ILaiyaraaja-The Alluring Musician

“Oh.. The one who is in a supine posture....My entire body is filled with love for you.. You melt me.. Oh! My sweet nectar..”

ஆரா அமுதே அடியேன் உடலம் நின்பால் அன்பாயே,
நீராய் அலைந்து கரைய வுருக்குகின்ற நெடுமாலே,
சீரார் செந்நெல் கவரி வீசும் செழுநீர்க் திருகுடந்தை,
ஏரார் கோலம் திகழக் கிடந்தாய் கண்டேன் எம்மானே.

sang the inimitable Nammazhwar, about whom I have already written elaborately in my post on ‘Enegengo Sellum’(ILaiyaraaja-The Wonder’ 4th March 2009).

I am not getting into the philosophical contours of this verse now. What is important here is the feel of the poem.

Don’t we feel the love, passion, and the devotion of the poet when we read the verse?

To put it simply and succinctly, Nammazhwar was allured by the beauty of the Lord. To him nothing in this world mattered except the Lord. Most importantly, he was able to communicate his feelings through beautiful words. Maybe, that is why we are allured by the poetry of people like Nammazhwar even after 1000 years.

If poets like Nammazhwar used poetry as a medium to express themselves, great musicians like Saint Thyagaraja used both poetry and music as a medium to describe the beauty of the divine.

In one of his kritis in the ragam Vagadeeswari, he says, ‘The Divine shines with grandeur everywhere.. It is present as Vishnu, Shiva, human beings, animals, birds, trees, the three basic qualities, the five elements..’.

‘Paramaathmudu velige mucchata baaga telusukore..’

Likewise, ILaiyaraaja, sees and makes us see the Divine everywhere through his Music.

The song of the day is yet another special composition of his and is based on a very rare ragam. One can even say that a ragam which has not been used by any other musician.

The composition is ‘Kariyaadha Manamum uNdo’ from ‘Varusham 16’(1989) and the ragam is Hema Bhushani(which literally means ‘adorned with gold’).

Hema Bhusnani is a janya of ‘Gangeya bhushani’, the 33rd melakarata and its structure is:

Sa ri3 ga3 ma1 dha1 ni3 Sa/Sa ni3 dha1 ma1 ga3 ri3 sa.

Incidentally, the ragam of Thyagaraja kriti quoted above-‘Paramathumudu’- Vagadeeswari is the 34th melakarta and is in the same chakra as that of
Gangeyabhushani .

‘Kariyadha Manamum..’ is special because of many reasons.

One, it is based on a very rare and unknown ragam.

Two, the song does not appear in the movie.

The third reason is the second charaNam and we shall see how and why it is special.

The Pallavi -which starts without a prelude- radiates positive energy and is resplendent not just because of the structure but also because of the soothing warmth in the voices of Yesudass and Chitra.

If the first line is effulgent, the second line has an alluring distinction, the reason being the vivadi note ‘ri3’.

The Sitar and violins slice through and infuse exotic shades of the raga in the beginning of the first interlude. The Flute shows the emotive facets of the Ragam and our hearts begin to melt.

The sitar and the Veena yearn evocatively.

The first CharaNam has a tranquil luminescence.

The first line dwells on niceties, while the second line gives a caressing touch. We are pierced by moments of poignancy in the following line.

The second interlude is marked by some wonderful aalaps by Yesudass.

It takes silky glides.

It sketches graceful silhouettes.

It flows smoothly through various terrains.

It bubbles with creative excitement.

Can any instrument substitute a memerising human voice?

The second charaNam looks at hidden ecstatic possibilities.

Remember my third point in the beginning of the description where I had said ‘The third reason is the second charaNam and we shall see how and why it is special’?

The ‘ga’ of the ragam is now taken as the base ‘sa’. I had discussed this concept called ‘Gruha Bedam’ in some of my earlier posts. Please refer ‘ILaiyaraaja-The Genius’, and ‘ILaiyaraaja-The Eloquent Musician’.

But the difference between those compositions and ‘Karaiyadha..’ is that while the former are based on known ragas, the latter is based on an unknown raga.
Most importantly, the raga that emerges after the Gruha Bedam is another unknown raga.

As per the theory of Gruha Bedam, the new raga-that is the raga one gets after applying the technique- has the same number of swaras as that of the original raga.

For example, let us take a very popular ragam ShankarabharaNam. If the ‘ri’ is kept as the base, it becomes Karaharapriya, if ‘ga’ is taken as the base, it becomes Todi, if ‘ma’ is the base, it is Kalyani, if ‘pa’ is the base, it is Harikamboji and it is Natabhairavi if ‘dha’ is the base.

Three points are worth noting here.

1.All the aforementioned ragas are well known and popular.

2.All these have seven swaras (like the ‘original’ ragam ShankarabharaNam).

3.Most importantly, since people have already tried and tested applying Gruha Bedam on such ragas, they clearly know the raga(s) that would emerge.

But ILaiyaraaja believes in chartering unknown territories and discovering gems that are not hitherto known to the world.

He also breaks the rule while staying within the boundaries of virtuosity. If this statement sounds somewhat ambiguous, please look at the following examples:


In ‘Vaidegi Raman’, he applied Gruha Bedam in Kalyani and instead of giving us the sampoorna (or complete ragams) like ‘Todi’ and ‘Harikamboji’, he ‘hid’ a couple of swaras to make them pentatonic ragas (Hindolam/Mohanam).

In ‘KaNgaLukkuL unnai ezhuthu’, he did the reverse. The 4 note ragam(Lavangi) became a 6 note ragam(Mandaari).

But by doing this, he never compromised on the beauty and the virtuosity.

Now, let us go back to ‘Kariyadha Manamum’.

I am sure this was the first time Gruha Bedam was done on an unknown raga. Added to this is the fact that the raga that emerges is also little known and has never been used before.

The new raga that begins the charaNam is called as ‘Makarandhapriya’(as per the Raga text ‘Swaraprastara Sagaram’ authored by Nathamuni PaNditar) whose structure is:

sa ri1 ga3 dha1 ni3 Sa/Sa ni3 dha1 ga3 ri1 sa.

It is ‘Lalita’ without the ‘ma’.

Here too, the Maestro has made a ‘Shadava raga’(6 note raga) ‘Audava’(5 notes) by skipping one note after the Gruha Bedam.

Artistically Innovative!!
Innovatively Artistic!!

Let us continue with the description of the CharaNam.
The first two lines in the second charaNam are subtly integrated and is a striking combination of sensitivity and beauty.

The beats of Tabla –that gives various permutations and combinations in a matter of half a cycle- in between the lines- steal our hearts.

The finale is meditative.

‘Kariyatha manamum uNdo’

‘அவர் இசைக்குக் கரையாத மனமும் உண்டோ..’

ILaiyaraaja-The Pious Musician!

‘Amma Ravamma Tulasamma Nannu Palimpa’..

Saint Thyagaraja sang this Krithi on Tulasi, the Garland of which adorns Lord Vishnu .

Tulasi has lot of Medicinal qualities .The Flavour of Tulasi is enough to give a divine feeling.It is like the healing touch of the Mother.

Addressing Tulasi as Mother is the most beautiful part of this Krithi.

The Supreme is worshipped in different forms.

Considering the Supreme as the Mother has been in vogue for many years.The Devi Worship finds a mention in one of the oldest texts in Tamizh, Silappadigaram:

ஆனைத்தோல் போர்த்தும் புலியின் உரி உடுத்து
கானத்து எருமைக் கருந்தலைமேல் நின்றாயால்
வானோர் வணங்கு மறைமேல் மறையாகி
ஞானக் கொழுந்தாய் நடுக்கின்றியே நிற்பாய்

Adorning the skin of the elephant and that of the Tiger
You stand on the Head of the Buffalo
You are the Supreme Veda and the Supreme Knowledge
And You are Worshipped by One and All.

Devi-also considered to be Shakthi, the embodiment of Energy- was worshipped by Poet Subramaniya Bharathi as well.

Muthuswami Dikshithar, and Shyama Sastri -who along with Thyagaraja are called as the Carnatic Music Trinity - have sung many Kirtanas on Devi.

Devi Worship involves a lot of connotations.

Muthuswami Dikshithar’s Krithis have not just the Musical Value but are also full of Mantras.The boundaries of Mantras and Music tend to overlap constantly in his compositions and it is transformed to a place of collective worship.

Devi worship also involves a Mystic Diagram called as Srichakra (Holy Wheel).It consists of concentric circles , inverted triangles, and Lotus Petals arranged in nine tiers symbolizing progressive levels of spiritual attainment.

Adi Sankara who lived in the 8th Century consecrated these Chakras and had them installed in some places in India.Such Temples are regarded as being very powerful and are esoteric. One such Temple is the Mookambika Temple in Kollur(Karnataka).

ILaiyaraaja had a very Divine Experience at the Mookambiga Temple way back in early '70s that transformed him completely and spirituality became part of his life after this.

That is why one composition of his is very special and is ensconced in our hearts as one of the most Divine Songs Tamizh Cinema has ever had.

It is ‘Janani Janani’ from ‘Thai Mookambikai’.

Kalyanam means good ominous thing(s).

Kalyani Raga is an embodiment of all the good things.

ILaiyaraaja , who is always in search of excellence and is in pursuit of the values embedded in a Ragam , has given us excellent compositions in Kalyani and has shown the contours, colours and various dimensions of this Ragam.

Kalyani is the 65th Melakartha and is an eternal charmer.It is a very old Ragam.In Tamizh Pann, it is called as ‘Arumpaalai’(அரும்பாளை).In Hindustani Music, it is called as Yaman.

The Thyagaraja Krithi mentioned in the beginning is also in Kalyani.

It is very difficult to describe the emotions Kalyani evokes because it is so deep.

Let us now look at ‘Janani Janani’.

As per the situation in the movie, this song is sung by Adi Sankara.

It starts with a Sloka from ‘Soundarya Lahari’- a collection of poems/slokas composed by Adi Sankara describing the Beauty(Soundarya) of Devi.

The sound of Tanpoora melts our hearts as we hear ‘SivaShakthya Yuktho..’ rendered in proper cadence with mellowness and passion:

‘Oh…Mother!You are the Universe.
You are the Reason.You are Complete’.

The Chitraveena now plays with depth and crispness as the Veena gives out a radiant smile.

With great sensitivity of expression, Raaja now renders

‘You are the most Beautiful Being in this Universe.
You sit on the Lion and occupy the left portion of your Nayaka(Lord Siva)’.


The Flute now plays with high melodic quotient distilling the essence of the Ragam.It mines valuable nuggets that add a rich glow to Kalyani.

The second stanza is very intelligently chiselled .The Divine Numbers go in the ascending order.

‘The Four Vedas,
The Five Elements,
The Six Maargas-ways of worship established by Adi Shankara,
The Seven Rivers,
The Eight Yogas,
The Nine Yagnyas

Worship You.

You are the daughter of the Mountains(Parvati),
You are the Daughter of the Seas(Lakshmi).
You are the Daughter of Fine Arts(Saraswathi).

The Veena now plays with Gentle, Persuasive, and Soothing Calmness striking a chord in our hearts.We feel the aroma of Kalyani pervading the surroundings.

The soulful phrases are now rendered with piety:

You formed on your own with the Golden lines.
The Slokas, Sastras and Your Netras(Eyes)
Form the Sakthi Peetam.

As he renders ‘Sakthi Peetamum Nee..’the first time, we feel joyfully evocative.

As he renders this the second time, we feel brimming with energy.

As he renders it the third time, we feel blissful.

The composition is heart wrenching and poignant and we do not feel like getting out of it.

Drawing inspiration from consecrated principles,

Assimilating the Concept and Spirit behind Tradition,

Guiding us to a Cadence of Spirituality and Contemplation,

It is an undefiled pure presentation.

It is the Sri Chakra itself in the form of Music.

Sakthi Peetamum Nee..Sarva Mokshamum Nee…..