Sanskrit compositions of Tyāgarāja - Gems of musical poetry

Composer - prolific and proficient

Tyāgarāja, one of the Carnatic music Trinity, holds a special place of respect among all who listen to or perform this genre. Compared to other composers, his works are sung and appreciated more widely, highlighting their popularity. His poetic and musical genius is unparalleled; through several generations, he has been credited not only for his compositions but also for inventing unique rāga-s, with his works serving as definitive references for them.

The Carnatic music Trinity, built edifices with their compositions, on which the musical system rests, providing for a more structured format for a concert, infusing variations and varieties in rāga-s, tāla-s and lyrics. Muthuswamy Dikshitar is renowned for his studied academic use of the Sanskrit language with a razor-sharp precision in his approach and prosody, whether explaining the most esoteric philosophy or merely describing a temple or a deity. Śyāmā Śāstri, on the other hand, is known for his outpourings to Dēvī Kāmākṣī in an endearing entreaty, sometimes vexed and sometimes ecstatic. Purandaradāsa, a Haridāsa (devotee dedicated to Lord Viṣṇu), summarised many stories, values of life, Vedic contexts, and Bhāgavata Purāṇa-s into his pada-s (poetic words) with a spiritual overtone on a musical metric. 

Tyāgarāja, primarily a Rāma Bhakta, composed several songs on his iṣṭa dēvata (favourite personal deity). However, he has a copious number of compositions on Dēvī, Śiva, Gaṇapati and a rare one on Subrahmanya too. 

Dr V. Raghavan, in his Introductory Thesis on Tyāgarāja (The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja), says, “in devotion, religious fervour, reformatory zeal and spiritual realisation, his songs approach those of Purandaradāsa”. 

Tyāgarāja is unmatched as a composer with his prolific output, ranging from simple songs in metrical patterns, to Divyanāma Saṅkīrtana full of words, to long-format song essays structured with musical and lyrical compounds, loaded with meaningful epithets, phrases and constructs, to the elaborate Pañcaratna piled up with sentences, svara patterns, philosophical messages and language flourishes. 

Sanskrit as a medium of expression by Tyāgarāja

The immediate language association anyone would make with Tyāgarāja is Telugu. Even a long-time listener under this presumption may be oblivious to the fact that certain compositions of his are in Sanskrit. Some are exclusively in Sanskrit and some in a mixture of Sanskrit and Telugu, with the latter used only nominally.

Here, we must understand Tyāgarāja in the context of the times he lived in, the people around him, and the prevalent music and literature of the time.

Tyāgarāja was born, lived, and composed in an era when most composers used Sanskrit liberally, alongside a predominance of Tamil and Telugu. Before him was Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha, who is well known for his Kṛṣṇa Līlā Taraṅgini in Sanskrit. His contemporaries, the other two members of the Trinity, too, composed in Sanskrit and in maṇipravāla (a combination of languages - in this case, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit). Tyāgarāja himself hailed from a family noted for its literary and musical scholarship. His father, Śrī Rāmabraḥmam, was a scholar who instilled in him a love for language. Meanwhile, his mother nurtured his passion for music by teaching him several Purandaradāsa pada-s. Soṇṭi Veṅkaṭaramanayyā was his Guru, from whom he learned the nuances of singing, rāga-s, and compositions.

Prof. Sambamoorthy, in his book on Tyāgarāja (National Biography Series, 1967 edition) writes, “even in his teens, he showed powers of composing. He wrote his compositions on the walls of his house. The father noticed them and felt a thrill and legitimate pride. He had them shown to such brilliant scholars of the time as Rāmaśēṣa Śāstri and Bhāṣyam Kṛṣṇa Śāstri. They opined that those compositions were of real worth and worthy of preservation. “Namō Namō Rāghavāya” and “tava dāsōham” (both of them, Divyanāma Saṅkīrtana-s and in Punnāgavarāḷi rāga) are two of his earliest attempts.”

According to Dr V. Raghavan (The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja), “some anecdotes are still in flux. There is no unanimity even about the first song the Saint composed or the anecdotes relating to it.” 

However, ‘Namō Namō Rāghavāya-namō namō aniṣam’, in Dēśiya Tōḍi, is recorded as the first composition as per various records, by T S Parthasarathy (Sri Tyagaraja Swami Keerthanaigal). 

It is a Sanskrit composition and one of the songs in the “Divyanāma Saṅkīrtana” series. With eight couplets as caraṇa-s, entirely in Sanskrit, it pays eternal salutations to Śrī Rāma and uses some very beautiful phrases to describe the characteristics of the Lord. 

In the fifth stanza, there is a unique word, Vāyu bhōji bhōgi śāyinē. Here, Vāyu bhōji refers to Ādiśēṣa.  Ādiśēṣa is a snake. A snake swallows air and adapts its breathing smartly underwater. So, it is Vāyu (air) bhōji (eater). The following word bhōgi śāyinē - bhōgi (enjoying, indulgent) śāyinē (one who is sleeping) refers to the indulgent reclination of Rāma as an avatāra of Lord Viṣṇu, on Ādiśēṣa.  Bhōgi also means snake. Hence, another way to interpret this phrase is one who sleeps (śāyine) on the snake (bhogi) that lives on a diet of air (vāyu- bhōji).

The next caraṇa has a term, nūtana navanīta bhakṣinē – bhūtalādi sarvasākṣinē, one who consumes fresh butter and the one who revealed the entire Universe through his mouth.  This passage refers to Kṛṣṇa from the Bhāgavata, indirectly alluding to Rāma as his brother. Such elaborate phrasing highlights Tyāgarāja's skill and intelligence as a Sanskrit litterateur, as he connects various stories and contexts to depict the character or situation at hand. In many songs, Tyāgarāja has coined words and phrases that are intelligently twisted, making one think about their origin and relation to the subject at hand.

Another song that merits discussion in the context of Sanskrit is “Ēla nī daya rādu” in rāga Athāṇā. In this song, except for the above words and the opening phrase of ‘rā rā’ in the opening caraṇa, being in Telugu, all the other lyrics are in Sanskrit - bāla, kanakamaya cēla, sujana paripāla, śrī ramā lōla, vidhṛta śara jāla, śubhada karuṇālavāla, ghana nīla navya vana mālikābharaṇa  (Ēla nī daya rādu).

Some songs start in Sanskrit, branch into Telugu and return to their original start. “Tavadāsōham” in Punnāgavarāḷi and “Pāhi mam Paramātmā” in Varāḷi are two such examples among others.

In “Pāhi mam Paramātmā”, the choice of words is rhythmically meaningful. In the caraṇa line “rāma sakala ripubhīma, muni manōdhāma, trijagat abhirāma”, the words Rāma, Bhīma, and dhāma rhyme with each other.  Tyāgarāja has braided the sentences intricately describing Rāma as sakala ripubheema - one who vanquishes all evil forces, muni manōddhāma – one who resides in the hearts of ṛṣi-s and muni-s, trijagat abhirāma – one who has enchanted the hearts of everyone in all the three worlds. In “Tavadaasoha”’, he alternates between four Sanskrit caraṇa-s and three Telugu caraṇa-s.

In “Bālē Bālēndu Bhūṣani”, a wonderful kṛti in Rītigauḷa, the words Sārē, sakala nigama (vana) sañcārē, capalakōṭi (nibha) śarīrē, devatāṅgana parivārē, pāmarajana dūrē, kīravāṇi śrī pañcanadi pura… drip with beautiful alliterative Sanskrit, first and last syllable rhyme, interspersed with just a little Telugu, describing Goddess Dharmasamvardhani. 

In the Bēgaḍa kṛti “nīvēra kula dhanamu santatamu”, the pallavi and anupallavi are Telugu lines, while all the caraṇa-s are in Sanskrit. We see phrases like Mādhava sītānuja vara sahita, maṅgalakara paramārtha, bhūtacarita, kādiyaga samrakṣaka, satatagatijitāpta,natajanāvṛta vidhi vinuta.

The word satatagatijitāpta is a unique coinage referring to Hanuman as the son of Vāyu and Rāma being close to his heart!

Many a time, he starts with Sanskrit and wonderfully couches Telugu into the body of the kṛti, like in “īśa pāhi mām” in Kalyāṇī, “śivē pāhi mām” in Kalyāṇī, “Śrī Raghuvara Suguṇālaya” in Bhairavī, and “Daśarathanandana”’ in Asāvēri. 

Some songs like “Māmava Satatam” in Jaganmōhini, “Varaśikhi Vāhana” in Supradīpam, “Brindāvana lōla” in Tōḍi, are a few examples of a complete Sanskrit composition, from a whole bunch of compositions, which total fifty-seven in number.

“Varaśikhi Vāhana” merits a special mention in this list. It is the only Sanskrit song on Lord Subraḥmaṇya by Tyāgarāja, in the rāga Supradīpam, an Eka rāga kṛti- a single kṛti in that rāga.

Varaśikhi Vāhana Vārijalōcana means one who rides on a beautiful peacock, with eyes like pink lotus petals.  Varaśikhi – Vārija – the words have been juxtaposed to bring out the description of Subraḥmaṇya. The way he intertwines the last lines of the caraṇa is interesting. This reveals how he forms riddles with words by also telling us the story of the linkages between the Gods. 

In the line Śrī Raghuvīra Bhagineya āptamandara guṇākara tyāgarājārcita, he describes Subraḥmaṇya as Raghuvīra Bhagineya – the beloved nephew of Rāma. āptamandara gunaakara, Tyāgarājarcita – he who is like a wishing tree (mandāra) to his dear ones (āpta), who is a fund of goodness, is worshipped by Tyāgarāja.

Tyāgarāja is a wordsmith whose lexicon is filled with words that carry layered meaning born out of mythological contexts and characteristics of the subject at hand. He uses the words kamalāhita and nata kamalahita dhara in “Śrī Raghuvara Suguṇālaya” in Bhairavī, ingeniously.

The first kamalahita is the one who favours Kamala, the Lord of Goddess Lakṣmī, Viṣṇu, in this case, Rāma. The next one, nata Kamalāhita dhara, has to be split as nata- kamala-ahita-dhara - the one who adorns the Kamala (Lotus)’s ahita (enemy), the Moon. The enemy of the Lotus flower is the Moon, because it blossoms when the Sun is up and closes when the Moon goes up. Here again, he refers to Lord Rāma as someone who is worshipped by the one who adorns the Moon – Lord Śiva.

He has composed an exquisite ‘cūrṇikā’ - long winding prose with compound words, that describes a person, a setting or a situation – at the beginning of the ‘Utsava Sampradāya’ kirtanas. This cūrṇikā is a masterpiece that praises Lord Nārāyaṇa and describes Śrī Vaikuṇṭha and the situation there. It has all the lakṣaṇa or characteristics of how a cūrṇikā should be as per the rules of Sanskrit literature. The last Maṅgaḷam, in this series, “Karuṇārasākṣāya Kāmārivinutāya”, in rāga Ghaṇṭā, is another solid Sanskrit composition. Similarly, he has composed Sanskrit verses at the end of his gēya nāṭaka, “Praḥlāda Bhakti Vijayam” and “Naukā Caritam".

Tyāgarāja's compositions total about seven hundred in number, as per records available. Of these, fifty-seven (listed below), are complete Sanskrit compositions. The language purists may have an opinion on the academic aspects of Tyāgarāja's usage of the Sanskrit language, but none can fault his ingenuity and inventive essaying of the narrative with a wide lexicon of intelligent phrases. His Sanskrit compositions flow with ease and are endearing with devotion-filled poetry layered with mellifluous musical passages. Tyāgarāja's Sanskrit compositions and his philosophy are captured best by him in the last line of the kṛti ‘Nādatanum aniṣam Śaṅkaram’, where he says, ‘vidyālōlam vidalitakālam, vimalahrudaya Tyāgarājapālam’ – a prayer to the Nādabrahman to accept the humble and clean-hearted offerings of Tyāgarāja and bless him.

Addendum: List of 57 Sanskrit compositions of Tyāgarāja.

               १. भजरे भज मानस रामम्

               २. भज रामं सततं मानस

               ३. वृन्दावन लोल

               ४. दाशरथे दयाशरधे

               ५. देव राम राम

               ६. देव श्री तपस्तीर्थ पुर निवास

               ७. देवादिदेव ! सदाशिव !

               ८. देहि तव पादभक्तिम्

               ९. दीनजनावन !

               १०. एहि त्रिजगदीश !

               ११. गानमूर्त्

               १२. गत मोहाश्रितपाला

               १३. गिरिराजसुतातनय

               १४. जगदानन्दकारक

               १५. जानकीरमण

               १६. जनकजासमेत

               १७. जय मङ्गळं नित्य शुभ मङ्गळ

               १८. जो जो राम

               १९. कलशवार्धिजाम्

               २०. क्षीरसागरविहार

               २१. महित प्रवृद्ध

               २२. मामव सततम्

               २३. मानस सञ्चर रे

               २४. मारवैरि

               २५. नादतनुं अनिशम्

               २६. नमो नमो राघवाय

               २७. निरवधि सुखद

               २८. पाहि पाहि दीनबन्धो

               २९. पाहि परम दयाळो

               ३०. पाहि रामदूत

               ३१. पाहि रामचन्द्र

               ३२. पालय श्री रघुवीर

               २१. परिपालय दाशरथे

               ३४. परिपालय माम्

               ३५. फणिपतिशायि

               ३६. रघुपते

               ३७. राम एव दैवतम्

               २१. रामं भजेहम्

               ३९. सामजवरगमन

               ४०. शम्भो महादेव

               ४१. शम्भो शिव शङ्कर गुरु

               ४२. सारस नेत्रापारगुण

               ४३. सीता कल्याण वैभोगमे

               ४४. शोभाने शोभाने

               ४५. श्री गणनाथं भजाम्यहम्

               ४६. श्री जनकतनये

               ४७. श्री नारद नादसरसीरुह

               ४६. श्री नारसिंह मां पाहि

               ४९. श्री रघुवराप्रमेय मामव

               ५०. श्री रघुवर दाशरथे

               ५१. श्री राम राम जग(दा)त्म राम

               ५२. सुजन जीवन

               ५३. सुन्दरतर देहम्

               ५४. वरलील गानलोल

               ५५. वरद नवनीताश

               ५६. वरशिखिवाहन

               ५७. वासुदेव वरगुण