Special Features

    

NAVARATRI 2001

    
Editor's note: Navaratri 2000 featured the Navaratri kritis of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. This year, we feature the rare Navavaranam-s of Oothukkadu Venkatasubbayyar, who is believed to have been the first to compose such a thematic set. The Navavaranam set includes a total of 12 songs - an invocatory piece on Lord Ganesha, a Dhyana kriti on Devi and nine Avarana kritis, one for each day of the nava-ratri (nine nights), and a final Mangala kriti. Independently or otherwise, Muthuswami Dikshitar also seems to have followed the same pattern.

The Navavaranam signifies the worship of the three Goddesses - Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, embodying power, wealth and knowledge respectively - in the form of Srividya, through the Srichakra.

Click on the hyperlinks below to get the lyrics and meanings of the Oothukkadu Navavaranam-s for each day. In addition, you will find the lyrics of Dikshitar's Kamalamba Navavaranam, Abhayamba and Neelotpalamba kriti sets in the Composition Bank (Group kritis). We thank Dr. P P Narayanaswami for his interest and patience in generating the pdf files. Vidyasankar Sundaresan has provided the meanings of the Oothukkadu Navavarana kritis.

     

Ganesha Dhyanam & Navavarana Dhyanam

1st Avarana
2nd Avarana
3rd Avarana
4th Avarana
5th Avarana
6th Avarana
7th Avarana
8th Avarana
9th Avarana
Mangala Kriti

     

Click here for lyrics in Sanskrit pdf

Click here for lyrics in English pdf

     

Click here for Chitravina Ravikiran's article on Oothukkadu Venkatasubbayyar
Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi - the divine composer by Dr. P P Narayanaswami

     

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