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Antarukti
The most interesting part of the book deals with a feature called Antarukti,
not mentioned at all in any other work on music. This is the use of one
or more syllables between two words which are in muhana or Prasa, for the
sake of tala. For example,
‘Hanumantam Chintayeham paVana
Here the word Pavana is split to provide 'vana' as prasa to 'Hanu' The syllable
'pa' is therefore the 'antarukti'
“The Muhana prasa antyaprasa vyavastha is thus a treasure-trove
to musicologists and to those who wish to compose Kritis in accordance with
time-honoured Saddalankaras. In the beginning the author says:
'The three Sabdalankaras used in composing Sahitya for music are muhana,
prasa and antyaprasa. Although the rules for such compositions in Telugu
and Tamil are well-recognized, there is no set of rules for compositions
in Sanskrit. We have therefore, to accept certain norms that are found in
the Kritis of the poet known as Sesha Ramanuja Kavi who has composed only
in Sanskrit.' The Sanskrit version has been published by the Madras Music
Academy.
It is interesting to note that Sesha Iyengar is referred to here as Sesha
Ramanuja Kavi. There is no difficulty in identifying this poet as Margadarsi
Sesha Iyengar as there is a paper manuscript in the Trivandrum Palace Library
entitled Seshayyangaru Kirtanam which contains Kritis with the Kosala Mudra.
M. Krishnamachariar in his History of Sanskrit Literature says that
Sesha Iyengar mostly lived at Ayodhya and settled at Srirangam in the latter
part of his life. We have to presume that the Kritis of Sesha Iyengar were
collected in the Tamil Nadu area by Shatkala Govinda Marar who toured the
region as a cultural ambassador of Swati Tirunal and had meetings with Tyagaraja
and perhaps other prominent Vaggeyakaras. Or, one of the several musicians
from Tanjore, who were in the court of the Ruler, might have supplied him
with the compositions of Iyengar.
Having spelt out the principles of employing Sabdalankaras in musical compositions
in Sanskrit, following the patterns set by Sesha Iyengar, it is no wonder
that Swati Tirunal himself followed them in his Sanskrit compositions. The
Maharaja was a master of the language but he did not hesitate to borrow
phrases like 'palita bhuvana samudaya' from Iyengar. But the unique tribute
he has paid to his illustrious predecessor is the Kriti 'Bhogindra sayinam',
which is entirely modelled after Iyengar's beautiful Kriti 'Sriranga Sayinam'.
Let us compare the two Kritis :
Margadarsi Sesha Iyengar's Kriti:
Pallavi : “Sriranga Sayinam Sakala
Subha Dayinam Chintaye -
ham Sada Hridaye”
Anupallavi : “Karunya, Sausilya Saurya Vatsalyadi
Kalyana Guna Jalanidhim Deva Devam.”
Swati Tirunal's Kriti :
Pallavi : “Bhogindra Sayinam Purukusala Dayinam
Purusham Sasvatam Kalaye.
Anupallavi : Vagisa Gaurisa Vasava-dyamara Pariva-
rabhi Vandita Padam Padmanabham”.
Both the Kritis are in Dhanyasi.
The Pathfinder
Although most of the Kritis of Sesha Iyengar are in praise of Lord Ranganatha
of Srirangam, some are in praise of Lord Rama as a result of his long stay
at Ayodhya. The other songs are in praise of Narasimha, Anjaneya, Nammalvar,
Ramanuja, Sita, etc. and Iyengar mentions Vedanta Desika in one of his Kritis.
The Kriti ‘Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama (which incidentally is
the thirteen-lettered mantra taught by Samartha Ramadas) has 30 Charanas
covering the entire Ramayana story and served as a model to similar Kritis
by Swati Tirunal and Tyagaraja. A comparative Study of the Margadarsi's
Kritis with those of other composer in Sanskrit may yield many more examples
of the former's influence on later composers.
Sesha Iyengar was thus a path finder (Margadarsi) in every sense of the
term and his Kritis deserve greater popularity even if they have to be set
to music afresh like those of Annamacharya and Swati Tirunal.
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