04-GOVINDACHARYA
Entirely based on
https://sreenivasaraos.com/tag/govindacharya/
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GOVINDACHARYA
Again, during late 17th – early 18th century, a person called Govindacharya the author of
Samgraha-chudamani changed the names of some Melas of Venkatamakhin.
[Sri T R Srinivasa Ayyangar , in his introduction to Sangraha Chudamani of Govinda , edited by Pandit Sri Subrahmanya Sastry (Published by The Adyar Library, 1938) writes : The author of this work Govinda , popularly known as Govindacharya, to distinguish him from his famous namesake , does not seem to have been known otherwise to fame. Neither his place of nativity , nor his antecedents , nor the time when he flourished can be traced with any accuracy.
Further , Sri Ayyangar mentions : a manuscript copy of Sangraha Chudamani was in possession of Manabuccavadi Venkata Subba Ayyar , an immediate disciple of Sri Thyagaraja; and, it had been copied by Maha vadidyanatha Sivan and Pattanam Subrahmanya Ayyar..
It is , therefore, very likely that Sri Thyagaraja was familiar with the text and its Mela classifications.]
Govindacharya expanded on Venkatamakhin’s Mela concept by introducing the Sampoorna Meladhikara (equivalent term to Melakarta) scheme which has a complete (sampoorna) Saptaka : both in the Arohana and the Avaroha structure; and importantly the Svaras are to be in linear order. In this scheme, the Mela-kartas arise out of systematic permutation of the seven Svaras into the twelve Svara-sthanas.
Govindacharya is also said to written lakshana-gitas and lakshana-slokas (numbering in all 366) covering 294 Janya Ragas. And, it is believed, he refined the Katyapadi prefixes by linking the Mela Ragas to their first two syllables of their names. This system of 72 Mela is the Karnataka Mela system of the present day.
Some say; while devising the system of 72 Meladhikara-s, based on 22 Srutis, Govindacharya adopted the nomenclatures and characteristics that were used by the musicologist Akalanka (later than Venkatamakhin?) in his Telugu work Sangita sara sangrahamu. Akalanka had developed his system on the basis of the Sruti positions in a Rudra-veena ; and, had employed the Katapayadi mode of computation. In the system devised by Akalanka, the Melakartas were complete both in the Aroha and the Avaroha. Sri Subrahmanya Sastry beleives that Sri Tyagaraja was the first Vakgeyakara to introduce Akalanka’s Melakartas ; and to compose Kritis , illustrative of their principles.
[Please refer to the Sangraha Chudamani of Govinda, edited by the renowned scholar, Pandit Sri S . Subrahmanya Sastry; and, published by Adyar Library, 1938. Please do read the highly educative introduction written by Sri T R Srinivasa Ayyangar.
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Govindacharya’s insistence on a Sampurna Arohana–Avarohana profile lent the Mela-karta a sort of elegance.
And, seen from another view, the Mela-karta scheme appears as a product of mathematical abstraction.
And, naming of the Mela, the ragas, the Svaras (and introduction of Vivadi Svaras) seem rather incidental to its technical process.
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Sri Mutthuswamy Dikshitar followed Venkatamahin’s scheme (Kanakambari-Phenadyuti); while, Sri Tyagaraja gave forms to most of the Ragas in the other scheme (Kanakangi-Rantnangi).
The subtle but main difference between the two schemes appears to be the importance given to the linearity and non-linearity of the Svaras in Arohana and Avarohana.
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Prof. Ramanathan explains : The difference between Mela-karta and Raganga-raga is that while the former (Mela-karta) had to have all the seven Svaras in both the Aroha (ascent) and in the Avaroha (descent); but, for the latter (Raganga-raga) it was sufficient if the seven Svaras were present either in Aroha or in Avaroha. Further , in Mela-karta , the Aroha and Avaroha the seven Svaras have to occur in their regular (krama) sequence ; while in the Raganga –raga , the sequence of Svaras in Aroha and Avaroha could be irregular (vakra) .
With these stipulations, the sequence of the Svaras in Aroha and Avaroha became the defining characteristic of a Raga. And , in about a century following the Chaturdandi-prakashika , the eminent composers , mainly the Trinity, composed Kritis in the Ragas classified under all the 72 Melas.
But , in the later period , the distinction between the Mela and the Raganga-Raga gradually faded away; and, the two concepts merged into one.
Thus, the formulation of the 72 Mela-prastara and the later auxiliaries greatly influenced the course of the South Indian classical music of the later period.