Navavcarana Kritis of SRI MUTTUSWAMI DIKSHITAR
Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar has composed these Navavarana Kritis specifically following the intricacies of Sri Chakra and the nine AVARANAS that complete the significance of the SriChakra Yantra. These compositions are in praise of Goddess Kamalamba of the great temple of Tiruvarur. In this set of kritis Dikshitar is at his superlative best and the lyrics are par excellence. Many of the group kritis of Dikshitar are missing or lost forever, but this set of Kamalamba Navavarana Kritis has come down to us in complete form. These kritis are some of the most famous pieces of music in the Carnatic sytem of Indian classical music. They are considered as embodiments of the technical brilliance of the composer as well as a peep into the Adawaitic school of Hindu philosophy and elements of Tantric rituals.
Goddess Kamalamba is the Divine mother of the universe, and Supreme Consciousness. Dikshitar’s Lyrics are replete with mystical symbolism of Vedantic tradition. The chakras of the human system are closely connected to the evolutionary aspects described in the compositions They bring out the ‘the scholarly reach, musical depth and mystical significance of the composer’. Navavarana refers to the nine layers of the Sri Chakra Yantra one of the primary modes of Devi worship. Each Avarana has a deity and many others associated with it which is mentioned in each of the songs.
The first of the Navavarana kritis is a dhyana or benedictory composition. It is followed by eight kritis one in each of the eight vibhakthis of the proper noun—“ kamalamba or kamalambika in feminine gender. It continues oown to the tenth kriti that uses all the vibhakthis of the Sanskrit language. The Navavarana series concludes with an auspicious ‘mangala kriti’ set to Sri ragam. Each of the nine songs is on one of the nine enclosures of or avaranams of the Sri Chakra. Dikshitar very cleverly brings out the name of the chakra , its geometry, many special features related to the chakra and the devatas and others associated with it. There are very lengthy word constructions which are tongue twisting. These are called “ samasas” in Sanskrit.Dikshitar uses the word “Guruguha”as his ‘mudra’ or signature in all his compositions.
The raga mudra is brought through “ Slesha” or double meaning in most of these compositions.The dhyana kriti in Todi has no raga mudra.The kritis in Anandabhairavi ( first avaranam) and Sankarabharanam ( third avaranam) have only partial raga mudras ( the word “ Ananda” for the former and “Sankara” for the latter).The Kambhoji, Sahana, and Ahiri compositions have disguised raga mudras. Dikshitar uses several talas or time measures but Rupaka Tala ( 3 beats) appears to be his forte. Ata Talam ( 14 beats) and Misra jampa ( 10 beats) in Kambhoji and Bhairavi are rarely used because of technical difficulty.
The dhyana kriti is in Todi and in Vocative case. Anandabhairavi is in the Nominative, Kalyani in the accusative, Sankarabharanam in the instrumental, and Kambhoji in dative cases respectively. Bhairavi is composed in ablative case while the ninth avarana kriti in Ahiri has all the cases.”It is believed that such a fusion of all melodic and temporal elements in the same kriti is a musical way of expressing the advaitic ideal of “aham Brahmasmi” or complete union with the Absolute.The Navavarana set concludes with Sri ragam set in Khanda Ekam ( 5 beat talam) Thus the Navavarana kritis have one dhyana, the nine avaranas, and the mangalam kritis totaling eleven wonderful pieces!!
No comments:
Post a Comment