NaadhOpAsana : 72 MeLakarthA Raaga Krithis of Kaimakrya SrI Padma VeerarAghavan on Oppiliappan Part III

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Sri LakshmI Nrusimha

ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

 

 

SrI:

 

Dear Sangeetha RasikAs and NaadhOpAsakAs :

 

On this SarvadhAri Aadi SravaNam day , when the SarvOnnadha JyOthi of the

SravaNa dheepam of Lord ThiruviNNagrappan lighting adiyEn's path , adiyEn would

like to start a series of special krithis composed by my sister, VidvAmsini

Sriamthy PadmA VeerarAghavan on SrI BhUmi DEvi SamEtha Sri OppilA Appan ( SrI

Oppiliyappan ) .He is our Kuladhaivam .

 

These inspired Krithis in 72 MeLa KarthA (KarthA) Raagams and their deeper

meanings will be presented in the coming days .

 

The earlier postings on the lakshanams of the 72 MeLa Raagams and the krithis

were covered in the June 9 & 10th postings in Oppiliappan List . In the June

10th posting I mentioned that I will discuss breifly the Janya Raagams arising

from the 72 MeLa Raagams since

VidvAmsini Padma Veeraraghavn has composed many Krithis in Janya RaagAs about

Oppiliappan besides the 72 MeLa Raaga Krithis . I will follow the

classifications of Janya RaagAs followed by the great VidhvAn/Painter Sriman

B.Rajam Iyer of Mylapore .

 

Janya Raagams are grouped under three

categories : SampoorNam , ShADavam and Oudavam . SampoorNa Janya Raagam has 7

Swarams , ShAdavan has 6 Swarams and Oudavam has Five Swarams .

 

These daughters of MeLa Raagams have further subdivisions (8) :

 

1) SampoorNa,ShAdavam : In Raaga AarOhaNam , there are 7 svarams and in

avarOhaNam giving rise to 6 bhEdhams

 

Example : Bhairavam , Janyam of 17th

Mela KartA, Soorya Kaantham ( Kruthi:

MariyAdhagA , Saint ThyagarAja).

 

2) ShAdava SampoorNam: 6 svarams in AarOhaNam and 7 in avarOhaNam ( Six

bhEdhams/variations) .

 

Example: BhUshAvaLi , Janyam of 64th MeLa karta, Vaachaspathy

 

3) SampoorNa Oudavam( 15 BhEdhams) :

ArOhaNam with 7 savarams and avarOhaNam with 5 svarams.

 

Example: Garuda Dhvani , Janyam of 29th MeLa Raagam , SankarAbharaNam.

 

4) Oudava SampUrNam( 15 BhEdhams):

ArOhaNam has 5 svarams & avarOhaNam has 7 svarams.

 

Example: Raagam SaavEri, Janyam of MaayAmALava GouLai , 15th MeLam.

 

5) ShAdava ShAdavam( 36 bhEdhams):

6 svarams each in arOhaNam & avarOhaNam .

 

Example: Raagam SrIranajnai, Janyam of Karahara Priya, 22nd MeLam .

 

6) ShAdava Oudavam( 90 BhEdhams):Six in ArOhaNam & 5 in AvarOhaNam .

 

Example: BahudhAri ; Janyam of 29th MeLam , SankarAbharaNam .

 

7) Oudava Oudavam ( 90 BhEdhams): 5 in

AarOhaNam & 6 in avarOhaNam.

 

Example : BhouLi , Janyam of the 15th MeLam , MaayA MaaLava GouLai .

 

8) Oudava Oudavam:( 225 BhEdhams) Five each in ArOhaNam & AvarOhaNam

 

Example: Mohanam ,

 

The bhEdhams are 483 in total . When we multiply the 483 by 72 MeLa kartA

RaagAs , we realize 34,776 Janya Raagams .

 

Alternate classification of Janya rAgams:

 

There are 3 types in this classification:

 

1) UpAnga (2) BhAshAnga and (3) vakra

Raagams .

 

In UpAnga Raagams , the particular MeLa karthA's AarOhaNa-AvarOhaNa svarams

will appear in Janya Raagam. Thus all the 34,776 Janya Raagams are upAnga

rAgams.

 

In BhAshAnga Raagams , Besides the svarams from their MeLa kartAs appearing in

ArOhaNa-avarOhanams , the svarams from other MeLakartAs would also appear in

this Janya Raagam . Example is provided by Bhairavi .

 

In Vakra ( Janya) Raagams , the svarams in ArOhaNam and avarOhaNam will not

appear inthe same order as in MeLa rAgam but will alternate manner back and

forth . Example of such a Vakra Raagam is PoorNa chandrikA . Enormous are the

possibilities , when the 34,776 janya rAgams would use vakra PrayOgams .

 

Given all these strict grammar of Carnatic sangeetham , one can not but

marvel at the discipline and scholarship of composers , who create krtithis in

the 72 MeLa KartA Raagams .

 

We will consider in the subsequent postings 72 krithis composed in 72 MeLa

Raagams by Kaimakrya SrI,VidhvAmsini

Srimathy Padma VeerarAghavan . All these krithis are about the dhivya

dampathis of ThiruviNNagar ( SrI BhUmi Devi SamEtha Sri Oppiliappan ). We will

study the meanings of these krithis in Tamil and link them to the sources in

Ubhaya VedAntham , whenever possible.

 

NamO SrI VenkatEsAya ,

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan