NAVYA C
Spiritual
Grandiose of
Saint
Thyagaraja
Indian Classical Music is heavily dependent not just on the
external layer of plain devotion towards the supreme power.
It goes beyond the bhakti yoga and gets into spirituality, by
showing that God is eventually within us and the inquisitive
nature of soul search is always present. Composers like
Annamayya who predominantly wrote keertanams in praise
of Lord Venkateshwara also embraced this order of “tatvam”
which simply questions the journey of a soul. The fleeting
aspect of a thought, desire, and running behind materialistic
things is greatly questioned in such compositions. One of the
most brilliant examples of Annamayya’s tatva keerthanam is
Naanati Bratuku Naatakamu - which says that the entire life
is just a drama with characters in it! Muttuswami Dikshitar
prayed Goddess Lalitha in the majestic kriti Hiranmayeem
Lakshmeem when he was coaxed by his wife to earn
materialistic possessions than just plain worship.
Speaks about the illusory nature of life and how the
imaginary aspects of life drive us in an unnecessary
drama of it. Saint Thyagaraja also made sure that a
meditative power of keeping heart and mind in control is
necessary – apart from blind worship towards God. Some
of the kritis which convey the same are:
1. Manasa Yetulorthune - Malayamarutham
2. Chakkani Raja Margamu - Kharaharapriya
3. Gnanamosagaraada - Poorvi Kalyani
4. Swara Raaga Sudha Rasa - Shankarabharanam
5. Sugunamule Cheppukonti - Chakravakam
6. Nidhi Chaala Sukhama - Kalyani
7. Manasuloni Marmamunu - Hindolam
8. Durmaargacharaadhamula - Ranjani
9. Dwaitamu Sukhama Advaitamu Sukhama - Reetigowla
10. Tatvameruga Taramaa - Garudadhwani
All these aforementioned kritis speak elaborately about
the fleeting nature of life and suggest not to develop too
many attachments on low level aspects of it. In fact, some
of them also mention about the sublime surrender towards
the supreme being to get enough strength to maintain
the spiritual balance. Every school of meditation around
the world aims at silencing the confused state of mind
and what better way is there than Saint Thyagaraja’s
compositions to realize this fact!
But there is perhaps no other composer like Saint Thyagaraja
who explored tatvam along with praise of Lord Rama in
simple Telugu with easily understandable terms. It is not
the complexity that is more challenging, but simplifying
a subject like Spirituality is. He holds the entire credit for
bringing spirituality to a common listener with some amazing
compositions. Usually, Thyagaraja is associated with his
eternal bhakti towards Lord Rama, which cannot be obviously
questioned. On the eve of Saint Thyagaraja Aaradhana Season,
we take a dig at his compositions which have an additional
layer of spiritual science.
If we take the example of popular pancharatna kriti Dudukugala
Nanne Dora, the charanams are full of self-analysis and how
mankind is stuck in the race for money and power.
For example,
Maanavathanu durlabha manuchu nemchi paramaananda
monda leka
mada mathsara kaama lobha mohula kuDaasudai - mosa bothi
gaaka
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