(Swaraas in capitals are in the thara sthayi and those underscored are in the mandhara sthayi)
Is there a central, unceasing aim of Carnatic music? Raga being its soul, its central aim, therefore, is showcasing raga bhava. Raga bhava is an aesthetic-emotional landscape painted by brush strokes called sancharas. Can we prescribe rules for doing this? A rasika’s perception of music quality depends on his subjective preference and listening. At this level, therefore, no rule can be prescribed. Even if we prescribe some grammatical ground rules such as adherence to the prescribed raga lakshana and avoiding apaswaram, differences of opinion in regard to a raga’s arohana and avarohana or parent mela may still persist.
At a basic level, we could prescribe that a raga’s identity should be revealed at the very beginning of an alapana. The rationale is that what the musician sings is ultimately processed and perceived in the listener’s mind; if both traverse the field of raga bhava together, mutual satisfaction is maximised. A raga is described as ‘ranjako jana chithanam sa raga.’ The listener must know what raga is being sung before he is stimulated.
A raga’s arohanam and avarohanam contain several grammatically permissible sancharas. All may not carry an equally rich stamp of that raga, and some may be common to other ragas. Ragas like Kalyani, Khambodi or Thodi have many bhava-rich, identity-revealing phrases because they have developed wholistically over time. (Interestingly, a single phrase, ma ga pa dha SA, ‘fixes’ Khambodi beyond doubt!). But ragas originating from mela classification or scale manipulation may not have many such phrases. Some of them, for instance Rasikapriya, can be identified only if their entire scale is sung.
But in order that the main raga’s identity established by one bhava-rich phrase does not fade, other bhava-rich phrases have to be sung before this golden interval expires and the ambient effect weakens. A striking example is Kalyani and Lathangi. If Lathangi is sung for a long time without touching suddha dhaivatam, it will start sounding like Kalyani. But if one touches suddha dhaivatam frequently if only in passing, Lathangi’s identity will be preserved.
A bhava-rich phrase of a raga sung in continuation of a phrase common to another raga can reassert the former’s bhava. In the Saaveri segment of ‘Bhavayami,’ Semmangudi uses the prayogaa ‘GA RI SA dha, RI SA dha, SA dha ‘which is common to Malhari. But the immediate next phrase ‘GA RI ni dha ma ga ri’ drenches the entire passage with Saveri bhava.
Two tools are commonly used for highlighting bhava — gamakam and briga. (MDR was perhaps the only musician who could do this even with plain notes).The former provides the aesthetic-emotional content and the latter the glitter. Excessive gamakam may weaken musical crispness whereas excessive briga could dilute the emotional-aesthetic content .
Bhava carriers
Sancharas are the carriers of raga bhava. Singing established, familiar sancharas will certainly showcase raga bhava. But what about creativity? Since sancharas are the only medium through which raga bhava can be expressed, creativity essentially means identifying new sancharas carrying raga bhava whether it is in alapana or kalpana swarams. This is what separates men from boys in Carnatic music.
Spencer Venugopal once compared raga bhava to a natural flower. You do not create a real flower by sticking the sepals, petals, stamen and pistil together. The flower grows as a whole no doubt with the various parts in their respective places but merging seamlessly. One cannot create bhava merely by consciously putting together prescribed doses of phrase, gamakam, briga and karvai. The musician should be capable of highlighting the bhava already inherent in a raga based on his intuition for raaga bhaavaa derived from total internalisation of the raaga swarupaa.
Once, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer and Prof. P. Sambhamurthy shared the stage at a function, the latter presiding. Prof. Sambhamurthy in his speech said that following the prescribed raga lakshanam was important and that senior musicians should set an example in this regard. Maharajapuram, in his turn, said, “The Professor’s suggestion is very scholarly. But if I start singing exactly as he said, nobody would invite me to give a concert; I will be invited only to preside over meetings!”
The writer is a retired IAS officer
