PART-12


Part 12.......Tiruvarur..... Kamalamba navavaranam, Neelotpalambika kritis and shodasha ganapati kritis


Tyagaraja has two consorts here, Goddess Kamalambika, who is depicted as performing penance in order to attain the Lord and Goddess Nilotpalambika, who is depicted as being married to the Lord.
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The kamalAmba navAvaraNa kritis can be referred to as the magnum opus of Dikshitar. Since Kamalambika does penance here in order to become one with Siva, She is depicted in the yOgic posture. That Dikshitar chose to dedicate the navAvaraNa kritis to Kamalambika shows not only the deep reverence he had for Her, but also highlights the fact that Tiruvarur being a mukti kShEtra, shrI vidyA, which is the core of the kritis is the Knowledge that leads to the Ultimate Goal of mukti. In this group too, Dikshitar has chosen to compose in the eight Sanskrit declensions. For the ninth kriti pertaining to the ninth and last AvaraNA, he employs all the eight declensions. Besides, this group has a dhyAna kriti as well as a mangaLa kriti. Dikshitar employs the rare rAgA ghanTA for the eighth composition. This group of eleven compositions can be said to be the culmination of the best of music, poetry and intricate philosophy and can be easily
classified as being the greatest contribution of Muthuswami Dikshitar to the art and science of music.
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The kamalAmbA navAvaraNa kritis comprise: 
1. kamalAmbikE dhyAna kriti tODi
 2. kamalAmbA samrakShatumAm first AvaraNA Ananda bhairavi
 3. kamakAmbAm bhajarE second AvaraNA kalyANi 
4. shrI kamalAmbikAyA third AvaraNA shankarAbharaNam 
5. kamalAmbikAyai fourth AvaraNA kAmbOji
 6. shrI kamalAmbikAyA param fifth AvaraNA bhairavi 
7. kamalAmbikAyA: sixth AvaraNA punnAgavarALi 
8. shrI kamalAmbikAyAm seventh AvaraNA sahAnA 
9. shrI kamalAmbikE avAva eighth AvaraNA ghanTA 
10. shrI kamalAmbA jayati ninth AvaraNA Ahiri
 11. shrI kamalAmbikE mangaLa kriti .
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 Dikshitar paid his tribute to Goddess Neelotpalambika, the other consort of Lord Thyagaraja, in a unique way. He offered Her too eight songs in the eight Sanskrit declensions, but introduced a novel concept as far the rAgAs he used were concerned. He employed the eight variations of gauLa. These are referred to by some as gauLa kritis, though, these belong to different mELAs. The rAgAs chAyagauLa and pUrvagauLa are rare melodies and Dikshitar kritis are the only reference points for these rAgAs.
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The Neelotpalamba kritis comprise:
 1) nIlOtpalAmbA jayati nArAyaNagauLa 
2) nIlOtpalAmbaAm bhajarE rItigauLa 
3) nIlOtpalAmbikayA kannaDagauLa 
4) nIlOtpalAmbikAyai namastE kEdAragauLa 
5) nIlOtpalAmbikAyA param nahIrE gauLA 
6) nIlOtpalAmbikAyAstava dAsOham mAyAmALavagauLa 
7) nIlOtpalAmbikAyAm bhaktim karOmi pUrvagauLa 
8) nIlOtpalAmbikE nitya shudhAtmikE chAyagauLa
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There is another composition which does not belong to the above group. srI nIlOtpalanAyikE in rItigauLa is a masterpiece in that rAgA.
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Another group of kritis are those on the ShODaSha (sixteen) Ganapati shrines in the temple. Apart from the fact that Lord Vinayaka is propitiated at the beginning of any activity, be it of religious nature or of the mundane, He is specially worshipped by a sect of sanAtana dharmIs who are called gANapatyAs. 
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For this sect, Vinayaka is the Supreme Being. tAntric practices form part of their worship of the elephant-faced God. 16 forms of Ganapati are worshipped, each having its own significance and each of the 16 has separate shrines at the Tiruvarur temple. Muttuswami Dikshitar wrote in praise of all these 16 forms. An examination of the sixteen composition reveals Dikshitar's wide knowledge of the intricacies of gANapatyA worship.
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Sundaramurti Nayanar was one of the greatest of shaivite saints and one of the greatest devotees of Lord Siva. His life was closely connected with Tiruvarur. He is therefore honoured with a separate shrine in the temple. Dikshitar paid a special tribute to the saint by composing a song in raga TakkA - sundaramUrtim AshrayAmi. This is the only composition extant in this raga, other than Tyagaraja's rAka sashivadana.
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Dikshitar composed the dhanyAsi song mangaLadEvatayA in praise of Goddess Lakshmi and refers to Her as being established at Kamalalaya, Tiruvarur. Once, Maha Vishnu through the curse of Sage Brighu was
penance in order to rejoin Her. Lakshmi too performed penance at Tiruvarur. Kamala is another name for Lakshmi, hence Kamalalaya. Therefore, in the manner of his bilahari composition kAmAkShi varalakShmi at Kanchipuram (reference to which has been made in the sixth part of this series), Dikshitar looks at Mahalakshmi as Kamalambika Herself.
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 In his hiraNmayIm lakshmIm (lalita) he refers to her as shrI kamalAmbikAm parAm. 
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There is a temple dedicated to Goddess Renuka Devi, popularly known as Mariyamman in Tamil, in the Vijayapuram area of Tiruvarur. On this deity, Dikshitar wrote the kannaDa bangaLa song rENukAdEvi samrakShitOham. This raga is again a very rare one and we have only the above Dikshitar kriti as reference.

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