The Genius of Dikshitar (Part 3)

Welcome back! Here is the third post on why I love Dikshitar!

3) Lyrical prowess

Dikshitar was a master of rhyme and prasam.

In almost every song written by Dikshitar, there are rhymes that fill the song. For example, in the song Bālagopāla (Bhairavi ragam), Dikshitar ends every phrase/line in the charanam with the sound "ara" (or "ura"). The endings are highlighted in red. 

cāṇūra malla haraṇa nipunatara

caraṇa nihata śakaṭāsura murahara

maṇikya makuṭa hāra valaya dhara

mattebha kumbha bhedhana paṭutara

vaṇīśārcita pītāmbara dhara

vaijayantī vana mālā dhara

āṇavādi vijaya mānasākara

apahata kamsāsura nata bhūsura

droṇa karna duryodhanādi hara

draupadi māna samraksaṇa kara

vaiṇika gāyaka guruguha nuta pura

vairi vihita gopikā manohara

I must say, this song is a real treat to sing! Another such example would be the caranam of the song raṅganāyakam bhāvaye (Nāyaki ragam). In this charanam, Dikshitar uses different pairs of rhyming words like sadanam and vadanam, or pārāyaṇam and nārāyaṇam. The pairs are highlighted below.

praṇavākāra divya vimānam

prahlādādi bhaktābhimānam

gāṇapati samāna viśvaksenam

gajaturaga padādi senam

dhinamaṇi kulabhava rāghavārādhanam

māmaka videha mukti sādanam

maṇimaya sadanam saśi vadanam

paṇipati śayanam padma nayanam

aganita suguṇa ghaṇa nata vibhīśaṇam

ghanatara kaustubha maṇi vibhūsaṇam

gunijana kṛta veda pārāyaṇam

guruguha mudita nārāyaṇam

Apart from rhyming, Dikshitar also used certain sounds and played with those sounds to create a pattern. In the Anupallavi of the krithi akṣaya liṅga vibho (Shankarabharana ragam), Dikshitar sings:

dakṣa sīkṣaṇa dakṣatara sura lakṣaṇa bahu vicakṣaṇa lakṣya lakṣaṇa

vidhi vilakṣaṇa sudhā bakṣaṇa guru kaṭakṣa vīkṣaṇa

If you noticed, Dikshitar is playing with the sound "kṣa". It appears in almost every word and creates a cool effect! The fact that he was able to do this without compromising on the meaning is really quite amazing! This is the genius of the composer. 

In addition to rhyming, Dikshitar also had raga mudras in many of his songs. He wove them into his songs in a way that did not disrupt the overall meaning of the song. If he was composing a song in Kamboji, he did not simply say: "kāmboji rāga nute" or "kāmboji rāga priye", meaning “one who is fond of the ragam Kamboji”. (I call that "the lazy man's method".) 

For example, in the charanam of the song kamalambikāyai, fourth Kamalamba Navavarnam (Kamboji ragam), Dikshitar weaves the raga mudra into the song by saying:

sakala saubāgya dāyakāmboja caraṇāyai

sakala saubāgya dāyaka-amboja caraṇāyai

M: One who's lotus (amboja) feet (caraṇa) bestow (dāyaka) all (sakala) happiness (saubāgya). 

NOTE: This song is set to the dative case (caturthī vibhakti).

Notice how the word "kāmboja" is weaved into the charanam without disrupting the meaning at all! Imagine how creative and intelligent Dikshitar must have been to do this! I'll say one thing: it makes me feel pretty bad about my own intelligence and creativity! :(

I will continue about the Genius of Dikshitar in my next post!

Until then: Know Carnatic music, know fun. No Carnatic Music, no fun!