On Makar Sankranti day, dedicated to the Sun god, the senior disciples of Palghat Anantharama Bhagavathar, the ‘Asthana Vidwan of Sringeri Mutt’ presented ‘Navagraha Gaananjali,’ a congregational concert propitiating the nine planets with music and mantra chanting, apart from offering information accompanied by slides.
The event hosted by Nadabrahmam at the RCF auditorium of Fine Arts Society, Chembur, Mumbai, was well attended. Conceived and directed by Anantharama Bhagavathar, the anjali (divine offering) has been staged at various venues in Mumbai, Chennai and Kerala. “Each time it has been a new experience with value addition,” says Bhagavathar. Rather than just a string of kritis, the anjali is statistical and hence, interesting.
The narration by Ramkumar Easwaran supported by a power point presentation was informative with details of the planets, their parentage, vahanas, colour, grain, gem, musical note, kolam, pataka (flag), locations of temples, the impact of the planets on human life, mythological metaphors, nitya anushtanam (daily rituals), and Roman and Greek parallels. The data specific to each planet, helped one to understand better the lyrics of Navagraha kritis of Dikshitar.
Interesting slides
Some interesting slides included the Periyakulam temple with the planets in circular formation, Jantar Mantar of Jaipur, angular time pillars, various temples and symbols.
‘Raktha Ganapatim’ of Muthuswami Dikshitar in Mohanam opened the singing segment, that was rendered by a choir of nine women (Mythili K, Mangalam Shanthi, Priya Suresh, Kanchana Manyam, Maya Hariharan, Rohini Mahesh, Usha Shankar, Saroji C, Manjula G). The disciples equipped with pleasant voices were seamless in their presentation.
Starting with salutations to the Sun, the centre of the solar system, ‘Suryamurte’ in Saurashtram, Chatusra Dhruva talam, they showed their melodic mettle.
Moving to the Moon, the story of his marriage to 27 daughters of Daksha, the curse of waning and waxing preceded the rendition of ‘Chandram Bhaje’ (Asaveri, Chatusra Jati Matya Talam)
Seeking sanctuary (ashrayam) from ‘Angarakam’ (Mars), ‘Budham’ (Mercury), they moved to Jupiter in ‘Brhaspate’, meditating on Venus in ‘Shri Sukra Bhagwantam’ and the most feared, slow moving ‘Shanideva’ (Saturn). The mythological story of Rahu and Ketu was detailed before singing the glory of the asura, chhaya grahas in Ramapriya and Shanmukhapriya (Rupakam). The mangalam was a fitting finale to the neat presentation.
Hari Kutty Vadyar chanted the mantras before each kriti. Shivkumar Anantharaman on the violin and Aditya Ganesh on the flute set the musical pace for each segment. Shivkumar, son of Anantharama Bhagavathar, directed the ensemble with dulcet notes. Sriram Gopalakrishnan on the mridangam and K. M. Gopal on the morsing enhanced the rhythmic effect.
Colour lights appropriate to each graha like red for Mars, green for Mercury, white for Moon, yellow for Jupiter, blue for Saturn added to the creative canvas. For Ketu, strobe lights and various colour palettes were deployed that proved to be effective. The team trained by Anantharama Bhagavathar did full justice to the consecration of celestial bodies through fine music.
