Carnatic music lovers of Kochi recently had the opportunity to listen to all the Kamalamba Navavarana kritis. These compositions, nine in numbers, by Muthuswamy Dikshitar are in praise of the Goddess Kamalamba, the deity of the Tyagaraja Temple of Tiruvarur in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. Thiruvarur is the place of birth of both Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar. Dikshitar was an ardent follower of the Sri Vidya cult. Each of the navavarana compositions is dedicated to a Goddess and has with a chakra name and mantra.
The kritis were neatly rendered by a group of singers led by G. Bhuvaneswari. Sowmya Parasuram, Radha Madhav, Usha Rajaram and Geetha Krishnan were the other singers. Though there was no rendering of ragalapana or kalpanaswaras for any of the songs, the singers could enthral the listeners with their melodious and flawless rendition of these Sanskrit compositions soaked in devotion.
Prior to the recital, the group rendered ‘Sri Mahaganapatim’ in the raga Gowla, ‘Bala subramaniya’ in the raga Suruti and Dhyana kriti ‘Kamalambike...’ in Thodi raga. Rendition of navavarana kritis began with the Anandabharavi composition ‘Kamalamba samrakshatumam...’ set to Misra Chapu tala. This was followed by ‘Kamalambha Bhajare...’ in Kalyani set to Adi tala. ‘Sri Kamalaambikayam’ in Sankarabharanam set to Roopaka, which followed, was in a slow tempo. Next was an avarana kriti in Kamboji raga, set to Adi tala. This was followed by the Bhairavi composition ‘Kamalambikayaah…’ set to Jamba Tala. The sixth kriti in Punnagavarali, Roopaka tala, the seventh one in raga Sahana, Triputa Tala and the eighth kriti in raga Ghanta, Adi tala, showcased the dedication of the singers. The last and ninth kriti was in the raga Ahiri, Roopaka Tala.
The recital wound up with Mangala kriti ‘Sri Kamalambike…’ in Sri raga. The programme was jointly organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Rasikapriya in connection with Navarathri celebrations.
