Swati Tirunal has one thing in common with Shakespeare. Both their works were involved in a controversy about the authenticity of the authorship.
Mark Twain settled the Shakespeare controversy by quipping that the works of Shakespeare were written not by Shakespeare but by another person of the same name! In the case of Swati Tirunal, the controversy became so bitter that Balachandar went to the extent of filing a suit claiming that a person called Swati Tirunal did not exist at all!
As with most maharajahs of the times, the latter had several eminent musicians in his court and the possibility that some of his compositions may have been composed and tuned, either partially or fully, or refined by them and later attributed to him cannot be ruled out.
Semmangudi told me that Parameswara Bhagavatar had written down the notation for most of the kritis and that he along with some of his colleagues had merely dusted down and polished them.
But rasikas familiar with the Swati Tirunal’s kritis could perceive that something more than mere dusting down was done and that Semmangudi and his colleagues had added musical value to some of the kritis. For example, ‘Bhavayami,’ which was originally a Saveri kriti was converted by Semmangudi into a beautiful ragamalika. Similarly, one could see the unmistakable Lalgudi touch in the Dhanasri thillana and the Kurinji kritis bear the stamp of KVN bani.
Controversy about the kritis apart, the scholarship of Swati Tirunal and his proficiency in several languages are well-known and beyond doubt. While his compositions are frequently sung, Swati Tirunal’s lyrics are rarely discussed. They are replete with interesting imageries embedded in the musical structure. Here are a few examples:
The charanam lines — ‘Nija tanu ruchi ninditha kamam,’ meaning beauty which humbles Manmatha’s good looks and ‘Suvadana ruchi ninditha sharada somam,’ — beautiful face which humbles even the beauty of the sharad season moon (in the kriti ‘Bhavaye,’ in Kiravani); the charanam line ‘Mahitha yogi jana bhrunga kulambuja,’ — like the honey bee for the lotus that is the group of respected saints (in the kriti ‘Pahi mamayi,’ in Devagandhari) and the lyrics in the kriti ‘Shri Padmanabha’ in Madhyamavati, where he compares his yearning to seek out the Lord with many things such as the damsel who suffers from pangs of separation thinking about her lover.
“...taruni virahathura datithamproshithamiva. Sarala bhrunga malika sarasinimiva...”
Like the swarm of honeybees seeking the lotus, like a man wanting a blanket during winter, like a hungry infant seeking its mother’s breast and like an old man seeking a stick to support him, are some of the imageries used by Swati Tirunal in his composition to express his bhakti towards Lord Padmanabha.
More such examples are: ‘...duritha maya daruna giri kulisham,’ — ‘ like a vajrayuda for destroying the mountain of sorrow ‘ in ‘Smara sada,’ Bilahari; ‘...sundaratara rupa nandithabhira naribhrunga mukha kamala madhupa’ — like a honey bee for the lotus that is the beautiful faces of the group of gopis ( in the kriti ‘Pankaja lochana,’ Kalyani); the anupallavi ‘Bhava sagara tharana paraanaam ya bhavati hi nauka vigalita shokhaa,’ meaning the nectar of your story will be the boat which will help me to cross the ocean of bhavam, in ‘Bhavadiya katha,’ Bhairavi;
‘...Swapa dashayilennakilum samamena ramippadinnu swapam varadellu smara thapam eri ratrau,’ — I was hoping to be with him at least in my dream but the separation is making me sleepless and dreamless (‘neelapuri kuzhalale,’, Yadhukula Khambodi, Malayalam).
‘...Arunanudikkil timirajatham vadumpole charana seva kondu karmajatham duritham doorathakatheedum,’ – Just as the mist disappears as soon as the sun rises, worshipping your feet makes all the bad karma effects disappear (slokam in Malayalam)
