Guruguhaamrta’s annual aradhana @ Ettaiyapuram

Jayalakshmi Sekar

Every March, Guruguhaamrta, a trust founded by vocalist G Ravikiran, organises a sangeeta aradhana as an homage to Muthuswami Dikshitar at his sammadhi at Ettaiyapuram. This year, the akhandam was held on 16 March 2024.

The akhandam featured 62 unique compositions - Aryam Abhayambam , Himagiri Kumari, selected kritis from the Kamalamba  Navavarnam , and few vara kritis, and all the pancha bhoota kshetra Linga kritis, to name a few.

Vidwans, in addition to G Ravikrian himself, included T.M. Krishna, Sangeetha Sivakumar, Shertalai Ranganatha Sharma, Mudicondan Ramesh, Vignesh Ishwar, and Brinda Manickavasagam, among several others. It was an enriching experience for all who attended, senior and junior musicians and others.

   

A partial list of kritis sung as part of the akhandam are listed below

#       Aryamba Abhayāmbika, Bhairavi, t triputa and Himagiri tanaye, Ravikriya, Adi by Jayalakshmi Sekar

#       Kanakāmbari kāruNyamrta Lahari, kanakāmbari, Rupakam by NS Kamakshi

#       Prasanna Venkateshwaram bhajare, Vasantabhairavi,  Triputa by Poornima Arvind

#       Sree Vānchanātham bhajeham, Suratti, Adi by a little girl named Sahana

#       Bālāmbike pāhi bhadram dehi dehi, Manoranjani, Mathya by Brinda M

#       Kālabhairavam, Bhairavam, Adi by Amrith Narayan

#       Sree Saraswati hite Shive, Manji, Adi by Bhaskar

#       A group of students from NIT Trichy presented Nagalingam bhajeham, Shankarabharanam, Rupakam and Vīra vasantam, Viravasanta on Lord Shiva

#       Sangeetha Sivakumar presented Vīnā pustaka dhāriNi, Vegavahini, Khanda Eka

#       Mudikondan Ramesh - Sri Parvati in Bowli raga

#       C Charulata played two very rare compositions - Rama Rama Kalikalusha in Ramakali and Saurasenesham in Saurasena raga

#       Sri Dum Durge, Sriranjani, khanda Eka by Sahana

#       Narmada kāveri tīra nilaye, m capu, nāma Deshi by Srinivas

#       The event organiser G Ravikiran presented Sri mūlādhāram on Lord Ganapati

#       TM Krishna’s students - Vignesh Krishnamurti and Adinarayan presented rarely heard Tyagaraja Vibhakti Kritis in Athana and Yadukula Kamboji. Vikas Maitreya presented the composition in Begada. TM Krishna  sang a very unusual Tyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam in Ānanda Bhairavi as per the notation in the Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini.

#       Vignesh Ishwar presented Sri Bhargavi in Mangala Kaishiki raga

#       Mangala Devate in mārgadeshi raga by Poorna Pragya

#       Sri Balasubrahmanya agaccha, Bilahari, misra Chapu by Raksha S

#       Mahālakshmī karuNālasa, Madhavamanohari, Adi by Bhuvanaja Iyengar

#       Sri Guruguhasya dāsoham, misra chapu, pūrvi by Janani Kausalya

#       The only Telugu composition featured in the Akhandam was Nee sāTi daivam in Sreeranjani raga and Roopaka tala by Shankar.