Learning Carnatic-Sri Purandara Theory

"The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill, the willingness to learn is a choice". Learning Carnatic music demands certain prerequisites on part of the disciple and the teacher. Once they are met, all the effort would flow towards singing/playing the right notes. What does the term 'right note' denote? These are the swaras/notes, which can penetrate the minds with less resistance. When a student of music gets a hold over these swaras, will she/he get the confidence to venture into the intricacies. 

All the above mentioned factors must be pondered over by a person who devises a syllabus to initiate anyone into the world of music. This was the primary objective of Sri Purandara Dasaru in the 16th century! While the world saw music with a different lens, Sri Purandara had felt the need for streaming Indian classical music.

The 1^st raaga a beginner would get exposed is Maayamaalavagowla. Placing of notes in this raaga is such that, every pair of swaras{(S,R),(G,M)(P,D),(N,S)} would mostly have semblance with each other.  This basic principle of picking the selected swaras and building a raga out of it, would have necessitated a lot of research from Sri Purandara Dasaru. This is because he was going to restructure the field of Classical music, by devising a set pattern of learning and teaching which had to be accepted unanimously.

When we look into the details of the swaras in Mayamaalavagowla, this raaga houses: Shadja(S), Shuddha Rishabha(R1), Antara Gandhara(G3), Shuddha Madhyama(M1), Panchama(P), Shuddha Daivatha(D1), Kaakali Nishaada(N3)[Known as Chyutha Shadja]. 

He then composed Sarale Varase to reinforce the swaras in various patterns and various speeds. 

For instance : SRGM|P,SR||SRGM|PDNS|| SNDP|M,SN|| SNDP|MGRS||.  In this Sarale Pattern , Sri Purandara has included the concept of elongation of a single swara,which is a remarkable aspect that demands more focus and better grasp of the taala.

All these aspects put together would subtly induce the sense of kaala(time), stability in the rhythm, better clarity of swaras, controlled inhaling-exhaling and most importantly an ear to the Shruthi aspect of music for a music learner.

With this we can say that Sri Purandara's thought process in establishing a single raga in the ocean of raagas has been phenomenal. The test of this raaga has stood for more than 5 centuries!

Sri Purandara as a Guru -Sri Purandara Theory

The word "Guru" has a power from within. It is He/She who establishes a bonding for life ,and constantly acts as a torch-bearer in a disciple's life. 

"GURUTVA" means gravitational force, the force that binds the entire creation.

Sri Purandara truly qualifies to be the GURU for the world of music. Some evidences to support this are:

• He reformed society through his devaranamas,by awakening wisdom from within and encouraging us to turn inward.His life was a standing example to show that materialism would not take us very far,turning our souls towards the creator must be the ultimate goal of life.
• He practiced whatever he preached.
• Forethought of devising a syllabus for Carnatic music is   commendable.
• Staying grounded is one of the primary qualities of Sri Purandara. "Daasarendare Purandara Daasarayya" was a kruthi of Sri Vyasarajaru, an instance where the teacher calls the student as "IDEAL" ! Purandara surrenders all the titles at the feet of "Vittala". 
• He set the path of Daasa Saahitya, which was continued by Sri Thyagaraja in the 18th century.

Although we have been fortunate to get a glimpse of only about 20,000 of his compositions, which in itself forms PURANDAROPANISHAD, we hope to imbibe and instill values of Sri Purandara in our lives and the future generations. 

Beginner's Raga(Graphical Analysis of Mayamalavagowla and Kharaharapriya)- Sri Purandara Theory

 About 600 years ago, Vijayanagar empire was the abode of learning. History of Sri Vyasarajaru(Guru of Sri Purandara) says, Sri Vyasarajaru managed about 10,000 teaching staff and also housed many knowledge seekers from Indian universities like Nalanda and foreigners too.

Those were the times when oral methods of learning was in vogue. Vedas, Upanishads and many treatises were taught orally and students were expected to memorize. This was an era when many musical treatises had also shown their presence.

 Ramamatya was King Ramaraaya's minister. His treatise "Swara Mela KalaNidhi" dates back to the year 1550AD, when Sri Purandara was about 65 years of age. One evidence that documents the name of the raga " Malavagowla" is in this treatise.

Some evidences say that Sri Purandara sang ragas like Naata, Ahiri,Gurjari,Paani,Kedaragowla,Sowrashtra,Yadukula Kambhoji and many more.He sang them on the streets and at the doorsteps of the common man,which inturn made these ragas more familiar. Through his extempore on the Saahitya(lyrics) he could make many social reforms too. He was probably the 1st composer who took music for Societal Reformation.

Sri Krishnadevaraya , being a famous ruler of Vijayanagar empire, is believed to have invited court musicians from the length and breadth of the country. Owing to the exposure to different folkforms , Sri Purandara chose the swaras of the folkform of "Malava" region in today's Madhya Pradesh, merged it with the notes of Gowla raga and formulated a new raga "MalavaGowla". Now, that the raga was ready, Sri Purandara's intention was to streamline learning of music through this raga. ! This was indeed a path-breaking step in the field of Classical music.

What might have instigated the need for a new raga, when there was no dearth for raagas during the 15th century?

The swaras of Malavagowla are (S ,R1) (G3 M1) (P D1) (N3 S). As indicated, frequency difference of each pair of swaras is minimal.This is the MOST important aspects of this raaga. The difference of frequency between 2 pairs is significant. Eg. S to R1 shift is small, R1 to G3 shift is significant.

Following are the graphical comparison recorded at the physics laboratory of National College, Jayanagar, Bengaluru .

This shows the frequencies of 2 raagas: Kharaharapriya and Mayamalavagowla. Kharaharapriya ,being an old raaga demands more concentration and energy on part of singer than Mayamalavagowla. The definitive frequency limits of Kharaharapriya is 800 Hz more than Mayamalagowla, which clearly indicates that Kharaharapriya demands more energy than Mayamalagowla. Energy here indicates one's mental capacity.

5 centuries ago, Sri Purandara proved this to the world and made MAYAMAALAVAGOWLA as THE CHOSEN RAGA for  beginners.

Practice and Devotion in Carnatic music- Sri Purandara Theory

Practice or "Saadhana" is one of the most important aspects of qualitative learning.

This is the only element which provides support to the artist and acts as a foundation for further learning.

Sri Purandara Dasaru has quoted the word "Suswara" in one of his compositions. The word "Suswara" is very clear from within, saying that which aligns/ merges with shruthi.

A voice/ instrument, to be able to reach this stage needs certain exercises for flexibility, range, clarity and focus.

This is a point which demands certain material for practice.

Sri Purandara Dasaru comes out as a musicologist and voice expert in this stage.

Previously discussed Janti varse and various Taalas composed by Sri Purandara Dasaru comes to the aid of a music learner, if practiced regularly, gives out unimaginable results.

"Devotion" is the element which brings out the best of the composition,composer and the listener.

"Keleno Hari Thaaleno, Thaala Melagaliddu PREMAvillada gaana" is an instance of Sri Purandara's composition. He clearly states , presentation of a kruthi, without the sense of surrendering to GOD, will never bear any impact on the listener. It would be merely superficial. 

He shows the path of meditation through music. 

Taala and time(Graphical analysis)-Sri Purandara Theory

Taala denotes bonding of time and swaras. 

To define the time limit is very basic and also a responsible task.

The need for taala, is to induce a sense of timing, focus and rhythm in singing.

Saptha Suladi Taalas was the greatest contribution of Haridasas in the field of music. 

Each Suladi Taala bears two components:

1. Jaathi

2. Taala

Merging of Jaathi and Taala makes it easier  to decipher taala.

The role of Sri Purandara Dasaru in this aspect is said to be unmatched.

He devised a method in which each taala is introduced to an amateur learner!

With respect to the learner, it is a stage where she/he gets introduced to various taalas, which indeed is a big leap in their learning curve.

Sri Purandara Dasaru took the aid of swaras of Mayamalavagowla Raaga, embedded each swara into each beat of the taala in a pattern.

All the seven notes followed a pattern, which made the learner get a more clear picture of the taala.

Concept called "Alankaras" was introduced to introduce to the world of sulaadi saptha taalas. Sri Purandara has designed these alankaras to make taalas easy  and approachable . The swaras(frequencies) have been beautifully embedded on taala beats(time). All the alankaras have followed a set pattern,which makes the learner to decipher the next patterns in a given taala easily. 

Following is the graphical analysis  of the patterns followed in each alankara made by me with the help of my Guru .  

The X-axis denotes time between 2 beats(Akshara Kaala)

 Y-axis denotes frequency(swaras)

Chaturashra Jaathi Dhruva Taala

Chaturashra Jaathi Matya Taala

Chaturashra Jaathi Dhruva Taala

Trishra Jaathi Triputa taala

Mishra Jaathi Jhampe Taala

Khanda Jaathi atta taala

Chaturashra Jaathi eka taala

In all graphs Red dotted lines indicate increase in the frequency between Taala Angaas, Green dotted lines indicate decrease in frequency between taala angaas.

Symmetry rules in all these alankaras!

Importance of repititive notes/swaras- Sri Purandara Theory

At this stage, any student would be familiar with the basic swaras of Maayamalavagowla raga and would have familiarized with the taala(Adi taala consisting of 8 beats).

An improvisation is adopted ,where Sri Purandara adopts to twinning of beats and notes. Each note when repeated twice,will provide a different effect ,when compared to the same elongated swara. For instance, : SS will be more rigorous than S,  . 

S, would indicate subtlety SS would appear more vivid. SS should be presented as S,RS which includes bending of each note towards the next note. 

Although both consume the same time on the taala. Each beat in the taala is also repeated twice. This procedure of singing different patterns of swaras in various speeds , will add more strength and rigor to the voice/instrument, which would inturn produce more polished effects on singing. This is one of most important aspect in voice culture techniques.

All these vocal exercises is being experimented in a Sampoorna raga (Raga which has all 7 swaras) ,which gives the learner, freedom to navigate through different swara patterns,which is a boon gifted by Sri Purandara. We often tend to overlook his contributions as learners and teachers of Carnatic music.

If there is a syllabus which is instituting the Saptha swaras and parallely aiming at culturing ones' voice, Sri Purandara Dasaru scores over as the Sangeetha Pitamaha.

Sri Purandara Theory

Carnatic music has been an established form of art (more than 500 years old) with a concrete syllabus for beginners ,solely because of the analytical thinking of Sri Purandara Daasaru ,widely known as the Father of Carnatic Music. His approach towards learning Indian classical music has become an area of research in today's world. 

While we look into the depth of Sri Purandara's understanding of Saptha swaras ,it is crystal clear that he was selective about 1 raga which acted upon as a base for further learning.

 

 The Era of Purandara(15th Century) ,which was not introduced to the structural classification of ragas.

The set syllabus pattern has withstood numerous waves for about 6 centuries. Be it the exposure to western classical in the British era, Mughal influence on Indian music,Carnatic music has stood intact.

We will have a deeper insight into the world of Sri Purandara ,who is looked upon as "Sangeetha Pitaamaha"and also as the composer of 4,75,000 compositions,which binds together to form "Purandaropanishad".

Through these blog series , the reader will be able to appreciate the contributions of Sri Purandara who has depicted himself as a musicologist through various compositional forms. 

Part 1- Learning Carnatic.

Part 2- Importance of repetitive notes(Janti Swaras)

Part 3- Need forPractice and devotion in music

Part 3- Taala and time(Graphical analysis)

Part 4 - Beginner's Raaga(Graphical analysis of Mayamalavagowla and Kharaharapriya)

Part 5 -  Sri Purandara Dasaru as a Guru

PS : This is my humble attempt to bring out the best from the kannada book "Purandara Dasaru Sangeetha Pitamahare" written by my Guru Vid. Dr. RK Padmanabha Sir.