Swathi Thirunal

SWATHI THIRUNAL
The Composer and the Choreographer

Maharaja Swathi Thirunal was a rare genius. It would be difficult to find a parallel. Like all such men of extraordinary genius, he also passed away in his early ’Thirties. Erudite scholar, enviable linguist, rare aesthete, builder of vision, administrator of varied dimensions, connoisseur of everything artistic, and above all a great poet and composer. Swathi Thirunal compressed into his short span of life some of the most magnificent achieve­ments of human capability, as generations after him wonder at his miraculous achievements. Scholars have despaired at the great heights of glory he had reached.

Swathi Thirunal, who was born into a family with justifiable pride of ancestry, was educated by a galaxy of scholars and aided by the best private library of the South available in his own palace. Swathi Thirunal had mastered Sanskrit, English, Persian, Hindustani, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada in addition to his mother-tongue, Malayalam, at the early age of 16, when he ascended the throne and became Maharaja Swathi Thirunal.

With all the administrative talent available around him, one can imagine the plight of a 16 year old lad, when placed in charge as the ruler of a State, faced with many problems – social, political and financial. History has recorded that during his reign he had handled those problems with the sagacity of a far more mature man of wisdom and administrative experience. Being an avid reader and lover of books, he built the Government Press and organised both the public library and the manuscript library. Although a great scholar and poet in his own right, he is remembered more as a composer of music and the choreo­grapher of Mohiniattam, the indigenous dance form of Kerala. Swathi Thirunal also composed hundreds of lasting works in poetry and music. His Sanskrit works other than musical compositions include Bhaktimanjari a devotional poem consisting of 101 Slokas; Syanandoorapura Varnanam, describing the city of Trivandrum and the reigning deity Sri Padmanabha Swamy; Sri Padmanabha Satakam, another devotional poem in praise of Lord Padmanabha; Ajamilopakhyana and Kuchelopakhyana two musical pieces for Harikatha performances; Utsava Varnana Prabandham, describing the temple festival of Sri Padmanabba Swamy; an introduction to Anyopadesa Sataka. Another lasting work of his is a discourse on the various Praasas used in poetry particularly, the Moolanupraasa and the Antyaakhshara Praasa.

Swathi Thirunal composed over 500 songs. But so far we have been able to get only 313 of them. There is a common belief that his signature “Padmanabha” is there in all his works. That is not true. There are many compositions of Swathi Thirunal which do not contain that signature. Of the songs that are available, 197 are in Sanskrit, 63 in Malayalam, 37 in Hindustani, 8 in Telugu and one in Kannada. In addition he has also composed 5 Tillanas. He has used with eclat rare Ragas like Poorvakamodari, Suddhabhairavi, Dyujaavanti, Lalita-Panchaka, Maalavi and Gopika Vasanta. Some ofthese however were popular in the Kathakali literature which was there before him. His Hindustani compositions include Drupat, Khayal, Tumri, Gazal and Taranas. He also adopted from Marathi, Ragas like Saki, Bhindi, Ovi, Panchachamaera and Kakavali. His Kirtanas are all devotional, mostly addressed to his family deity Sri Padmanabha. Of the 188 Kirtanas com­posed by him 150 are in Sanskrit, 37 in Hindustani and one in Kannada.

So far we have found 65 Pad as composed by him for Bharatanatyam and Mohiniattam. 50 of them are in Malayalam, 10 in Sanskrit and 5 in Telugu. He has also composed 19 Chaukavarnas and 2 Tanavarnas. Of the 19 Chaukavarnas 17 are in Sanskrit, one in Telugu and one in Malayalam. Both the Tanavarnas are in Telugu. Every composition of Swathi Thirunal is distinguished by the choice of the most appropriate words, a regal flow of poetry and a very enjoyable musical quality. When you start singing a composition of his, the intrinsic feature of the Raga gets expounded in the very first line. Being a good musician himself, he could bring into his works a rare content that any musicologist would envy.

Swathi Thirunal was to an extent a contemporary of the great musical composers Tyagarajaswami, Muthuswamy Deekshitar and Shyama Sastry. While Swathi Thirunal died at the age of 34 in l847, Tyagarajaswami outlived him by a year and died at the age of 88 in 1848. Muthuswamy Deekshitar died at the age of 60 in 1835 when the Maharaja was 22 years old. Shyama Sastri died at the age of 64 in 1827 when the Maharaja was only 14. At the time of Swathi Thirunal the most popular compositions in Karnatic music were no doubt those of Tyagaraja­swami. There is reason to believe that the Maharaja was to an extent inspired by Tyagarajaswami’s compositions which were also dedicated to Rama, an Avataara of Sri Padmanabha.

During the period of Tyagaraja and the other great com­posers we do not find any significant musical compositions in Tamil. The only one that attracted spontaneous attention was Nandanar Charitam, by Gopalakrishna Bharat. It is significant that we have not so far been able to locate a single song, Kirtana or Pada by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal composed in Tamil. He too must have felt, like his great contemporaries, the inadequacy of the Tamil alphabet. Much later Pattanam Subramanya Iyyar, Bharatiyar, Papanasam Sivan and others have composed delightful songs in Tamil.

The Maharaja’s unique concept of the aesthetics of various Ragas are clearly seen in his famous Navaratri Kritis. He has chosen the Raga with particular ease to be in tune with the mood or Sankalpa of the Mother in each Kriti. Thus his Devi Jagajjanani is in Sankaraabharana, Pahimaam Sri Vageeswari in Kalyani, Devi Paavane in Saaveri, Bharati Maamava in Thodi, Janani Paahisada in Suddhasaaveri, Paahi Janani in Naatakuranji and Paahi Parvatanandini in Aarabhi.

The beginning of the 19th century was the golden age of Thanjavoor. That was the time when the famous Thanjavoor quartet, Ponnayya, Chinnayya, Shivanandarn and Vadivelu, the Nattuvanars of Dasiyattam, emerged as the saviours of our national heritage, the Bharatanatyam which had decayed through centuries of sensuality when the leaders of society were more interested in the artists than in the art form. By their effort Bharatanatyam recaptured its classical stature and its remark­able beauty. Like Dasiyattam in Tamil Nadu, Mohiniattam of Kerala had, over the centuries, undergone considerable decay. When the Maharaja learnt that the degenerated Dasiyattam had been revitalised and recreated into an exquisite Bharatanatyam, the creative genius in him was roused. It was Swathi Thirunal who gave a total tilt to the music of Mohiniattam. Before his time, the music was set to pure Sopaana style. Swathi Thirunal more or less replaced it with an emphasis on the Carnatic style.

In the court of Swathi Thirunal there was a galaxy of scholars, poets and artists. They included Kunju Krishna Pothuval, Haripattu Kochupillai Varyar, Rama Varyar, Mysore Simhadri Sastry, Kumbhakonam Vasudevachari, Choladesam Ksheerabdhi Sastri, Sankaranath Josyar and above all, Ananda Padmanabha Goswamy, famous as Meru Swamy, the legendary exponent of Harikatha. The Maharaja utilized the presence of these courtiers to develop his knowledge of different languages and to appreciate their nuances so that he could compose music in those languages with mastery.

The last few years of Swathi Thirunal were years of mental agony and distress to the Maharaja. Due to intrigues and increasing interference of Gen. Cullen, the British Resident, in the internal affairs of the administration, the Maharaja became despondent and slowly withdrew from his administrative responsi­bilities Though it was most unfortunate for the state administra­tion, like the curse of Urvasi, it was indeed a boon to music lovers. Those were the moments when the Maharaja sought refuge at the feet of Sri Padmanabha, and some of his most melodious songs like Saarasaakshaparipaalayamaam in Pantuvarali came out on such occasions in unpremeditated strains of profound sorrow and sweetness.

Swathi Thirunal spread his rays of kindness and glory like the sun on everyone around him. They, indeed, like the moon, did enjoy the splendour of that bounteous glory.