A lec-dem at The Music Academy drew attention towards the improvisational forms of raga exposition in Carnatic music

V. Subashri and Vignesh Krishnamurthy

Day 6 of academic sessions at The Music Academy began with a lecture titled ‘An examination of Alapa and Thaya’, by Arati Rao. Both Alapa and Thaya have been described in the 17th century treatises, Sangita Sudha of Govinda Dikshitar and Chaturdandi Prakashika of Venkatamakhin. The former describes the rules of rendering Alapas in 50 ragas. The Sangita Ratnakara of Sarangadeva (13th century), discusses two improvisational forms of raga exposition: Alapas of Grama Ragas and Alaptis of Desi Ragas. The speaker compared these forms with the Alapas described in Sangita Sudha and Chaturdandi Prakashika, and with musical notations from the TMSSML library. By the 17th century, Alapa and Thaya had morphed into pre-composed musical forms. 

The speaker described how the connotation of technical terminologies change with time. Amsa svara in the Grama Raga period had the important function of defining the boundaries of the octave of a Jati. By the 17th century, Amsa svara referred to an important note in the raga.

Alapa-Chaturdandi Prakashika: The four major stages of Alapa – Introduction (akshiptika/ayittam), elaboration (ragavardhini), build-up (sthayi) and conclusion (vartani) were described. Ragavardhini and sthayi have multiple sections. Each sthayi consists of melodic phrases around a base note, touching another note. 

Alapa-Sangita Sudha: In the Sangita Sudha, every Alapa is preceded by the raga lakshana. The speaker noted that in some ragas, the graha svara is not shadja, which appears to be a remnant from earlier times when shadja was not the tonic note. Similar to today, every Alapa ends on shadja, raising a question regarding the role of the Nyasa Svara. 

The sthayi sections were named after the corresponding base note, e.g., Panchama sthayi refers to a section with base note Pa. Interestingly, no sthayi has dhaivata and nishada as base notes in the Sangita Sudha. Arati Rao conjectured that a high base note would necessitate going well into the next octave. She pointed out the sthayi structure which emerges in Syama Sastri’s Bhairavi svarajati.

Arati Rao played a recording of a Malahari Alapa, interpreted from TMSSML manuscripts. It consists of short phrases. The raga lakshana in Sangita Sudha and notations mostly agree, excluding graha svara which is listed as shaivata in Sangita Sudha, but is not reflected in the notation. Its flow differs from the format in Sangita Sudha,.

The speaker observed that the actual number of Alapa stages in notations is always less than in Sangita Sudha, conjecturing that the format in Sangita Sudha, might have represented the maximum possible scope of Alapa, and that it may not be necessary to traverse the full extent in practice. 

Thaya: First mentioned in the Sangita Samaya Sara of Parsvadeva (13th century), it refers to melodic phrases. Thayas in manuscripts follow Alapa notations, and are sometimes similar to Sthayi of Alapa, prompting the question of why both existed. Some scholars have described present-day Alapanas, independent of olden concepts. 

The experts committee discussed the possibility of comparing the Alapas of currently popular ragas in notations with treatises, and the challenges therein. Sangita Kalandhi designate T. M. Krishna also spoke about the possibility of evolution of Thaya from a vocal to instrumental composition. Krishna also discussed the tala-bound and non-tala bound forms

In all, the lecture consisted of a wealth of insights gained from painstaking study of notations and treatises, and raised many important questions for further research.

The second session of the day was ‘Evocative expressions of Mohiniyattam using Karnatik Music’ by Mohiniyattam exponent and this year’s Nritya Kalanidhi awardee Neena Prasad.

The senior dancer began the presentation by speaking about the role of Carnatic music in different dance styles, particularly referring to Mohiniyattam and how it aids in expressing the emotions of the compositions being performed. She explained how Mohiniyattam typically uses Carnatic music in a soft and slow manner as opposed to other dance forms (the phrase vilamba kaala sangeetham was used). This was highlighted by the first piece performed, a Chollukattu in Reetigowla and set to Chatusra Ata tala. 

Neena Prasad performed excerpts from her choreographic works to highlight the use of Carnatic ragas in them
| Photo Credit:
K. Pichumani

The focus then shifted to the meaning of the sahitya. A piece ‘Sakhe krishnasakhe’ adapted from a play by Pratibha Ray on Draupadi was performed. In it, Draupadi writes to Krishna asking for a normal life upon rebirth, after being helpless at her predicament. This was tuned in raga Latangi to convey the poignancy in the lyrics.

This was followed by a piece on Devayani (another character from the Mahabharata) and her fight with friend Sharmishta. Here, raga Darbar was used to evoke aggression. Neena Prasad then spoke about her extensive work with Syama Sastri’s Bhairavi swarajathi and performed the pallavi and first swara-sahitya. This was perhaps the first time this composition was being dealt with in Mohiniyattam. It was also interesting to note that the Bhairavi swarajathi was mentioned in both presentations!

Neena spoke about the dance being an undercurrent in the experience to bring out the beauty of the music and sahitya. This was a fascinating statement given that it was from the perspective of a dancer.

‘How to choose appropriate ragas?’ was an important topic that was mentioned several times during the presentation, especially in the Q&A session when Naresh Keerthi of Ashoka University asked about ragas chosen in choreographies with strong narrative content as opposed to ones without.

Neena Prasad concluded the lec-dem with a moving presentation based on Amrapali, when she comes out to see a graveyard-like battlefield. This emotional piece was set to raga Ganamurthi, a Vivadi raga. In his summation, T.M. Krishna pointed out that the sound of the vivadi note generates a dissonant emotional response from the listener, comparing it to ‘the devil’s note’ in Western music.

Krishna discussed the idea of raga bhava meaning different things in different art forms. He also raised questions about kalapramana (pace) of a raga, asking what the threshold is beyond which a raga disappears. 

Many of the pieces that were presented were set to tune by Changanasherry Madhavan Nampoothiri, who has been Neena’s collaborator over three decades and provided vocals for the lec-dem. Towards the end, he spoke about how his choice of raga is driven primarily by the emotion of the text. They were also supported by Vidya Pradeep on the nattuvangam and K.P. Ramesh Babu on the mridangam.