Fourth day of Isvara Samvathsara Raama Navami celebration

[Guest guest]

Dear Raama Bhakthaas :

 

With Sri Ramabhadran's blessings , I will summarize

the meanings of the Nattai krithi of Saint Thyagaraajaa

named " Jagadhaanandha kaarakaa . This is the first of

the gana raaga pancha -rathnams set in the majestic and

gambheera raagam of Naattai . There are 108 naamaas

that are housed in this krithi . It will be a challenge to separate

the 108 naamas that are bundled together under long

compound naamas . It took 75 printed pages to cover

the profound meanings of this krithi in my book released earlier

and yet I hav ethe feeling that I have just started to understand .

I will summarize briefly the subject matter covered in that monograph.

This krithi has 10 charaNams in its form as a Thodaya MangaLa krithi .

Sri Thyagaraaja swamigaL( AD 1767-1847 ) added few charaNams

over a period of time to bring the krithi to the current length

containing the 108 naamams.

 

The krithi with 10 charaNam is rather long . Saint Thyagaraajaa

is known however to sing extempore krithis , which had even

more charaNams . For instance , the krithi in Gouri raagam

( Jaya Jaya Sriraama sajjana hrudhayaarNava soma ) has 23

charaNams . Out of his profound Raama Bhakthi and intimate ,

personal relationship with the Lord as His devoted bhakthaa , the Saint

used to be immersed in thoughts and prayers for hours at length.

The krithis flowed at that time . The assembled disciples received

these anugraha prasaadams and wrote as fast as they could write

the saahithyams and took turns to memorize the sangaths and raagaa

delineation . For instance , one sishyaa would listen to the pallavi

and leave for the banks of Cauveri river to pracise it to retain

that portion in his memory . The next sishyan covered in this

manner the anupallavi . Others followed the charaNams and took

turns . At the end of the day , they will sit together and sing back

to their Achaarya , who was moved to tears hearing the effect

of the anugraham of Sri Raamachandra .

 

There was no paper to write on during a significant portion

of the life of the Saint . The writing for quick rememberance

was done on a slate board with chalk . Later it was transferred

to dried palm leaves and bound together. That was how

the sishya paramparaas of the saint collected ,

preserved and passed on the prolific " output " of this

Raama chaitanyar to us . Much of the creations are now lost and

approximately 600 are available to us . The set of five gems

(pancha rathnam ) set in raagaas Nattai , Gowlai , Aarabhi , VaraaLi

Sri raagams are the greatest among the krithis of Saint

Thyagaraajaa from the point of the richnes of maathu and dhaathu

as well as for the outstanding Raama Bhakthi of our

sadhguru , who was a Parama VaishNavan(paramaikaanthi ) .

 

Tribute of Professor Sambhmoorthy to the Pancharathna krithis

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Professor Sambhamoorthy of Madras was a great musicologist.

He assessed the beauty and greatness of the Gana raaga

pancha rathnams this way: " These five compositions serve to

reveal the depth of the saint's learning and his gifts in Sanskrit

and Telegu . To the student of Raagaa and rasaa ,

these compositions are monumental examples to show how

such feelings of rapture , self-introspection , prudence,

admiration , sustained joy and humility resulting from the recognition

of greatness in others could be effectively portrayed by particular raagaas

and special phrases in them --The pancharathnams have

a powerful appeal . A high degree of technical skill is required to

render them ... They constitute fine examples of mucical

architecture . They are without parallel and are noted for

their peerlessness ." These pancha ratnams have been set in

the taana varNa paaNi . The word Taanam is related to

the Sanskrit expression , " Anantham Tvam " meaning

" endless Thou art " . John Barlow and VeeNai Nageswara Rao

has commented on the taanam and ganam aspect of these

gana raaga pancharathnams this way :

 

" The endlessness (anantham tvam ) reflects that manner

of reciting a chant , which involves the breaking up of a text

into syllables and the subsequent reordering of them in all

combinations , both as a means of obtaining mastery over

the sound (aural ) system of the chant and of acquring insight

into the truths behind the text . This technique is known as Ganam.

--- This technique of ganam and the resulting rhythm through

the singing of taana varNams represent an instrumentalization

of the voice , that is , an emphasizing of the articulative

possibilities of the vocal apparatus( the consonants of

the language) at the expense of the tonal capabilities

(vowels and diphthongs ).The hierarchical rhythymic

structure known as taanam (based on gana gaanam of vedic

tradition ) consists of melodic lines built up over a

constant pulse from short phrases of 2 or 3 beats in

length ...... from these building blocks , larger architectonic

units (melodic lines , sections ) are shaped. The(musical )

phrases , when properly ordered , acquire a vector-like

quality , which points towards silence. This silence is

a positive rhythymic entity ,somewhat akin to a cadence , but

with its temporal force removed . This silence is both the end

of the preceding line or section and the beginning of

the following , just as the ultimate in musical control

is the mastery of silence , so silence is the resolution of

the endlessness(anantham ) of taanam " . This is the central

goal of naadhOpaasanaa and nirvikalpa samaadhi , where

Raama chaitanyaas like Saint Thyagaraaja are deeply immersed

and have bhagavadh saakshaathkaaram and experience

samslesham and vislesham (union and separation from the

Lord ) and experience rapture during the sambhogam and

despair during the occasions of the loss of that experience .

Saint Thyagaraajaa , the parama bhaagavatha belongs in

the tradition of the Azhwaars of Sri VaishNava sampradhaayam

in this regard .

 

 

I am priveleged to say that my sister , Sangeetha Vidwaamsini ,

Sow Padmaa Veeraraghavan will be leading the singing of

this set of Pancharathnams with her group on April 25 at

the Seethaa KalyaNa Mahothsavam celebration at

Oppiliappan Koil . She will also be singing the Uthsava

sampradhaaya krithis during that occasion .

 

In the next posting set for the fifth day of Sri Raama Navami

uthsavam , I will start with the pallavi of the Naatai

pancha rathnam of the bard of panchanatha Kshethram

( thiru IyaaRu , the kshethram of five rivers , where the five rivers

-- Cauveri , KoLLidam , Kudamurutti , VeNNaaRu , VettaaRu --

come together ) and pay obesiance to the saint's naadhOpaasanai

at his samaadhi on the banks of the river Cauveri even today .

 

tadh vishNO: paramam padham sadhaa pasyanthi sooraya:

dhiviva chakshuraathatham I tadhvipraasO vipanyavO

jaagruvaamsa: samindhathE I VishNOryath paramam padham II

--- Rg Vedam I. 22 . 20& 21

 

Om Sarva theerthamayaaya nama: (85th naamaa 0f the Ashttothram )

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan