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[Editor's Notes: 1)
Click here
for a PDF version of this article 2) Click
here for the standard transliteration scheme 3)
List of compositions
(English PDF) 4)
List of compositions (Sanskrit PDF)]
mArgadarshi
shESayya”ngAr is one of the lesser known composers
of karNATik music, who lived during the pre-trinity days. Very little is known
about this scholarly composer, and it is a pity that only very few of his
compositions are currently available.
subbarAma DIkSitar, the author of the sangIta sampradAya pradarshini
(Telugu edition) gives a brief biographical sketch of shESayya”ngAr, and
states that he was known by the title “mArgadarshi”, since his works were a
beacon light, or path finder for future composers. According to him,
shESayya”ngAr was a vaiSNava brAhmin, a devotee of Lord ra”nganAtha, and a
profound scholar of sanskrit language and music. He used the mudra “kOsala” in
all him compositions, and the reason may be that he hailed from ayodhya. Most
of his compositions are on Lord ra”nganAtha, but a few are also on Lord
varadarAja of kA~ncIpuraM, Goddess lakSmi, rAma, sIta, and saint rAmAnuja. It
is believed that he collected all his compositions in a palm leaf manuscript
form, and one day, left it at the feet of Lord ra”nganAtha during the arddha
yAma pUja. The next morning, when he went to the temple, he found, to his
surprise, that only sixty songs were left in tact, and the remaining were
obliterated. According to SubbarAma DIkSitar, these sixty songs, perhaps
accepted by Lord ra”nganAtha, are supposed to be in vogue.
But, contrary to this observation, till recently, only three of these songs
were either well known, or sung by musicians. These three are listed in the
mammoth index to Indian songs, complied by Professors Gowri Kuppuswamy and
Hariharan. Earlier, in 1902, nine kIrttanaMs of shESayya”ngAr were published
in “gAyaka locana” by Singaracharyulu, but the book was not readily available.
Two specimens of his compositions appear in the “Oriental Music in European
Notation” by A.M.C. Cinnayya MudaliyAr. In the Palace Library at Trivandrum,
there is a paper manuscript known as “shESayya”ngAru kIrttanaM”, containing 19
of his compositions. Also, there is a palm leaf manuscript in the Kerala
University collections procured from the Cirakkal Palace, containing 13 of
shESayya”ngAr kIrttanaMs. This manuscript has a remark in malayalam, stating
clearly these are the compositions of shESayya”ngAr. All these kIrttanaMs bear
the mudra, “kOsala”. But there is an overlap of 8 songs among these
manuscripts. What happened to the remaining songs?
The Manuscript
By a turn of luck, things became a bit rosy. A saurAStra brAhimin, by name
Ananthu Gopala Bhagavathar, who lived in Madurai, had in his possession, a
manuscript of shESayya”ngAr compositions. This was passed on to him by his
grandfather, who learnt them from his guru, Wallajapet Venkataramana
Bhagavathar, the famous disciple of Saint TyAgarAja. He prepared them in a
manuscript form, and worshiped it in his daily pujas. This manuscript was
later passed on to his grandson, Ananthu Gopala. Again, after keeping it in
his puja for many years, in 1978, Anathu Gopala Bhagavathar handed over this
manuscipt to one T. R. Damodaran, a Sanskrit scholar at the Tanjore Maharajah
Serafoji Saraswati Mahal Library. Since the script was in telugu, he sought
the help of Dr. Kothandaramiah, a telugu professor at Madurai Kamarajar
University. He read the entire work, and presented the material in a paper at
the Music Academy's Annual Conference.
The manuscript has 114 folios, each folio containing half a dozen lines, and
contained many interesting, and rare material. The following were discovered
in the manuscript:
- A long list of sAhityaMs that were popular
during his lifetime, along with the names of the various composers.
- Text of 36 kIrttanaMs of Walajapet
Venkataramana Bhagavathar (these are in telugu, sanskrit, and his mother
tongue saurAStra).
- Commencing with a title “sEeSayya”ngAru
kIrttanalu”, a collection of twenty six compositions, with the attestment,
“shESayya”ngAr SahityaM” at the top, and concluding with the note “kOsalaM
kIratanlu sampUrNaM”.
- some of the Koyampurivaru sAhityaMs.
- three kIrttanaMs in saurAStra bhASa of
Kavi Venkatasuri.
- seven of SadAshiva Brahmendra k.rtis in
Sanskrit.
The kIrttanaMs of Walajapet Venkataramana
Bhagavathar were published in 1981 by the Ayyampettai Venkataramana
Bhagavathar Jayanthi Committe, and again re-issued in 1983 with corrections.
The 26 compositions of mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr that appear in this
manuscript (along with an additional five songs by him) are also published in
1983 by the Tanjore Maharaja Serafoji's SarasvAti Mahal Library (series No.
197). The songs appear in both Sanskrit and Tamil.
From one of the folios, the date of the manuscript was deciphered as shukla
year, AvaNi month, dashami, utrASAda star, Wednesday. The date roughly
corresponds to 1869 AD. ShESayy”ngAr lived several years before the trinity.
In Sa”ngIta SaMprAdaya Pradarshini, SubbarAma DIkSitar places his biography
after Jayadeva, and before Giriraja Kavi and Shahaji. He lived before Ghanam
Seenaiah, and was perhaps a contemporary of Shahaji. who ruled Tanjore during
1684-1710. His style resembles very much that of Shahaji in the usage of
prAsaM (alliteration beauties), rhythm etc. His fluency in Sanskrit, and
devotion to the Lord are both landmarks in all his compositions. Later on,
perhaps, MuttusvAmi DIkSitar and TyAgarAja adopted his style, as is evident
from many of their compositions.
shESayya”ngAr’s mudra
The mudra (signature) “kOsala” was used by shESayya”ngAr in all his
compositions, with the variations “kOsalapurIshvara, kOsalapuranilaya,
kOsalapurisadana”, and so forth. Regarding his mudra, “kOsalaM”, even though
SubbarAma DIkSitar suggests that he hailed from ayodhya, there is no reference
to this city in any of his compositions. He mentions VipranArAyaNa in one of
his songs, and VipranArAyaNa definitely lived in South India. Further, he was
a staunch follower of RAmAnuja, and mentions about NammAlvAr and other
vaiSNava saints in his work. Some of his songs are on VaradarAja of KA~nci.
So, one tends to believe that he may not have any association with ayodhya,
and there may be other reasons to adopt the mudra “kOsalaM”.
svAti tirunAL and shESayya”ngAr
There is an interesting relationship between mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr and
svAti tirunAL. Attracted by the style of the compositions of mArgadarshi
shESayya”ngAr, svAti tirunAL wrote a treatise in Malayalam, known as "muhana
prAsanAntya prAsa vyavasta,” dealing with the principles of proper usage of
shabdAlaNkAra, muhana, prAsa, antyaprAsa in musical compositions in Sanskrit.
SvAti tirunAL points out at the commencement of this work that he gathered the
material for this work from the compositions of shESa RAmAnuja and
shESayya”ngAr. There are two manuscripts of this work, both in Malayalam, in
the Palace library in Trivandrum. In the Kerala University manuscript
collection, there is a Sanskrit version of the same work. Some of the
quotations of this work can be traced in the manuscript, “shESayya”ngAr
kIrttanaM”, mentioned earlier. While the Malayalam version of "muhana" clearly
reveals that SvAti tirunAL was the author, there is some doubt as to whether
the Sanskrit version was his work. There is no mention of him anywhere in this
version. The fact that several musicians from Tanjore lived in his court might
explain the existence of such a manuscript.
svAti tirunAL followed the compositions of mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr as a
model for composing, and or introducing embelishments like muhana, prAsa,
antyaprAsa and antarukti. Muhana is a shabdAlaNkAra by which the same letter
in the beginning of an Avarta, (or any of its substitutes in according to some
definite rules) occurs in the beginning of the next Avarta. PrAsa is the
repetition of the second letter (or a group of letters) in the first Avarta in
the same position in the subsequent Avartas. AntyaprAsa is a prAsa that occurs
at the end of the Avartas. Antarokti is the usage of one or more syllables
between two words which are in muhana or prAsa for the sake of tALa. SvAti
tirunAL's compositions abound in these verbal embelishments (Most of DIkSitar
compositions have these features). The similarity of the compositions of these
two personalities is so striking that a few compositions of mArgadarshi
shESayya”ngAr have crept into some of the editions of svATi tirunAL. As
examples of this, the kIrttanaM “jayasuguNAlaya” in bilahari appears in the
“svAti tirunAL sa”ngIta kIrttanaikaL”, compiled by K. Chidambara Vadhyar
(1916). But svAti tirunAL himself cites this as a work of mArgadarshi
shESayya”ngAr, in his muhana, Another example is the kalyANi k.rti “yojaya
padanalinena” found in the same book. It does not bear the mudra of svAti
tirunAL, but includes the phrase "kOsalam". The k.rti “kOslEndra mAmava” in
madhyamAvati is found in the SarasvAti Mahal Library Publication. By a strange
coincidence, the same k.rti appears in the collection of svAti tirunAL
compositions, complied by Semmangudi Srinivasayyar. I am unable to decipher
the correct authorship. It has the mudra “kOsalaM”, and not padmanAbha! (This
k.rti is featured in the Malayalam Film, “SvAti tirunAL”, and was rendered by
Neyyatinkara Vasudevan)
Perhaps, the mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr k.rti “shrIra”ngashAyinam
sakalashubhadAyakam” was an inspiration for svAti tirunAL to compose his
“bhOgendrashAyinam kuru kushalshAyinam” in kuntALavarALi. Again, shESayya”ngAr
has a lengthy rAmAyaNa k.rti, “pAhi mAM shrIrAmacandra” in punnAgavarALi. May
be svAti tirunAL followed this idea, and composed his famous rAmAyaNa k.rti,
“bhAvayAmi raghurAmam in sAvEri.
The association of svAti tirunAL with the works of mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr
was through SatkalA Govinda mArAR, a great name associated with the maharAja’s
patronage of music. He was adept in such percussion instruments like ceNDa,
maddalaM, eDakka, timila, but above all, he had the remarkable ability in
singing a pallavi in six degrees of speed, which earned him the title SatkalA.
It was MArAr who brought to the court, a vast number of Tanjore compositions,
that also included mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr's kIrttanams. The structure,
language and theme associated with these kIrttanaMs attracted svAti tirunAL,
and he adopted them as models for his own compositions.
A list of available k.rtis
The following is a complete list of all the 31 kIrttanaMs that are featured
(in both Sanskrit, and in Tamil) in this SarasvAti Mahal Library publication
of 1983. Those kIrttanaMs that appeared in the 1902 edition of Singaracharyulu
are identified with an asterik symbol (*). The list contains songs on
A~njanEya, kA~nci varadarAja, gOvindarAja, shrIra”ngaM ra”nganAtha, sIta, rAma,
viSNu, k.rSNa, and the saint rAmAnuja. The rAgaMs employed are time-honored
majestic rakti rAgams. There is no mention of any tALa structure for many of
these compositions. Each has a pallavi, followed by lengthy caraNams,
numbering anywhere from 3 to 8. None has an anupallavi segment.
A~njaneya paripAlaya --- mOhanaM --- A~njanEya
kamalanayana yaduvara --- pUrvikalyANi ---
k.rSNa
kalaye tAvakIna caraNaM --- sAveri ---
ra”nganAtha
kalayAmi dasharatha* --- suraTi --- rAma
kOsalendra mAmava --- madhyamAvati --- rAma
gOpAla pAhi* --- dhanyAshi --- k.rSNa
jayajaya shrIra”ngEsha --- bhairavi ---
ra”nganAtha
jAnakImanoharAya --- dhanyAshi --- rAma
devadevAnupamaprabhAva --- bhairavi ---
k.rSNa
nAthavAnasmin --- tODi --- ra”nganAtha
pAhi gOpaveSa harE --- kalyANi --- k.rSNa
pAhimAm shri raghunAyaka* --- bEgaDa ---
k.rSNa
pAhimAM shri rAmacandra --- punnAgavarALi ---
rAma
pAhi shri raghuvara --- tODi --- rAma
pAhi shri ramAramaNa* --- athANa --- viSNu
bhajEhaM vIrarAghavaM* --- gaud lipantu ---
rAma
mAmava raghuvIra --- asAveri --- rAma
ra”nganAyaka* --- kEdAragaud la ---
ra”nganAtha
ra”ngapatE pAhimAM* --- darbAr ---
ra”nganAtha
rAma pAlayamAM --- bhairavi --- rAma
re mAnasa cintaya --- kalyANi --- rAma
vande govindarAjaM* --- shaNkarAbharaNaM ---
gOvindarAja
vande vakulAbharaNaM --- mukhAri --- rAmAnuja
(?)
vandeham karishaila --- dvijAvanti ---
varadarAja f kA~nci
shrinAyaka mAmava --- punnAgavarALi ---
k.rSNa
shri raghukula varashubha* --- sAveri ---
rAma
shri raghuvara suguNAlaya --- ghanta --- rAma
shrI ra”ngashAyI jaya --- kEdAragaud la ---
ra”nganAtha
shri ra”ngashAyinaM* --- dhanyAshi ---
ra”nganAtha
sArasadalanayana --- suraTi --- rAma
sItE vasumati sa~njAtE ---
asAveri --- sIta hline
sAhityams of all the above k.rtis
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Illustrations --- three selected k.rtis
In order to appreciate mArgadarshi shESayya”ngAr's style, we append below
three of his kIrttanaMs, one in bhairavi, and the remaining two in asAveri,
all decorated with various shabdAla”nkArams. The first one is on Lord k.rSNna.
Here one can observe the rhyming and alliteration beauties of the first four
letters (two phrases) of each line. The second one on rAma, is studded with
dvitIyAkSara prAsam on each line. The third one is a unique k.rti, praising
sIta, and has plenty of anyAkSara prAsams. The simplicity of the expressions,
lofty ideas and anecdotes, and the usage of various types of prAsams is a
landmark in all his compositions. Sometimes these k.rtis remind us of
UttukkAdu VeNkaTasubba Iyer's style. According to a paraMpara tradition, even
today, during the EkAnta sEva for Lord ra”nganAtha in shrIra”ngam temple, we
can hear a few selected songs on marg.
1. devadevAnupamaprabhAva,
rAgaM : bhairavi
pallavi
devadevAnupamapra
bhAvabhAvAtItanutida
devadevakIpuNyanidhe k.rSNamAnavarUpa
pAvanaguNAmbudhe ||
caraNAni
nIlanIlabhaktakalpa
sAlAsAlakaniTila shrI
lolAlolavanamAlikA rAsakrIDa
tALAtALavanavipAlaka || 1 ||
sArAsArasAkSanirvi-
karAkArakaMsahara
shurAshUrakulAgragaNya yashodAku-
mArAmArakoTilAvaNya || 2 ||
bhImAbhImasamaravarakavi
rAmArAmAnuja satya
bhAmAbhAmajagatkAraNa yAdavasarv
bhaumAbhaumaghanasamIraNa || 3 ||
dhIrAdhIrAyitakeshavi
dArAdArAyita vallavI-
pArAvArasaMrakSaNasaMsArakU-
pArApAra gamakavIkSaNa || 4 ||
gopAgopAyitAshritaka-
lApAlApA iSTAnanda
gopAgopAla ArAdhana underlinekosalapura
bhUpAbhUpodravasUdana || 5 ||
2. sItE vasumati sa~njAtE, rAgaM: asAveri
pallavi
sItE vasumati sa~njAtE
ramaNIya guNa jAte
rakSita sarva bhUte
paripAhimAM ||
caraNaM
shyAme lAvaNya vibhava samE
vadana nirjita sOmE
AsadAnugata raghurAmE
paripAhimAM || 1 ||
dhIre sanmuni hrdayAkArE
kara dhd rta kalhArE
Aghanopamita kacabhArE
paripAhimAM || 2 ||
dhanye vaidEhirAjakanyE
parihrta bhakta dainyE
Asannuta daiva mAnyE
paripAhimAM || 3 ||
shAntE kAruNyapUrNa shAntE
shrI nidAna lOcanAntE
underlinekosala purI ramaNa kAntE
paripAhimAM || 4 ||
3. mAmava raghuvIra, rAgaM: asAveri, tALaM tripuTa
pallavi
mAmava raghuvIra mAnitamunivara
bhUmisutAnAyaka bhaktajana-
kAmitaphaladAyaka ||
caraNAni
garvitasutrAmatanayavirAma
n.rpatilalAma dasharatharAma samaroddhAma
dashamukhasAmajam.rgendra
underlinekosalapurIndra || 1 ||
dinakarakuladIpa dh.rtadivyasharacApa
vanajasannibhagAtra yogivarya
sanakAdinutipAtra nabhomaNi || 2 ||
tanuja sharaNapavanaja mukhapari-
janajagadahitadanujamadahara
manujatanudharavanajadALanayana
amitamunishamana || 3 ||
bhaNDanoddhatadoSa pAlitagautamayoSa
daNDitamArIca abdhigarva
khaNDakanArAca divyaratna || 4 ||
kuNDalakalitagaNDayugave
taNDakarabhuja daNDahimakara
khaNDadharakodaNDadALanayana agaNitaguNagaNa
|| 5 ||
ghaTitanAnAbhUSa kalitAshritapoSa
taTidhUpAmitavAsana shrIkosala
puTAbhedananivAsana - (indranIlAbha) || 6 ||
kuTilakacav.rta niTalataTamaNi
paTulakhacitalaniTalasaTam.rdu
caTulapItanatajaTilamUlaghana
darahasitavadana || 7 || |
