Rooted in the theory and practical aspects of music, musician-theorist Radha Bhaskar enjoys giving talks as part of her Sangeetha Saurabha series on aspects of music appreciation. One such on ‘Kriti - its form and content’ was held recently at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Radha’s demonstrations of the kriti and its predecessors raised the programme from a desultory talk filled with details to a exciting walk through the genre.
Even as she emphasised the parts — pallavi, anupallavi, and charanam(s) — in a kriti, she stressed on the importance of silence between pallavi and anupallavi and pallavi and charanam as the case may be. Radha called it a “pregnant silence” full of meaning, and not meant to be filled with the singer's creativity, which could mar the purpose of the silence.
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Why has kriti become the most important segment of Carnatic music?
Many composers have composed kritis. The form offers performers the scope for raga alapana, niraval, and swaram. Its immediate predecessor, the prabandham, had four sections — one such was Aboga. The speaker demonstrated by singing the Gowla Pancharatnam, ‘Dudukugala’. Though the Aboga had faded into oblivion, Tyagaraja in this gem placed an Aboga-like ending that connects it to the pallavi.
The kriti evolved from among others, Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi (eight sections), Arunagirinathar's Thiruppugazh, Andal's Thiruppavai and Annamacharya's compositions (pallavi and charanams). One wondered if Purandaradasa’s contribution was significant to this form’s evolution.
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Tyagaraja set the stage for the kriti to reach heights. The difference between kirtana and kriti is borderline, she said. Historically, the kirtana came before the kriti. The kirtana had music in its simplest form making it easy to follow. The kriti is intricate, embellished, and with sangatis. She sang Tyagaraja's ‘Sri Rama Sri Rama’ (Sahana) and ‘Nagumomu galavani’ (Madhyamavati) to point out the kirtana’s simplicity, whereas a kriti captures the entire range of the raga. She demonstrated the contrast through ‘Rama katha sudha’ (Madyamavati)
Dikshitar and Syama Sastri were also enamoured of the kriti though they gave it a somewhat different melodic form. While Tyagaraja’s kritis often repeated the anupallavi’s tune in the second half of the charanam, Muthuswami Dikshitar gave each line a new melodic entity and added faster passages, madhyamakala sahityam, and samashti charanams in his kritis. Demonstrations of ‘Balebalendu’ (Ritigowla),and ‘Sri Kanthimathim’ (Hemavathi) followed.
Post Trinity, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Papanasam Sivan, and Vasudevachar and many great singers have enhanced the kriti.
Radha’s demonstrations were accompanied by Thirucherai Karthik (violin) and Thirucherai Kaushik (mridangam).