Its a small room, no bigger than my living room. A low stage is set along one side. Cushions are laid out on the carpeted floor and chairs are arrayed along the wall. There are no mikes, no amplification of any sort. What a way to hear music! From the lowest whisper of the singer to the highest note, no sooner than the music is created, it finds a place in the listener’s soul. Aaaah the pleasure of it! It took a long time for me to descend from the euphoric highs that the concert left me in.
And to think that I learnt of this concert quite coincidentally on the net! Held at the The Ali Akbar College of Music in Basel, it is about 225 kms from where I live. My husband may not have the burning passion that I have for music but he enjoys it well enough and is always happy to drive me to whichever place I demand that he take me. I have once made him drive me 300+ kms each way for a concert, all in one day, and he made nary an objection! I am grateful to him for that, for this is quite beyond my own stamina.
And this was how I came to hear Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan’s wonderful concert last Saturday. What a singer! I wonder, if you have 500 years of musicians as ancestors, does you DNA get altered? Do you transcend from being a mere mortal into a superhuman being whose vocal chords can perform acrobatics of the perfect 10 variety? Belonging to the Sham Chaurasi gharana, his ancestors Mian Chand Khan and Mian Suraj Khan have sung in the court of Mughal emperor Akbar as contemporaries of the great Mian Tansen. Shafqat Ali Khan’s father Salamat Ali Khan and uncle Nazakat Ali Khan were greatly respected Maestros from the recent past and his grandfather Vilayat Ali Khan was a great Dhrupad singer from before. A thought: is the whole Gharana system enhanced by Epigenetic Inheritance ?
Shafqat Ali Khan started his concert with an elaborate Raga Aiman (Yaman). This was followed by a Thumri in Mishra Pahadi. After that there was a superb Raga Malkauns and finally a Multani Kafi in Sindhi Bhairavi. When it came to the last number, my eyes were flowing, headless of the surroundings; I was in a ‘zone’ and when that happens only the music exists, all else ceases to be.
Today’s song choice is the Thumri in Mishra Pahadi ‘Saiyyan Bina Ghar Soona’ of which I found an older recording. The lyrics are simple
सैय्याँ बिना घर सूना सांवरिया ना आये (मोरे) याद तिहारी जियारा जलाए मोरा चैन जिया नाहि पावे
My home is desolate without my beloved my beloved has not come My heart burns with the thought of you there is no peace for my soul
Enjoy!
The last song of the performance was Sanwal Mor Moharan, a Kafi in Multani written by Khwaja Ghulam Farid. ‘Turn back home my beloved’ urges the singer; unfortunately that is all I understand of the lyrics. But sometimes lyrics are unimportant; all you need to hear is the emotion. I found this priceless gem of a performance by Ustad Salamat Ali Khan (father of Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan) which I would urge you to listen to. I find it incredibly beautiful!
I was seven or eight when I first heard of the Bhagavat Gita. My mother registered my sister and me into Chinamaya Mission’s program for young ones. Chanting the Gita was one of the activities. I even learnt the whole of chapter 7 by heart for a competition, and what’s more, I won a prize for it too!
Not that I understood anything much at that time. Subsequently I have read some summaries and heard some lectures but have not really delved into the Gita. I would tell myself ‘I really should read it at least once from end to end’ but I never got around to it. Well, last week I finally embarked on my long time goal. I hope to have the two-fold benefit of understanding the basic ideas of the Gita and improving my Sanskrit at the same time. I am not going to rush through it, after all, what is the hurry?
Why am I telling you all this? Well, if you see me quote from the Gita every now and then, don’t take me for some erudite vidushi! I am just stumbling along my first word-for-word read of the Gita and no doubt it will filter down into this blog as well.
For those who do not have the time to read it, here is the gist of Chapter 1 which I have just finished. Sanjaya, the charioteer and seer for Dhritarashtra is our narrator. Dhritarashtra asks in the first verse of his seer, ‘What’s up in the battleground ?’. Or rather, he says elegantly in Sanskrit
What did Pandu’s son and my sons do when they assembled on the sacred (Dharmic) plain of Kurukshetra, eager for battle, O Sanjaya?
Note how he refers to the battleground as धर्म क्षेत्र or the field of Dharma, a word which encompasses so much from righteousness, duty, religion, virtue, justice, morality, propriety to law. That is the field for which the Gita was written.
The theme of this chapter is Arjuna’s grief. Those who know the Mahabharata know that the Pandavas had come upon this point after many years of injustice, treachery, insults and even murder attempts. They had not lightly decided on this course of war with their kin. Yet when Arjuna sees his grandfather, uncles, gurus, sons, grandsons, in-laws, cousins and friends arrayed before him on either side of the battlefield, he is overcome with the magnitude of what is happening. ‘What am I doing it all for?’, he seems to ask Krishna, his charioteer, in this verse.
न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च | किं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा ||१- ३२||
I desire not victory, O Krishna, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. Of what avail is dominion to us, O Govinda? Of what avail are pleasures and even life?*
He is a shaken man. His limbs tremble, his skin feels as if it burns, his mouth is dry. We can hardly recognize the great and experienced warrior that he was in these descriptions. His main fear seems to be that of accumulating the great sin of destroying his family.
Alas! We have resolved to commit a great sin, inasmuch as we are endeavouring to slay our kinsmen out of craving for the pleasures of dominion.
It seems to me that he was more worried about gathering sins than the loss of dear ones. Whatever it was, I feel most sympathetic with him and wonder how the story would have gone if he had walked away from the battlefield then?
There are some verses (40-48) which I found rather objectionable in this chapter. His idea of a adharmic future is the impiety of women (not men!), the intermingling of castes due to which all the forefathers will go to hell without offerings of pinda and water! I suppose it struck at me personally as a woman who not only married outside her caste but also outside her region. To be accused of impiety and the ‘sin of intermingling of castes’ seems rather harsh! What can be wrong about the intermingled origins of my two wonderful children? Two such intelligent and empathetic citizens of the world, both doctors who aid people everyday, surely the Gita does not question the propriety of their existence? Ah well, different times, different mores. I am not one to take the scriptures too literally…
The theme song of the day? What came to mind immediately was ‘Sthirata Nahi Nahi Re’ by Sadasiva Brahmendra. ‘There is no stability of mind’ says the poet. ‘We are engrossed in this ocean of three kinds of sorrow, caged by arrogance and egotism’ he says. Arjuna too felt deep sorrow at his situation, a situation which came about partly by arrogance and egotism as well. ‘Minds wrapped up with the bond of things, perplexed by wrong or contrary knowledge’. Interesting that vishaya can be interpreted as objects but also as country or land. Is that not what the Pandaves were, bound to their desire for land? For lyrics and translation, see footnote.
The song was made his own by the incomparable Maestro Balamuralikrishna. I believe it was set to music by him for the film Dharma Nirnayam but I cannot confirm this. It is set to Raga Amruta Varshini here but this poem has been sung in different ragas by different artists.
There is no stability of mind There is no stability.
We are engrossed in this ocean of three kinds of sorrow (note: Adidaivika (Divine), Adhibhoutika (of the body) and Adhyatmika (of the soul)), caged by arrogance and egotism.
Minds wrapped up with the bond of things, perplexed by wrong or contrary knowledge.
Opposed to union with ascetics, their achieving of joy is very uncertain.
Footnote (Raga) :
The scales of Raga Amruta Varshini are as follows :
Aarohanam (Ascending) : S G3 M2 P N3 S’ Avarohanam (Descending) : S’ N3 P M2 G3 S
This raga is a Janya Raga, derived from Chitrambari (scales below), 66th on the Melakarta scale. Some musicologists consider it to be derived from Jalavarali (39th Melakarta) or Mechakalyani(65th Melakarta).
The moods associated with this raga are joy and exuberance. There are not many compositions in this raga. The ones I have heard and enjoyed are are Anandmrutakarshini by Muthuswami Dikshitar, Sarasiruha Nayane by Tyagaraja and Sudhamayi Sudhanidhi by Muthiah Bhagavatar.
Note : The 12 notes in the octave are named as below. Please note that C is used as Sa for the sake of simplicity as the scale is relative in Carnatic Music. Also note that the scales paint only a superficial picture of the raga as the gamakas(ornamentations) and prayogas (signature phrases) are a very important part of a raga.
Birth or Worth? Or neither? What criteria should open the doors of a temple? The answer seems self-evident to me yet it is still otherwise in practice in some temples in India. Is that not sad?
My thoughts today are triggered by the discussion with my readers in my last musical post. The late Jon Higgins, an American, and Yesudas, an Indian Christian are both well known names in the Carnatic Music arena. As Carnatic vocalists they cannot but sing in praise of Hindu Gods all the time. Even otherwise, if their lives’ work is not a worship of Goddess Saraswati then I don’t know what is! Yet both were denied entry to certain temples on account of their not being Hindu. Who could be more deserving? Anyway, if it depended on what we deserved, the halls of temples would be empty indeed!
In fact, even Hindus of the lowest-classes used to be denied entry into temples. A terrible thing, this injustice meted out in the name of caste. I have had non-Indians talk to me as if this was true of Indians alone, this class-based injustice. I think not; this kind of injustice is a disease of humankind. Did the people of Israel get just treatment from the ruling Egyptians at the time of Moses? Or the African-Americans get justice in their slavery? What of the Aboriginals in Australia hunted like animals? Or the ethnic cleansing in Serbia in recent history? Oh the shame of it!
Such was case of Nandanar who was born in servitude, at the bottom of the caste ladder. He lived around the 5th/6th AD in South India. His caste was such that he was denied even entry to the temples. Yet he was one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. Overcome with the desire to get just a glimpse of his Lord in the temple, he set off once to Thiruppungur. Standing outside the door, he tried to peer in to see the sanctum sanctorum but the great statue of Shiva’s bull, Nandi, blocked his view. It is said that on hearing his plea, the statue moved aside so that he could have a glimpse of the sanctum. Even now at this temple, Nandi is not in his usual place but a bit aside. This very Nandnar, denied even entry to temples, is now revered as one of the 63 Nayanmar saints whose statues decorate the halls of Shiva temples all over South India. What a come about!
One version of Nandanar’s life story was written as an upanyasam (musical discourse) by Gopalakrishna Bharathi (1811-1896). His songs were used in the film Nandanar made in 1942. If you enjoy Carnatic music, this is a recommended watch. In addition to songs by Gopalakrishna Bharathi, we also get to hear songs written by the great poet-composer Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu (1910-1974) of Thillana Mohanambal fame. The wonderful vocalist Dandapani Desikar plays the lead and impressive Serukalathur Sama plays his Brahmin overlord. You can watch a good quality print of this film here (no subtitles).
My song choice of today is written by Gopalakrishna Bharathi in his Nandanar Charithram. ‘Alas, my view is blocked by a mountain-like bull which is lying down’ says he. ‘Even after coming to this town, will not this sinner of Parayan caste have his sins pardoned?’ he goes on to ask. He accepts that he cannot enter the temple. ‘It is enough if I can see you from the chariot stop, I will not enter the temple’ he says and begs ‘Will not your bull move just a little?’. For lyrics and translation, see footnote.
The song is sung in Raga Todi in the film; I believe Gopalakrishna Bharathi composed it in Todi as well. The version I have chosen for you is presented in Nattakurinji by the melodious and incredibly talented sisters Ranjani & Gayathri. I find the slow and meditative quality of the song very touching indeed.
In his next song in Nanadanar Charithram , Gopalakrishna Bharathi has Lord Shiva saying to Nandi – சற்றே விலகி இரும் பிள்ளாய் சந்நிதானம் மறைக்குதாமே ‘Do move a little, my son. It seems you are blocking the view of the sanctum’. And that is what I say to the priests of the temples who deny entry to anyone at all – சற்றே விலகியிரும், சந்நிதானத்தை மறைக்காதீர் ‘Move aside, don’t block the sanctum’.
Footnote (Lyrics) :
Language : Tamil
பல்லவி வழி மறைத்திருக்குதே மலை போலே ஒரு மாடு படுத்திருக்குதே
அனுபல்லவி பாவி பறையன் (Alternates : நந்தன், ஏழை ) இந்த ஊரில் வந்து என்ன (Alt: வந்தும் இவன்) பாவம் தீரேனோ (உந்தன்) பாதத்தில் சேரேனோ ஏறேனோ சிவலோக நாதா (Alt: நாதன்)
சரணம் தேரடியில் (Alt: தேரடியிலே) நின்று தரிசித்தாலும் போதும் கோயில் (Alt: கோயிலில்) வர மாட்டேனே (Alt: மாட்டேன் ஐயே) ஓர் அடி விலகினால் போதும் இங்கே நின்று உற்று பார்க்க (alt: பார்க்கவே) சற்றே ஆகிலும் விலகாதோ உந்தன் மாடு
Transliteration :
pallavi vazhi maraittirukkudE malai pOlE oru mADu paDuttirukkudE
charaNam tEraDiyil (alt: tEraDiyilE) inDRu darisittAl pOdum koyil (alt: koyilil) vara mATTEnE (alt: mATTEn aiyyE) Or aDi vilaginAl podum ingE nindRu uTRu pArkka (alt: pArkkavE) chaTRE Agilum vilagAdO undan mADu
Translation :
Alas, my view is blocked by a mountain-like bull which is lying down!
Even after coming to this town, will not this sinner of Parayan caste have his sins pardoned? Will I not reach your feet? Will I not ascend to your abode, O Lord Shiva?
It is enough if I can see you from the chariot stop (note: this is outside the temple gates), I will not enter the temple. It is enough if your bull moves by one foot for me to peer from here today. Will not your bull move just a little?
Footnote (Raga) :
The scales of Raga Nattakurinji are as follows :
Aarohanam (Ascending) : S R2 G3 M1 N2 D2 N2 P D2 N2 S’ Avarohanam (Descending) : S’ N2 D2 M1 G3 M1 P G3 R2 S
It is a Janya raga, derived from Harikamboji which is 28th on the Melakarta Scale (see below).
This gentle raga which evokes devotion and compassion. Opinions differ as to the suitable times to sing this raga; some say daytime others say evenings. As this raga does suit elaborations, it is not unusual to see it chosen as one of the major pieces of a concert. Well known krithis in this raga Manasu Vishaya by Tyagaraja, Vazhi Maraithirukude by Gopalakrishna Bharati, Budham Ashrayami by Muthuswami Dikshithar, Mamava Sada Varade by Swati Tirunal and Paal Vadiyum Mugam by Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer.
Tamil speakers may enjoy this episode of Charulata Mani’s Isai Payanam program :
Note : The 12 notes in the octave are named as below. Please note that C is used as Sa for the sake of simplicity as the scale is relative in Carnatic Music. Also note that the scales paint only a superficial picture of the raga as the gamakas(ornamentations) and prayogas (signature phrases) are a very important part of a raga.
Today I have something different for you. Ramesh has been a regular visitor to my blog for the last couple of years. Though exposed to Carnatic Music through his parents, he himself never took any interest in it until a few years back. His interest has deepened since and now he even makes time to attend concerts when he can. I never knew that I had an evangelist streak in me, but it looks as if I do; it pleases me truly that he blames his deepened interest partly on my blog! He shared a commentary of his recent concert experience with me. It is so well-written that I thought to share it with you all. So here is my guest-writer for the day, Ramesh.
Can you really describe what goes into making a music concert near perfect ? Is it the quality and reputation of the artistes ? Is it their mood on that day ? Is it the choice of the ragas and kritis that they choose to feature ? Does the chemistry between the artistes matter ? Do the acoustics of the hall have a bearing ? Is a majestic arena a requirement for great music ? Does a knowledgeable and attentive audience make a difference ? Do artistes need the appreciation of the audience to rise to excellence ? Is it the listener’s mood which makes the difference between the drab and the divine?
Do I hear you say, all of the above ?
Well, yesterday, I went to a violin recital by Mysore Manjunath and Mysore Nagaraj held in open air; acoustically, you could not have thought of a worse place. In addition, the obligatory generator humming in one corner was louder than the shruti being strummed. Traffic honked by in the road 50 yards away. As is very often the case, the mike system was continually being adjusted for the first 30 minutes of the concert.
The crowd was sparse , perhaps some 300 in all. As it was a free concert, quite a few families had come, with a bunch of adorable babies and kids having their own fun running around.
I wasn’t in the best of moods either. My drive across Bangalore to attend the concert had left me with such a bad back that I stood much of the time. Rightfully it should have been a disaster.
But then something happened. Manjunath and Nagaraj were simply inspired. Their choice of ragas seemed almost perfect. As they warmed up, Sudhindra and Jayachandra Rao on the mridangam started to synch beautifully. They had all become one unit and were egging each other on. The less than perfect setting turned out to be an intimate one where the audience almost connected personally with the artistes. Just the starting notes of Tera Tiyaga Rada set the mood for something special. Manjunath dealt with Vasanta raga with great flair and Seethamma Mayamma followed with brilliant artistry. Nagaraj’s Kharaharapriya inspired such frenzied gesticulating in the audience that surely some would have sprained their wrists! Swarams built up to breathtaking crescendos. Despite the exodus at the start of the thani avarthanam, Sudhindra and Jayachandra Rao had got infected with the mood and simply excelled themselves. If I were to tell you that they attempted one artiste playing only with the left hand and the other only with the right hand to create a perfect mridangam beat, you’ll probably get the picture. They built the finale up so well that both Manjunath and Nagaraj almost stood up to give them an ovation.
At the end there were probably only some 50 of us. When they struck the notes for the Mangalam, we almost were sad that this was ending. They had created some real magic. I had to sigh and expel the breath I had held. The notes are haunting my mind even after a full day has passed.
You see, the recipe was all wrong. But it was a near perfect concert.
Dickens was a clever fellow, wasn’t he? I reckon he hit the nail on the head with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Just as Scrooge was haunted by this Ghost, I too feel the presence of the Ghost of Ramanavami Past all around me today. Is this how it is for everybody? Do we all go through life shaped and then haunted by an unchangeable past and hemmed in by an unpredictable future? I wonder, what past am I creating today? How will it haunt me later?
Thankfully for me, unlike Scrooge’s Ghost, my Ghost only shows me warm and wonderful memories of Ramanavami. From its annals of collective memory, it shows me the joy of Lord Rama’s birth and from my own personal memory, it shows me the joys of celebrations past.
As I pick the song for today I am haunted more than by just Ramanavami. This song has sent me hurling back in time to my school years. Every morning I would be woken by Vividh Bharati’s 6 am devotional music program which featured songs like my choice of the day. I would sip my tea standing on the veranda, watching the sun make its way up the horizon, listening to the songs on the radio accompanied by mum’s voice joining in as she busied herself in the kitchen. She would have woken much earlier, for she would have showered, then finished her half-hour morning puja, made filter-coffee and be well into making lunch. On festival days and holidays, this morning devotional music would be followed by Venkatesha Suprabhatam and Vishnu Sahasranamam on my father’s favourite possession – a Grundig tape recorder that he bought in Germany in the 1960s. For the rest of the festival day, there would be non-stop Carnatic Music.
What a feast my mum would lay out for us! There would be panagam and kosumalli in addition to the festival menu of many dishes with vadai & payasam. How many hours she would have spent in the kitchen! Why don’t I remember thanking her? Forget festivals, did I even thank her for getting up early enough to pack me a cooked lunch everyday? I can’t remember. So after all, I too have a ghost which haunts me –the Ghost of ingratitude, of taking my mother’s love for granted, for were not her meals just edible love?
Today’s song is by the great poet-saint Tulsidas (1532-1623). He extolls Rama’s beauty in wonderful verse, calling him equal to ‘innumerable Cupids’, like a ‘lustrous white lightning in his yellow garments’. The sounds of the words ring as pleasingly as the description of his Lord. For lyrics and translation, see footnote. His prayer is basically for the Lord who is the ‘destroyer of the great fears of life’ to ‘live in the lotus of my heart’. Is that not our prayer too?
So here is the voice which sang so beautifully through my growing years, Lata Mangeshkar, singing Sri Ramachandra Kripalu Bhaja Mana.
For those who are unfamiliar with the life of Tulsidas, there is a Hindi film made in 1954 which is available on youtube with subtitles. Though it does stretch what is essentially quite a short story, I still enjoyed watching it; I do like the innocence of old films.
Footnote (Lyrics) :
श्री रामचन्द्र कृपालु भज मन हरण भव-भय दारुणम् । नव-कंज-लोचन कंज-मुख कर-कंज पद-कंजारुणं॥१॥
iti vadati tulasIdAsa shankara shEsha muni mana ranjanam mama hrdaya kanja nivAsa kuru kAmAdi khaladala ganjanam
O Mind (mana)! Pray (bhaja) to compassionate (kripAlu) Ramachandra who destroys (haraNa) the great (dAruNa) fears of life (bhava-bhaya). With eyes (lOchana) like a new (nava) lotus (kanja), with a face (mukha) like a lotus (kanja), and feet (pada) like a crimson (aruNa=dawn) lotus (kanja).
With boundless (amita) splendour (chavi) like innumerable (agaNita) cupids (kandarpa), he is as beautiful (sundaram) as a new (nava) blue (implies rain?) (nIla) cloud (nIrada). I bow (noumi) to that groom (varam) of Janaka’s daughter (sutA), who is like (mAnahu) a lustrous (ruchi) white (shuchi) lightning (taDita) in his yellow (pIta) garments (paTa).
I bow (bhaja) to the Sun-like (diNesha) friend (bandhu) of the wretched (dIna), destroyer (nikandanam) of the demons (dAnava & daityA) dynasties (vansha). Son (nanda) of the Raghu dynasty, root (kanda) of joy (Ananda), gladdens (chanda)the Kosalas (his mother’s dynasty), son of Dasharatha.
Beautiful (chAru) with a crown (mukuTa) on his head (shira), earrings (kunDala), and mark on his forehead (tilaka) and limbs (anga) generously (udAra) decorated (vibhUshaNam). With long hands to his knees (AjAnu-bhuja), holding (dhara) a bow (chApa) and arrow (shara) , winner (jIta) of the battle (sangrAma) with khara and dhUshaNa.
Thus (iti) says (vadati) tulasIdAsa. He who pleases (ranjana) the minds (mana) of Shankara and Adisesha (sEsha muni), who has contempt (ganjanam) for the wicked things (khala-dala) like (Adi) desire (kAma), please dwell (nivAsa kuru) in the lotus (kanja) of my heart (hridaya),
Happy New Year to all my Tamil readers! In Southern India the New Year signals the start of the extreme heat to follow but here in Europe, Spring is in the air and a spring is in my step. We set back the clocks a couple of weeks ago and light streams into my home until late in the evening and the lake glints outside my windows as if diamonds were scattered on it. The French Alps that I see across the lake are still snow-capped but only the highest of them will remain so through summer. The quality of light has changed from the cool blue-greys of winter to brilliant warm light of the summer sky. The gardeners are busy everywhere, planting small flowering plants in the roundabouts and the flower beds which abound in the city. Today when I went for my morning walk I noticed that the first of the daffodils are out. Perhaps next week I’ll go out a bit further to see the fields of narcissus. The tulips will be out soon and like each year, I will set out to see the multi-coloured blooms. There is joyfulness in the air and I am infected by it.
This phenomenon of an upward mood swing with the coming of spring is fairly common. In fact, there is a syndrome called seasonal affective disorder (SAD) which occurs during fall and winter, when the days are shorter, and goes away with the advent of spring. The chemistry of our bodies is an extraordinary thing, isn’t it? And the workings of our mind is even more marvellous. Just as light can affect the way our body works, and hence the mind, so too can music affect our minds, and hence our bodies. How do we bring Spring into our minds with music? Obviously with the Raga Vasanta which means Spring! I am always seduced by the elegance of this raga, it’s beautiful slides and upbeat mood. I have a recording of Sri Kamakshi by the violin maestros Ganesh & Kumaresh which stands amongst the most-listened in my music library. I must say that Vasanta sounds simply magical in their hands!
Recently the maestros performed in Geneva. I had written an email to their website before their arrival, requesting that they perform Vasanta and they kindly obliged. I was delighted to hear Sri Kamakshi live; a week has passed and I am still in an ‘enhanced’ state!
In this lovely and uplifting Kriti, the poet-composer Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai* refers to the Goddess Kamakshi as the embodiment of Music and begs her to come and remove his emptiness and loneliness. With this song, I too pray that the good Goddess, the very embodiment of vasantam (Spring), scatter away the emptiness and loneliness of winter and usher in the blooming of devotion and joy in my heart.
I present this fantastic rendition by the young geniuses on the violin, the Maestros Ganesh and Kumaresh. It is a radio recording and the sound quality is not the best but it is still superb (26 mins).
* There seems to be some confusion regarding the composer of this kriti. It is ascribed to Subbaraya Shastri in a number of places yet there seems to be a convincing case for those who say it is by Ramaswami Pillai. Without having real knowledge, I have opted to use the latter’s name in my blog.
சரணம் வேதாகம சாஸ்திர நாத ச்வரூபிணியே வேகமே வந்திப்போதென் வறுமையை நீக்குவாயே (alt: போக்குவையே) ஆதாரம் எனக்கு நீ வேதபுரீச்வரியே அம்பா சித்தம் இறங்கி அடிமையை பாலிப்பாயே மாநிலம் தனில் தேவி நின் மகிமையை சொல்ல மாலயனாலும் ஆகுமா உனக்கு சமானம் இனி தெய்வமா நிஜமா குமாரனை ரக்ஷி
O Kamakshi, she with the sidelong glance (it is said that even a sideways glance of the Devi is filled with compassion and grace, so kaTAkshi implies the compassionate one)
You who are all pervading as the One, you who provide prosperity and salvation to your devotees, my mother.
You who are the essence of the Vedas and Agamas, you are the embodiment of music. Please come now and remove my loneliness and emptiness. (note: vaRumaimeans poverty but also emptiness and loneliness; the latter meaning seems more appropriate here). You are my support, the Goddess of Vedapuri. Have compassion for this servant of yours and protect me. In this world who can describe your glory, not even Vishnu or Brahma! There is no deity equal to you! In truth come and protect your son.
Footnote (Raga) :
The scales of Vasanta are as follows :
Arahonam (Ascending): S M1 G3 M1 D2 N3 S’ Avarohanam (Descending) : S’ N3 D2 M1 G3 R1 S
It is a Janya raga, derived from Suryakantam (below), 17th on the Melakarta scale.
This very old raga is considered an auspicious raga and suitable for singing in the evenings. In old Tamil music, it is called Andi Pan. It is upbeat and joyful, yet some of the slides in the avarohanam can evoke introspection. The raga shines in medium and fast speeds. Some well known compositions in Vasanta are Seetamma Mayamma by Tyagaraja, Ramachandram Bhavayami and Harihara Putram by Muthuswami Dikshithar, Natanam Adinar by Gopalakrishna Bharathi.
Tamil speaking readers may enjoy this presentation of the raga by Charulata Mani.
Note : The 12 notes in the octave are named as below. Please note that C is used as Sa for the sake of simplicity as the scale is relative in Carnatic Music. Also note that the scales paint only a superficial picture of the raga as the gamakas(ornamentations) are a very important part of a raga.
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Its a small room, no bigger than my living room. A low stage is set along one side. Cushions are laid out on the carpeted floor and chairs are arrayed along the wall. There are no mikes, no amplification of any sort. What a way to hear music! From the lowest whisper of the singer to the highest note, no sooner than the music is created, it finds a place in the listener’s soul. Aaaah the pleasure of it! It took a long time for me to descend from the euphoric highs that the concert left me in.
