Thiruvottiyur Thyagyayar – Musician and historian of his time

Dr. TR Aravindan not only teaches dentistry, but also has an interest in documenting original versions of Carnatic musical compositions. In his talk on Tiruvottiyur Tyagayyar for Rasika Ranjani Sabha’s ‘Music in Perpetuity’ Lacedem series, he shares some carefully compiled information on the composer-composer, comparing his works with those of Tyagaraja and Muthuswamy Dixit.

While Tiruvottiyur Tyagayyar’s varnam, kirtanam and ragamalika are all praiseworthy, Aravindan focused on compositions that represented the structure of the ragas of his time and how they are important in understanding the development of different phrases in ragas.

Tyagayar, the youngest son of Tyagaraja’s direct disciple Vinai Kuppiyar, learned music from his father and the influence of Tyagaraja can be seen in his kirtan. At a time when the scholars who composed the works were only teaching them to their disciples, Thyagyayar published two books – Pt.Allavi Swara Kalpavalli in 1900 and sKirtan Ratnavali in 1907. the latter was clearly the first Sangeeta Sampradaya Exhibition, subbaram Dikshitar’s great work. It is interesting to read Thyayyar’s note that the beautiful suratti raga varnam ‘Anto Premato’, popularly believed by Vinai Kuppier, was composed by Thyagayar himself.

Thyagayar published a set of 108 compositions in his book titled ‘Sri Venugoplaswamy Ashtottara Sata Kirtan’. Sankirtana Ratnavali. These kirtans are personal compositions on his family deity, Sri Venugopal. Aravindan said.

In addition to the Venugopalaswamy Kirtan, he also composed three prayer songs on Ganapati (Blessed), Saraswati (Kalyani), and one in Karharapriya in praise of Tyagaraja, considering him as his guru. There are three kirtans in the epilogue – one on Lakshmi in Atana, one Punnagavarali composition and one Mangalam. The first five kirtans are in the first ghana ragas such as Nattai, Gauvala, Arabi, Varli and Sri, and the following five kirtans are in the second ghana ragas, Ritigovala, Narayana Gowla, Kedaram, Baoli and Nattakurinji, but not Saranga Nattai. In the method before the time of Tyagayyar.

Distinctive features of the first 43 kirtan (starting with Nattai and ending with Madhyamavati) and the next 65 (starting with Ahri and ending with Madhyamavati) may point to their intentionally composed as two sets.

experiment too

It is interesting that Pantuvarali is mentioned as the 51st Melakartha, as classified at present, in contrast to the time of Tyagaraja, in which the pure Gandhara is the same as today’s Subha Pantuvarali. As Aravindan said, it shows him as someone who documented the structure of the music of his time and did not stick strictly to Pantathara alone.

Singing parts of Thyagayar’s Gauri Manohari kirtan ‘Parakela Jesevu’ and comparing it to Tyagaraja’s ‘Guruleka Etuvanti’, Aravindan pointed to a similar structure between them. Tyagaraja created many new ragas tied to the arohanam and avarohanam, and Tiruvottiyur Tyagayyar, perhaps influenced by this structure, created many more such ‘scale ragas’, notably the ragas of the prati madhyama. Tyagayar was the first to use Gowda Malhar, contrary to the popular belief that Muttiah Bhagavatara was the first to use it in ‘Sarasamukhi’.

Talking about the rare ragas used by both Tyagaraja and Tiruvottiyur Tyagayar, Aravindan listed Jaganmohini, Guntakriya, Supradipam, Kapinarayani, Jayantasena, Salagabharavi. Tyagayar used Mangalakaisiki, a grand raga in Dikshit’s time, Kannadabangla, and Ardradesi as the only scale ragas. He said that there is no work of Tyagaraja in these ragas.

chord scales

Aravindan said that Tyagiyar followed Collection Chudamani, a Sanskrit work written by Govindacharya describing the scales of ragas. New ragas such as Mechakangi, Kananakusumavali, Ratnakanti, Ghoshini, Lokaranjani and Pushkalyani followed a definite scale structure created by Thyagyayar. Collection Chudamani, Tyagayar has also composed works in ragas like Kuntala, Sinhalam, Sharadabharanam, whose mention is found in Collection ChudamaniBut these ragas were not controlled by Tyagaraja. Aravindhan demonstrated this by singing ‘Koribhajinchi’ composed by Tyagayyar in Pushkalyani, which is not found in it. Collection Chudamani,

He compared this Sampoorna-Shadava raga composition to a vivadi note, Shatashruti Dhaivatam, with Dikshitar’s Vamsavati composition ‘Bhaktavatsalam’ to explain how the structure of the scale and the raga differ from each other. This demonstrated Thyagyayar’s ability to introduce a scale as a raga, and the scholar wondered how he could have come up with Pushkalyani, given that the Ashtottara Shata kirtans were preceded by s.Angita Sect Exhibition,

Difference

Although Tyagayar is seen as a follower of the tradition established by Tyagaraja, some differences can be observed in the conduct of certain ragas. While Supradipam (17th Mela Suryakantham Janya) was handled in scales by Thyagayar, ‘Varasiki Vahana’ by Tyagaraja is an example of seeing it as a complete raga. In another example of handling a Vakra raga, Aravindhana performed Raga Ghoshini, which has two curvilinear structures, handled very simply by Tyagayyar, in the same raga as opposed to Thyagaraja’s ‘Ninuchala Namti’ and with a complex A melody Chenjukumboji. aarohanam-avarohanam, and showed how both styles look delightful.

Aravindan quotes Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, a renowned Hindustani musician who traveled extensively to explore South Indian music. He interviews Tiruvottiyur Thyagyayar, where Thyagyayar states that he did not follow any books for his musical compositions and that his compositions were based on what he knew. His compositions are a record of the music of his time.

Taking Nilambari as an example, Aravindan showed how the arterial phrase ‘NSGG M’ was used by Thyagyayar. a Bidarama Krishnappa’s recordings demonstrated the earlier plain operation of the medium without oscillations.

In ‘Palukvatela’, in the Balahansa raga, Aravindhan describes how the kriti is also an example of Thyagyayar’s rhythmic prowess, the way he handled the metaphorical cadence in various arithmetic combinations and how the accompaniment progressed progressively. This style is unique to Tyagiyar, he said.

Aravindan shows how Hamir Kalyani has transformed into his current version by comparing his phrases with those of Tyagaraja’s now popular ‘Manmuleda’. The practice of using prati madhyam first and then pure madhyamam seems to have come much later than the time of Tyagayyar.

An excerpt from an interview with scholar Maruthuvakudi Rajagopalaiyar, an important representative of Tyagaraja’s Umayalapuram disciple tradition, demonstrated how Kalyana Vasantham has also changed over time.

Highlighted by references to texts and audio recordings, the lecture contained several points of interest.

The author is an expert in Carnatic music.