Chitta swaram in Carnatic Music Compositions
Ashok
Madhav (madhav_pgh@yahoo.com)
Many
composers
have created beautiful compositions in Carnatic music. Adding
chittaswaram to a
music composition or a kriti embellishes it. Having chittaswaram for a
kriti
was not in vogue in early periods. Only in the past 150 years or
so,
adding a chittaswaram to a kriti and singing it has become popular.
Maha
Vaidyanatha Sivan is reported to have sung kalpana swarams extensively
for a
few kritis of the Trinity. One can say that chittaswaram is a probable
evolution from the kalpnaswaram, as it more structured compared to
kalpanaswaram.
Embellishing
a
composition with chittaswram adds élan showing the contours of
the
ragam. Compositions of Annamacharya and Purandara Dasa are outpourings
of their
bhakti to the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and they form continuous
lyrical
stanzas, without swarams in the form of chittaswaram. In the recent
years, some
of Annamacharya compositions have been retuned to the present day
popular
ragams and for a few of them chittaswaram has been added on. One
example
“Antaryami alasiti solasiti” has been tuned in
Kuntalavarali with a
nice chittaswaram by Pinakapani. Another kriti ‘Chalada Hari
Nama’
in Lalitha has a small chittaswaram. Similarly, Purandara Dasa kritis
are tuned
and for some of them chittaswaram has been added. ‘Sharanu
Benekana’ in Bilahari has an attractive chittaswaram.
“Vandisuvedadiyali Gana
nathana” in Nata has a nice chittaswaram too. This article gives some
examples
and not meant to be exhaustive.
Compositions
of
the Trinity do not have chittaswarams at all. However, we listen to
some of
their compositions with chittaswarams, which have been added on by
later
composers or the disciples of the Trinity. Tyagaraja compositions are
bhakti
oriented with lyrical beauty in them. Some of his compositions have
attractive
chittaswarams. Tiruvaiyaru Sivaramakrishna Iyer, a grand disciple
of
Tyagaraja through his father, Subbarama Bhagavatar is credited to
have
added chittaswarams for many Tyagaraja kritis. Tirukkodikkaval
Krishnayyar is
responsible for adding an attractive chittaswaram to
“Nenarunchi
nanu” in Malavi. So has GN.Balasubramanian embellished the kritis
“Vararaga laya” in Chenchukamboji ,“Yochana
kamala” in
Darbar and “Raka sashi vadana” in Dakka. Walajapet
Venkataramana Bhagavatar ( a disciple of Tyagaraja) beautified
“Shobillu
saptaswara” and “Mamava satatam” in Jaganmohini with
his
chittaswarams. Veena Kalahasti Venkataswami added chittaswaram to
“Raga
ratna malikache”. We see chittaswaram added to the following
kritis of
Tyagaraja. “Ninne bhajana” in Nata, “Kanna tandri
napai” in Devamanohari, “Darini telusukonti” in
Shudda
saveri, “Nee pada Pankajamule”in Kalyani, ”Telisirama
chintanato” in Purnachandrika (many versions of chittaswaram
available
for this kriti),”Chala kallala” in Arabhi, “Marugela
ra” in Jayanthasri, “Anathudanu ganu” in Jingla
”Giriraja sutha” in Bangala, and a few other kritis.
A
few of
Muthuswami Dikshitar compositions have chittaswaram added on.
“Sri Rama
Saraswathi” in Nasamani and “Anandamrutakarshini” in
Amruta
varshini have elegant
chittaswarams.
“Parakela nannu” . a kriti of Shyama Sastri in Kedaragoula
has a
well structured chittaswaram. Some of Shyama sastri ‘s
compositions have
chittaswarams, which were added on by his son,Subbaraya Sastri.
“Marivere
gati” in Anandabhairavi is one such kriti. Shyama sastri was the
first to
introduce swara–sahityas in his kritis. In that, the swaras
(dhatu) part
is rendered after the anupallavi and the corresponding sahitya (matu)
section
at the end of charana. Subbaraya Sastri himself has made compositions
with
built in chittaswaram.”Ninnu vina gati” in Kalyani has an
attractive
chittaswaram. One can appreciate beautiful charanas with swara-sahitya
patterns
in Tyagaraja’s
Some
of the
post Trinity composers have made kritis with chittaswaram. Maha Vaidhya
Natha
Sivan’s kriti “Sri Shankara guruvarm” in
Nagaswaravali has a
lilting chittaswaram
and
so has his
“Pahimam Sri Rajarajeshwari” in Janaranjani. The poplular
kriti,
“Raghuvamsha sudha” in Kadanakutuhalam of Patnam Subramania
Iyer
has a captivating chittaswaram, which was added by his contemporary,
Tiruvaiyaru
Subramania Iyer. Patnam’s Bilahari kriti –“Paridana
michite” has an attractive chittaswaram. A few
compositions
of Mysore Sadashiva Rao’s have nice chittaswaram.
“Saketanagara
natha” in Harikamboji can be cited.
Swati
Tirunal
Maharaja’s compositions, “Bhavayami Raghuramam” which
was set
originally in Saveri was changed into ragamalika in six ragams with
appropriate
chittaswarams by Semmangudi Srinivase Iyer and it has become more
popular. His
another composition “Vande Maheshwaram” in Arabhi has a
nice
chittaswaram.
Later
composers
like Ramanathapuram (Poochi) Srinivasa Iyengar have made beautiful
kritis with
nice built-in chittaswarams.”Saraguna palimpa” in
Kedaragoula, and
“Raghunatha nannu” in Swara ranjani may be mentioned. Two
examples
of Mysore Vasudevacharya’s compositions are ”Rara
rajivalochana” in Mohanam and “Palukavade emira” in
Devamanohari have attractive built in chittaswaram. Pallavi Sesha
Iyer’s
kriti “Enta nivina” in Urmika has been beautified with a
lilting
chittaswaram by TM.Tyagarajan. Mysore Maharaja, Jayachamaraja
Wodeyar’s
composition in Gambhiranata “Sri Jalandaram ashrayami” has
a long
chittaswaram, whereas his kriti in Durvanki “Gam ganapathe”
has a
simple chittaswaram. Mysore Karigiri Rao has composed many kritis for
which he
himself has provided chittaswarams.TM.Tyagarajan has embellished
a
beautiful chittaswaram for a kriti in Mohanam, ‘Jagadeeshwari
krupai’ of Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai.
Harikeshanallur
Muthiah Bhagavatar’s compositions “Ughraya avyaya” in
Dharmavati and “Vanchatonu na” in Karna ranjani have
beautiful
chittaswaram. Kritis like “Tunai Purindarul” in Varamu and
“Ganarasamudan” in Begada by Papanasam Sivan have been
embellished
with nice chittaswaram. A catchy chittaswaram is appended to the
kriti of
Garbhara puri Vasa “Maruvaka daya” in Mohanam. “Taye
Tripurasundari” in Shudda-saveri, a kriti of Periasami Tooran has
an
interesting chittaswaram added by TM.Tyagarajan.
GN.Balasubramanian
‘s compositions “Ninnu pogada tarama” in
Kuntalavarali and
“Samana rahite” in Saranga tarangini have captivating
chittaswaram.
Two
examples of
the author’s compositions “Namamyaham Sri” in
Nalinakanti and
“Enta bharamu deva” in Jayanthasri have built in
chitta-swarams.