Special issue with the Sunday Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

RIVERS: JULY 01, 2001

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Extolling the Cauvery

Keshav Desiraju

The writer lives in Dehra Dun.

January 1978, the Saturday night National Programme, a live relay from the Tyagaraja aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru. The peerless Subbulakshmi begins with a tightly packed Athana. The crowd is several thousand strong, the tension electrifying. Suddenly, a song I am unfamiliar with, extolling the beauties of the wind-swept banks of the Cauvery: "Idu leni malaya marutamu ce gudina Cauvery tatamandu" from Muripemu in Mukhari. It is an unforgettable moment.

The Cauvery at Sivasamudram Falls.

The Cauvery is justly celebrated in the classical music of south India, for Tiruvaiyaru, the land of the five rivers, is the heart of a great musical and cultural tradition. The Trinity, Syama Sastri (1762-1827), Tyagaraja (1767-1846) and Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775- 1834) were all born in Tiruvarur, and lived in this region. In a lilting piece in Samantai, Dikshitar hails the presiding deity, Pranatarthihara, as panca-nada-ksetra-prakasa ¹, the light of the land of five rivers. To the Trinity, the Goddess, Dharmasamvardhani, is variously panca-nadesu-rani, panca-nada-nagara-nayaki, panca-nadisollasini ². The literature speaks of the natural beauty of the place, but it is more likely fertile lands that supported a class of scholars and priests; in a time of tranquil prosperity, their devotions and rituals flourished.

"Sari vedalina ee Cauveryni joodare", "Feast your eyes on the flowing Cauvery" ³, sang Tyagaraja in raga Saveri. In the same raga Dikshitar sings of Ganesav, "Cauvery tata sthitam Saveri raga nutam" ⁴, the one on the Cauvery who is praised in the notes of Saveri. Syama Sastri, it would appear, was not to be diverted by simple rhymes from his single minded adoration of his chosen diety, Sri Kamaksi. Purandaradasa (1485-1565), from northern Karnataka, also described Siva, in Candracudav, as Cauvery tita kumbhapura vasana ⁵, the one at Kumbhapura, or modern Kumbakonam, on the Cauvery. Muthuswami Dikshitar sings of the same diety as Cauvery tira sthita⁶.

The Cauvery was not the only object of veneration; Dikshitar, whose songs abound with geographic and iconographic references, sings of the curative properties of the river Tamraparni. The Goddess at Tirunelveli, is Hima-saila-sutaa, daughter of the mountain Hima, and also suddha Tamraparni tata sthitaa while Visnu in Kallidaikurichi, is bhangahara Tamraparni tirastha ⁷. There are similar references to shrines on the Akhanda Cauvery ⁸, the Vegavati ⁹, the Vegavahini, the Saravati, and the waterfalls at Nupura Ganga. Bhadracala Ramdas sang "Adugo Bhadradri Gautami!" (Behold Bhadradri and the Godavari). Contemporary pieces on the divinities at Sringeri refer to the Tunga and the Bhadra.

The Yamuna is exclusively Krishna's territory. Verses from the Krsnalila tarangini, the Gita Govinda and the Tiruppavai are replete with rapturous references to the banks of the Yamuna. Tyagaraja himself has a dance drama whose songs are not widely sung, the Nauka caritramu, describing a boat ride on the Yamuna, where a boat capsizes, and the milkmaids seek Krishna's protection, through surrender.

Better travelled than his peers, Muthuswami Dikshitar, in Gange maam paahi in Jenjut ¹⁰, describes the Ganga, from whose waters his vina is said to have arisen, as Asi-Varuna madhye, situated between the Asi and the Varuna, the rivers which give Banaras its present name. There is also evidence that he was influenced by Hindustani musical traditions. A brilliant example is Jambupate, in Yamunakalyani ¹¹, sung to Siva at Tiruvanaikkaval, near Tiruchirappalli. In current usage, this adaptation of the Hindustani Yaman Kalyan is heard in light pieces at the end of a concert. The Dikshitar song, however, is a masterpiece of classical Carnatic traditions, layered, slow and restrained, and yet magnificent and joyous; an outpouring to Siva in His manifestation as water, "Ambudhi Ganga Cauvery Yamuna kambu-kantya Akhilandeswari ramana", Lord of the oceans, and of the Ganga, Cauvery and Yamuna, and of Akhilandeswari, She of the throat as smooth as a conch . . .

Worship of the waters did not however include humbug. Tyagaraja asks in Manasu nilpa, in Abhogi, "Ghana durmadud-aita munigite, Cauvery Mandakini etu brocunu?" How can a bath in the Cauvery or Ganga save one if one is eaten up with arrant haughtiness? ¹²

And more famously, debunking the whole river theory, "Kotinadulu dhanushkotilo-nundaga yetiki tirigeve, O manasa?" When ten million rivers shimmer on the tip of Rama's bow, why O mind, do you wander and roam? ¹³

The Cauvery is a contemporary metaphor for the Carnatic tradition. A popular image is of tributaries converging and distributaries carrying the waters away, but the Cauvery itself flowing onwards to the sea. Likewise, innovations in presentation and composition are as frequent as the disappearance of old practices, but the tradition is alive and vibrant. Writing in The Hindu Folio of December 1996,

S. V. Krishnaswamy refers to "the glorious Cauvery tradition", once confined to the "villages, temple halls, and marriages in the family of mirasdars" now alive in Chennai sabhas. And indeed, across the world. If the spate of Tyagaraja aradhanas around the world is any indication, the land of the Cholas now extends to the deepest Midwest !

1. Balaji Shankar's rendering of Pranatarthiharaya in Samanta, Sangeetha Cassette 721 Dikshithar Krithis is recommended.

2. From Syama Sastri's Karunajoodavamma in Pantuvarali, Tyagaraja's Karunajoodavamma in Todi and Dikshitar's Dharmasamvardhani in Madhyamavati. D. K. Pattammal's beautiful rendering of this last song is commercially available. A version by M. Balamuralikrishna is also available.

3. C.Ramanujachari's translation, The Spiritual Heritage of Sri Tyagaraja, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1966.

4. Sudha Ragunathan has sung Karikalabhamukham in Saveri on Music Today cassettes, Dikshitar songs.

5. M. L. Vasanthakumari's imaginative ragamalika rendering of this has recently been reissued in cassette/CD, in the 5 part "Legend".

6. In Kumbheswaraya in Kalyani. Trichur V. Ramachandran has sung this song in recent times.

7. Both songs, Sri Kantimati in Desisimharava and Sri Lakshmivaraham in Abhogi can be heard on Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and M. S. Subbulakshmi, "Divine Unison", HMV.

8. Pahimam ratnachalnayaka in Mukhari is a grand composition, and a well known item in D. K. Pattammal's repertoire.

9. Ekadantam in Bilahari can be heard on M. L. Vasanthakumari, Triveni, HMV.

10. Vijay Siva has sung this on Mayura natham, HMV Cassette, STHVS847900.

11. D. K. Jayaraman's rendering is a classic. Keerthana Cassette 6CA547 Panchalinga Kshetra Kritis.

12. C. Ramanujachari's translation, The Spiritual Heritage of Sri Tyagaraja, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1966.

13. Adapted from William Jackson's translation, Tyagaraja: Life and Lyrics, OUP, 1991.