From Ramadas to Tyagaraja

Setting kritis in madhyamakala seems to be the common factor.

Manda Sudharani’s lec-dem at the Music Academy explored Bhadrachala Ramadas’s influence on Tyagaraja, who talks of Ramadas in a padyam and in three kirtanas. In ‘Kaligiyunte,’ Tyagaraja ranks Ramadas with Narada, Prahlada and Parasara.

Ramadas was a sahaja kavi, who composed simple verses, suitable for bhajanai singing. His compositions can be sung in all nadais, thereby appealing to a cross-section of people. Manda Sudharani demonstrated this by singing Ramadas’s ‘Nammina Varini Mosam Cheyuta’ (Bhairavi) in many nadais. Ramadas chose rakti ragas for his compositions, which were all in madhyama kala, the lyrical flow bringing out the bhava. Sudharani showed how in ‘Ramabhadra Ra Ra’ (Sankarabharanam), the words and raga together brought out the filial feeling Ramadas had towards Lord Rama. Lyrical embellishments and beautiful poetry are the hallmarks of Ramadas’ verses.

Coming to Tyagaraja, Sudharani said he lived at a time when there was an overdose of sringara in literature. Tyagaraja moved away from this trend. Given Tyagaraja’s Rama bhakti, it was only natural that he should have been inspired by Bhadrachala Ramadas. But there was a difference.

Ramadas never saw himself as a composer. But Tyagaraja wasn’t just a bhakta. He was an artist too. So while bhakti was the foundation of his work, he used his creative genius to create new ragas and talas. Like Ramadas, Tygaraja also composed mainly madhyama kala kritis.

Even in kritis like ‘Chakkani Raja,’ Tyagaraja gives us ample scope for fast sangatis. May be Tyagaraja wanted to encourage singers to use their creativity, and therefore left his kritis amenable to such liberties, observed Sudharani.

The chouka kala kritis of Tyagaraja can be learned easily even by a beginner. But as you learn, you see the depth behind the simplicity. Madhyama kala makes for instant appeal.

Ramadas’ ‘Paluke Bangaramayena’ for example, travels all octaves in just four lines. So Ramadas gave the starting point for madhyama kala compositions, and Tyagaraja took this further. Another point of similarity between Ramadas and Tyagaraja is in the alluring use of alliteration.