A Dikshithar kriti on mahAlakshmi

Compositions on Goddess Mahalakshmi are relatively few. Among the trinity, only Dikshithar managed to compose 8-10 songs on the consort of Lord Vishnu (although Sita devi finds honourable mention in many Tyagaraja kritis - as in "sItamma", "sItArAma", "sItA sowmitRi", "bhAma maNi", etc.). Today, also being "VaramahAlakshmi vRita" day, I'll be analyzing a Dikshithar kRiti: 'hiraNmayeem lakshmI sadA bhajAmi'.

Lakshmi is traditionally known as the goddess of wealth: however wealth is not just materialistic; it can mean wealth of character, wealth of knowledge and so on. The following shlOka summarizes the eight different aspects of mahAlakshmi, together known as ashTalakshmi:

Adi lakshmi, dhAnya lakshmi, dhairya lakshmi namOstutE

Gaja lakshmi, santAna lakshmi, vijaya lakshmi namOstutE

vidyA lakshmi, dhana lakshmi, ashTa lakshmi namOstutE

ashTa lakshmi, mahAlakshmi, harilakshmi namOstutE

Unable to make their ends meet, Dikshithar was once pestered by his wife to borrow money from a money-lender. It is in this context that the kRiti "hiraNmayeem lakshmI" is said to have been composed by Dikshithar. He chose the sober rAga laLitha for this composition. laLitha is the panchama vaRjya rAga of the 15th mELa mAyAmALavagowLa:

ArohaNa: S R1 G3 M1 D1 N3 S

AvarOhaNa: S N3 D1 M1 G3 R1 S

As with other 15th mELa rAgas, the underlying theme is bhakti rasa. The composition starts in an unorthodox way:  with "D1 M1", and is sure to grab anyone's attention. In the pallavi, Dikshithar describes lakshmi as hiraNmayeem (the golden hued). He says he'll meditate on the golden hued lakshmi, but will not depend on any lowly human being (hIna mAnavAshRayam tyajAmi).

The anupallavi qualifies lakshmi as one who gives wealth, but dikshithar makes a point here: "chiratara sampat pRadAm" - which means wealth of an imperishable nature. lakshmi is the daughter of the milky-white ocean (kSheerAmbudi tanayAm); she emanated from the ocean, which the dEvAs and asurAs churned using the mandara mountain. A racy madhyama kAla sAhitya concludes the anupallavi:

harivakSha sthalAlayAm, hariNIm charana kisalayAm,

kara kamala dhRitha kuvalayAm, marakata maNimaya valayAm

A grand charaNa follows. lakshmi is described as residing in a white island (shwEta dwIpa vAsini), and even as srI kamalAmbika herself. She is worshipped by devas and humans alike. dIkshithar addresses lakshmi as "Mother" (mAtara), who wears a garland made of lotus flowers (abja mAlinIm) and decked with ornaments (mANikyAbharaNa dharAm). She is indiRa, who enjoys vocal and instrumental music (gIta vAdya vinOdinim) and is respected by girijA.

Another madhyamakAla now:

sheethakiraNa nibha vadanAm, shrita chintAmaNi sadanAm,

pIta vasanAm guruguha mAtula kAnthAm laLithAm

This is a classic departure from the usual "guruguha nutam" or "guruguha poojitham" - Dikshithar beautifully weaves in the "guruguha" mudra by specifying that lakshmi is the consort of kARtikEyA's mAtula (mother's brother, who is visHNu). Dikshithar also includes the rAga mudra (in laLithAm) effortlessly.

Out of the various renditions by vidwAns and vidUshIs, in my opinion, the one by DK Jayaraman stands out. There are no grand sangathis - the beautiful sAhithya, laLitha's lALithya and DKJ's pADanthara do the magic. NamaskArAs to my guru vidwAn S.Shankar who taught me this beautiful kRiti.

Trinity of Carnatic music

Dikshithar, Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri

The trinity of Carnatic music - comprising of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshithar and Syama Sastri - were a group of saint-composers who have influenced and shaped Carnatic music in a way no others have. The quality and grandeur of their compositions remains unparalleled to this day. My purpose in the next series of blogs would be to analyze and compare their compositions in various aspects such as:

• Choice of ragas
• Range of talas employed
• Language of the compositions (sAhitya)
• Deities extolled, philosophical inclinations (Dvaita vs Advaita)
• Complexity: how difficult is it to learn and appreciate their compositions
• Usage of mudras (tyAgarAja, guruguha and syAmakRishNa)

Tyagaraja was the most prolific composer among the three; in the sense that the number of compositions attributed to Tyagaraja is more than Dikshithar or Syama Sastri.  He is said to have composed over 24000 songs under various genres, of which around 700 have survived today - thanks to his shishya parampara. This is in contrast to 300-400 of Dikshithar and around 80 of Syama Sastri. 

The Big 6

One of the most important foundation block of the theory of Carnatic music is the system of rAgas. Besides being a scientific system of classification, ragas are capable of generating one or emotions (or rasAs) - such as pathos (karuNa), devotion (bhakti), valour (vIrya), joy (hAsya), etc.

Although a great number of rAgas find place in concert renditions, six ragas stand out - in terms of classicism, popularity, grandeur, and even being yard-sticks to evaluate the vidwat of musicians. These ragas are (in order of their appearance in the mELakaRta scheme):

• tODi
• bhairavi
• kharaharapRiya
• kAmbhOji
• shankarAbharaNam
• kalyANi 

Alapanas and kRiti renditions in these rAgas usually happen to be the "main" item in Carnatic concerts - Purists such as MS Subbulakshmi, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, DK Pattammal and KV Narayanaswamy would abide by this unwritten rule almost every time, although there is an increasing tendency these days to present RTPs (Ragam Tanam Pallavis) in sub-main rAgas (such as sAveri or latAngi), lighter rAgas (like behAg and kApi) or even rare rAgas and vivAdi rAgas.

Semmangudi

DK Pattammal

KV Narayanaswamy

MS Subbulaksmi

"The purists"

Four of these are mELa rAgas or parent rAgas, the other two are janya rAgas.  bhairavi inherits from the naTabhairavi mELa whereas kAmbhOji is a janya of the harikAmbhOji mELa. Interestingly, both are bhAshAnga rAgas; meaning they also have anya swarAs which are not found in their parent mELas. bhairavi takes the chaturashra dhaivata (D2) and it is used in the ascending sequences like P D2 N2 S. The descending passages remain true to the naTabhairavi mELa's structure, as in N2 D1 P. In the case of kAmbhOji, the anya swara is kAkali nishAda (N3) and is not as extensive in usage as D2 of bhairavi. N3 appears in what is called a vishesha pRayOga, which is S N3 P D2 S.

Another point to note is that kalyANi is the lone pRathi madhyama: all the other rAgas are shuddha madhyama. This is in concordance with the smaller number of pRathi madhyama rAgas that are in vogue.

Among the Trinity, contributions to kharaharapRiya have come in only from Saint Tyagaraja - it remains a mystery as to why the others didn't compose any kRitis in this rAga.

Most of the kRitis in these ragas are viLamba kAla (slow-tempo or medium-tempo) with long-drawn phrases, although there are a few racy numbers as well. This suggests the importance of gamakAs in these rAgas. 

Due to the sampooRNa (having all swaras) nature and also being samvAdi, these rAgas offer immense scope for improvisation - in particular, rAga AlApana can technically last for a long duration without the phrases getting redundant or repetitive. Stalwarts are known to have sung AlAps for hours; exploring new realms of creativity each time.