{"id":2772,"date":"2023-12-26T09:32:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T09:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.cdit.live\/swathithirunal\/?p=2772"},"modified":"2024-02-22T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T11:31:50","slug":"kshethra-kritis-of-maharaja-swathi-thirunal-by-prof-dr-k-omanakkutty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/?p=2772","title":{"rendered":"Kshethra Kritis of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal by Prof. Dr. K. Omanakkutty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kshethra Kritis of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal<\/h2>\n

by Prof. Dr. K. Omanakkutty<\/p>\n

\n

It is a universal fact that intensive devotion to God ultimately leads to Moksha.\u00a0 This truth can be traced back to the period of Vedas.\u00a0 In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna declared bhakthi as the most important among the means to attain liberation.\u00a0 Bhakthi cult refers to the nine ways of devotion to reach God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sravanam<\/td>\nis the first step of the nine fold path of devotion.
\nIt implies the listening of stories and songs praising\u00a0 God.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kirtanam<\/td>\nConstitutes the recitation of the hymns in praise of God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Smaranam<\/td>\nMeditation on the forms of God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Paadasevanam<\/td>\nImplies service at the feet of the Lord.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Archanam<\/td>\nRealistic worship of His images.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vandanam<\/td>\nSalutation to God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dasyam<\/td>\nDo services to God as a servant.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sakhyam<\/td>\nFeeling of friendship<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Atmanivedanam<\/td>\nIt is complete surrender of the self.
\nThis is considered as the highest point in the progress of Bhakthi.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The nine-fold devotion is a series of stages in the psychological attitude of the devotee for his spiritual progress culminating in God realization.\u00a0 This is termed as Navavidhabkathi.\u00a0 Swati Tirunal Maharaja is considered as the foremost among the composers of Navavidhabkathi Kritis in South India.<\/p>\n

Among these nine bhakthis, the second, namely Kirtana attained great popularity as an easy means for the realisation of God.\u00a0 South India is blessed with great composers in music.\u00a0 They took this path by composing innumerable kritanas replete with bhakthi and\u00a0 through that path they attained Moksha.<\/p>\n

Music is an inseparable art in Temples.\u00a0 When music was coupled with the daily worship in the temple it became Devatamaya Naadaroopa Maarga.\u00a0 South India had and has illustrious music composers who have composed different types of compositions.\u00a0 Temples being the seat of music, musical instruments, dance etc., they have taken much interest in composing a separate set of kritis namely Kshethra Kritis.\u00a0 Following the path of Vaishnavite and Saivite saint singers of 4th & 5th century A.D., in due course the traditional composers of Karnatic music started visiting temples and they composed Kirtanas comprising the glories and details about the temple deities concerned.\u00a0 Such a variety of songs about a particular deity of a particular temple are called Kshetra Kritis.\u00a0 The literature part of Kshethra Krities express various facts regarding the temple such as the origin, mythological & sculptural aspects, rituals and rites conducted, forms of deity, festivals connected with the temple etc.<\/p>\n

Royal composer Shaahaji of the Maratha Kingdom is considered to be the originator of Kshethra Kritis.\u00a0 Other composers like Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshithar, Syamasasthri, Maharaja Swati Tirunal, Veena Kuppaiyar etc.\u00a0 have composed Kshethra kritis.\u00a0 The post trinity period also witnessed a number of songs in praise of various temples and their presiding deities.\u00a0 Kshethra Kritis of Neelakanta Sivan and Muthaiyya Bhagavatar can be quoted as examples.\u00a0 Malayalam composers like Irayimman Thampi, K.C. Kesava Pillai, Kuttikunju Thankachi etc., also have composed songs on temples of Kerala.\u00a0 In Kerala it is beyond doubt that Swati Maharaja ranks as\u00a0 the foremost among Kshethra Kriti composers.<\/p>\n

Maharaja Swati Thirunal was a staunch devotee of Sri Padmanabha.\u00a0 He was very generous to compose Kritis on other deities such as Vigneswara, Subramony, Goddesses, Shiva, etc.\u00a0 Even though he composed compositions on other deities also, towards the end of such kritis he extols that Lord Padmanabha always grants the desires of his devotees.\u00a0 That means he could see the other deities only through Sree Padmanabha.\u00a0 The Kshethra Kritis composed by Maharaja Swati Tirunal can be classified under two heads.<\/p>\n

a) Major Kshethra Kritis attributed to the main deity of the temple, eg. Compositions in praise of Lord Padmanabha of Sri Padmanabha Swami Temple.<\/p>\n

b) Minor Kshethra Kritis comprising the Kritis composed on Upadevatas of a particular shrine. eg: Anjaneya (in Saveri raga, aditala); Narasimha mamava (Arabhi raga Khanta Chapu tala) etc.(in Sri Padmanabha Swami Temple at Trivandrum).<\/p>\n

There are differences of opinion regarding the number of Kshethra Krities composed by Maharaja Swati Tirunal.
\nFeatures of Kshethra Kritis of Swati Tirunal<\/p>\n

One of the salient features of his Kshethra Kritis is the presence of Sthalamudra. The name of the place occurs in any of the angas of the kritis.\u00a0 The origin of the shrine, details of festivals conducted in a particular temple can also be met with in some kritis.\u00a0 In every kritis we find the various ascriptions of the deity being described in a lively manner.\u00a0 Another peculiarity of his Kshethra Kritis is that being a great bhaktha Swati Tirunal had given more importance to the virtues of the deity of the temple than the description about the temple concerned.<\/p>\n

In these kritis he describes the appearance of the deity and ornaments, weapons adorned by him, Lords\u2019 valor, kindness and the divine vehicles upon which he travels. The Lord is being praised and worshipped by all celestials.\u00a0 The anecdotes showing the Lord\u2019s deeds can be seen in the literature part of these kritis. Thus these compositions show the deep knowledge of Maharaja Swati Tirunal of various epics and puranas.\u00a0 Moreover, philosophical truths and principles are very well expressed in these compositions.<\/p>\n

Even though the Maharaja composed numerous compositions in praise of different deities of different places we get the references about the sthalanama only in 17 compositions.\u00a0 This helps us to locate the places where the temples are situated.\u00a0 In the kritis, the names of the places are seen in the sanskritized form and they very much suited the literature part of the compositions.\u00a0 Out of the 17 kritis 6 are attributed to Devi, 7 numbers devoted to Shiva, 2 compositions are in praise of Lord Krishna, 1 for Vishnu and one kriti is on Lord Subrahmanya.<\/p>\n

A list Sthala Kritis composed by Maharaja Swati Tirunal is given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/p>\n

1.Kriti<\/td>\n

Pahijanani Satatam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nNattu Kurinji<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nParvati Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nKanya Kubja Vasini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nKanya kumari<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nGoddess in Kanyakumari<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.Kriti<\/td>\nKalaye Parvathi Natham<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nSankarabharanam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nSucheendrapurakhya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nSucheendram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nThe deity here is called Shtanumalayan and is considered a combination of the Hindu Trinity with Siva predominating<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Kriti<\/td>\nVande Maheswaram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nAarabhi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nVasava Suchikaram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nSucheendram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.Kriti<\/td>\nAnandavally<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nNeelambari<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nParvathi Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nAnandavally<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nPadmanabhapuram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nThis is a kriti attributed to Goddess Anandavally.\u00a0 Here he addressed Devi as\u00a0 Padmanabha Sahaja meaning sister of Lord Padmanabha.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Kriti<\/td>\nDeva Deva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nTodi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Vishnu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nAdikesava<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nThiruvattar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nA place some 35 miles south of Trivandrum.
\nThe idol here is in Anantasyanam form as in Trivandrum.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Kriti<\/td>\nPaalayamamayibho<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nKamas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nSree Kandesa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nSreekandeswaram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nSiva of Sreekanteswaram in Trivandrum.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Kriti<\/td>\nParamanda Natana<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nKedaram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nSree Kandesa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nSreekandeswarm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nSiva of Sreekanteswaram in Trivandrum.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. Kriti<\/td>\nPanchabanathanuhara<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nPuri Kalyani<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nSree Kandesa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nSreekandeswaram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nThe charana part reads Sree Padmanabha Sevakaanukula means the one who fulfills the desires of devotees of Lord Padmanabha.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9. Kriti<\/td>\nJanani pahi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nSudhasaveri<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nParvathi Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nVahinitada Vase<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nAttingal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nThiruvarattu Kavil Bhagavathy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Kriti<\/td>\nPahi Parvatha Nandini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nAarabhi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nParvathi Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nVahinitada Nivasini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nAttingal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nParvathi of Attingal.\u00a0 Para Devatha (family deity) of the Royal Family.
\nSree Padmanabha Swamy is the Dynastic Deity (Kula Deivam)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11. Kriti<\/td>\nMathanga Thanayayai<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nPanthuvarali<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nParvathi Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nVaranadee Tadagagai<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nAttingal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nParvathi of Attingal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12. Kriti<\/td>\nDeva Mamayi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nKedara Gowla<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Subrahmanya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nHarigeetha Puralaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nHaripad<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nHaripad Sanskrtised as Harigitapura is about 70 miles north of Trivandrum in Alleppy District. Subrahmanya Kshethra is one among the Mahakshethras.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13. Kriti<\/td>\nDeva Palaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nAsaveri<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Krishna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nAmbaranadee Vaasa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nAmbalapuzha<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nAmbalapuzha is in Alleppey District.
\nIn between Haripad and Alleppey.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14. Kriti<\/td>\nPahitarakshu Puralaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nAnanda Bhairavi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nTharakshu Puralaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nVaikam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nOne of the famous Siva temples, situated some 20 miles north-west of Kottayam.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15. Kriti<\/td>\nPahitarakshu Puralaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nJaganmohini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nMisrachapu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Siva<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nTharakshu Puralaya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nOne of the famous Siva temples. Situated some 20 miles north –
\nwest of Kottayam.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16. Kriti<\/td>\nSreekumara Nagaralaye<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nAtana<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nKarthyayani Devi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nKumara Nagaralaye<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nKumaranalloor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nGoddess of Kumaranalloor temple in Kottayam Dist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17. Kriti<\/td>\nPahipankaja Nayane<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Raga<\/td>\nHusini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tala<\/td>\nAdi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deity<\/td>\nLord Krishna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stalanama<\/td>\nGurupavana Puradhipa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place<\/td>\nGuruvayoor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other details<\/td>\nSong attributed to Guruvayoorappan.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are a few songs, which mention Panchanadeeswara of Tiruvarur temple.\u00a0 But it is doubtful whether it is composed by the Maharaja or not.\u00a0 (Paramabhadrakara in Dwijivanti raga and Kripakataksha in Mohana\u00a0 raga).<\/p>\n

Swati Tirunal Maharaja of Travancore and the Trinity of Tamil Nadu were contemporaries.\u00a0 Certain similarities can be seen in their compositions also. Dikshitar and Swati Tirunal Maharaja adopted Sanskrit as the medium of language for composing their compositions.\u00a0 Ishtadevata of Dikshitar and Swati Tirunal Maharaja are Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Padmanabha respectively.\u00a0 But both of them perceived oneness in various manifestations of God.\u00a0 That is why they have also composed Kritis on other deities other than Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Sri Padmanabha.\u00a0 One of the similarities seen in the compositions of Tyagaraja and Swati is the both of them have composed many compositions describing various festivals connected with temples (eg: Uthsava Prabandha of Swati Tirunal Maharaja and Uthsava Sampradaya Kritis of Thyagaraja).\u00a0 The nishkama bhakthi of Thyagaraja to Sri Rama Deva is parallel to the deep devotion of Padmanabha Dasa Swati Tirunal Maharaja towards Sri Padmanabha Swami.\u00a0 Syamasasthri has composed Navarathna Malika Kritis on Madurai Meenakshi.\u00a0 Navarathri Kritis composed by Swati Tirunal Maharaja can be quoted as a parallel instance.\u00a0 There are also enough similarities in the literature part of these two composers in describing the appearance of the Goddess.<\/p>\n

South India is fortunate enough to get great composers like the Trinity on account of their distinct contributions in the field of Carnatic classical music.\u00a0 Swati Tirunal Maharaja has also an equal rank with the trinity for his vast number of compositions, varieties of musical forms of high quality, multiplicity of languages, etc.<\/p>\n

Considering his vast contributions of music the Trinity can be enlarged to a Quartette.\u00a0 All of them are great rivers enriching the Ocean of Music transcending all Bhedas (differences).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kshethra Kritis of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal by Prof. Dr. K. Omanakkutty It is a universal fact that intensive devotion to […]<\/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-2772","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\/2772","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=2772"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5526,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2772\/revisions\/5526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swathithirunal.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}