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"Sahitya in Kritis" - I deal in this article with the compositions of the south Indian Trinity, which have contributed to the growth and form of modern Carnatic Music and not with those whose renderings have not come down to us in their authoritative tunes in print or through aural tradition; the latter have no practical value and are not only of academic and literary importance.The kriti in its present form is about five centuries old. It is in this form that gives the greatest freedom for musical interpretation because of its simplicity and freedom from verbosity. It consists of 1. a pallavi or the introductory portion, 2. the charana which is the essential part and 3. the anupallavi which links the pallavi and the charana. Hence there is musical scheme in the arrangement of these three segments.
Tyagaraja composed in Telugu and Dikshitar in Sanskrit. Telugu is a living and spoken language even today and its vocabulary is such as to allow free scope for expressing intimate personal experiences and in words that have liquid and soft consonants and therefore add to musical euphony and verbal expression. Sanskrit, as a language, though very stately and dignified and terse, lends itself more to formal exposition, especially of philosophic and Vedantic truths and it is more rigid and elaborate in its grammar and syntax. It has all the disadvantages of being and unspoken language, and a language of books and scholars.
Though all the Trinity composed in this form, each has given the kriti his own individual stamp. Dikshitar added to the usual simple form, madhyama kala sahitya at the end of the anupllavi and the charana and sometimes even at the end of the pallavi itself. Tyagaraja has also a few kritis where he uses only madhyama kala sahitya for the entire charana. There are some kritis of Tyagaraja known as divyanamas, which have only pallavi and charana, like the bhajans of the North. Dikshitar has also many pieces called samshti kirtanas, where there is no anupallavi bt only pallavi and charana. Syama Sastry has appended swara sahitya to his kritis, which Tyagraja does not seem to have done at all. The well known Pancharatna kritis of Tyagaraja, always sung at the time of the annual aradhana at his samadhi in Tiruvaiyyaru, are all in prabandha form having as many as 8 to 11 charanas in each. These are the variations we find in the structure of the compositions of the Trinity.
It will be interesting to know what Tyagaraja himself has described as an ideal kriti. In his Sriranjani piece 'Sogasuga' he says that it should contain the highest truth from our scriptures expressed in faultless diction breathing sincere and intense devotion to God and with the pauses and caesura and in the nine rasas. His own kritis exemplify this definition. Tyagaraja was a mystic and a bhakta while Dikshitar was an intellectual and a Nyani. The mystic realises God through his feelings and intuition. For him, God is a living entity, with whom he feels he is in intimate personal contact always. For the Nyani, on the other hand, God is more a concept than a living reality his approach to God being through logic, learning and the intellect. Hence it is that Dikshitar's kritis are detached and impersonal description and stotras of the Hindu Pantheon while those Tyagaraja are records of his personal and emotional experience of God. One finds therefore that the compositions of the former are of the type of prabhandas and stotras, while those of Tyagraja are of the type of kavyas and lyrics.
Dikshitar's krithis are mostly, as said before, stotras and as such are built up of sambodhanas or vocatives, though even in this his great eruditions and scholarship in advaitic philosophy are borne out in astonishing manner and to a surprising degree. He sometimes gives the impression of a cold catalogue of details like those of the iconography of a particular God, of the agam of a particular temple, even the dates on which special festivities are conducted according to the Hindu calendar for the particular deity and the methods of worshipping Him or Her. Many expressions describing the qualities and forms of these Gods or Goddesses are found to be echoes of and from well known religious hymns current in and amongst the Hindus like the 'Lalita Trisati', 'Sahasranama' of Lalita, the 'Soundaryalahari' and the like. Each of Tyagaraja's kritis has a scheme not only of music but also of thought. The layout of his kritis is: -the statement of a proposition in the pallavi, which is dilated upon in the anupallavi and amply exemplified in the charana, through perfect logic and reasoning. for example in the piece 'Sarasa sama dana' sen in the raga Kapinarayani, the pallavi means "O! Rama, you are an expert in statesmanship and in handling its four expedients. 1. Sama (conciliation), 2. dama (winning over with gifts), 3. bheda (splitting the enemies) and 4. danda (punishing by war and weapons). The anupallavi means "You rendered any amount of beneficent advice to Ravana (an example of sama). You sincerely offered Ayodhya to him (in the event of his surrender to you) having already promised Lanka to Vibhishana (an example of dana). You made Vibishana King of Lanka even while Ravana alive (an example of bheda), and finally you destroyed him (an example of danda). In addition to this, no other composer has given out his personal views on religion, philosophy, music, nadayoga and his own religious experiences as Tyagaraja has in and though his compositions. All these are expressed in a telling and terse, but homely language. To bring home to the listener, the force of a statement of his, he uses proverbs, some of which may be his own and most of them in common parlance amongst South Indians. To quote a few, in 'Meevalla' in Kapi raga, there are two. 1. if the gold is not of requisite quality why blame the goldsmith? 2. If the daughter cannot bear labour pain, why bame the son-in-law? IN the kriti 'Evarito' there is one-'trying to make the image of Ganesa and producing that of a monkey'. There are some compositions of his with a number of charanas, in each of which there is a proverb. e.g., "Samayamu telisi" in Asaveri.
Dikshitar is a master of pada jala as is seen even in the ingenious way in which he welds the name of the raga of the piece into the sahitya of the song. He is and adept in prasam or rhyme. It is astonishing how many rhyming syllables he can make for a difficult syllable. To give an example the navavarana piece in Anandabhairavi 'Kamalamba' is one. Almost all his kritis abound in beautiful pada-jala and prasam. Syama Sastry uses a small vocabulary but the language though simple is very elegant and expressive. His attitude to his ishtadevata, being a simple one, that of a child yearning for his mother, there are not a great many and different words or expressions found in his kritis. But even in the sahitya, once can see the lilt of rhythm dancing through the syllable. To realise the effect of his kritis one will have to listen to, rather than read the text of his songs.
There is an esoteric side to the compositions of Tyagaraja and Dikshitar. A critical study of both the music and words of Tyagraja and Dikshitar's composition will make very clear that the hidden meanings and beauties of Tyagraja's pieces are more in the sphere of melody and those of Dikshitar in that of sahitya. Tyagraja, as is his ideas was, was able to make, in an unequalled way, the melody typify the meaning. His kritis are the highest examples of the holiest examples of the holiest wedlock of music or melody with sahitya or words. A classic example is found in his Charukesi piece 'Adamodi'. The theme of the piece Sugreeva and Rama getting acquainted with each other through Hanuman in the region of Dandakaranya. The raga octave of the piece is made up of two tetrachords. The upper one belongs to the mela of Todi or Hindustani Bhairavi while the lower one belongs to the mela of Shankarabharanam or Bilaval. Shankarabharanam was the most popular raga in ancient Dravidian music while Bhairavi was the one in the north. Ancient musical texts like Svaramelakalanidhi do not mention the name of Todi at all and Venkatamakhin, the codifier of the 72 melakarthas, definitely refers to this Todi as a northern raga. It is very significant that the piece begins on the panchama, the point of contact between the upper and lower tertrachords of this particular scale.
To give another example, in the Bhairavam piece 'Mariyadagadaiya', Tyagaraja accuses Rama saying that Rama had a reputation for favouring his own men in preference to strangers. This is melodically picturised by a difficult and rare musical device known as srutibheda or grahabheda. If the note Madhyama of Bhairavam is made the Shadja and the notes of the the original raga are traversed up and down, from madhyama to tarashadja an illusion is created in the minds of the listeners that they are listening to Yaman or Kalyani. To indicate the difference between the followers of Rama and strangers, Tyagaraja has introduced through grahabeda an alien scale seemingly though, in thorough contrast to the original one. There are many kritis of Tyagaraja where even the name of the raga has a meaningful relationship with the theme of the song. to give just one example Bagayenayya is composed in the raga Chandrajyoti. The meaning of the song is 'how wonderful is this great magic of yours, beyond even Brahma for praising it. Doing this magic yourself, you are proclaiming that you are not doing it. When Arjuna trembled to obey your command to destroy the Kauravas calling it a sin, did you not teach him that the effect of sin would not touch you or him and did you not thus protect him? It is well known that the moon is not self-effulgent, borrowing, as it does its light from the sun, but the illusion that it is luminous by itself. Once can see the appositeness of the every name of this particular raga for the piece. There are many instances of this kind.
That the esoterics of Dikshitar are more in the text of the songs can be amply borne out by a study of his 'Kamalamba' navavarna pieces and his kritis on Tyagaraja, the God if his birthplace. In the latter, there are references to the Ajapa or Hamsa Mantra belonging to the highest advaitic vidya. According to this, the Atman is an eternal rhythm in this process of inhalation and exhalation, which is the dance of soul. the inhalation is the he 'Ham' and exhalation is the 'Saha' both together - 'I am He'. This supreme mantra, all though one's life, is being uttered, a-japa, that is an inarticulate manner. This is symbolised in the Tiruvarur shine and in the picture of Tyagaraja being placed and worshipped over the heart on the reclining Vishnu and dancing as Vishnu's chest moves up and down in the act of breathing.
The Kamlamba navavarna kritis expound the worship of Devi in the Sri Chakra according to the Sri Vidya cult known as 'Tantra'. There are nine avaranas or prakaras in the chakra. The innermost is the Bindu peetha, where Devi or the Supreme Soul is seated. To reach Devi, one has to pass all the avaranas or enclosures. Each avarana has its own beginning and tutelary deities who are all Devi herself in various forms and capacities. Worship of Devi is either external (Bahya) or internal (Antara). The forgoing the the basis of external worship. The esoteric meaning of this worship is realised and practised by antarayogins who do not indulge in external rituals. According to this method, all the avaranas excepting the last and innermost, are representative of the varieties or propensities of the mind, which have to be subjugated by discipline until the mind thus purified and in its most exalted state becomes one with the Supreme Soul or Devi. The first avarana typifies the mind in the walking (jagrat) state. In this all things and appearances have form and clarity. Hence the avarana devatas here are called 'prakatayogins'. The second typifies the dream sleep (swapna) state in which things have a subtle shape and are the creations of the mind. The avarana devatas here are known as 'guptayoginis'. The third is the dreamless sleep (sushupti) state. Things here are in a super-subtle state. Yoginis in this region are called guptatarayoginis. The fourth Sampradaya here means that which is handed down thorough a guru-shishya parampara. The fifth is the region of kulottirna yoginis, signifying the tatvas or sublte forms of karma and jnyana indriyas. THeis state typifies nearness to the guru=guru upasadanam. Similarly the sixth typifies the state of Guru initiation and the devatas of this avarana are called 'nigarbha yoginis'. The seventh avarana signifies the stage meditation or manana and the devatas here are called 'rahasya yoginis'. The eight signifies the stage previous to moksha or release, the stage of nididhyasana and the devatas here are called atirahasya yoginis. The last one signifies the ultimate becoming one with the Supreme and the single devata here is called 'paraparatirahsya yogini'. This is the stage of nirvikalpa samadhi. Without being conversant with the technical terms used in this cult, a full understanding of the inner meaning and significance of Dikshitar's kritis is impossible.
The Siva Drshti says:
"Bhupuradi tribhiscakrair viva-taijasa-prajnayoh
Dhamatrayam vibhavyam tadhurdve tatpadamaisvraram
tato Bahirdasare tu gurupasadanam smrtam
Antardasa racakre tu sravanam ca vibhavayet
Vasukone tu mananam nididhyasam trikonake
Binday tu sivajivaikyam bhavaniyam budhaih sada"
To write or talk about the beauties of words and sound or the inner meaning or philosophies of the compositions of this two remarkable men of genius is beyond the scope of this limited article. The kritis of this Trinity are matchless creations being the expression of God - realised Supermen, to whom the world of music and rasikas will be and should be everlastingly indebted.
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