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Utsavaprabandha: A musical work describing the principal
festival in Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple. |
Among
the musical descriptions, the Utsavaprabandha stands out as the most important.
It is a graphic description of the ten day principal festival in the Padmanabhaswami
temple. It is written in what is called Manipravalam
which is the name given for highly Sanskritised Malayalam. It contains 12
songs and 42 verses in different metres, most of them long. It is divided
into twelve sections each containing a song and a few verses. The first section
is an Introduction and the last a Conclusion, and the remaining ten are devoted
to the description of the utsava, one for each day. Many of the songs have
only Pallavi and Charanas. The Charanas in most cases are five in numbers.
The song describing the tenth day's procession runs as a continuous narrative
without division into the usual components. Among the ragas used are the rare
Navarasam and Mangalakaisika.
In
1839 Palghat Parameswara Bhagavatar, the chief Asthana Vidvan, sang the Prabandha
in a distinguished assembly in the presence of the Maharaja. He was presented
a pair of laced garments and a sum of Rs.300. The Nagaswaram players in the
temple use these songs during festivals. During the night procession on the
first day and the evening procession on the other days, the particular songs
for the day is played soon after the Deeparadhana ritual near the Western
entrance, after the alapana of the concerned raga during the Deeparadhana
in a prescribed pattern.
To
listen to Utsavaprabandha Kritis, go to compositions/afterworks links and
check on “select composition by form” and click on “Utsavaprabandham”.
Palakkad K.V. Narayana Swami is the most noted singer who has popularized
the Utsavaprabandha composition.
(
Extracts from Swathi Thirunal and his Music by Sri. Venkita Subramoniya Iyer.
Courtesy : College Book House Publications, Thiruvananthapuram)