A book of Tyagaraja compositions by Shri T. K. Govinda Rao
P J Narayanan
compiled and edited by Shri T. K. Govinda Rao, published by the
Ganamandir Publications, Indira nagar, Madras 600 020, India. The
book contains all 688 compositions of the saint-composer who was born
in 1767 and attained samadhi on the shukla bahula panchami of 1847.
The krtis are given in dEvanAgari script as well as in phonetic Roman.
The meaning in English in a nice, free-style is also given for each
composition. A glossary of about 1000 Telugu words and their meanings
in Roman script appears at the end of the book, aimed at providing a
deeper sense of appreciation of Tyagaraja's poetry to those unfamiliar
with Telugu.
The book starts with the following paragraphs about Saint Tyagaraja:
(I believe the first quoted paragraph is from the preface to the book
"Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja" published by the Rama Krishna
Mission.)
---------- Begin quoting from the book ------------
"Our law and politics, our arts and sciences, our manners and morals
are derived from our fundamental faith, which makes for the spiritual
unity of any community.... There is a moral law which governs the rise
and fall of nations. Adherance to the moral law of Dharma elevates a
nation; non-adherance to it degrades it. If we are to progress we must
adopt the path of virtue.... We have had in our country from the time
of the Rg Veda down to our own days a long line of torch bearers who
stress the primacy of spiritual values.."
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
From time to time this fabric of spiritual unity is reinforced by the
presence and influence of poets, philosophers and saint-singers whose
contributions have upheld this faith. Sri Tyagaraja was one such saint
and singer whose music and spirituality provided an endearing
alternative at a time when the country, after centuries of chaotic
political and social strife enforcing a long period of subjugation and
decline of faith, needed a vital link that would ensure continuity of
culture, tradition and revival of faith.
Tyagaraja provided this link with apparent effortless ease. He did not
resort to the traditional glitter of pedantic and scholarly word
building exercise aimed to please only the elite, but made use of
language, music and folklore so familiar to the common man and came up
with compositions that are wrapped up in two rare human virtues:
simplicity and humility.
........
........
........
........
In the final analysis, that music is divine, serving not only as a
means but as an end by itself has been the essense and the mission
that was Tyagaraja.
---------- End quoting from the book ------------
The quoted paragraphs alludes deftly to what I would characterize as
the purpose of this book: To re-familiarize Tyagaraja's vital role in
infusing spiritual vigour into the society and the nation he
inherited. The book does that by making all of Tyagaraja's
compositions accessible to the nation and the world, to appreciate
their poetry, simplicity and grandeur.
Books on Tyagaraja have been inaccessible to those not literate in
Telugu and Tamil. I have searched far and wide for one in Malayalam
without success. The book by K. P. S Menon -- the only one I know of
-- has been out of print for decades. It also falls far short of
being comprehensive. "The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja" has
provided the only link to the composer for me as for many others with
the knowledge of the dEvanAgari script and English. It is a wonderful
book indeed but misses compositions like jagadAnandakArakA,
vENugAnalOluni, and gAnamUrttE. The book also has a quaint way of
shortening or ignoring long strings of adjectives while providing the
meaning. "Compositions of Tyagaraja" presents all identifiable 688
compositions and extends the exposure to the entire English-literate
community. [I am told Govinda Rao has plans to introduce the book in
other Indian languages also.]
Shri Govinda Rao started with the idea of providing a comprehensive
reference to Tyagaraja krtis, it seems. The listing of the books
referred has fifteen entries ranging from gAyaka pArijatam in Telugu
(1877) to the manuscripts and hand-written note books inherited from
Musiri Subramanya Iyer (Govinda Rao's guru for over two decades) and
his guru Tiruvayyaru Sabhesa Iyer. The book classifies some of the
compositions into divyanAma sankIrtanas (84), utsava sampradAya
kIrtanas (26), prahLAda bhakti vijaya kIrtanas (45), naukAcharita
kIrtanas (21), group compositions like kOvUr and lAlguDi pancharatnams
(39). The last category of twenty-four songs is titled "Compositions
believed written not by Tyagaraja, but some of them very popular
though not found in all books and sung by ertain sishya paramaparas
alone". This category contains compositions like gAnamUrttE, ElaRA
shrI krShNA, rArA phanishayanA, veDalanu kOdanDapANI.
A few more points on the book. The songs are listed in the order of
the mELam its rAgam belongs to. The book starts with shrIgaNanAtham
bhajAmyaham in kanakAngi, kalashavArdhijAm in ratnAngi and EmandunE in
shrImaNi, a janyam of ratnAngi. The last two songs are
sarasIruhanayanE in amrtavaRShiNi and mAravairi in nAsikAbhUShaNi.
Within each mELa group, the songs in the mELakarttA rAgam come first,
followed by its janya rAga-krtis, bunching songs in the same rAgam
together in Indian-language lexicographic order. A glossary of about
1000 Telugu words follow the compositions That is followed by a
kIrtanasUchi listing the krti, rAgam and page number in dEvanagari and
an index of songs listing the same in Roman script.
My job as a "reviewer" will be a dry one if I merely presented these
facts about such a wonderful book. I am told Shri Govinda Rao did all
the typing himself using an Indian-language document processor. The
fruits of his effort are abundantly visible. The krtis, their
phonetic transliteration and the meanings have been typeset with great
care, though a keen eye can detect a few mistakes in the first edition
I saw. [That the entire book seems to be in slanted or italisized font
is just about the only complaint I have!] The free-form gist of the
compositions are very well written and often very inspiring. I attempt
to include some here.
Parts of teratIyagarAdA in gowLIpantu:
"Lord TIRUPATI VENKATA RAMANA! Cannot you lift the veil of
jealousy in me?
It prevents me from attaining the four-fold blessings of right
conduct, taintless weathe, genuine love for humanity and
unalloyed devotion to God which leads to salvation:
DHARMA, ARTTHA, KAMA, MOKSHA."
From paralOkabhaymulEka in mandAri:
"Men devoid of fear of afterlife firmly entrench themselves in
worldly life. They are proud of their possessions like elephants,
horses, unique gardens saying 'Only we have got all this'
Surrounded by damsels, they have enticed, by their wealth, their
naughty children, various colourful garments and the houses they
have built, they feel 'This is heaven' with what they consider to
be theirs."
The last line of the kannadagowla krti OrAjUpu is written as
"dInarakShakA AshritamAnava samtrANa gAnalOla" and not as
"AshritamAnava santAna gAnalola" as is popularly sung. Shri Govinda
Rao told me that he too was in the "santAna" school till he saw this
song in the manuscripts by Tyagaraja's disciples kept in the Tanjavur
museum. The word "samtrANa" solved the difficulty posed by "santAna"
in interpretating the krti, he said.
The book in its current form is a half-way point of Shri Govinda Rao's
effort of writing a book on Tyagaraja krtis with notations for the
songs. This is a highly laudable effort as the last such book was
published almost 50 years ago (by Rangaramanuja Iyengar). The period
since then has found unprecedented expansion of the practitioners and
listeners of Karnatic music. The explosion in the numbers do not tell
the whole story. Music reached possibly all cross-sections of the
society for the first time. Radio and, more recently, the recording
media made it possible for the music to overcome the boundaries of
space and time that previously limited a rasika's exposure to
musicians of his or her time and region. The proliferation of sabhas
in the Karnatic country and the renewed atmosphere of competetion that
followed created a demand for the popular, the unusual, and, in a way,
the "different" strains in music.
Consequently, the music developed (changed, if you would rather have
that) in the last fifty years in a manner without parallel. The
relatively new "kacheri paddhati" had also made krtis the backbone of
a Karnatic concert. The music of the krtis changed considerably in
the period: some improved, some worsened, depending on your view.
Shri Govinda Rao's book records the "current" musical state of
Tyagaraja krtis. His plan, however, is to present the (possibly
multiple) older (and regional) variations through extensive footnotes.
One may quibble about Shri Govinda Rao's interpretation of the current
state. As one who has had extensive gurukalavAsa training in the line
of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, Sabhesa Iyer and Musiri and as one with wide
experience in listening to music of all hues in various capacities in
the production process for the All India Radio, Govinda Rao is indeed
well suited for this task. The completed book is certain to be
encyclopedic in stature as far as Tyagaraja's compositions are
concerned when it is released.
The book in its present form -- without the musical notations -- is
one to be referred reverentially to. The complete book will be one to
be given the most prominent position in anyone's musical library.
PJN
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Robotics Institute, CMU p...@cs.cmu.edu
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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