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Omissions and Commissions on Dikshithar's Krithis on Sri Rama

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • October 15, 1996 


Dear Friends : 

One of our dear  fellow members invited my attention to 
the Krithi "Santhana Ramaswaminam " in Raga 
HindoLa Vasantham as a missing piece. I am 
glad to add it. This Krithi set in a Janya Ragam 
of Nata Bhairavi is indeed a beautiful tribute by
Dikshithar to the Santhana Ramaswamy of 
the town of NeedAmangalam (Yamunampuram ) 
in Tanjore District .

After thinking about this omission, It occured to me 
that I had left out three more krithis on Sri Rama by
Dikshithar . They are :

1. Ramachandrayaa -- Ragam Hejjajji in Dikshitar 
tradition and the 13 th Melam in the other tradition
(Gayakapriyaa ) .

2. Kodhanda Raamam in the raga Kokilaaravam in
Dikshitar tradition and the 11th mela kartha in the 
other tradition ( Kokilapriyaa ) .

3 . Maamava Raghuveera -- Ragam Maahuri , a derivative
of the Mela ragam, Hari Kambhoji .

Finally , Ragam Jyothi SvarupiNi that I referred to earlier
is known as Jyothi in Dikshithar tradition.

Sri Dikshitar has composed many beautiful krithis on 
some of the Vishnu  archa Murthys of  108 Divya Desam and Abhimana 
sthalams as well as the presiding deities of the Vaishnavite 
temples close to his home town of Thiruvaarur. Although ,
the majority of his krithis are on his upasanaa murthys 
( Sri Subramanya and Sri Lalitha Parameswari ) , his 
repertoire of songs on Vaishnava Divya Desams is
significant in number . These are in addition to the ones 
on Sri Ramachandra referred to in this and previous posting .

Sri Dikshitar was a great believer in Kshethraadanam unlike 
Saint Thyagaraja and Shyamaa SastrigaL . The latter  were 
home bodies compared to Dikshithar . Wherever Dikshithar  went ,
he composed a krithi on the presidng deity of that Divya Desam.

A complete list of songs on Vishnu has to wait for 
another time.Some of the famous ones
or the most familar ones made famous by our great Sangeetha 
Vidwaans are :

1. Sri Rangapura Vihara _ Brindhavana Saarangaa on Sri Ranganatha
2-3 :  Varadarajam -- Ragas Gangaa Tarangini & Saarangaa
(On Lord Varadaraja of Kanchipuram ) 
4. Sundarajam -Panthuvaraali ( Thirumaalirumcholai )
5. Soundara Rajam --Brindhavana Saaaranga 
( On the presding deity of NagapattiNam )
6. Pannaga Sayana - Madhyamaavathi
( On the Lord of Thiruvanthapuram ).
7. Sri Krishnam -Thodi (Sri Guruvayurappan )
8. Sri Rajagopalam -Saveri ( Mannargudi )
9. Parimala Ranganatham --Hameer Kalyaani 
(Thiru Indaloor)      
10 .-13 : On Govinda Raja of Tillai Thiruchitrakootam
( Ragas -- Surutti, Mukhaari, Rathipriyaa/Rishabapriyaa, 
Mesa Bowli ) . 
14. Sri Parthasaarathinaa --Suddha Dhanyaasi 
( on Sri Parthasarathi of ThiruvallikeNi ).
15. Narasimha - Mohanam ( Sholingar )
16. Nara Harim --Suddha MaaLavi .

There are seven( ? )   krithis on Maha Lakshmi, the consort 
of Sriman Narayana that I wrote about earlier.

On this navarathri Occasion, I thank our fellow member ,
who triggered this line of thought on Dikshithar's
contributions to Bhakthi-laden songs on Vishnu .

V.Sadagopan