by Dr. B. Pushpa Krishnan<\/p>\n
His Highness Sri. Swathi Thirunal Maharaja,<\/strong> who lived from 1813 to 1847 A.D.,<\/em><\/strong> had made his mark in the world of Carnatic Music, not only as a first-rate composer, but also as a superb musician. Not only Travancore, but also the whole of Kerala is indebted to him for the exceptional manner in which he enabled Kerala to keep intact the Swadesi culture of this coast in art and letters.<\/p>\n His compositions are in Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada and Hindi.<\/em><\/span> His works on the subject of Music are many and are found in such distant places as Poona, Agra, Mysore etc. He has attempted almost all the Musical forms like Gita, Swarajathi, Padavarna, Tanavarna, Kirtanas, Padam, Javali, Ragamalika, Tillana and Group Kritis.<\/em><\/span> They are considered valuable both from the musical point of view and from literary standards. He set a new style in compositions and in technique. Almost all his compositions are addressed to his Ishta Devata, Lord Padmanabha.<\/p>\n Group Kritis are a set of songs composed on a particular theme, or particular deity. The compositions in the group kritis may be usually of five or nine. Sri Thyagaraja has to his credit, the groups like Pancharatna Kritis, Kovur Pancharatnam and so on; Muthuswami Deekshithar has Navagraha Kritis, Navavarna Kritis, Panchalinga Kritis, etc. and Syamasastry has the famous Navaratnamalika Kritis in praise of the Goddess Meenakshy of Madurai. Maharaja Sri Swathi Thirunal has composed the groups like Navaratri Kirtanas, Nava Vidha Bhakthi Kirtanas and Utsavaprabandha Kirtanas.<\/p>\n The Navaratri Kirtanas comprise a set of 9 songs. Sung as the principal song, sung one on each day on the nine day Navaratri Festival in Trivandrum. These particular songs are sung by great Vidwans, with raga Alapana, Tanam, Niraval and Swaram, along with other Kirtanas in front of Goddess Saraswathy in the Navaratri Mandapam. The sahityas of these songs are poetic and charming. The ideas are also very beautifully brought out in them. The songs are composed in Sanskrit language. Out of these nine songs, while the one in Sankarabharana ragam has a pallavi, anupallavi and 4 charanas, the other eight kirtanas have a pallavi, anupallavi and 3 charanas. While the six kirtanas are set to Adi tala, the three in Bhairavi raga, Sudhasaveri raga and Nattakurinchi raga are composed in Chapu tala or Tisra Triputa tala. The last Kirtana \u2018Pahi Parvatha\u2019 in Arabhi raga, is the very popular one among the nine songs.<\/p>\n The nine Navaratri Kirtanas are:-<\/strong><\/p>\n Of these nine kirtanas, the first three songs are in praise of Goddess Saraswathy, the next three on Goddess Lakshmy and the last three in praise of Parvathi. The ragas used for these songs are Sankarabharana, Kalyani, Saveri, Thodi, Bhairavi, Pantuvarali, Sudhasaveri, Nattakurinchi and Arabhi: – Five janya ragas and four Melakartha ragas. In all those songs the raga bhava is clearly and beautifully brought out.<\/p>\n Another set of 9 songs describe clearly the nine types of Bhakti. These nine songs are collectively known as Nava Vidha Bhakti Kirtanas or Navaratna Malikas. The Maharaja possessed an absorbing devotion to Sri Padmanabha, his Ishta Devata and all his compositions are characterised by Uttama bhakti. The nine kinds of Bhakti namely, Sravanam, Kirtanam, Smaranam, Padasevanam, Archanam, Vandanam, Dasyam, Sakhyam and Atmanivedanam are described beautifully, through 9 Kirtanas. These 9 Kirtanas are also addressed to Lord Padmanabha. The sahityas are in Sanskrit language .<\/p>\n The nine songs are:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Except the one Kirtana, \u2018Pankajakshatava\u2019 in Todi raga all the other 8 songs are set in Janya ragas like Bhairavi, Kedaragoula, Neelambari, Bilahari, Begada, Ahiri, Mukhari and Nadanamakriya. Among these 9 songs, four Kirtanas are set to Chappu tala, three in Rupaka tala, one in Jhampa tala and one in the Adi tala. All the nine Kirtanas are beautiful ones.<\/p>\n Another set of 12 Kirtanas are composed in Malayalam Language and with Sanskrit slokas. This group is known as Utsavaprabandham. The 12 songs describe the ten day festival in the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Trivandrum.<\/p>\n Utsavas are conducted as ten-day festivals twice a year in the months of Alpasi (October \u2013 November) and Panguni (March \u2013 April) with all pomp and gaiety in the city of Thiruvananthapuram.<\/p>\n The songs are:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Among these songs, except the two in Pantuvarali and Todi ragas, all the other ten songs are composed in Janya ragas. Five songs are set to Rupaka tala, four songs are set to Chappu tala, and three songs are set to Adi tala. This group is Manipravala Prabhandham.<\/p>\n Of these songs, the songs \u2018Panjasayaka\u2019 and \u2018Sarasijanabha\u2019 have the sections pallavi, anupallavi and three charanas, but the song \u2018Pankajanabha\u2019 has pallavi and four charanas. Other nine songs have pallavi and a number of charanas, but no anupallavi. These Utsava prabhanda kirtanas have been composed by Maharaja to give a graphic account of the utsavam in his ecstasy and bhakti in Lord Padmanabha.<\/p>\n During the Utsavas, each day the above said procession takes place inside the temple twice a day-in the evening and in the night. For these functions, only particular compositions are played through the Nagasvaram. On the first day for the procession, the varnam \u2018Sarasa Sundara\u2019 in Neelambari raga is played with raga and swara in detail and then a kirtana\u2019 Pankajahabhotsava\u2019. On the second day, for the evening procession \u2018Kalyani\u2019 Kirtana in Kannada raga is played with elaborate raga; for the night procession Sankarabharana raga varna \u2018Chalamela\u2019 and the kirtana \u2018Panjasayaka\u2019 are played. For the third day evening, Atana raga varna \u2018Sarasijanabha\u2019 and \u2018Kanakamayam\u2019 in Todi raga. For the night Kamboji Ata tala varna Sarasijanabha and anyone kirtana. For the fourth day evening \u201cKanakamayam\u201d and \u201cPanjabawa thanu\u2019. For the night chakravaga raga kirtana \u201cSarasijanabha\u201d and \u2018Vande deva deva\u201d. For the fifth day evening Saveri raga varna \u201cSaveritha tanuja\u201d and \u201cAndolika\u201d Vahane\u2019 for the night Sururtti raga padam \u201cViditam te\u2019 and \u2018Tavaka namam\u2019 in Kedaragoula raga. For the 6th day a varna \u2018Savamarusha\u2019 and \u2018Syananduresan\u2019 are played. For the night a varna and \u2018Krishnakaruna\u2019 in Anandabhairavi raga. For the 7th day bhairavi raga varna \u2018Sarasa nayana\u2019 and \u2018Indirapathy\u2019 are played. For the night \u2018 Samininne\u2019 varna in Yadukulakamboji and \u2018Pari pahimam\u2019 in Kalyani raga. For the eighth day evening Dhanyasi raga varna \u2018Ha hanta vanechilahom\u2019 and \u2018sebikayil\u2019 in Mangala Kaiseki raga. For the night \u2018Chalamela\u2019 varna and Saradindu in Kamboji raga. For the 9th day evening \u201cSaturakamini\u201d varna and \u201cNeelappuri\u201d in Yadukulakamboji raga. For the night \u2018Jalajanabha\u2019 in Kedaragoula raga and \u2018Saroruhasana\u2019 in Pantuvarali raga. For the 10th day evening \u2018Nagasayanam\u2019 and one sri naga kirtanam and with this the procession moves out of the temple through the western nada for Arat. At that time the Kalyani varna \u2018Satura\u2019 is played first. Then Khana raga varna Bhairavi, Kamboji, Sankarabharanam are played and during the Arat time, \u2018Nagasayanam\u2019 in Pantuvarali and \u2018Rajeevaksha\u2019 in Sankarabharanam are played. When they return a kalyani Note is played first and then the \u201cSaradindu\u201d and Sarasijanabha Kirtanas and padas till they reach near the temple. When they reach the \u2018Sankuchakra mandapam\u2019 very near to the temple \u2018Ha hanta\u2019 and \u2018Jalajanabha\u2019 are played. Then \u2018Sarasijanabhanin\u2019 in Sourashtram & \u2018bhujangasayine\u2019 are played finally when the idols Padmanabha, Narasimha & Sri Krishna are taken inside the temple. With this the festival comes to an end.<\/p>\n Whenever the idols are taken out and placed in the Vahanam for processions, then it is a rule that the note in Kalyani raga should be played first always. The kalyani note begins with \u2018G G gs s r g o\u2019<\/p>\n Thus only particular kirtanas and varnas fixed for each day and for each function are played during the Utsavams. Only Sri Swathi Thirunal Maharaja\u2019s compositions are used. Likewise, there are particular songs to be played during particular festivals like \u2018Ponnu Seeveli\u2019, \u2018Lakshadeepam\u2019 and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Group Kirtanas of Maharaja Sri Swathi Thirunal by Dr. B. Pushpa Krishnan His Highness Sri. Swathi Thirunal Maharaja, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-on-musical-contributions-of-swathi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2768"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5528,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768\/revisions\/5528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n
Devi Jagajanani – Sankarabharana – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Pahimam Sri – Kalyani – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Devi Pavane – Saveri – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Bharati Mamava – Todi – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Janani Mamava – Bairavi – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Saroruhasanajaye – Pantuvarali – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Janani Pahi – Sudha Saveri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Pahi Janani – Nattakurinchi – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Pahiparvatha – Arabhi – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n\n
Bhavatheeyakatha – Bhairavi – Adi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Sravanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Thavakanamani – Kedaragoula – Jhampa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Kirtanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Satatam – Neelambari – Chappu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Smaranam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Pankajaksha tava – Thodi – Rupaka\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Padasevanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Aradhayami – Bilahari – Chappu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Archanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Vande deva deva – Begada – Rupaka\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Vandanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Paramapurusha – Ahiri – Chapu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Dasyam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Bhavati Viswaro – Mukhari – Chappu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Sakhyam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Devadeva Kalpayami – Nadanamakriya – Rupaka\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Atmanivedanam<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n\n
Pankajanabhotsavam – Mohanam – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Panjasayaka – Neelambari – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Pankajakshanam – Todi – Rupaka<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Kanakamayam – Huzeni – Rupaka<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Andolika Vahane – Anandabhairavi – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Syananduresan – Kurinji – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Indirapathy – Navaroz – Rupaka<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Sibikayil – Managalakaiseki – Rupaka<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Neelappuri – Yadukula Kamboji – Rupaka<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Saradindu sama – Kamboji – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Nagasayananam – Pantuvarali – Adi<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Sarasijanabham – Sourashtram – Chappu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n