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Of rhythm, comparison and composer
KRIPA SUBRAHMANIAM
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The contribution of Subbarama Dikshitar, the charm of sarvalaghu, study of Hindusthani ragas and grandeur of thanam were discussed.
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Photos: V. Ganesan.
Expositions: M.S.Gopalakrishnan and M. Narmada
The life and work of Subbarama Dikshitar was traced by vidwan V. Subrahmaniam, who presented a paper on the composer.
Born in 1839, Subbarama Dikshitar was the grandson of Baluswami Dikshitar, the youngest brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar. Baluswami Dikshitar adopted Subbarama as his son.
Subbarama Dikshitar was initiated into Srividya Upasana at Ettayapuram. He was intensely coached in music, Telugu, Sanskrit including kavya, natakam, alankaram and vyakaranam. Saranga Deva’s treatise Sangeeta Ratnakara defines Vaggeyakara as a person who creates both music and song. Subbarama Dikshitar’s monumental contribution to Carnatic music has been his lakshana grantha, ‘Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini.’
The Prathama Abhyasa Pustakumu of Subbarama Dikshitar has followed the classification of thought along Venkatamakhi’s theories whereas Muthuswamy Dikshitar followed Sri Govindacharya. Subbarama Dikshitar composed 12 varnams, of which four are Tana varnams, three are chowka varnams and five are pada varnams. ‘Entha Ninnae’ is a pada varnam in Khamas raga set to Tisra Eka Thalam and this piece was demonstrated by Hariprasad and Srinidhi, students of V. Subrahmaniam.
Adayar K. Lakshmanan and Rama Rao
Subbarama Dikshitar has composed two darus and 15 kritis. ‘Kanthimatheem,’ a composition in Kalyani raga set to Rupaka Thala was the next piece that was sung by Nagalakshmi Lakshmanan, a student of Brinda.
In this composition the words Kanthara and Kantha in the anupallavi sequence reveal the poetic imagination and prowess of Subbarama Dikshitar. The kriti is also set to Dwitheeya Aksharaprasam.
The next kriti demonstrated was ‘Sri Parthasarthini’ in praise of Lord Parthasarthy dedicated to the Lord at the temple in Triplicane. The kriti is set in Yadukulakhambodi (Adi).
Subrahmaniam along with this students Meenakshi Ganesh, Saraswathi and Srinidhi demonstrated the same. The composition is also set to Dwitheeya Aksharaprasam which means that all the lines have the second letter concordance. All the important sancharas of Yadukulakhambodi have been used including Swaraaksharam of Pa-Da-Sa; Par-Tha-Sa.
The last piece of the demonstration taken up was Srimad Shankaracharyam set in Sankarabharanam, (Adi). A Sanskrit composition it employs the word Sankara to convey different shades of meaning.
On sarvalaghu
Dedicated to Rukmini Devi Arundale, founder of Kalakshetra, December 25 featured Sarvalaghu element in dance music, Adyar Lakshmanan and his brother Rama Rao, expanding on the subject.
T.V.Gopalakrishnan
T.K.Padmanabhan on the violin and Vellore Ramabhadran on the mridangam accompanied them.
Sarvalaghu was the base for the five types of tala nadai — Chatursram, Tisram, Kandam, Misram, and Sankeernam — stated Lakshmanan. It would be a perfect match especially for chatursra nadai, four being an even number. All the others have odd numbers Tisram 3, Kandam 5, Misram 7 and Sankeernam 9. The sarvalaghu rhythm can be observed in a child’s gait, the sound of a machine, the sound of a running train, etc.
In 1944, Rukmini Devi requested V. Krishnamachari to set to tune ‘Kutrala Kuravanji’ keeping in mind the sarvalaghu throughout. In 1947, Tiger Varadachari was asked to tune up Kumarasambhavam with the same sarvalaghu base. He set the slokas in ragams without any specific talam adhering only to the basic beat. The closing slokas were set in Adi talam and in the ragas Nattai, Gowlai, Arabhi, Sri, and Varali in that order with a finishing solkattu in all the ragas. Lakshmanan and his brother rendered the composition beautifully.
Lakshmanan had created some Teermanams in Adi talam in mixed chatursra and tisra gatis. He had done this through some adaptation from the text ‘Talamum Anubhavamum.’
Comparative study
Violin exponent M.S.Gopalakrishnan and daughter Narmada presented a paper on ‘Hindustani and Carnatic Music — an Overview.’ The duo offered a comparative study of Mayamalavagowla (Deva Deva Kalayami) and Bhairavi; Ahir Bhairavi and Chakravaham. The next piece was Ahir Bhairavi, and the corresponding raga in the Carnatic system is Chakravaham.
V. Subrahmaniam.
Narmada explained that in the Carnatic system, the compositions formed the base following the Harikatha or bhajana sampradaya. Narmada delineated that the Parur school of violin playing is Gamaka-oriented. She demonstrated it by playing in the four octaves.
Then followed Hamsadhwani (Vatapi Ganapatim) and Hansdhwani. The Hindustani system categorises ragas according to the time of the day — morning, evening, night and midnight. Tackling Pantuvarali and Puriya Dhanasri, Narmada observed that in Carnatic music, the reference point for instrumental music was the nagaswaram.
Narmada spoke about the Dhrupad style of singing in the Hindustani system. Dhrupad or Khayal was the extension of thought with its musical interpretation, she said presenting a piece in raga Yaman (Kalyani). The duo concluded with a thillana in Khamas and a tarana in Sindhubhairavi.
Elaborating on tanam, T.V.Gopalakrishnan explained that the term Tanam consisted of the letters Ta, Aa, Na, and, M, indicating the integrating principle of Sivan, Brahman and Vishnu.
The matra M, refers to the Omkara principle. There have been references to the Tanam, from the time of ancient texts like Silappadikaram and Chaturdandi Prakasika.
When singing Tanam the tonal continuity has to be constant and the flow has to be continuous. The Tanas are categorised into Gaja, Aswa, Manduka and Markata and aural Tanas are categorised into Chakram,Vakram, Malika, Gambhira, Vadyam and Sama. TVG presented Tanam recordings of all the great maestros of yesteryear, starting with a Kalyani Tanam by Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, followed by Semmangudi Srivasa Iyer’s Sankarabharanam.
After featuring Tanam presentations by Madurai Mani Iyer, M.D.Ramanathan, G.N.Balasubramaniam and Alathur Brothers, T.V.Gopalakrishnan gave a demonstration of Tanam singing in Sankarabharanam after a brief interlude of Ghana Raga Tanam.
He also demonstrated Manava Tanam, Kukkuta Tanam and Manduka Tanam. He further demonstrated Chakra, Vakra, Vadya and Vidyuth types.
He concluded the presentation with a presentation of a tanam in Sindhubhairavi.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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