The
Navaratri Kritis of Swati Tirunal form the core of the Navaratri Utsavam
concerts celebrated in the famed Navaratri Mantapam in Tiruvananthapuram.
Couched in chaste Sanskrit, the songs are of varying lengths and are set to some
of the finest rAgAs in Carnatic Music. The order in which the songs are to be
sung has been stipulated during the time of the composer king himself and in
that sequence they are sung, one on each day of the festival of nine nights. It
is compulsory to render rAga AlApana and tAnam before taking up the song itself.
The tAnam is rendered in the Travancore style, namely to the accompaniment of
the mridangam.
The very tradition of Navaratri
at the Mantapam has an interesting background. The capital of erstwhile
Travancore state was originally Padmanabhapuram. The famed Padmanabhapuram
palace, was commissioned during the second half of the 16th century, by
Tirupappur Muppan, whose descendants form the Tirupappur Swarupam, later styled
the Royal Family of Travancore. The kingdom was expanded greatly during the
reign of Anusham Tirunal Marthanda Varma (1729-1758 AD), who also began the
renovation of the famed Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple. He is immortalised in the
kriti bhOgIndra shAyinam (kuntala varALi) of Swati Tirunal. This King is also
famed for his Tripati Danam, wherein he signed away the entire kingdom in favour
of Padmanabhaswamy, adopted the title of Padmanabha Dasa and began the practice
of ruling in the deity’s name. His nephew and heir Kartika Tirunal Rama Varma
succeeded him and ruled till 1798 AD. His reign was famed for the aborted
invasion of Tipu Sultan. It was during the reign of Rama Varma (who is also
known as Dharma Raja), that the capital was shifted from Padmanabhapuram to
Tiruvananthapuram.
The
Padmanabhapuram Palace had a temple of Saraswathi inside it. The pancalOha idol
of Goddess Saraswathi was and is considered to be the very idol that the Tamizh
poet Kambar (of the Ramayana fame) worshipped in the 9th century AD. Before
breathing his last, he is said to have handed over the idol to the then ruling
Chera King, identified now only by his title of Kulashekhara Perumal. The idol
came to be worshipped by the ruling family over succeeding generations. The idol’s
description tallies with Swati Tirunal’s kriti pAhi mAm shrI vAgIshvari in
kalyANi, does not bear the vINa, but wields the rosary, the manuscript and is
seated not on a lotus, but on a pedestal. With the shifting of the capital,
while daily worship to Goddess Saraswathi continued at the erstwhile residence,
the annual festival of Navaratri was not.
Swati Tirunal was born on 16th
April 1813 AD, to Rani Gouri Lakshmi Bayi and her consort Rajaraja Varma Koil
Tampuran. The previous king, had passed away in 1811 AD and Swati Tirunal’s
mother was installed as the reigning queen. It was expected that Swati Tirunal
would eventually succeed her and he was hence considered king even when he was
in the womb of his mother. He was therefore given the title of garbha shrImAn.
When his mother died and was succeeded by her sister, Gouri Parvati Bayi who
ruled as regent during her nephew’s minority, handing over the reigns of the
kingdom to him in 1829 AD.
Swati Tirunal was known for his
piety. Among his first acts was to take a vow that the Navaratri worship offered
to Saraswathi would be revived forthwith. He made arrangements for the idol to
be brought with all royal honours, on elephant back to the Fort Palace near the
Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple, Tiruvananthapuram each year during Navaratri. The
Navaratri Mantapam would temporarily be converted into a temple to receive the
Goddess. She was to be propitiated with music and other forms of worship during
her stay there. At the end of Navaratri she was to be escorted back to
Padmanabhapuram. This practice has continued all these years, even though
Padmanabhapuram is now in Tamilnadu.
The king took great interest in
codifying the worship during Navaratri and it was at this time that the nine
songs came to be grouped together and called the Navaratri Kirtanas. The songs
are listed below:
The
Navaratri Kritis of Swati Tirunal form the core of the Navaratri Utsavam
concerts celebrated in the famed Navaratri Mantapam in Tiruvananthapuram.
Couched in chaste Sanskrit, the songs are of varying lengths and are set to some
of the finest rAgAs in Carnatic Music. The order in which the songs are to be
sung has been stipulated during the time of the composer king himself and in
that sequence they are sung, one on each day of the festival of nine nights. It
is compulsory to render rAga AlApana and tAnam before taking up the song itself.
The tAnam is rendered in the Travancore style, namely to the accompaniment of
the mridangam.
The
Padmanabhapuram Palace had a temple of Saraswathi inside it. The pancalOha idol
of Goddess Saraswathi was and is considered to be the very idol that the Tamizh
poet Kambar (of the Ramayana fame) worshipped in the 9th century AD. Before
breathing his last, he is said to have handed over the idol to the then ruling
Chera King, identified now only by his title of Kulashekhara Perumal. The idol
came to be worshipped by the ruling family over succeeding generations. The idol’s
description tallies with Swati Tirunal’s kriti pAhi mAm shrI vAgIshvari in
kalyANi, does not bear the vINa, but wields the rosary, the manuscript and is
seated not on a lotus, but on a pedestal. With the shifting of the capital,
while daily worship to Goddess Saraswathi continued at the erstwhile residence,
the annual festival of Navaratri was not.
