5 minute read
Companionship with Ragas
from July 2023
Image Source (above):Sekhar Roy
By Shankar Gopalkrishnan
Companions come in various forms - as a spouse, a friend, or even a pet! Over the years, I have come to enjoy a unique companionship. It is a bond I share with the ragas of classical music! A raga is not just a musical scale with an abstract sound form. One can experience the raga as though it is a full-blown human, each with a distinct persona. They speak a language without words. They can coax and cajole and leave you with goosebumps!
A chance hearing of U Srinivas’s mandolin changed my life forever. I had stumbled upon a treasure-chest. Like Silas Marner, that incurable miser, who sifted through his gold coins day after day, I did the same with ragas. I was hooked to them, mesmerized by their guiles and charms.
“Hamsadhvani”, I found, was jovial and chatty. “Hindolam” was cheerful. “Bilahari” bubbled with energy.
The day you felt sullen, you knew “Abheri” would pull you by the shoulder and take you for a brisk stroll. And then, there were ragas with a face so austere, you couldn’t help but gaze at them unblinkingly. The raga “Kambhoji” was one suchwith a personality that exuded majesty.
Some ragas chose to stay aloof. You hardly noticed them. Over time, they grew on you, revealing a new facet each time, till you were irresistibly drawn to them. Todi raga seemed an acquired taste until you fell head over heels with it!
It is easy to find a friend when the going is good. It is when the chips are down, that you need them most. Life throws you into situations where self-doubt and sadness stare at you in the face. Psychologists talk about “managing the emotion” through a catharsis of sorts. Shiva-ranjani raga falls in this category. You are moved by the raga’s palpable pathos. As tears roll down the face, the purgatory experience is total. At the end of it, you shake off the negativity and rise, all charged and refreshed.
An opposite approach works equally well- you deal with sadness using a counterweight- by cozying up to a raga that makes you instantly happy. Mohana Kalyani is happiness personified- spreading joy like a cascading waterfall. It sweeps you off your feet with its overflowing effervescence!
Our companionship with ragas is often triggered through specific kritis set in those ragas. These kritis give a concrete shape and enhance a particular aspect of the raga. We are forever indebted to these master composers.
Among the composers, Tyagaraja’s masterpieces are many. In the kriti “chakkani raaja maarga”, set to the raga Kharaharapriya, through song, he has created an interesting imagery. Tyagaraja was a bhakta of Lord Rama. He wants to convey the superiority of Rama upasana to other forms of worship. In this kriti, he asks, “When we have a raaja-maarga, a royal path, like Rama upasana maarga, why do we need to use any other method?” To convey this point, Tyagaraja imbues the phrase chakkani-raaja-marga with the sound of a horse-chariot trotting on a paved highway. The “sangatis” of the raga Kharaharapriya create that illusion- as though the horse is trotting on the maarga now slowly and now galloping at top speed!
To listen to the kriti “Amba Kamakshi” by the composer Shyama Sastry is an experience. Set to the raga Bhairavi, it is composed like a “gopuram”, a temple tower. Each line of the kriti begins with the next ascending swara, as though you are climbing up the temple tower. And once you hit the line in the highest octave in Bhairavi, you are as though, at the top of the temple edifice. The song comes to a climactic finish. You can feel the presence of Mother Goddess in all her finery Such is the beauty in this composition and the grandeur of raga Bhairavi.
Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s “navaavarana” kritis have a unique construct. The “shri-chakra” is a diagram, a geometric representation of Devi, made up of triangles and circles. The “nava-aavarana kritis” -9 of them in 9 different ragas, take you progressively through the nine corridors till you reach the center of the geometric pattern called the “bindu”, where Devi is manifest The lyrics and the ragas are captivating. As you listen to them with rapt attention, you are transported to that Divine presence
These are but little examples to show how music can be used as “maanasa puja”- a form of meditation. You listen to the songs, travel with them, and experience both the feeling and the divine form that these composers wish to convey.
And the day you wanted to simply unwind with something “light”, you listened to “magudi” set to the raga Punnaaga-varaali. The raga is soaked with the mesmeric tune that the snake charmer uses to stoke the snake. You can feel the swerve and wave of the snake, in each phrase of “magudi”!
Ragas are like Ganga’s tributariesThe Alakananda, The Mandakini and several tiny Himalayan streams. They traverse their own terrain with their distinct identity. Eventually, they join The Bhaagirathi to become inseparable companions in River Ganga’s onward march to the ocean.
So too, we are glad these ragas found us, walked with us, and became intimate companions in our journey through life!
