Vilamba Kala Kritis Of Tyagaraja In The Raga ‘Kharaharapriya’

One among the Musical Trinity, Sadguru Sri Tyagaraja contributed a lot to the world of Carnatic Music by his melodious compositions in a huge number of ragas. Tyagaraja composed many kritis in various talas like Adi, Rupaka and Chapu and in various degrees of speed like Vilamba laya, Madhya laya and druta laya. Among these, Tyagaraja composed Vilamba kala kritis in Major Ragas like Kalyani, Todi, Kambhoji, Sankarabharanam and Kharaharapriya etc. Vilamba kala kritis of Tyagaraja clearly shows the Raga swarupa of the raga in which the kriti is composed. In this paper Vilamba kala kritis of Tyagaraja in the Raga Kharaharapriya are discussed and explained how the raga svaroopa of Kharaharpriya is clearly established through these compositions.

Tyagaraja is the only composer to have composed many beautiful kritis in this raga. Compositions in ‘Kharaharapriya’ Raga are well known major concert pieces in Musical concerts like ‘Chakkani raga margamu’, ‘Rama niyeda’ and ‘Nadachi Nadachi’. In this paper these compositions are analyzed by considering visual sources (notations). The Graha svarams, Nyasa svarams, range of raga sanchara, important janta and datu svara prayogas, raga ranjaka pryaogas in this raga and melodious phrases in these compositions and how the ragaswarupa is clearly established in these kritis by the composer are explained. How these Vilamba kala kritis are the sources for Music students to improve their Manodharma techniques like raga alapana and svarakalpana are discussed.