella mellane bandane in , Jaganmohanane Krishna / जगनमोहनने कृ ष्णा in Ragamalika, among several others. His Ugabhogas(verses with no rhythm) are also very popular among both, singers as well as dancers. The ugabhoga-Baliya Manege bandante, Aaneyu Karedare Aadimoola

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Bandante and several more are used as preludes by musicians and dancers to devaranamas. They give excellent scope to introduce stories from mythology and make for very interesting viewing and provide ample scope for histrionics. Several dancers have performed dance dramas based on Purandaradasa’s compositions. Leela Samson with the Kalakshetra troupe had staged Purandara Krishna. I had presented thirteen of his compositions in Purandara Vaibhava, a dance production staged for the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha a year ago. His compositions can be presented as , , padams and so on as they give ample scope for choreography.

He practiced in his life what he preached. It is important to note this aspect of his life. He gifted away all his wealth and lived the life of renunciation which he preached to others. Although he took to the life of renunciation and asceticism he did not desert his wife and children. He lived with them. He made it clear to others by his conduct how it was possible to achieve purity of thought, word and deed regardless of caste, religion or creed. He did not believe that man could understand God by mere external purity unless it was accompanied by purity of mind. He stayed in for many years. He shed his mortal coil on 2nd January 1564.

SWATI TIRUNAL (1813 AD - 1846 AD) Maharaja Swati Tirunal was born into the Travancore royal family. Swathi Thirunal was deeply interested in music right from childhood. He learnt the languages in which he found good music. Thus Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Persian, Hindi and Marathi were taught to him, besides his mother- tongue. His education in music started with the first lessons

6 from Karamana Subrahmania Bhagavathar and Karamana Padmanabha Bhagavathar. Later, he studied music from his English teacher Subbarao. He continued to learn music by listening to accomplished musicians and practicing what he had imbibed. This was a period when music and art were thriving in many parts of

Swathi Tirunal’s reputation as a patron of cultural activities attracted several musicians, dancers and writers from all parts of India to his court. His palace also was home to many musicians and artistes of the period. The famous Thanjavur Quartet viz, the four brothers Vadivelu, Ponnayya, Chinnayya and Sivanandam who were disciples of , Subbukutti Ayya, an authority on Veena, Tyagaraja’s disciple Kannayya Bhagavathar, Shadkala Govinda Marar and many others graced his court. Vadivelu was an expert in the composition of dance forms of music and he collaborated with the Maharaja in his endeavors in this direction. He was also largely instrumental in the introduction of violin in Carnatic music and the Maharaja presented him with a violin in ivory as a token of his appreciation. The Maharaja also learnt Hindustani music & has to his credit several Dhrupads, Tappas, Thumris and Khayals. Several of the compositions are in rare ragas .Under the patronage and encouragement of the Maharaja, Natyam won immense popularity among the people of Travancore. Several dancers came from Thanjavur in those days and settled down in Trivandrum getting due encouragement from the palace.

Hailed as a child prodigy, Swati Tirunal started composing songs at the very young age of 16. By the age of eighteen, he took over the administration of the state and also started on the

7 path to becoming an accomplished composer. He was a vocalist and a vainika. Swati Tirunal was not only a composer, but a musicologist with a deep knowledge of the science of music and Bharata’s Natya Sastra. He was a poet par excellence. Among his literary works of high merit in Sanskrit may be mentioned the Bhaktimanjari / भक्क्तमंजरी, the Syanandurapuravarnanaprabandha / स्त्यनांदरु ऩुरिणनव प्रबंध and the Padmanabha Sataka / ऩद्मनाभ ितक, all of which have Lord Padmanabha for their theme. The Bhaktimanjari is a modelled after Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri’s Narayaniyam and comprises of one thousand verses divided into ten shatakas of one hundred verses each. The Syanandurapuravarnanaprabandha is a kavya written in a mixture of verse and prose with the traditional history of the Sri Padmanabhaswami temple and its festivals as the theme. The Padmanabha shataka which is considered to be the best literary work of Swathi Thirunal, is also a stotra addressed to Sri Padmanabha in one hundred verses and it is recited by devotees inside the temple even today. The Ajamilopakhyana / अजशमऱोऩखयान and Kuchelopakhyana / कु चेऱोऩख्यान are two other Sanskrit works of Swati written in a mixture of verse and prose. They are intended for the use of the exponents of Harikathakalakshepam. The sound education in music that Swati Tirunal received in his boyhood led to the manifestation of his musical genius. As a devotee of Sri Padmanabha, he utilised his talents to sing the glories of the Lord. Kirtanas, about two hundred in number, form the bulk of his musical compositions. Almost all of them are in Sanskrit. In his kritis Swati Tirunal used different mudras like Padmanabha /

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ऩद्मनाभ, Jalajanabha / जऱा煍नाभ, Sarasinajanabha / सरशसनजनभ & so on. He has composed over 400 kritis. While his compositions are predominantly in Sanskrit, he has also used other languages such as Manipravalam ( and Sanskrit and also a blend of some other languages), Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. Compositions like Bhavayami

Raghuramam / भाियाशम रघुरामम , Devadeva Kalayami / देिादेि कऱयामी , Bhogeendra shayinam / भोगेन्द्र ितयनम , Krupaya Palaya Shoure / कृ ऩया ऩाऱय िौरे have been very popular. He has also authored a book on theory of music giving valuable information. Mention may also be made in this context of the two distinct groups of kritis among Swati Tirunal's compositions. They are the Kirtanas / निरात्रर कीतवन and the Navaratnamalika / निर配नमाशऱका. The former comprises of nine compositions which are to be sung as the main songs on each of the nine days of the Navaratri festival and they help to preserve the memory of Swati Tirunal to this day. The Navaratnamalika is an anthology of nine compositions each of which is devoted to nine forms of conventional devotion (Bhakti). Swati Tirunal gave Mohiniattam a new dimension through specially written padams, which later became popular as Swatipadams. Like some other composers, Swati Tirunal had a love of Bharata Natyam, which is reflected in some of his varnams and kritis. Swati Tirunal has composed , Tillanas and Padams in substantial numbers. Some of his popular varnams are

Indumukhi / इंदमु ुखी in Raga set to Ata

9 talam, Chalamela / चऱमेऱ in Ragam Sankarabharanam and Ata Talam, Sarasijanabha / सरशसजनाभ in set to Adi Talam among others. The pada , Sumasayaka / सुमसयक in Karnataka is popular among dancers and is a very challenging varnam. A special feature of his varnams is the introduction of swaraksharas. He has composed 65 padams. ‘Valaputala Vasama' in Atana in Telugu, 'Alarsara paritapamu' in Suruti in Manipravalam, 'Kandanodu Chennu' in Nilambari in Malayalam, 'Somo pamavadane' in Yadukula in Sanskrit are some of the better known padams. Further, he is also said to have composed about four hundred kritis in a number of ragas, primary among them being Sankarabharanam, Kambhoji, Todi, Bhairavi and Kalyani. He composed pieces in Saranganata, Malahari, Lalithapanchamam, Dwijavanti, Gopika Vasantam, Ghanta and other rare and rakti ragas. He has composed a large number of kritis in Madhyama kala and Vilamba kala. Though the majority of these kirtanas are in praise of Vishnu, there are some in praise of other Gods and Goddesses like Siva, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Ganapati, Subramanya and as well. These compositions are proof of Swati Tirunal's catholicity. In his kirtanas the Maharaja uses swaraskshara liberally. Most of the kirtanas of Swati Tirunal are set to well known ragas, but there are some rare ragas too like which are his own original creations. He was adept at composing ragamalikas, ‘Pannagendra ', and 'Kamalajasya' describing the ten of Vishnu being well known. In these two ragamalikas, the makuta swara prayoga is introduced at the end, wherein the ragas are strung in the reverse order ending with the raga with which the piece

10 starts. The in Ragamalika-Bhavayami Raghuramam, has been very popular among dancers as most parts of Ramayana can be shown through this kriti. The Hindi song in praise of Lord Nataraja-Shankara Sri Giri, the kriti Mamava Sada Janani, the love song Chaliye Kunjanamo, the pada varnam, Sumasayaka , the Dhanasri on Krishna- Geet Dhunikutaka Dheem, are some of the very popular compositions performed in Bharata Natyam. Another set of 12 kirtanas are composed in Manipravalam. This group is known as Utsava Prabandham. Among the musical descriptions, the Utsavaprabandha stands out as the most important. It is a graphic description of the ten day principal festival in the Padmanabhaswami temple of Trivandrum. It contains 12 songs and 42 verses in different meters, most of them long. It is divided into twelve sections each containing a song and a few verses. The first section is an introduction and the last a conclusion and the remaining ten are devoted to the description of the utsava, one for each day. Many of the songs have only and Charanas. The Charanas in most cases are five in numbers. The song describing the tenth days’ procession runs as a continuous narrative without division into the usual components. Among the ragas used are the rare Navarasam and Mangalakaisika. In 1839 Palghat Parameswara Bhagavatar, the chief Asthana Vidvan, sang the Prabandha before a distinguished assembly in the presence of the Maharaja. He was presented a pair of laced garments and a sum of Rs.300. The Nagaswaram players in the temple use these songs during festivals. During the night procession on the first day and the evening procession on the other days, the particular songs for the day are played soon after the Deeparadhana ritual near the Western entrance, after the alapana of the concerned raga during the Deeparadhana in a prescribed pattern.

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In all, he possibly composed several hundred pieces of music in addition to literary works .This was done besides performing creditably his duties as a ruler, for while music was his passion, he had to pursue it amidst his duties as a ruler. His achievements are all the more remarkable for the short span of thirty three years that he lived. However, since he was a ruler and had many musicians and composers at his court as well, many musicologists believe that the authorship of some of his compositions is debatable. It is not certain how many were actually composed by him and whether some compositions were created by musicians at his court in his name. It is undeniable that Swati Tirunal covered a wide range of languages, musical forms, ragas, talas and content in his kritis. While his compositions have gained significant popularity amongst musicians, he does not appear to have had a similar inspirational effect on composers of succeeding generations as did the Trinity. A great scholar and linguist endowed with rare artistic gifts, he was passionately devoted to arts and letters, but he always remembered that his first and foremost duty as Sri Padmanabha Dasa was to look after the affairs of the State and promote the well-being of his subjects. He died very young at the age of thirty four.

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