Annamacharya compositions
sri...@wsuhub.uc.twsu.edu
There has been a thread of discussion about Annamacharya compositions
recently. I did some looking around and was surprised by what I
found - and I will share this with my fellos nettors. Annamacharya was
a very prolific composer and we have a good body of evidence to
support this. Purandaradas and Kshetragna are also said to have
composed thousands and thousands of songs but based on what has actually
survived, we have to just accept these as a matter of faith. For
Annamacharya, the situation is different in that about two thousand
of his compositions are currently available. This is a large number
indeed and exceeds the combined output of the thiruvarur trio. The major
sources where Annamacharya compositions are available are all publications
of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam - Annamacharya Kirtanas by Nedunri
Krishnamurthy, Adhyatma Sankirtanalu (11 volumes) by Ananta Krisha Sarma
and also one volume by Srinivasacharyulu and Sringara Sankirtanalu also
by Ananta Krisha Sarma. The compositions span the usual ragas and also
number over thirty each in unusual ragas like Desakshi, Gurjari,
Gundakriya and Suddhavasantha. Well, if that is not unusual enough, there
are over sixty compositions in Salanganata and over a hundred and fifty
in Samanta. I have never come across these last two ragas and since
my music library is missing vol. 4 of Subba Rao's Raganidhi, I am totally
in the dark as to what they might sound like (of course, I am totally in
the dark with respect to many other things too, but that is another
topic)....
Sriram.
Rajagopalan
>There has been a thread of discussion about Annamacharya compositions
>recently. I did some looking around and was surprised by what I
>found - and I will share this with my fellos nettors. Annamacharya was
>a very prolific composer and we have a good body of evidence to
>support this.
in some places annamacharya is mentioned as one of the "tallapakam"
composers. where is tallapakam and who are the other tallapakam composers? i
believe some (if not all) of annamacharya's kirtanas (do they qualify to be
called kritis, i dont know) were found inscribed on copper plates which were
found in the possession of an unassuming family in the area of the tirupati
temple. apparently the family had had those plates for many generations and did
not know what they were! does anyone know how these kirtanas were discovered and
how do we know they are by one composer (as far as i know there does not seem to
be any "mudra" in the compositions)?
>The compositions span the usual ragas and also
>number over thirty each in unusual ragas like Desakshi, Gurjari,
>Gundakriya and Suddhavasantha. Well, if that is not unusual enough, there
>are over sixty compositions in Salanganata and over a hundred and fifty
>in Samanta.
unfortunately for us we have no idea whatsoever how these kritis were
originally sung. even in the case of familiar sounding ragas we dont know
whether they are similar to the modern ragas that bear those names. also, do the
original texts mention the taalam also? tirumala devasthaanam engaged some
artists like pinakapani and others to set them to tune again. can anybody tell
us exactly who are the people who melodized the kirtanas - for example, the
kirtanas that appear in the four volumes sung by m.s. subbulakshmi?
perhaps if someone had inscribed purandaradasa's and other composers'
thousands of kritis on copper plates we would have known of them today. how did
m.l. vasanthakumari's mother (i forget her name) get hold of the many purandara
kirtanas that she melodized? it seems that even the original ragas are not known
in this case and have to be chosen by the person who gives the tune.
on a related note, i learnt from p.j. narayanan that the pittsburgh s.v.
temple sells a cassette collection of s. rajam singing koteeswara iyer's kritis.
unfortunately, the temple does not publish the text of these kritis. does anyone
know how one can get a hold of the text of koteeswara iyer's kritis? please respond by email. thanks.
cheers,
raj
D Jayasimha
>
> perhaps if someone had inscribed purandaradasa's and other composers'
>thousands of kritis on copper plates we would have known of them today. how did
>m.l. vasanthakumari's mother (i forget her name) get hold of the many purandara
>kirtanas that she melodized? it seems that even the original ragas are not known
>in this case and have to be chosen by the person who gives the tune.
A number of Purandaradasa songs have been passed by word of mouth from
generation to generation. Purandaradasa's grandson, Vijayadasa, who
was himself a composer of some note, is also supposed to have a
collected a number of them and written them down though it is not
clear if he did it with musical notation. At least a thousand or so
of Purandaradasa's "compositions" have come down to us. I have a book
which has about 600 of his compositions with no musical notation but
with just an indication of the raga and the tala the composition is to
be sung in.
On another note, the song of Saint Raghavendra, "Indu Enage Govinda..."
has been sung in Bhairavi by the Swamiji of Subramanya Mutt.
On a completely different note, there was a question about the use of
the flute in Carnatic music. The Carnatic flute, called the venu,
is usually much shriller than its Hindustani counterpart set usually
to the "sruti 5." Its sound is not mellow but strong and powerful.
The venu also has 8 holes as opposed to the bansuri which
has 7, thus permitting a slightly higher range than the latter.
(N Ramani and T Vishwanathan do, however, play lower sruti flutes in the
Carnatic style).
The best exponent of the Carnatic flute is Mali (T R Mahalingam).
The two other flutists I personally like are B N Suresh and
N Ramani.
jayasimha
Thyagarajan Mohan
(others deleted)
>number over thirty each in unusual ragas like Desakshi, Gurjari,
>Gundakriya and Suddhavasantha. Well, if that is not unusual enough, there
>are over sixty compositions in Salanganata and over a hundred and fifty
>in Samanta. I have never come across these last two ragas and since
>my music library is missing vol. 4 of Subba Rao's Raganidhi, I am totally
>in the dark as to what they might sound like (of course, I am totally in
>the dark with respect to many other things too, but that is another
>topic)....
>
>Sriram.
>
From `The Ragas of South India' by Prof.Kauffmann learn that the rAgA
`sAlanganAta'(Venkatamahi's name) is no different from`sAranganAta(Govinda's
name) both of which are close to the rAga `sAvEri';the `avarOhaNa' is
sampoorNa vakram.I couldn't make out the notes as they're in Western notation.
Similarly,rAga `samanta' is a `sampoorNa janyam' of 30th mELa `nAGAnandini'.
Sometime back,there was some discussion about `cintAmaNi'.According to
that book other `cintAmaNis' are referrred by bOga cintamaNi'(2 rAgAs,from 1st
and 7th mELa),`bhoopAla cintAmaNi'(15th mELa), and `dvaita cintAmaNi'.
Dr.Balamurali's cintAmaNi,the nishAdAntya janyam of 52nd mELa is referred as
`cintAramaNi/jagadhapriya'.The only `cintAmaNi' left alone is that from 56th
mELa,the `dEvi BrOva samayamidhE' as sung by KVN,MS etc.
Similarly,the rAgAs,`bhoopALam',`rEvagupti' and bibAsu' have the same scale
janyam of !5th mELa.`bibAsu' has traces of `pradhi madhyamam' in its `sncAri'.
The original `bhoopAla' of Dikshithar,from 8th mELa remain untouched.
CHEERS
MOHAN
Guntur N Balaji
I have heard that a large number of Annamacharya compositions
engraved on copper plates were found hidden in one of the walls
of Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala. Looks like a hallow sounding
block of stone was *accidentally* found in one of the prakaara walls
of the SV Temple and investigations led to the discovery of the
engraved copper plates. My Grandfather ( BTW he was head of Telugu
dept. in SV univ. Tirupati at that time. ) was supposed to have
actively involved in deciphering the copper plates.
I couldnt directly ask my Grampa about this interesting incident
because he wasn't alive when I was born :-( But this story runs
in the family !
Aside : Could somebody post a biographical sketch of Annamacharya ?
Regards,
Balaji/...
Srinivasan Pichumani
>of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam - Annamacharya Kirtanas by Nedunri
>Krishnamurthy, Adhyatma Sankirtanalu (11 volumes) by Ananta Krisha Sarma
>and also one volume by Srinivasacharyulu and Sringara Sankirtanalu also
>by Ananta Krisha Sarma. The compositions span the usual ragas and also
>number over thirty each in unusual ragas like Desakshi, Gurjari,
>Gundakriya and Suddhavasantha. Well, if that is not unusual enough, there
>are over sixty compositions in Salanganata and over a hundred and fifty
>in Samanta. I have never come across these last two ragas and since
There is a composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar(1775-1835) in the rAga sAmanta. Its
pallavi is:
vishvanAthena rakShitoham vishAlAkShI samethena
This rAga is a janya(child) of the 30th rAgAnga or melakartA rAgam. The
scale given in A.Sundaram Iyer's book for this rAga is complete, however.
I have heard this kriti played by Smt.Kalpagam SvAminAthan on the vINa.
[This artiste has probably one of the largest repertoire of Dikshitar
kritis; at least 250 in my estimation, out of a total of about 479 kritis
given in Sundaram Iyer's books]
I was reminded of Tilang when I first heard it.
In this kriti, there is a reference to the devadAsis attached to that
temple -- the vishvanAtha temple at kuzhikkarai near TiruvArUr.
You can probably consider it as a general reference to all the devadAsis
attached to the various temples in that area where Dikshitar worshipped.
The reference is "vimala gaNikA nartana priyena" i.e Dikshitar refers to
the Lord as one who likes the dance of the pure devadAsIs.
There is also a composition of Dikshitar in Salanganata given in various
books; there may be more than one. The one given in the SangIta SampradAya
pradarshini is "avyAja karuNA katAkShI".
In the Madras Music Academy's Journal (year 1976) there is a report of
the proceedings of the Dec75-Jan76 Music conference which was entirely
dedicated to Dikshitar on his bi-centenary. During this season, various
groups of people rendered many many rare compositions. Maybe
Salanganata was rendered then.
[No SangIta kalanidhi title was awarded in that year as well as in 1967
which was devoted to the celebration of TyAgarAja's bi-centennial]
--Srini.
ps: In the other rAgas you mention too, there are Dikshitar compositions.
DesAkShi -- referred to as shailadesAkShI - is the 35th rAgAnga rAga.
In GurjarI there is "guNijanAdinuta guruguhodaye", which has been rendered
many times by DKJ in concerts.
pps: Of course, there is "varAlandu ..." of Tyagaraja in Gurjari -- a
favourite of the late Prof.S.Ramanathan and Madurai Somu. There is also
"intanucu varNimpa taramA" in Gundakriya -- KVN,Balamurali have sung this.
ppps: Annamacharya's compositions are sung daily at the Tirupati temple
during the EkAnta Seva; I have seen a descendant of the Tallapakam
family come in carrying a tambura and render the kIrtanas during this
service which is around 9pm.
The compositions are also sung during special occasions like the
"dOlOtsavam" -- the "swing service"; kirtanas like "dOlAyAm cala dOlAyAm"
seem to have been composed expressly for this purpose. Others like
"kshIrAbdhi kanyakaku nIrAjanam" are of similar intent.
rajagopalan
>In this kriti, there is a reference to the devadAsis attached to that
>temple -- the vishvanAtha temple at kuzhikkarai near TiruvArUr.
>The reference is "vimala gaNikA nartana priyena" i.e Dikshitar refers to
>the Lord as one who likes the dance of the pure devadAsIs.
very interesting. does anyone know of other instances where the
devadaasis are referred to in musical literature. it seems to me that our
musical heritage was preserved among others by the devadaaasis - their
contribution should have been quite a major one in terms of composing new songs
in new ragas and taalas. however, we have very little reference in our
contemporary music to their work in preserving and developing the tradition.
i have no idea how old the custom of having devadaasis is. does
jayadeva, for instance, or his musical descendants refer to them? were they a
recognized institution then? today, many of the descendants of the original
devadaasi system have excellent musical lineage but somehow because of history
their padams and jaavalis are not considered to be in the mainstream of karnatic
music by many.
>ppps: Annamacharya's compositions are sung daily at the Tirupati temple
>during the EkAnta Seva; I have seen a descendant of the Tallapakam
>family come in carrying a tambura and render the kIrtanas during this
>service which is around 9pm.
>The compositions are also sung during special occasions like the
>"dOlOtsavam" -- the "swing service"; kirtanas like "dOlAyAm cala dOlAyAm"
>seem to have been composed expressly for this purpose. Others like
>"kshIrAbdhi kanyakaku nIrAjanam" are of similar intent.
i attended an "ekaanta sevai" in the srirangam renganaatha temple way
back in 1983. at that event i was most astonished by a very
distinguished-looking gentleman and his smart teenaged son who were following
the idol as it was being taken around to various spots in the temple ("showing"
the various other deities like sri & lakshmi and perhaps kodai too, to
renganaatha). these two had a veena each slung over their waist and left
shoulder like a guitar and held vertically. both these artists sang and played
the veena whilst on their feet as the evening's celebrations went on. they were
singing songs that i had never before heard and they had the most exquisite
veena playing i have ever heard. they seemed to have special songs for each
occasion: like putting the lord in his cradle, giving him a bath, putting him to
sleep etc. (renganaatha was perceived as a child in this ekaanta sevai.) i could
not catch many of the words or even the language sometimes (i heard tamil,
kannada, telugu and sanskrit) because of the background noise of the quiet
murumur of the audience and the raucuous archakar screaming at his assistant!
when somehow by force and by persuasion, i managed to get near the artists it
was almost the end of the evening and i could hear them sing and play
"bhaagyataa lakshmibaarammaa". i have never had the good fortune of listening to
them ever again but it is a haunting memory. i found out later on that the
gentlemen belonged to the family that had the right to sing at these occasions
and that the family has being performing this sevai since it was instituted.
does anyone know who this family this and whether the people who play at the
temple also play elsewhere? has anyone else seen this pair at the renganaatha
temple? is there some body of songs that these folks choose their songs from?
i am also curious as to whether this practice of playing the veenai vertically
and/or walking around while playing is followed in any other temple or event.
>--Srini.
raj