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Part 3
3.5 prAsams (Rhymes)
In most cases, the pallavi line is decorated
with "AdyakSara prASam" (rhyme on the first syllable in each word), and
sometimes, the "antyAkSara prAsam" (rhyme at the last syllable of the
word). For example:
No. 10 --- mahAkALI mahArAj~nI
mahAtripurasundarI
No. 13 --- manOnmaNi mandahAsinI
ma~njuLavANI mAte salahau
No. 32 --- vijayAMbikE vimalatmikE
No. 56 --- paramapAvanE parvatI
paripAlisau
No. 64 -- jAlandharasupIThasthE
japAkusumabhAsurrE
No. 104 – sudhAmayI sudhanidhI
sumasharEkSukOdaNDa
The anupallavis sometimes feature both "AdyakSara",
and "dvitIyAkSara" prAsams, and sometimes the "antyAkSara
prAsam" (end-word rhyme) too.
Examples:
No 29 ---
agaNitamahimeye AtmArAme
nagaripunutEya nArAyaNiya
No. 48—
kALi
karALi kapAlini shUlini
kALA~njananibhE
kALAhibhUSaNi
But these features are more prominent in the
caraNam lines, where we find both dvitIyakSara prAsam", and
simultaneously the "antyAkSara" prAsams (rhymes at the second syllable,
and again at the last syllable).
song no. 11
aSTAdasha
nijabhujE amita dayAshAlini
duSTAsuramardini
suravara paripAlini
shiSTAjiSTArthadE
divyaratnabhUSaNi
aSTA"ngani
vandisuvE harikEshapura vAsini
song no. 25
jaya
jaya jaya simha vAhini
jaya
mahAbala giri nivAsini
jaya
jaya harikEsha bhAmini
song no. 51
ninE
mahEshvariyu nInE kaumAriyu
nInE
varAhiyu nInE vaishNaviyu
nInE
indrANiyu nInE cAmuNDEshvariyu
nInE
harikEsha ramaNi maNiyu
song no. 81
karma
bandhagaLalli kAlavagaLadenu
dharmAdharmagaLennu
tAyE nAnariyEnu
nirmala
h.rdayE nInE poreyau
dharma
rUpa harikEsha mAnini
In the caraNam of song No 75, the name "kamala"
appears six times:
kamalAsanE
kamala caraNE
kamala
vadanE kamala nayanE
kamala
karadalE kamalAmbikE
kAmAri
harikEsha kAmini salahau
3.6 The rAgams employed
The rAgams handled by Muthiah Bhagavatar in
this series include some popular ones, some rare ones, and also include
several that he himself invented.
In the entire collection of 115 songs in this group,
Muthah BhAgavatar has employed 115 different rAgams, so remarkably, no
rAgam is repeated. He has employed 23 mElams and their
janyams. In 8 mELams: 4, 21, 23, 36, 45, 52, 56, 58 used here, no
janyam is employed. There are kIrtanams in each of the 12
mELams: 8, 15, 16, 22, 28, 29, 51, 53, 57, 59, 64, and 65, and some of
their janyams. Finally, in three mElams, 17, 20 and 27, he has
not used the mELams, but only some janyams. Thus, we have only
20 compositions in mELa rAgams, and 95 songs in janya rAgams.
Compositions in mELam No. 4 vanaspati, and
mELam 53, gamanashrama are vary few and rare. Muthiah BhAgavatar's song,
"vanadurgE vanaspati" in this series stands out as remarkable and
pleasing kIrtanam in the rare mELarAgam vanaspati.
The featured janya rAgams include some popular
ones, some rare ones and above all, a few that he invented himself. The new
rAgams are remarkable for their high musical quality. Only four of the
five ghana rAgams (nATa, gauLa, Arabhi, and shrI) are
featured, and varALi is missing. He has used rAgams like
navarasakannaDa, sarasvatimanohari, simhavAhini, umAbharaNam,
that owe their existence and form to saint tyAgarAja; also, he has employed
rAgams such as dvijAvanti, am.rtavarSiNi, mEghara~njani, pADi,
kamalAmanOhari, balahamsa, which live in the k.rtis of muttusvAmi
dIkSitar.
Here is a list of all the 95 janya rAgams
employed in 15 mELams in this work:
mELam 8 --- asAvEri, dhanyAsi,
punnAgavarALi, bhUpALam (4 songs)
mELam15 --- malahari, jaganmOhini,
sAvEri, mEghara~njani, nAdanAmakriya, pharaju, gauLa, bauLi, gauLipantu,
kamalAmanOhari, saurASTram (11 songs)
mELam 16 --- vINAdhari, valaji,
malayamArutam (3 songs)
mELAm 17 --- shuddh lalita, vasanta
(2 songs)
mELam 20 --- AbhEri, hindOLAm,
Anandabhairavi, shuddhadhanyAsi, bhairavi (5 songs)
mELam 22 --- puSpalata, mAyapradIpam,
harinArAyaNi, karNATaka kApi, shrI, saLagabhairavi, cakrapardIpA, kAnaDa,
mukhAri, darbAr, rItigauLa, husEni, shrIra~njani, abhOgi, navaratnavilAsam,
nAyaki, AndOLika, manira"ngu, madhyamAvati (19 songs)
mELam 27--- simhavAhini (1
song)
mELAm 28 --- ce~ncuruTTi,
mALavi, sarasvatimanOhari, kAmbhOji, dEvamanOhari, navarasakannaDa, suraTi,
nArayaNi, kuntaLavarAli, yadukulakAmbhOki, dvijAvanti, sahAnA, khamAs,
aThANA, narAyaNagauLa, umAbharaNam, balahamsa, guhara~njani, kEdAragauLa,
nATakura~nji, pashupatipriya, sAma, mOhanam (23 songs)
mELam 29 --- shuddhasAvEri,
bilahari, nAgabhUSaNi, gauDamalhAr, bEgada, hamsadhvani, Arabhi, kura~nji,
nIlambari, pUrNacandrikA, budhamanOhari, kannaDa, kEdAram, dEvagAndhAri,
navarOj, garuDadhvani, janara~njani (17 songs)
mELam 51 --- am.rtavarSiNi
(1 song)
mELam 53 --- hamsAnandi, pUrvikalyANi
(2 songs)
mELam 57 --- Urmika (1
song)
mELam 59 --- vijayanAgari
(1 song)
mELam 64 --- sarasvati, bhUSAvaLi
(2 songs)
mELam 65 --- sAra"nga,
mOhanakalyANi, hamIr kalyANi (3 songs)
The not-so-common rAgams featured here include
the following:
umAbharaNam (song 62)
-- janyam
of 28 harikAmbhOji s r g m p d n s; s n p m r g m r s
puSpalatA (guru stuti)
-- janyam
of 22 kharaharapriya s r g m p n s; s n p m g r s
bhUSAvaLi (song 89)
-- janyam
of 64 vAcaspati s r g m p d s; s n d p m g r s
simhavAhini (song 96)
-- janyam
of 27 sarasA"ngi s g m p d n s; s n d p m g r s
navaratnavilAsam (song 69)
-- janyam
of 22 kharaharapriya s r m p n s; s n d m g r s
There might be a slight confusion regarding the the
rAgam navaratnavilAsam (song no., 69). It is listed in the tamil book
series on Muthiah BhAgavatar compositions (by his disciple and adopted son, M.
Vaidyali"ngam) a janyam of mELam 22 (kharaharapriya)
with the scale: s r m p n s; s n d m g r s. However, according to the
asampUrNa mELa scheme (practiced by the dIkSitar school),
navaratnavilAsam is placed (in "sa"ngIta sampradAya pradarshini" of
Subbarama dIkSitar) as an upA"nga janyam of rAgA"nga rAgam 20
nArIrItigauLa, with the scale: s r g m d p s; s d p m g g m r s, thus
omitting the note "ni" . SubbarAma dIkSitar further adds --- "though
it has only been mentioned as niSAda varjyam in the lakSaNa shlOkam
by VE"nkaTamakhi, as per the ancient scholars, the mUrccahana ArohaNam
have dhaivatam vakram in the ArOhaNam and gAndhAram vakram
in the avarOhaNam."
The following is a list of the new rAgams (15
in number), invented by him (or popularized by him) that are featured in this
group.
mAyApradIpam (song 2)
– janyam
of 22 kharaharapriya s m g m p d n s; s d p m g r s
vInAdhari (song 8)
– janyam
of 16 cakravAkam s r g p d n s; s n d p m g r s
mOhanakalyANi (song 9)
– janyam
of 65 mEcakalyANi s r g p d s; s n d p m g r s
harinArAyaNi (song 11)
– janyam of
22 kharaharapriya s r g m p m d n s; s n p m g r s
shuddha lalita (song 14)
– janyam
of 17 sUryajkAntam s r g m d n s; s n d m g r s
nAgabhUSaNi (song 18)
-- janyam
of 29 sha"nkarAbharaNam s r m p d n s; s d p m r s
gauDamalhAr (song 25)
-- janyam
of 29 sha"nkarAbharaNam s r m p d s; s n d m g r s
hamsAnandi (song 27)
--janyam
of 53 gamanashrama s r g m d n s; s n d m g r s
cakrapradIpA (song 31)
--janyam
of 22 kharaharapriya s r g m p m d n s; s n d m g s
vijayanAgari ( song 32)
--janyam
of 59 dharmavati s r g m p d s; s d p m g r s
UrmikA (song 48)
--janyam
of 57 simhendramadhyamam s r g m p n s; s n p m g r s
valaji (song 64)
-- janyam
of 16 cakravAkam s g p d n s; s n d p g s
guhara~njani (song 68)
--janyam
of 28 harikAmbhOji s r s m p d n s; s n d p m g s
budhamanohari (song 72)
--janyam
of 29 sha"nkarAbharaNam s r g m g p s; s p m g r s
pashupatipriya (song 77)
--janyam
of 28 harikAmbhOji s r m p m d s; s d p m r m s
In addition to the above, the following rAgams
are also the creations of Muthiah BhAgavatar, but they are not employed in
cAmuNDASTOttarashara kIrtanams:--- hamsagamani, karNara~njani ,
sumanapriya, hamsadIpakam, kOkilabhASiNi, ala"nkAri, sAra"nga malhAr, nirOSTa,
gurupriya
3.7 tALams employed
Muthiah BhAgavatar has used a wide variety of tAlams
in these 115 songs. In addition to the usual tAlams like Adi,
rUpakam, and mishra/khaNDa cApu, he has also employed khaNda tripu.Ta,
caturashra jhampa, and khaNDa jhampa. There is a judicious mix and
match of these tAlams in the series, thereby avoiding the monotony of
the same tAlam repeated sequentially in a number of songs. Here is a
list of the tAlams feature in the cAmuNDASTOttarashata
compositions.
Adi
59 (two are in tishra gati)
rUpakam
32
mishra cApu
7
khaNDa cApu
7
tripuiTa
6 (one is in khaNDa jAti)
jhampa
3 (one in caturashra jAti, one in khaNDa jAti)
aTa
1
TOTAL
115
3.8 featured mudras
All songs without exception contain the vAggEyakAra
mudra (author's signature), "harikEsha" which appears in the
very last segment of the caraNam. In eleven songs, where there are two
caraNams, this mudra appears twice, one in each caraNam,
not necessarily in the last line. The phrase "harikEsha" refers to Lord
shiva in the temple in his village, harikEshanallUr. This "harikEsha"
mudra blends well with the sAhityam, while describing Goddess as
the consort of shiva as "harikEsha bhAMini, harikEsha priyE,
harikEsha kAmin, harikEsha rAj~nii", etc.
Unlike muttusvAmi dIkSitar, rAga mudra
was not his forte in this group of compositions, but he has
sparingly used a few of them. Here are some illustrations.
simhavAhini (song 96) simhavahanE
aMbA
vanaspati (song 99) vanadurgE
vanaspati
am.rtavarSiNi (song 104) AnadAm.rtavarSiNi
bhairavi (song 87)
bhairavi paramEshvari
bhUpAlam (song 101) pANDyabhUpAlanandini
Partial or incomplete rAga mudra, intentionally
or otherwise, is visible in the following songs:
vijayanAgari (song 32) vijayAmbike,
cakrapradIpa (song 31) cakrEshi
pUrNacandrika (song 58) candramaNDala
madhayge sAmajagmaner pUrNa
The phrase "AnadAm.rtavarshini" is repeated in
two songs No. 101, and No. 104. The first one is "kadambavana vAsini"
in bhUpALam, and the latter one is the popular song, "sudhAmay
sudhAnidhI" in rAgam am.rtavarSiNi.
The two adjectives, "mEcakA"ngi mAta"ngi" in
song No. 5 reminds us of the similar phrases in muttusvAmi DikSitar's "mInAKSi
mE mudam dEhi"
Audio
recordings
There is a commercial audio cassette recording of one
hour duration, entitled "Devi Chamundeswari Krithis" (Sangeetha
6ECDB 349), where Smt. Sulochana Pattabhiraman and Group (Prema Hariharan,
Soundaram Krishnan, Shyamala Venkataraman) have rendered 10 songs in chorus on
Goddess cAmuNDEshvari. Eight of these songs are from the
aSTOttarashata group. They are jaya mahiSAsuramardini (hamsadhvani),
shrI shivE (AbhOgi), gaNesha skanda janani (nAgabhUSaNi), vanadurgE (vanaspati),
kALarAtri svarUpiNi (Urmika), daNDini shri (sAlagabhairavi), nirAmayE (kuntaLavarALi),
umE ninage (shri), and the ma"ngaLa kIrtanam in rAgam vasanta.
The two additional songs featured in the recordings that do not belong to this
group are "atishayavara prasAdini" in rAgam mandAri., and
" tappulanniyu tALukommu" in rAgam bauLi. This recording is a
valuable collection since it includes songs in the rare rAgams nAgabhUSaNi,
Urmika, and the mELa rAgam vanaspati. The song in rAgam
bauLi is the one that captured the attention of the maharaja, when Muthiah
BhAgavatar rendered it for the first time in the cAmuNDi temple.
Colophon
In the concluding song No 108, Muthiah BhAgavatar
offers this garland of 108 compositions at the feet of the Goddess
cAmuNDEshvari, and asks her to forgive him for any faults in this work.
There are two caraNams here, and the caraNam lines serve as a
nice colophon to this majestic contribution.
caraNam 1
paradEvatE
paramEshvari ninna pAvana
nAmASTOttara shatagE vara rAga tALayuta kIrtanagaLa
varade
karNATaka samsk.rta bhASaiyoL viracisi
ninagidanarpaNegaidi hE vimalE tappanu kSamisau tAyE
sura
rAjanutE harikEsha hitE girijE sharavaNa sambhava mAtE
caraNam 2
paradEvatE
paramEshvari ninna pAvana
nAmASTOttara shatagEvara rAga tALayuta kIrtanagaLa
varade
karNATaka samskrta bhASaiyoL viracisi
ninagIdanarpaNagaidi hE vimalE tappanu kSami tAyE
harikEsha hitE suh.rti nAlvaDi shrI k.rSNarAjEndrana salahau janan
Ma"ngalam
We conclude this article with the ma"ngaLa
kIrtanam
jaya
ma"ngaLam
(ma"ngaLa kIrtanam)
rAgam: vasanta tALam:
Adi
pallavi
jaya ma"ngaLam nitya shubha ma"ngaLam
jaya jaya cAmuNDEshvarigE
caraNam 1
jaya vighnEshavarigE jaya sarasvatigE
jaya gurunAtharigE jaya shiva bhaktarigE
caraNam 2
jaya jaya nAlvaDi shrI k.rSNEndranigE
jaya
harikEshAdi dEvOttamarigE
CONCLUDED
