Ashok Madhav (madhav_pgh@yahoo.com)
There are several
interesting types of kritis in the musical
literature. As a rule, compositions of the Trinity do not have chittaswarams at all. If chittaswarms are sung along with the kritis
of the Trinity, they have been added later on by their
disciples or other musicians.
Tyagaraja compositions are devotional in nature and surely no chittaswarams
are added by him. Tiruvaiyaru Sivaramakrishna
Iyer, a grand disciple of Tyagaraja is
credited to have added chittaswarams to many Tyagaraja kritis. Other
musicians have also embellished kritis of Tyagaraja like “Nenarunchi nanu" in Malavi, “Vararaga laya" in Chenchu- kamboji, “Yochana kamala" in Darbar, “Raka
sasi vadana" in Dakka, “Mamava satatam", “Shobillu saptaswara” both in Jaganmohini
with attractive chittaswarams.
So are many other kritis like “Raga ratna.malikache”
in Ritigoula, “Kanna tandri napai” in Devamanohari, “ Darini telusu konti”, in Shudda saveri, “Ninne bhajana” in Nattai, “Nee pada pankaja” in Begada, “Telisi rama chintanato
“ in Purnachandrika, “Anathudanu
ganu“ in Jingla, “Giriraja suta” in Bangala, “Marugelara” in Jayanthasri and a few other kritis
have beautiful chittaswarams.
A few of Muthuswami Dikshitar compositions
have chittaswarams added on “Sri Rama Saraswati” in Nasamani and “Anandamrutakarshini” in Amritavarshini
have elegant chittaswarams. Some of Shyama Shastri’s
compositions have chittaswarams added on by his
son, Subbaraya Shashtri. “Marivere gati” in Anandabhairavi is one such kriti.
If sahitya is added
to suit the chittaswaram for a particular kriti, it becomes swara-sahitya.
Shyama Shastri is the first one to introduce swara-sahityas
in his kritis. In that, the swaras
(dhatu) part is rendered after the anupallavi and the
corresponding sahitya (mathu) section at the end
of charanam. Subbaraya
Shastri himself has made compositions with built in chittaswaram. ”Ninnu vina gati” in Kalyani and
“Janani ninnuvina” in Rithigowla
have attractive chittaswaram. These kinds of kritis are generally known as swara-sahitya
kritis.
Some charanams of Tyagaraja’s ghana raga pancharatnas have
swara-sahitya pattern. Merattur
Venkatarama.Iyer’s swarajati “E
mandayanara” in Huseni has swara-sahitya pattern in the latter part. Mysore Sadashiva Rao’s compositions have elegant swara-sahitya patterns too. Sadashiva
Rao’s kriti- Saketanagara natha’s swara-sahitya
pattern begins with “Deva devamuni janahita……”
Shyama/ Shastri’s
grandson, Annaswami Shastri has added swara-sahitya to his grandfather’s
madhyamavathi kriti “Palinchu Kamakshi” as follows: “Kanakagiri
sadana Lalitha ninu bhajana santatamu jeya nijanudan vinumu nikhila bhuvana jananivi ipudu ma duritamu dirchi varalichi.” His “O Jagadamba” swara-sahitya pattern
starts at “Vara sita giri
nilayuni ...”
Other examples
could be cited here. Shyama/ Shashtri kritis like Ninnu sevinchina (Yadukula kambhoji) and Sri Parthasarathe (Bhairavi) have swara-sahitya
pattern. Mysore Sadashiva Rao kriti, Vachama gocharundani (Athana ) has
similar swara-sahitya pattern. A few kritis of Subbaraya Shashtri have swara- sahitya
pattern.
These innovative
music composers have left a treasure of great kritis
for posterity.
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