Where does beauty lie - in the Raga or Sahitya? Explored through Sahana Ragam

-------published in the The Hindu dated May 25th 2017  All pictures have been taken from the net.  
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/where-does-beauty-lie/article18576230.ece

What defines a Kriti  - Sahitya or Raga? 

There is a lot of debate on whether a kriti or song is considered great because of the lyrics (sahitya) or because of the ‘raga’ to which it is set to.   The sahitya conveys an immense amount of bhakti and emotion, transporting both the singer and the listener to a different world.   Definitely, the bhava and the raga adds to the allure and enriches the entire experience.  While purists argue that certain compositions have attained greatness thanks to the purity of thought in the lyrics, modernists and rasikas allege that the greatness of the composition is also affected by the raga in which it is composed.   The same song may possibly not be as impactful when sung with a different tune. 

It certainly is a continuing debate and there can be no clear answers.  After all music, like beauty, lies in the eyes /ears of the beholder / listener.

Take for example the raga Sahana.  It is a very melodious and beautiful raga.  It is very gentle on the ears, has a smooth, well-rounded flow without any sudden or jerky movements.  Just listening to the tune being played on an instrument evokes a certain sense of beauty tinged with a little sadness.  If one were to personify Sahana raga, it would be a very sweet, shy and beautiful damsel, one whose eyes shine forth with tenderness and innocence; one who is the embodiment of feminine grace, motherly affection and compassion.   

There are quite a few kritis  like Thyagaraja’s ‘Vandanamu Raghunandana’ set to Sahana.   This is a simple composition – Thyagaraja first pays salutation to Lord Rama and entreats Him to have mercy and to not mock his followers.  He pleads for being one with Rama, requests the Lord to come to him and promises never to fail or leave His altar.  The sahitya in the charanam is beautifully written and follows a rhythmic pattern – the verses end with the same note.   While the lyrics themselves are poetic, Sahana raga lends an ethereal beauty to the song.  It wonderfully captures the beauty of the song and Thyagaraja’s pleas for salvation are evocatively highlighted. His anguish and devotion are palpable - one can almost feel the sadness when Thyagaraja  entreats “Please stop playing games with me; with a glance, please save me.”    This marriage between the saahitya and the raga clearly brings a greatness to the song – making it unique and memorable.

K.Balachander's epic serial Rail Sneham

K.Balachander

In the film world, K.Balachander’s epic TV serial Rail Sneham has a popular song set to this raga which is sung beautifully by Dr.K.J.Yesudas.  The song ‘Indha Veenai ka Theriyaadhu’ has some wonderful lyrics that highlights the poignancy of the characters’ situation – played by Nizhalgal Ravi as the Father and Baby Indra as his teenage daughter.  She is aptly named Sahana.  She does not know that she is a child born of wedlock.    She reads about the story of her father’s past through his diary and thus gets to know the truth about her dead mother and her own birth.  The song, penned by V.S Narasimhan, likens the baby who does not know its real father with the veena instrument whose maker also remains unknown.    While the song has a melancholic note to it, the lyrics manage to bring in a positive note – portraying images of a life filled with hope. Sahana raga, soft and mellifluous, enhances the sadness of the situation and makes the lyrics more meaningful.  

From the movie Veera Abhimanyu

Poet Kannadasan

Sahana raga is also used beautifully in the song “Paarthen Sirithen” from the black and white Tamil movie Veera Abhimanyu, released in the year 1965.  The love, the passion and the aching eagerness felt by the hero and heroine to be united together is breathtakingly captured by Kannadasan’s lyrics and needless to say Sahana raga brings alive the tenderness felt by the romantic couple.  The song itself has amazing lyrics, and the poet Kannadasan (a much-sought after lyricist and a poet par excellence) has penned lines with unique word-play, amazing puns and punctuated the verses with beautiful rhyming.  He uses the word ‘then’ in the song nearly 30 times to convey the love shared by Abhimanu and Uthara.  The song, set to Sahana raga by composer K.V.Mahadevan has been sung by P.B Srinivas and P.Susheela.  This amalgam of simple yet profound lyrics with the soul-stirring sweetness of Sahana raga makes the song a memorable composition, an ever-green melody, despite it being first rendered nearly half a century ago.

From the movie Avvai Shanmugi

Sahana is again used wonderfully in the song “Rukku Ruku Ruku” from the movie Avvai Shanmugi.  Here, the raga continues to be soft and melodious but at the same time is a little playful.  The lyrics, the situation, and the picturisation of the song also lend a fun element to the song to make it a breezy and catchy number. 

So the importance of the raga and the part played by it in enhancing the meaning of a song cannot be discounted.  If anything, the raga and the sahitya merge together to create a musical masterpiece – one that survives the passage of time and continues to shine like a beacon, giving pleasure in equal measure both to the singer and the listener.