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Variations of Tyagaraja
Sir, — This has reference to SVK's article, "How many versions of Tyagaraja?" (February 21).
"Jagadanandakaraka" (Nata) is not the only kriti which has more than one mudra charanam. "Sadhinchene" (Arabhi), "Endaro Mahanubhavulu" (Sriraga) and "Kalaharana Melara'' (Suddha Saveri) have two mudra charanams each at the end. Prof. Sambamoorthy's opinion that Tyagaraja composed three charanams of "Jagadanandakaraka'' at different times and added his mudra to each of them is only a presumption. The earliest edition of Tyagaraja kritis is `Tyagaraja Swami Kirtanalu' in Telugu script published by Tillaishthanam Narasimha Bhagavatar in 1908, and all the three mudra charanams of ``Jagadanandakaraka'' have been printed at the end of the pancharatna kriti.
Vidwans' rendering different versions of Tyagaraja kritis has been a vexing problem for a long time. The matter has been discussed many times at the meetings of the Experts Committee of the Music Academy but no definite conclusions could be arrived at. Numerous articles have also been written on the subject.
The differences in versions are too numerous to be listed here. I have mentioned the important ones in my variorum edition of Tyagaraja kritis now in its eighth edition. There are ragas with the same name but different lakshanas and ragas with different names but the same lakshanas.
During Tyagaraja's time there was no practice of writing down kritis in notation. Some disciples must have spent a few years with the Guru and gone back to their villages. Later, they must have sung the kritis from memory. Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar (a close relative), Tillaisthanam Rama Iyengar, Thanjavur Rama Rao and Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavatar spent the longest periods with Tyagaraja. A. M. Chinnaswami Mudaliar says that Walajapet Krishnaswami Bhagavatar knew as many as 800 kritis of Tyagaraja which he had written down in notation and could repeat sangatis without a single deviation.
During the annual conferences of the Music Academy a few decades ago, Manjakudi Ramachandra Bhagavatar, grandson of Umayalpuram Sundara Bhagavatar, Dr. Srinivasaraghavan, nephew of Tillaisthanam Rama Iyengar and Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer of the Umayalpuram parampara would demonstrate the same kriti in different versions, provoking an intense debate.
Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavatar and Sundara Bhagavatar appear to have joined Tyagaraja as disciples when they were boys and their tutelage was for only five or six years. Later they did not hesitate to learn Tyagaraja's compositions from other sources and thus built up a vast repertoire. Perhaps it is too late to undertake research on this subject.
T. S. Parthasarathy,
Chennai.
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