by Ashok Madhav madhav_pgh@yahoo.com 

There are several interesting types of krutis in the musical literature. As a general rule, compositions of the Trinity do not have chittaswarams at all.  If  chittaswarms are sung along with the krutis of the Trinity, they have been added later on by their disciples  or other musicians.

Tyagaraja compositions are devotional in nature and surely no chittaswarams are added by him. Tiruvaiyaru Sivaramakrishna Iyer, a grand disciple of Tyagaraja  is credited to have added chittaswarams to many Tyagaraja kritis.  Other musicians have also embellished  krutis of Tyagaraja like “Nenarunchi nanu” in Malavi, “Vararaga laya” in Chenchu- kamboji, “Yochana kamala” in Darbar, “Raka sasi vadana” in  Dakka, “Mamava satatam”, “Shobillu saptaswara” both in Jaganmohini with attractive  chittaswarams. 

So are many other krutis like “Raga ratna.malikache” in Ritigoula,

“Kanna tandri napai/.” in Devamanohari, “ Darini telusu konti”, in Shudda saveri, “ “ Ninne bhajana”  in Nata, “ Nee pada pankaja” in Begada, “ Telisi rama chintanato “ in Purnachandrika, “Anathudanu ganu/“.in Jingla, “ Giriraja suta” in Bangala, “Marugelara” in Jayanthasri and a few other krutis have beautiful chittaswarams.

A few of Muthuswami Dikshitar compositions have chittaswarams added on. “Sri Rama Saraswati “ in Nasamani and “Anandamrutakarshini “ in Amrita varshini have elegant chittaswarams. Some of Shyama Shastri’s compositions  have chittaswarams added on by his son, Subbaraya Shashtri. “ Marivere/.gati” in Anandabhairgvi  is one such kruti.

If sahitya is added to suit the chittaswaram for a particular kruti, it becomes swara-sahitya. Shyama/. Shastri is the first one to introduce swara-sahityas in his

krutis. In that, the swaras/. ( dhatu ) part is rendered after the anupallavi and the corresponding  sahitya (mathu) section at the end of charanam. Subaraya/. Shastri himself has made compositions with built in chittaswaram.  ”Ninnu vina gati” in Kalyani/. has an attractive chittaswaram,   These kinds of krutis are generally known as swara-sahitya krutis. Some charanams of  Tyagaraja’s ghana raga Pancharatnas  have swara-sahitya pattern. Merattur Venkatarama.Iyer’s  swarajati,  “E mandayanara” in Huseni has swara-sahitya pattern in the latter part. Mysore Sadashiva Rao’s compositions have elegant  swara-sahitya patterns. 

Shyama/ Shastri’s grandson,  Annaswami Shastri has  added swara-sahitya to  his grand father’s  madhyamavathi kruti- “Palinchu Kamakshi “  as follows:   “ Kanakagiri sadana/. lalitha/ninu bhajana santatamu jeya nijanudan vinumu nikhila bhuvana jananivi ipudu ma duritamu dirchi varalichi ”. His   O- Jagadamba kruti,  swara-sahitya pattern starts at  “Vara sita giri nilayuni…..” Sadashiva Rao’s kruti- Saketanagara natha’s  swara-sahitya pattern begins with “Deva devamuni janahita……”.

Other  examples could be cited here. Shyama/ Shashtri krutis like  Janani ninnu vina (Ritigoula),  Ninnu sevinchina ( Yadukula kamboji) and Sri.Parthasarathe (Bhairavi ) have swara-sahitya pattern.  Mysore Sadashiva Rao kruti, Vachama gocharundani (Athana ) has similar swara-sahitya pattern. A few krutis of Subbaraya Shashtri have swara- sahitya pattern.

These innovative music composers have left a treasure of great krutis for the posterity to enjoy.