Pittsburgh Patrika October 2018 issue

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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 24, No. 1, October 2018 Bhamini and Vaishnavee’s Delighful Karnatic Arangetram By P Sundararaman, Allison Park, PA All children are natural musicians. Obsession to music is what makes them talented. Right training and rigorous practice can make them performers, if they so desire. Bhamini and Vaishnavee, teenage daughters of Hema and V Sundararaman, gave an impressive debut vocal Karnatic duo recital at the SV Temple auditorium on Sunday, July 8, 2018. Rasikas, discerning and common alike, enjoyed the concert, encouraging them with well-deserved applause. Their Guru — Tirumala Penugonda Chakrapani and Seethalakshmi Madhavan — have given them a firm foundation in fundamentals of Karnatic music, further kindling their desire for creative music. “Creative” music, by implication, cannot be “taught.” Guru can only illustrate how to approach it. The student should assimilate these guidelines and practice creative singing with raga embellishment, neraval, kalpanasvaram, with the Guru and then by themselves, till they become confident that the rules and restrictions are not violated. Creative music cannot be memorized and reproduced, it is improvised on the spot. Bhamini and Vaishnavi began their concert with an invocatory sloka followed by a well rendered rare varnam in Kharaharapriya composed by musicologist Pinakapani. The fifteen krtis of various composers presented by the sisters, were all set to different talas and ragas. The kritis were sung with chittai (proper diction and precision); a proof of their rigorous practice. They delineated raga and svaraprastara for several kritis. Parvati Ninnu in the raga Kalgada, Muruga in Saveri, Ekkadi Narakamu in Nitimati (a rarely heard raga) were noteworthy. The well-presented center piece Kaddanu Variki in raga Todi with detailed alapana and neraval and the sisters singing complimentary one-avartana svaram were Karnatic Arangetram... ... Continued on Page 33 26
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 24, No. 1, October 2018 Nilakantha Dikshita: A Lesser-Known, but A Great Sanskrit Poet of the 16th Century By V Krishnaswami, Upper St Claire, PA e-mail: vkrishnaswami@comcast.net) Editor: V. Krishnaswami, a longtime resident in our Metro area, grew up in Tamil Nadu. Sanskrit was his second language in high school, and also at the Loyola College, Chennai. He was taught Sanskrit at home by both his grandfather, an erudite scholar in the language, and his father, who was well versed in both Sanskrit and Classic Tamil. Both were lawyers. Krishnaswami’s interest included Kavyas (poetry), scriptures, stotras (hymns)... He has read Sanskrit dramas in the original — the works of Bhasa, Kalidasa, Dandi and Bhabhuti. His interest in Appayya and Nilakantha Dikshita started when his grandfather taught him Nilakantha Dikshita’s Shanti-vilasam. He feels that Sankara’s Brahmasutra Bhashya is a masterpiece in literature, logic and hermeneutics (the subject dealing with the theory and methodology of interpretation wisdom literature, and philosophical texts). Krishnaswami came to Pittsburgh in 1973 as a fellow in cardiology at the then Presbyterian University Hospital. He practiced cardiology in Pittsburgh at Mercy and UPMC between 1988 and 2017. He was a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. Now retired, he was involved in teaching and research all through his career. Sanskrit is the mother of Indic subbranch Indo-European languages. ‘Samskritam’ literally means a language of perfection. The beauty of this “language of the Gods” was elucidated by William Jones(Chief Justice of Supreme Court in Bengal at the time of Warren Hastings) in his address to Asiatic society on February 2, 1786: “Sanskrit language ...is of a wonderful nature, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin more exquisitely refined than either.” If you poll the people in India where Sanskrit as a language is well known even if not spoken or understood, about Sanskrit poets, I will be surprised if they can name anybody beyond Kalidasa. Some may have heard of Dandi, Magha, may be even Bavabhooti. Sanskrit poesy appears dead after the time of these masters. But hat is not true. It was prevalent in religious works of Sankara and his disciples in 8th century, Ramanuja (9th/10th century) and later, Madhva in 11th century. Many people wrongly think there was no Sanskrit poetry after 12th century. even though it was not flourishing. Tulasidas Goswami (16th century). Muthuswami Deekshitar (18th century) are great Sanskrit Bhakti poets. Nuilakantha Dikshita was a Sanskrit poet, born in South India in 16th century. He was born in the illustrious family of Appayya Dikshita. We know that he was born at the end of 15th century and lived to about middle of 16th century. Neelakanta was a genius, great poet, philosopher and a distinguished statesman. He was the chief administrator during the rule of Thirumala Nayaka, ruler of Madurai, a splintered state after the 29
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Pittsburgh Patrika October 2018 issue

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