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Pancharatna Kriti

The Pancharatna kritis (transliterated as

Pañcaratna kṛti) (Sanskrit: pancha "five" +
ratna "gems") are a set of five kritis (songs)
in Carnatic classical music, composed by
the 18th-century Indian composer
Tyagaraja. All the kritis, as is the case with
almost all of Tyagaraja's compositions, are
penned in Telugu, except the first one,
which is composed in Sanskrit. The songs
are: "Jagadanandakaraka", "Dudukugala
Nanne", "Sadhinchane", "Kanakana Ruchira"
and "Endaro Mahaanubhavulu".

Tyagaraja and the

Pancharatna Kritis
Tyagaraja lived in the late 18th century and
early 19th century in Tiruvarur in present-
day Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu.[1] His
compositions are considered to be some
of the finest in Carnatic music. Of the five
Pancharatna Kritis, four are in Telugu and
one in Sanskrit. They are set to music in
five ragas: Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and
Sri.

Composition
The Pancharatna kritis were written in
praise of the Hindu deity Rama. They are
set to Adi Tala and each raga represents
the mood of the song and the meaning of
its lyrics. All the kritis were composed in
the style of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi (RTP)
with the charanams (stanzas) substituting
for the kalpana swaras (improvisatory
passages) in the pallavi section of the RTP.

The Pancharatna Kritis are:

1. Jagadananda Karaka (Ragam Natai)

2. Duduku gala (Ragam Goula)
3. Sadhinchane (Ragam Arabhi)
4. Kanakana Ruchira (Ragam Varali)
5. Endaro Mahanubhavulu (Shree
Ragam)
The melodic forms of these compositions
(Nata, Goula, Arabhi, Varali, Sri) are the five
Ghana ragas of Carnatic music, also called
the ghanapanchaka. These five ragas lend
themselves to elaborate improvisations.[2]
They are so called because they are suited
for playing tanam on the veena. Nata and
Varali are the most ancient of the Carnatic
ragas and date back to over a thousand
years ago.

A particularly difficult musical challenge

has been taken up successfully by
Tyagaraja in three of these compositions.
The raga Naata has a particularly
distinctive use of the dhaivatam note or
swara (A in the C scale of Western
classical notes). Tyagaraja has avoided
the dhaivatam completely in the first
Pancharatna Kriti without losing the
swarupa, or character, of the ragam.
Similarly gandharam is an accidental note
of some beauty in Goula (E in the C scale).
Tyagaraja avoids this too, except in one
instance, without losing the character of
the ragam. Finally, he avoids the accidental
dhaivatam in Sri ragam, again a note that is
present in some very characteristic
sancharas (phrases) of this ragam.

Lyrical synopsis

Jagadānanda kārakā …

In this song, Tyagaraja praises

Ramachandra, one of the incarnations of
Lord Vishnu. He eulogizes Ramachandra
as one who is the cause of all bliss in the
universe. This is the only Pancharatna Kriti
that was composed in Sanskrit. All the
other kritis were composed in Telugu,
which was used in the court of the
Maratha king Sarabhoji who ruled this area
in the 18th century. Rama was Tyagaraja's
favorite god.

Duḍukugala nannē dora koḍuku

brōchurā yentō
…

In this second Pancharatna Kriti composed

in Telugu, Tyagaraja lists all the errors he
has committed in his life and asks who but
Rama could redeem such a sinner. The
sins described include: just wandering
around as though being satisfied with a full
meal, giving sermons to people who are
not interested in listening or who do not
have the capability to understand, self-
styling oneself as a great person, and
mistaking the dross for the real thing. He
lists four categories of people to whom he
has made the claim of greatness; the
ignorant, the riff-raff, the low social folk
and women. In a play on words, he
reproaches those who desire wives and
progeny.

Sādhinchane ō manasā …
This Pancharatna Kriti was composed in
Telugu and has been set to Arabhi raga. It
is written in a playful tone, rich with
metaphor and simile without a surfeit of
adjectives - all the while arresting the
attention of the singers. In this kriti,
Tyagaraja sings the greatness of the lord
Krishna in a lucid manner. The style
adopted in this kriti is very sweet in
comparison with the other four.

Kana kana ruci rā kanaka vasana

ninnu
…
This is the least sung or performed of the
five Pancharatna Kritis composed in
Telugu, but it is considered by some to be
the most haunting and beautiful. It
describes the divine beauty of Sri Rama,
whom Tyagaraja worshiped. He says that
the more he [Tyagaraja] looks upon His
beautiful features, the more his mind is
attracted to Him [Sri Rama].[3] This
composition is rarely taught, and rarely
heard in concerts, owing to the raga it is
set in, Varali. Songs in Varali raga are never
taught directly because the teaching of
this raga is said to cause a rift between the
teacher and the student.

Endarō mahānubhāvulu …

Endarō mahānubhāvulu is believed to be

one of the earlier kritis Tyagaraja
composed in Telugu. The song is a
salutation to and praise of all the great
saints and musicians down the ages.
Tyagaraja clearly delineates and lists the
Mahanubhavalu, or great ones, in the kriti
itself, mentioning the saints Narada and
Saunaka, among others. In this poem,
Tyagaraja describes the greatness of
devotees of the Lord. The belief in Kerala
and Tamil Nadu is that Tyagaraja
composed the kriti spontaneously in his
joy upon hearing the divine music of the
Malayali singer Shadkala Govinda Marar.
But according to the Walajapet disciples'
version of the origin of the kriti, it was
composed and learnt by Tyagaraja's
disciples before the arrival of Marar. This,
according to P. T. Narendra Menon, was
the legendary, historically significant
meeting between two great musicians.
Since Endharo mahanubhavalu is said to
have been composed by Tyagaraja at a
young age, it is possible that after hearing
Marar sing and in appreciation of the
greatness of Marar, Tyagaraja could have
asked his disciples to sing the kriti on this
occasion. Humility is the foundation of all.

Miscellaneous
M. S. Subbulakshmi, Maharajapuram
Santhanam, Mangalampalli
Balamuralikrishna and Nithyasree
Mahadevan are among the hundreds of
great Indian classical vocalists who have
brought these kritis closer to the modern
world.

References
1. Prasad Sundararajan. "Sri Tyagaraja's
Life and Songs" . Archived from the
original on 2009-01-16. Retrieved
2009-02-22.
2. Pancharatna Kritis: Information and
Much More from Answers.com
3. "Saint Thyagaraja's Ghana Raga
Pancharatnams" . indian-heritage.
 Retrieved 25 February 2019.

External links
Raga Nata
https://web.archive.org/web/200907011
22201/http://www.esnips.com/doc/872
abe7c-0325-455a-9389-
495e6709c8be/Kanakanaruchira
https://web.archive.org/web/200807270
24355/http://www.esnips.com/web/Pan
charatna-Kriti/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iUi5MJuCemM (Majestic Nattai)
 Meaning, Word by Word
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IUdls4HJ6Wo Jagadananda Karaka -
Balamuralikrishna - Tyagaraja
Pancharatna Kriti

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