As we celebrate Adi Sankara’s jayanthi this month, it is an opportune moment to look at the saint’s marvellous and prolific literary creations. We have to thank a large number of music composers, singers and recording organisations without whose help these compositions may not have reached our homes.
In his short life of 33 years, lived about 13 centuries ago, Adi Sankara mastered Sanskrit, researched the Vedas and Upanishads, wrote commentaries on them, developed a deep understanding of sanatana dharma, developed its essence, and communicated it in the form of his own distilled literature. He preached to a growing band of disciples, established mutts across India, and connected with tens of thousands of people through his wide travels. His scholarly profile and contributions are immense, and a small part of that gargantuan effort are the songs he wrote.
M.S. Subbulakshmi’s Bhaja Govindam record has sold millions of copies since its release in 1970
Bhaja Govindam and Subramanya Bhujangam are perhaps the two most common musical versions of his writings that have entered the popular consciousness over the last several decades. But many other scriptures and poems like the Kanakadhara stotram, the Soundarya Lahari, the various pancharatnas, the Mahishasura Mardhini slokam (starting with Aigiri Nandini), the Sivapanchatchara stotram etc. are also available to us, set to music and sung by various stalwarts. This has succeeded in keeping the genius of Adi Sankara’s poetry alive even today.
M.S. Subbulakshmi’s Bhaja Govindam record was released in 1970 and has since sold millions of copies. The singing legend assigned her royalty rights to the Ramakrishna Mission. With pleasing ragams included in the ragamalika composition, ‘Bhaja Govindam’ contains the essence of Adi Sankara’s philosophical discoveries. ‘Subramanya Bhujangam’ is the best known Sanskrit poem on Muruga, popularised through many different versions in Hamsadhwani and Ragamalika. The amazing feature of this slokam is the ‘bhujanga’ or serpentine meter that is built into the structure by Adi Sankara. His language virtuosity must have been such that he wrote as many as 33 stanzas of the bhujangam with this meter embellishment. The lilting tisra gati (not very far from the Western concept of waltz) offers the reciting anchor. All this, when Adi Sankara was not even a trained musician.
In ‘Soundarya Lahari’, the poet dwells on the power and beauty of Sridevi while the ‘Kanakadhara stotram’ extols the virtues of Lakshmi. Many scholars have taken pains to understand the full import of these complex verses. Adi Sankara also wrote Bhashya or commentaries on various Upanishads, clarifying them for ordinary people.
For the majority of people, these musical expressions remain our only connect to the great saint. People like Kadayanallur Venkataraman and L. Krishnan of AIR set to tune many of these works, as also did Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, who tuned the songs for the Tamil film that was made on Adi Sankara.
The writer is a classical music critic and commentator.
