Glimpses from Indian spirituality, mythology and way of life.

In the earlier song you heard a composition by Papanasam Sivan on Lord Ganesha. As I mentioned earlier, though music, in general, transcends barriers like religion, caste, creed, sex, language, etc., carnatic music is strongly attached to and influenced by Hinduism.

In Carnatic music, all the South Indian languages have been used prolifically, in addition to the ancient classical Indian language, namely Sanskrit. There are three major composer-musicians in Carnatic music who are collectively known as the ‘Trinity of carnatic music’, also known as ‘The three jewels of carnatic music’ who all belonged to 18th century. They are Saint Thyagaraja, Muthusamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.

This piece of vocal music sung by Nirmala Ramachandran is a composition of Syama Sastri on Goddess Kamakshi. It is in the raga Madhyamavati and is set to Adi Taala.

Lalitha Sahasranamam

This hymn in praise of the Mother Goddess occurs in the Brahmanda Purana in the midst of a conversation between Lord Hayagriva and sage Agasthya. It consists of a thousand names of the Mother Goddess in the form of Lalitha Tripura Sundari, who is an aspect of Goddess Durga. It is a very auspicious prayer, containing the thousand names in 182 verses. According to the legends, it was originally composed by the eight goddesses of speech called Vagdevis (Vasini, Kameshvari, Aruna, Vimala, Jayani, Modini, Sarveshvari and Kaulini), directly under the supervision of the Goddess herself and then conveyed to the world through Lord Hayagriva. It is an encomium to the Goddess extolling her victories, aspects, virtues, powers, greatness, manifestations etc.

One of the main events extolled in the hymn is the battle of the Goddess with the demon Bhandasura. As she started for the battle, the hymn describes her as being accompanied by the powers of various forms of goddesses whose accomplishments are extolled in different names e.g., Sampatkari Devi as the captain of the elephant regiment and Aswarooda Devi as the captain of the cavalry. Goddess Lalitha herself is described as decimating Bhandasura's army using the Pasupathastra weapon and destroying him and his city with the Kameshvarashtra weapon.

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Kurma Avatara

This is the story of the second incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu incarnates as a tortoise and holds the Mount Mandara when the gods and the demons churn the milky ocean to obtain Amrit, the nectar of immortality.

Shaivism and Vaishnavism

Shaivism and Vaishnavism are the two most important facets of Hinduism. Shaivism is a branch which believes Lord Shiva as the supreme deity and Vaishnavism believes Lord Vishnu as the Supreme deity.

There are great saints in both Shaivism and Vaishnavism. They are spread throughout the length and breadth of the Indian sub-continent. The Nayanmars of Shaivism and the Alwars of Vaishnavism have made enormous contribution to the cause of the Hindu faith.

The three most prolific of the Nayanars are Thirunavukkarasar Nayanar Thirugnana Sambandar and Sundaramurthi Nayanar. Their hymns make up the Thevaram. It serves as the primary liturgical scripture for Tamil Shaivites. Nambi Andar Nambi is said to have compiled the songs of all of the Nayanars, adding to them the works of several other famous poet-saints, including Manikkavasakar, to form the basis of the Tirumurai, the basic Tamil Shaivite sacred canon.

The Alwars are famous for their poetry in praise of Lord Vishnu. The collection of their 4000 poems is known as the “Naalaayira Divya Prabhandam”.

Pilgrimages known as Tirtha Yatras have been an integral part of Sanatana Dharma. They are considered as a matter of ritualistic importance. In that context, there are a few places which are considered as sacred and held at high esteem by the ardent devotees. They are called as ‘Kshetrams’. There are 108 of such Kshetrams in the vaishnavaite tradition known as ‘Divya Desams’.

This is the story of the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu known as the Matsya Avatara.

Gajavadana

This is a small composition of Carnatic music by Papanasam Sivan on Lord Ganesha.

Classical music is one of the important aspect of the Indian way of life. Indian classical music has two major traditions: the Hindusthani music and the Carnatic music. North Indian classical music tradition is called Hindusthani, while the South Indian expression is called Carnatic.

The roots of the classical music of India are found in the Vedic literature. Though music, in general, transcends barriers like religion, caste, creed etc., Indian classical music is strongly attached to and influenced by Hinduism which is the predominant religion in India from very ancient times. The basic fact that many scholars have even attributed the origin of music to the Gods like Brahma and Shiva and to the Vedas, signifies this religious outlook. Further, almost all the compositions by various great composers of different periods are also in praise of various Hindu gods and goddesses.

This piece of vocal music sung by Nirmala Ramachandran is in the raga Sriranjani and is set to Adi Taala.

Bhaja Govindam

Bhaja Govindam was written by Adi Shankara. It is one of the minor compositions of this spiritual giant. Normally it is sung as a form of bhajan. It contains the essence of Vedanta and implores the man to think as to why am I here in this life? Why am I amassing wealth, family, but have no peace? What is the Truth? What is the purpose of life? This composition of the saint is expected to awaken man to think and get set on a path to the road of the God principle.

This is the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu where he incarnates as Narasimha-half lion, half man- and protects his ardent devotee Prahlada by annihilating Hiranyakasipu.

This is the story of the demon Hiranyaksha and how Lord Vishnu took the Varaha Avatara, restored Mother Earth back from him and annihilated him. The story is narrated by Nithya Venkataraman.

This is a brief idea about the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu known as Dasavatharam which is well-known in Hinduism.