Dr. T.S. Sathyavathi began her lec-dem for Guruguhaamrta, with a list of possible areas of research on Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s compositions — ragas, melas and janyas, vivadi ragas, laya, raga mudras, bhasha prayoga, chandas, alankara, gamaka prayoga, asampoorna krama, vyaakharana, jyotisha, tantra, mantra, Advaita, Sri Vidya, and added that this list was not exhaustive.
Her lec-dem was on Dikshitar’s unique phraseology. She pointed to the way in which he gives a beautiful curve for p n m in his Kedara composition Ananda natana prakasam. These curves can be managed only if you sing in a slow tempo, she said.
In the Padi raga kriti ‘Sri Guruna Palitosmi,’ she demoed how ‘nAdAnta’ is just two notes, pointing to the end of nada. One goes to the upper octave for vihAreNa, giving the impression of a bird soaring, and then you come down to shadja, the music bringing out the implicit meaning — no matter where you go, you come back to the aadhara.
Spontaneous swaraksharas
Swaraksharas in Dikshitar’s kritis are spontaneous, not crafted. Dikshitar brings out all the gamakas of a raga in just one phrase. In Ranganayakam (Nayaki), he manipulates gandhara in a masterly manner.
Sathyavathi quoted a Sanskrit Subhashita, which says that whether one fetches water from a small pond or from an ocean, a pot can hold only what it is capable of holding.
Likewise, if we do not get the full impact of a Dikshitar kriti, it is because of our limited understanding.
In ‘Cheta Sri’ (Dwijavanti), in the charanam, Dikshitar uses both gandharas, to give the impression of a buttery smell wafting from Krishna’s mouth. When Dikshitar adapted North Indian ragas to Carnatic music, they were totally assimilated into our system, and yet without the North Indian flavour being lost. In Nirajakshi Kamakshi (Hindolam) you get glimpses of Malkhauns, because of the deergha swaras and meends. Sathyavathi demonstrated how, in this kriti, Diksihitar moves from upper octave n to lower octave m, something unique to Dikshitar. She sang ‘kalpita mAyA kAryam tyajarE,’ from Kamalambam (Kalyani), and showed how ‘tya’, which is an akshara of one matra is used in two matra swaras.
She said Diskhitar does this kind of extending of a one matra akshara over two swaras in several places. In ‘Shree Nathadi guruguho’ (Mayamalavagowla), she demonstrated how you can get to a meditative mood by repeating the phrase hrdini bhaja shri (r s s n n s).
