Sri Jayanthi Celebrations

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

I was immersed in the joy of browsing

the Shri KrishNA Home pages of

Sri Haresh BalasubramaNyan yesterday

( Sri VaikAnasa Munithraya Sri Jayanthi day).

 

Today (Sri PaancharAthra Sri Jayanthi day),

I had the delectable anubhavam of (1) listening

to Saint ThyagarAjA's NowkhA Charithra Krithis

and (2) Swami Desikan's Sri GopAla Vimsathi .

I will share with you the story of NowkhA

Charithram, the Operatic drama of Saint ThyagarAjA.

There is no basis for this story in Srimath

BhAgavatham just as Sri Hamsa sandhEsam has

no connection to Srimadh RaamAyaNam of Adhi Kavi.

NowkhA Charithram is a beautiful testament

to Saint ThyagarAjA's kalpanA sakthi

capacity to write padhyams and musical genius.

 

NowkhA Charithram

******************

 

It is also known as GopikA Gharva Bhangam .

On one evening , Our Lord , Baala KrishNan

and number of beautiful Gopis were sailing in

a boat and were having Sarasa Kreetai. The Gopi

girls were taken up with themselves over the thought

that the Lord was caught in their soundharya valai(net)

and became bloated over their Soundharya Gharvam.

 

Sri KrishNan wanted to teach them a valuable lesson .

He wanted them to remember that He as ParamAthmA

is far away from the JeevAthmA , when it becomes

proud about its prowess and independence .

When the JeevAthmA has this Bramam about itself , then

ParamAthmA causes certain things to happen to

bring the JeebvAthmA to the sober state of remembering

that it is totally dependent on the Lord as a seshan.

 

BhagavAn suddenly created a great storm and the winds

and the rain shook the boat and YamunA waters entered

the boat .A hole opened up in the body of the boat and

the boat began to sink .There was a threat to the life of

the proud Gopis.Now the gopis began to worry about

the Lord's safety and prayed to Mother YamunA to save

them and get them ashore without harm . Our Lord laughed

inside and suggested to His Playmates to take their

sarrees off and use them plug the leak in the boat .

The Gopis remembered the days of VasthrAbharaNam

and were stricken with shame over the demands of the Lord.

Finally ,they gave up their pride and surrendered

themselves totally to Sri KrishNan to save them

from the impending calamity.They prayed to HIm

with utter devotion . Immediatley , they had His

darsanam as the divya ManhgaLa Vigrahan ( divine

resplendent SubhAsrayam ).The storm subsided and

the boat came ashore safely.The Gopis recovered

their clothes and fell at their Lord's sacred feet .

They formed a procession and placed their Lord

in the middle , sang His glories and returned

to their homes .

 

Saint ThyagarAjA composed this Opera to remind

us about the importance of PoorNa Prapatthi

and when that is done , He becomes our full

protector in the spirit of the GithA slOkam :

 

ananyAscchinthayanthO maam yE Jana: paryupAsathE

tEshAm nithyAbhiyukthAnAm Yoga kshEmam vahAmyaham

 

Raagams used by Saint ThyagarAjA for display of the RasAs:

***********************************************************

 

The Saint used 13 RaagAs in his nowkhA charitham.

These are : Surutti, pantuvarALi ,Yathukula KaambhOji,

SaurAshtrA , SaaranhA , Bhairavi , PunnAgavarALi,

SaavEri, karnAtaka Kaapi, GhantA , varALi and Mohanam .

 

The saahithyams are full of SringAra Rasam and

Bhakthi Rasam . The poetry is of a high order .

The ghandha Padhyams, Seesa Padhyams Vachanams,

SaardhUlams and the dhvipathais are most delectable

to experience in the Sundara Telegu.

 

The choice of Raagams for the occasions of

the fast moving drama are most apt.The use

of KaruNA rasa PrAdhAnya Ragam , PunnagavarALi

for 4 songs and the SooryakAntha Janya Raagam,

SourAshram for four more songs of NowkhA

charithram are masterly strokes of the genius

of Saint ThyagarAjA .

 

I will conclude this posting for Sri Krishna

Jayanthi of PramAthi Samvathsaram with

the Phala Sruthi :

 

ThyagarAja kruthAm PuNyAm kathAm Saadhu manOharAM

yE sruNvanthi narA lOkhE thEshAm KrishNa; praseedhathi

 

(Meaning): For those of the world , who hear

the auspicious and delectable kathai of NowkhA Charitham

composed by ThyagarAjA, Lord KrishNA will

appear before them .

Sri KrishNArpaNam asthu.

Oppilaippan Koil V.Sadagopan