One of Tyagaraja’s many masterpieces, where the great composer exclaims about having found the way to HER, the universal mother goddess Tripura Sundari. That he weaves a neat pun in the words (Tripura Sundari merging with the first dAri) is just cream on top.
This Kriti has been a concert mainstay for generations, with several beautiful sangatis adorning the Pallavi. Therein lies a “controversy”. Purists (I prefer to think of them as cynics, but that’s just me!) carp that these many sangatis were not sung by Tyagaraja, and hence latter day musicians have somehow “contaminated” the saint’s vision by interpolating their own musical tastes into it. This song (among a few others of the saint like nA jIvadhArA in Bilahari and mari mari ninnE in kAmbhoji) are held up as examples of pathantara bhedam (variations in versions) creeping in because of additional sangatis.
Late Prof T R Subramaniam gave a great lec-dem on the concept of Pathatara Bhedam (He says he wanted to title the leg-dem as “Tyranny of Pathantara”!), where he talks about the various reasons why variations in pathantara arise. Among the many he elucidates, one is the capability of certain instruments to produce certain types of musical embellishments like brikas at certain speeds, which are typically not possible for a human voice. He specifically talks about a particular sangati brought in to this Kriti (dAriNi telusukoNTi) by Nagaswaram Vidwans, just because they could execute this curling brika at phenomenal speed on their instruments.
I could not find a nagaswaram rendition of this Kriti with that sangati, but here is a rendition by Vidwan N Ramani on the flute, which demonstrates the art of the possible on a wind instrument.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFsh2eOMzqsbzGmvvIebRoqylQlX6DWp-
Prof TRS goes on to say (in Tamizh) that this was a Sangati that was not possible to be reproduced by any vocalist. Bar GNB. TRS says with an almost childlike awe of a his hero “we used to be simply thrilled to hear GN Sir sing this!”.
That sense of thrill is still generated when we hear GNB’s rendition more than 60 years later! Hear the master march royally on this path in his full regal splendour, sometime in the late 1950’s.
1957: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxn2-5stlYdQSZXrFcX7oKUQq26trUnpz1
Let us now explore how the master chooses his path over time, with this same sangati.
Here is a rendition from sometime possibly in early 1964. The master doesn’t sing this Sangati and is looking to finish the Pallavi when a student prompts THAT sangati, and GNB sings it the second time round. We can’t say if GNB had forgotten the sangati (unlikely) or was not sure if he wanted to try it that day. But when prompted by his disciple, he renders it, and what a rendition again!
Early 1964: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxfFFVCljn419dJpuMq6JCYuIP1nduRkdG
Now we near the end of the great master’s life. His last concert at the hallowed Music Academy was in December 1964. This concert is usually talked about for the sublime Begada or the masterful RTP in Kalyani.
But dAriNi is also present. The master sets off at his regal pace, with his “two eyes” (Lalgudi Jayaraman and Palghat Raghu) following him like Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas followed Arjuna across 18 days of battle guarding his chariot wheels.
GNB doesn’t sing that Sangati this time either. And again a student (possibly Trichur Ramachandran or Someshwara Babu) prompts THAT sangati. But GNB doesn’t follow thru this time and moves on to finish the Pallavi. Maybe the master decided this path was not for him that day.
December 1964: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxmEsmB4mfqC0C8vb09luw_DB_oceFGbYv
Coming towards the end, what I like to think of as the master’s last hurrah. We move on to the Tyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyyaru in January 1965 (the great man passed away in May the same year).
GNB sings THAT sangati but once, and allows his students to sing it a second time. May be the great man wanted a last hurrah in the presence of the composer. That’s a secret between those two two great souls.
January 1965: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxWc6Wtv5pY1vDO32-Q45LVwOTjpYSLVhm
“Grand New Bani”. “Prince Charming”. “Music Enchanter” … epithets to describe the phenomenon that was GNB. He was all this and more. He was the first “rockstar” of Carnatic music, inspiring an entire generation of musicians to aspire to emulate him. TRS says candidly in a docu-film on GNB that but for GNB, several people like himself (TRS) would never have turned to Carnatic music as a career.
Many folks may talk about the change in GNB’s approach to this near impossible sangati with that pithy Urdu epigram - खंडहर बता रहे हैं इमारत बुलंद थी (khaNDahar batA rahEn hain imArat buland thI - The ruins speak of the erstwhile splendour of the building). But I like to think of it as a master’s self awareness about his abilities and his keen sense of musical acumen.
GNB was an initiated Sri Vidya upasaka. Goddess Tripura Sundari must have been thrilled herself to hear her devotee walk out to her on this path…
P.S.: I had not heard any other vocalist render this sangati, till I heard young Vidwan Vignesh Ishwar render this fairly nonchalantly at a Nadasurabhi monthly concert in Bangalore in 2019. I remember having goose bumps then! I could not find an equally racy rendition online, but I did find a rendition by him at a somewhat slower kalapramana, but with THAT sangati.
Vignesh Ishwar 2019: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxCvcEf6D9D-BzNGU3H8K7vrDa7ULdgSqb
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