A journey in to Musicscape -7

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9/20/2017

Very famously known “IraTTai Pallavi” Sivarama Iyer, who was a friend of Panchanatha Iyer AKA Duraiswamy Iyer, father of “MAHA” Vaidhyanatha Iyer, visited  their house once, when he was a young boy. During their conversation, Duraiswamy Iyer happily shared that his son Vaidhyanathan sang in the house warming party of one KudiyAlam Vasudeva Iyengar, who was a keen rasika and a patron of fine arts. The visiting Vidwan blessed the young Vaidhyanathan and instantly created a very new Pallavi in sAvEri rAgam set to a thALam, which was a combination of Tisra lagu, Two Tisra Gathi and followed by a Misra chApu, with a total of 19 AksharAs;

The thALam would be TK TK TK - TKT TKT – TKT TKDM. The thALam was not a well-known one and did not belong to any existing thALa system; it was probably the Sr. Vidwans own concoction. This was also a practice that was adopted by later day Vidwans too. Contemporary of, Vaidyanatha Iyer, Pattanam Subramania Iyer also has done such inventions. In the same book, later, it has been mentioned that, once before Vaidyanatha Iyer, he sang a 9 akshara (18 mAtra) pallavi in a thALam called Lagu jampai (Drutham, Lagu, Anu Drutham and Drutham).

It was intriguing indeed for young Vaidhyanatha; but once he heard Sivarama Iyer show how this Pallavi was sung, a couple of times, he was to quick  to pick up and elaborate on the same without hesitation or doubts on either Sahithya or the thALam, with all elements such as Neraval, Sahithya placement, unambiguous execution of the thALam etc.. Such was his grasp and sharpness. Such an “Eka Chanda Grahi” (ECG) the young Vaidyanatha was with amazing photographic memory.

Sivarama Iyer, was astounded at the quickness of this young lad and told his friend (Vaidyanatha Iyers father) that his son was uniquely blessed by Sarveshwara Himself. The Pallavi words are: “SankaraSiva Sivasankar pAhimAm charaNamSiva SivacharaNam IsapathE” (ஶங்கரஶிவ  ஶிவஶங்கர பாஹிமாம், சரணம்ஶிவ ஶிவசரணம் ஈசபதே)

Ragam: Saveri;    ThALam: Tisralagu, Two Tisra gathi, MisrachApu (19 Aksharas)

TK	TK	TK	TKT	TKT	TKT	TKDM
sA rI	mA mA	pA pA ,	pA pA mA	mA d p dA	pA ; mA	pA dA SA ;
Sa ng	ka ra	si va	si va sang	. ka . ra	pA - -	hi – mA m
ச ங்	க ர	ஶி வ	ஶி வ சங்	. க   . ர	பா - -	ஹி - மா ம்

TK	TK	TK	TKT	TKT	TKT	TKDM
SA SA	S n dA	d p dA	pA mA pA	dA SA ;	S n dA mA	d d p m g r sA
Cha ra	Nam .	si . va	si va cha	ra Na m	I - - -	Sa - - - pa – tE
ச ர	ணம் .	ஶி . வ	ஶி வ ச	ர ண ம்	ஈ - - -	ஶ - - - ப - தே

I wonder if these days, anyone has the ability to just listen to a Pallavi and repeat it without any doubts or stumbling. ECG is rare and almost not there, anywhere these days.  Here and there, we see some daring artists that have done attempts at least in demonstrations to show some of  these complex thALams! But, it is evident that they have put in the real hard work and months of practice and that much must be appreciated. The wealth of Ragams and ThALams that have been left to us by our elders are enormous body of knowledge. It requires a life long dedication to understand, and even scratch a bit of this knowledge. With the advent of technology and recording facilities, sharp musical minds, congregate outside the hurry-burry of the season and make demonstrative, video recordings with detailed lectures to motivate the young crop of musicians that have flooded the scene these days. The true pitiable state is that works of many unsung heros have been completely neglected as futile exercises.

When I continue, I will share how among the Shadangas of Kriyas, Nishabda angas such as Guru, Plutham and Kakapadam were handled by the Great MAHA, which is quite different from what we see these days. The explanations given by MAHA himself, have been so admirably documented by  Vainika Vidwan V.S.Gomathy Sankara Iyer, the author of that book.

….More to come..