V.S. Ananthanarayanan
(Published in: Sri Thygaraja Aradhana Souvenir, April 2014, Bharathi Kala Manram, Toronto)
It
was a fine morning in the year 1836. The inhabitants of the small, normally
quiet village of Kovoor were in a state of blissful excitement. The musical
giant, Sadhguru Thyagaraja, was paying a visit to their little abode all the
way from his native place in Thanjaavoor at the request of Sri Sundharesa
Mudhaliaar, a native of Kovoor who was living in Chennai and served as a dhubash (translator) for the East India
Company. Although Kovoor had already been famous as the birth place of
Sekkizhaar, the author of Periyapuraanam
(-the holy Thamizh scripture that described the glory of the sixty three Saivite naayanmaars), not many dignitaries had visited the place since
those early days. Captivated by the beauty and serenity of the very
ancient temple and its deity, Lord Sundhareswara, Thyagaraja composed five beautiful
krithis which have collectively been known as the “Kovoor pancharathnam” (five
gems). In appreciation of his visit and
his magnificent composition, Thyagaraja was taken in a procession along the
streets of Kovoor village with all the pomp and pageantry!
It may be noted
that, unlike his contemporary Muthuswamy Dheekshithar who travelled widely to
different parts of India, Thyagaraja seemed to have preferred to stay in his
native place Thiruvaiyaaru until he received an invitation letter (sreemukham) to visit Kaancheepuram from
Sri Upanishadh Brahmam, a sanyasi and a great scholar who had written
commentaries on all the 108 upanishadhs. He was also a friend of Thyagaraja’s
father, Ramabrahmam. Like Thyagaraja, Sri Upanishadh Brahmam was also immensely
devoted to Lord Sri Rama. While the invitation from this sanyasi was the main
motivation for Thyagaraja to visit Kancheepuram, there were also long-standing
requests to the Sadhguru from his disciples and admires in several parts of
Tamil Nadu to visit their places. This resulted in Thygaraja undertaking a
northward journey which included several holy places besides Kancheepuram. I
will briefly point out the highlights of this pilgrimage of the Sadhguru which
enriched the treasure house of Carnatic music with several precious gems of
krithis.
At Thiruppathi,
the first destination of Thyragaraja’s pilgrimage, he composed a krithi (‘thera theeyaga raadhaa’ in gowlipanthu raga) on Lord Venkateswara. In
this song, he beseeches the Lord to remove worldly desires which hide his
vision of the Lord. This kriti has also
been interpreted as a request to the Lord by Thyagaraja to remove the curtain in
front of the deity so that he can have the Lord’s dharsan. It is said that the curtain then fell aside and this
elicited another beautiful krithi from the saintly composer,‘Venkatesa ninu
sevimpa’ in madhyamaavathi raga. From
Thiruppathi, Thyagaraja travelled to Kaancheepuram where he composed krithis on
the local deities, Lord Varadharaaja (‘varadaraaja
ninu gori vachithi’ in the raga svarabhooshani ) and on Goddess Kamaakshi
(‘vinaayakuni’ in
madhyamaavathi .) He then started
his return journey via Chennai, known as Madras in his days. It is said that,
on the way to Chennai, he rescued a bhaktha who had drowned in a well in Cholingapuram
temple by singing the krithi, ‘naa
jeevaadhaara’ in bilahari. He
then continued his return to Thanjavoor. On the way, he visited Laalgudi (known
also as Thapastheerthapuram and, in Saivite literature, as Thiruvarutturai) to
meet his disciple, Ramayya. The krithis of Laalgudi pancharathnam addressed to
Lord Saptharisheesvara (‘eesa paahimaam’
in kalyaani and 'dheva sree thapatheertha' in madhyamaavathi )
and to Goddess Pravruddha sreemathi (‘lalithe
sree pravruddhe’ in bhairavi, ‘mahitha
pravruddhe’ in kaambodhi and ‘gathi nee vani’ in thodi) were composed by the Sadhguru at this time at the request of
Ramayya. Thyagaraja’s next visit was to
Sreerangam. On the way, he stopped by at Naagapattinam and was enthralled by the
dharsan of Goddess Neelaayathaakshi on whom he sang two beautiful krithis (‘karmame balavanthamayya’ in saaveri, and ‘evaru theliya boyyeru’ in thodi).
He then reached Sreerangam, where he
extolled the glory of Lord Ranganaatha in the Sreeranga pancharathnam (‘O ranga saayee’in kaambodhi; jutha muraare’in aarabhi;
‘vinaraadhaa’in dhevagaandhaari; ‘raaju vedale’
in thodi and ‘karuna jooda vayya’ in saaranga
) and of Sage Naaradha in Naaradha pancharatnam (‘naaradhaguru’ in dharbaar,’naaradha muni’in
panthuvaraali;
‘sree naaradha muni’in
bhairavi;
‘sree naaradha naadha’
in kaanada and ‘vara
naaradha’ in vijaya sree). The
holy river Kaveri, to which he had an attachment from his childhood days in
Thiruvaiyaaru, also gets a special mention in the Sreerangam krithis.
From Sreerangam,
Thyagaraja returned to Chennai at the request of Kovoor Sundharesa Mudhaliyaar
and stayed at his house and also at the house of Veenai Kuppaiyer. The latter
was a disciple of Thyagaraja and was a distinguished musician noted for thaana
varnams, thillanas and bhajans that carried ‘gopaladhaasa’ as his mudra. In recognition of his musical genius,
the title of ‘gaana chakravarthi’ was
conferred upon Kuppaiyer. In his later days, he came under the patronage of
Sundharesa Mudhaliyaar and settled down in Ramaswami street in the Muthialpet
area in Chennai. (Mudhaliyaar’s house is still intact in Bandhar street in the
George Town area while Kuppaiyer’s house has now been demolished.) At Kuppaiyer’s
request, Thyagaraja composed the Thiruvotriyoor pancharathna krithis (‘kanna thalli’ in saaveri;
sundhari nee’ in kalyaani;, ‘sundhari ninu varnimpa’ in aarabhi;,’ sundhari nannindharilo’ in bhegada
and ‘dhaarini thelusu konti’ in sudhdha saveri ) in praise of Goddess
Thripurasundhari (known as vadivudai
ammai in Tamil). He also composed the beautiful kedharagowla krithi,’ venugaana
loluni’, praising Kuppayyar’s favourite deity, Krishna. (For his part,
Kuppaiyer had named his son as Thyagayyar.)
It was during
Thyagaraja’s stay in his house in Chennai when Sundharesa Mudhaliyaar made a
request to him to visit the Siva temple in Kovoor, the native village of Mudhaliyaar which lies
at about 20km from Chennai. The Kovoor pancharathna krithis, as mentioned at
the beginning, were composed at this time. They include the very popular ‘sambo mahadeva’ in panthuvaraali and ‘Ee vasuda’
in sahana, in addition to ‘sundhareswaruni’ in sankaraabharanam, ‘kori sevimpa raaree, in kharaharapriya and ‘nammi
vachina’in kalyaani. During a recent trip to Chennai, I had the
opportunity to visit the Kovoor temple where these pancharathna krithis,
written in Tamil, appear on one of the walls in the outer prakaaram (see pictures). The procession mentioned at the beginning
paragraph is depicted in a colourful sculpture in the bottom right portion of
the richly-sculpted temple’s tower (see picture). Thyagaraja, seated inside a
palanquin, is seen carried along the street with nadhaswaram and thavil
playing in front of the procession and a disciple with thamboora and a devotee (who could well be Sundharesa Mudhaliaar) standing close on either side of
the Sadhguru . The Kovoor temple also has some very
exquisitely carved stone statues of deities and naayanmars.
Had Thyagaraja
not undertaken his journey out of Thanjavoor, we would not have had the above
pancharathna krithis as well as the other krithis, all of which, indeed, shine
as jewels in the hearts of singers and rasikas of Carnatic music. For this, we
may thank the saintly Upanishadh Brahmam who invited Thyagaraja to Kancheepuram
and also the disciples and patrons who were instrumental to the Sadhguru’s
composing the respective pancharathnam and other krithis. Many of these krithis
have become very popular and have found their place in the concert list of
Carnatic musicians. However, to do full justice to the pancharathnam krithis,
one would like to see each of these sung in full in the places of their origin,
particularly on specific occasions, thereby giving them the honour the krithis
deserve. This, in turn, would make the public at large recognize the value of
these compositions and, through them, the greatness of the shrines in the
respective areas. In this context, it is gratifying to know that some Carnatic
music lovers’ groups, such as ‘Sampradaya’ (which has a research and archival
centre in Chennai), are undertaking trips by rasikas and reputed musicians to
the several places visited by Thyagaraja and other great composers and making
the public at large aware of the value of our Carnatic music heritage (see
picture).
We may conclude
exclaiming, as Papanasam Sivan does in his beautiful tribute to Saint
Thyagaraja, ‘iththaraiyil thyagaraja
sadguru swamikku iN ai evar’ (Who in this world can ever equal Sadhguru
Thyagaraja swami?)
Pictures to add:
Pictures to add:
Main entrance and gopuram of Kovoor Sundhareswarar
temple.
The Kovoor pancharathna krithis written on the outer
wall of the Sundhareswarar temple.
Depiction of
Sadhguru Thyagaraja being taken on a palanquin in Kovoor.
‘Sampradhaya’
group singing pancharathna krithis in front of Kovoor Sundharesvarar temple
(from The Hindu, June 11, 2004.)
