Cauvery Devi and Music

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CAUVERY AND CARNATIC CLASSICAL MUSIC

 

The Cauvery is justly celebrated in the classical music of South

India, for Tiruvaiyaru, the land of the five rivers, is the heart of

a great musical and cultural tradition.

 

The Trinity [the three greatest composers of Carnatic (South Indian

Classical) Music], Syama Sastri (1762-1827), Tyagaraja (1767-1846)

and Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775- 1834) were all born in Tiruvarur, and

lived in this region. I

 

n a lilting piece in Samantai, Dikshitar hails the presiding deity,

Pranatarthihara, as panca-nada-ksetra-prakasa, the light of the land

of five rivers. To the Trinity, the Goddess, Dharmasamvardhani, is

variously panca-nadesu-rani, panca-nada-nagara-nayaki, panca-

nadisollasini. The literature speaks of the natural beauty of the

place, but it is more likely fertile lands that supported a class of

scholars and priests; in a time of tranquil prosperity, their

devotions and rituals flourished.

 

* "Sari vedalina ee Cauveryni joodare", "Feast your eyes on the

flowing Cauvery", sang Tyagaraja in Raga Saveri.

 

* In the same raga Dikshitar sings of Ganesav, "Cauvery tata sthitam

Saveri raga nutam", the one on the Cauvery who is praised in the

notes of Saveri. ... Dikshitar sings of the same diety as Cauvery

tira sthita. ...

 

The Cauvery is a contemporary metaphor for the Carnatic tradition. A

popular image is of tributaries converging and distributaries

carrying the waters away, but the Cauvery itself flowing onwards to

the sea. Likewise, innovations in presentation and composition are as

frequent as the disappearance of old practices, but the tradition is

alive and vibrant. Writing in The Hindu Folio of December 1996, S. V.

Krishnaswamy refers to "the glorious Cauvery tradition", once

confined to the "villages, temple halls, and marriages in the family

of mirasdars," now alive in Chennai sabhas. And indeed, across the

world. If the spate of Tyagaraja aradhanas around the world is any

indication, the land of the Cholas now extends to the deepest

Midwest!

>From a 2001 essay by Keshav Desiraju. The full version is at

http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0107/01070320.htm

 

SOUTH INDIAN PRIDE

 

"The lovely musical township of Thiruvaiyru [is] where the music of

[the greatest Carnatic composer] Thyagraja gave unstinted worship to

the river goddess. ...

 

The image of the Cauvery is a gentler aspect of the feminine where

their daughter of the gods and the wife of the Rishi Agustyamuni is

shown emptying her water pot. She chose to come in the form of a

river goddess so she could bless more people and the experience of

the whole course of the river is one of physical bounty.

 

Both at her source in Coorg and debouchment at Poompuhar the river is

bountiful."

 

(Excerpted from an an anonymous essay at

http://www.deccan.net/cauvery/index2.html ... The author,

incidentally, is a proponent of Tamil over Sanskrit and a

curmudgeonly commentator on South Indian politics. If that kind of

stuff interests you, definitely check out the entire article!)

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe