Shyama Shastri Concert- any contibutions?

MBK · Post by **MBK** » 27 Feb 2007, 16:35

Hi All.

In an effort to take another step towards fulfilling my lifetime commitment (ie. to propagate Carnatic Music & Bharatha Natyam in my country where it does not enjoy a constant flourish)......I will be undertaking a thematic concert based on the divine music of Shyama Shastri.

I am looking for interesting & rare points about the divine composer & his heavenly music that will allow the audience to leave the concert with much more knowledge on the subjetc.

eg. I thought the story about the origin of 'Shyamkrishna sodari' will be fascinating to the listener. There are a few familiar ones like the 'Sharabananda challenge' etc.

Although I agree that too much of commentry may distort the flow of the concert, I have recently found that a little commentry has enhanced the audience participation and has had very successful results. Also, recently, more youngsters have been present & have been absorbing everything.

Your contribution will be greatly appreciated & will definately be benefical to many here on my side.

Best wishes to all!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 27 Feb 2007, 23:11

i was wishing to raise the following point in some place all along...

it is widely accepted that Shyama Sastri composed in praise of Goddess bangAru kAmAkshi at thanjavur. However, what keeps me wondering is there is a shrine(rather a temple) of navanIta krishNan right next to the temple of bangAru kAmAkshi amman. infact, the two temples share a compound wall and have an entrance on it, thro' which one could go to the other. I have personally not seen any composition of Shyama Sastri on this deity. While there are some compositions of Gods and Goddesses elsewhere. Do we take that there compositions which are lost or that he did not compose on this deity. can one also argue that the 'shyAma krishNa' of his mudra 'shyAma krishNa sOdari' or 'shyAma krishNanutE' actually refers to him along with serving as his mudra?

are there any scholarly opinions on this?

this is just an inquisitive post. any errors or mistakes are completely out of ignorance and i tender my apologies for the same.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Feb 2007, 23:26

Bharath,
Do you know if both temples existed in the days of SS?

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 28 Feb 2007, 09:10

I am familiar with rbharath's description about the two temples next door to each other. I visited it a couple of years ago. As for the age of that navanIta krishna temple, it looks much newer to me although both the temples probably have undergone renovation.

The mudra "shyamakrishna" originated (as I understand) from referrring to ambAL as shyAmakrishna's (Vishnu's) sister. It then morphed into his mudra and nickname. His given name was Venkatasubramanyan. The alternative interpretation of "shyamakrishna sOdari" is that ambAL came to him with a glass of milk in the form of his aunt's little daughter (wearing the golden necklace of ambAL) and called him aNNA (brother) and after giving him his milk suddenly disappeared. The origin of the kriti "Oh, jagadambA nannu" (Anandabhairavi) was attributed to that divine vision.

The mudra eventually made others address him as Shyama Sastri.

MBK · Post by **MBK** » 28 Feb 2007, 12:06

Thanks for responding....Keep it coming!!!

What about some clarity on whether he learnt from Pachimiram Addiyappa or not. Some texts refer to Pachimiram Addiyappa as SS's guru & some say that SS was adviced by his guru Sangitaswami to seek the friendship & observe the style of Pachimiram Addiyappa & not to learn from him (Why? anyway).

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 28 Feb 2007, 12:55

Dear MBK- I am sure you will be highlighting the Bobbili Keshavayya episode, in which SS composed the famous 'Devi brova samayamidhe ' in Chinthamani. Probably, this may be the only composition in the janya raga of Shanmukhapriya( not many compositions are available in the janyas of Shanmukhapriya). Similarly, "pArvathi ninnu" in Kalagada may be an unique composition. Probably, these points Lakshmanji may clarify.

MBK · Post by **MBK** » 28 Feb 2007, 13:20

Thanks for that vs_manjunath.

'Parvati ninnu' yes.....but Devi Brova......I am getting to work on immediately.

Maybe you can elaborate on the uniqueness of the Kalgada piece.

Thanks again!

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 28 Feb 2007, 13:35

The kalgaDa piece is not unique. tyAgarAja has also composed a piece in the rAga- samayamu EmarakE

Dhevathai · Post by **Dhevathai** » 28 Feb 2007, 15:45

Dear MBK.

Great idea, for those of us still learning about these great composers, it would be nice to relate their stories to their music, Sorry I cant offer any contribution on the topic but just wanted to say, Thumbs up on the idea

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 28 Feb 2007, 15:57

rshankar wrote:Bharath,
Do you know if both temples existed in the days of SS?

no idea. just speculating.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 28 Feb 2007, 20:20

There is also the (i think fairly well known) episode w.r.t mAyamma (Ahiri) at the madurai temple where when he went, the doors were closed. He (and his disciples?) sang the krithi there with such emotion that the priest/authorities hastened to open the doors. This is just my vague recollection.

Arun

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 28 Feb 2007, 20:56

Pudukottai episode, in which SS had a dream to compose on Goddess Meenakshi as till then, he had composed only praising Goddess Kamakshi, which finally resulted in Meenakshi Navarathna Mala.

hsuvarna · Post by **hsuvarna** » 28 Feb 2007, 22:24

Parvati being addressed as Vishnu's sodari is common in Puranaas. Even Dikshitar composed sarasija-nabha-sodari in NagaGandhari. I found ShyamaShastri's kritis to have more gamakams in them compared to
Tyagarajaa's and more complex sangathis. I find that ShyamaShastri songs in music competetions may have an edge.

It is very great to hear 'sadashivuni raani shuka paani', 'meenakshamma shubhamimma'. The direct addressing of the goddess like meenakshamma, kaamakshi-kanjadalaa-ya-taaskhi adds intimacy to the relationship with the goddess. After having heard madhura-meenakshi, (kanchi) kaamakshi, are there any on Vishalaakshi (Kashi)?
Sorry, but my usual fanfare, what a rendering of Ninne-nera-namminaanu, maayamma, mari-vere-gati, ninnu-vina(kalyani), ninnuvina(poorvikalyani) by Sri Voleti.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 01 Mar 2007, 03:55

MBK wrote:What about some clarity on whether he learnt from Pachimiram Addiyappa or not. Some texts refer to Pachimiram Addiyappa as SS's guru & some say that SS was adviced by his guru Sangitaswami to seek the friendship & observe the style of Pachimiram Addiyappa & not to learn from him (Why? anyway).

The version I have is this; Sangeeta Swami came from Varanasi and encouraged music training for SS. It appears Paccimiriyam recognized the musical talent of SS and gave him training.

As for Bobbili Kesavaiyah, he challenged Thyagaraja in Tiruvaiyaru, lost and then came to Thanjavur court and challenged the musicians there. King Seraboji requested SS to accept the challenge. SS did and defeated Bobbili.

Incidentally SS is the only composer among the trinity to have composed Thamizh songs ,five of them.

hsuvarna · Post by **hsuvarna** » 01 Mar 2007, 04:48

vs_manjunath wrote:Pudukottai episode, in which SS had a dream to compose on Goddess Meenakshi as till then, he had composed only praising Goddess Kamakshi, which finally resulted in Meenakshi Navarathna Mala.

The version I read is a saint heard his singing in Pudukottai and adviced him
to goto madurai and sing in praise of meenakshi amma. he did so.

Dhevathai · Post by **Dhevathai** » 01 Mar 2007, 11:59

Incidentally SS is the only composer among the trinity to have composed Thamizh songs ,five of them.

Interesting!

Please enlighten more on these songs and if possible the story associtiated with their composition.

MBK · Post by **MBK** » 01 Mar 2007, 12:35

While on the subject.......

Wasn't SS of Thamizh-speaking origin?

Another interseting fact to consider is that SS's son, Subbaraya Shastry learnt from all three composers that make up the trinity (what a blessed soul!!!!). Which leads me to ask....
Do you think that they were considered as the outstanding carnatic trinity during their time of existence or did the Trinity concept came about after their passing.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 01 Mar 2007, 13:46

Dhevathai wrote:Please enlighten more on these songs and if possible the story associtiated with their composition.

The five tamil krithis are
1. TarunameedammA (Gowlipantu)
2. Enneramum (Punnagavarali)
3. Enneramum (Poorvikalyani)
4. ParamukhamEnammA (Kalyani)
5. Santatam (Pharaju)-Geetam

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 01 Mar 2007, 22:09

MBK wrote:Wasn't SS of Thamizh-speaking origin?

Another interseting fact to consider is that SS's son, Subbaraya Shastry learnt from all three composers that make up the trinity (what a blessed soul!!!!). Which leads me to ask....
Do you think that they were considered as the outstanding carnatic trinity during their time of existence or did the Trinity concept came about after their passing.

SS's ancestors came over from Kanchipuram down to Tiruvarur area fleeing the Muslim invasion along with the idol of Bangaru Kamakshi in the early 1600s(?). They were a migrant lot for quite sometime after which they settled in Tiruvarur. Their mother tongue was Telugu. In due course they started conversing in Thamizh adapting to their new domicile. It is said that SS was equally fluent in Telugu and Thamizh. However, they preserved the mother tongue in tact which vouches for the natural proclivity of SS to compose in Telugu. Primarily SS was an archaka (priest) in the Thanjavur Kamakshi temple. He learnt music but perhaps was inspired by goddess Kamakshi to start composing.

As for the glory of the trinity during their lifetime, yes, they were considered great composers as adduced by the sponsorship of the Thanjavur king at that time (despite T's reluctance to sing the praise of the king) and the large number of shishyas who flocked to learn from them. The branding (trinity) came much later--perhaps in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

MBK · Post by **MBK** » 02 Mar 2007, 11:56

That is quite some info.!!
Much appreciated!!!!

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 21 Jun 2007, 22:08

This is in regs to observations made by mahakavi and bharath. this navaneetha krishnan temple is as old as kamakshiamman temple and the inbetween door was laid during 1958 only, when navaneetha krishnan temple renovation took place. the temple is gifted with jwells and other ornaments by raja serfoji. this was once explained by sr prince of thanjavur palace when he visited the temple during a rohini funcn at the temple in late 50s

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 21 Jun 2007, 22:14

That is an interesting observation, thanjavooran!