Tamil Classical Music - Dhevaram
About Dhevaram and the legends behind Nalvars (the famous four pillars of Shaivaism) and Nayanmars.
Naalvar | Nayanmars | Tamil & Carnatic systems | Thirumurais |Musical Instruments - String, Wind, Percussion
The word Dhevaram (Thevaram) in Tamil language has evolved from Tamil words Dhe + aram, Dhe for Dheyvam, meaning God, and aram meaning inisai padal i.e.. sweet songs, together constituting Thevaram (Dhevaram) meaning Sweet songs in praise of the divine Lord Shiva and sums up the Shivaite tradition.
Tamil (Thamiz) music is one of the ancient music schemes available. In ancient times, Tamil was divided into iyal (prose), isai (verse), natakam (drama) and they all flourished on their own. Today, very less is known about the Tamiz isai (verse, music).
The Tamil land that excelled in the Shaivaite tradition in the ancient times underwent a dark period during 4th, 5th and 6th century A.D., with the introduction Buddhism from North - more specifically Jainism on the Royal throne. These self-punishing religions caused the vibrant Tamil traditions into the back burner.
The period between 7th and 12th centuries, the period of Bhakthi movement - characterized by intense worship of God, saw a revival of Shaivaism and Vaishnavism in Tamil land. Shaivaism gave its Saints - 63 Nayanmars, and prospered mainly through the efforts of four great pillars of Shaivaism, viz. Thirugnana Shambandhar, Thirunavukkarasar, Sundharar, Manikkavasakar. Despite grave physical threats, they travelled throughout Tamilnadu kindling spiritual insurgence. They are referred to as 'samayakkuravarkal' or 'naalvar' (the great four). The order in which these four great saints are mentioned is in the order in which they passed away, as per Shivaite tradition.
This period also witnessed resurgence of Vaishnavism through the efforts of the 12 Vaishnavite saints known as Alwars. These 12 Alwars (Alvars) composed approximately 4000 Tamil verses. In the 9th-10th centuries, the philosopher-saint Nathamuni recovered these verses from near oblivion. Nathamuni arranged them as the Divya Prabandham, or Divine Collection, set many of them to music, and rejuvenated the tradition of formally reciting them in temples.
The works of the 63 Nayanmars (nayanars, Shiva's slaves) - Shiva devotees - are collectively referred to as 'Thirumurai' . There are 12 volumes containing about 18,000 songs in Tamil, of which first 7 volume constitute the Thevaram.
The Thirumurais, 12 in numbers, are grouped into:
Thevaram: The first 7 Thirumurais.
1st to 3rd Thirumurai by Thirugnana Sambandhar.
4th to 6th Thirumurai by Thirunavukkarasar.
7th Thirumurai by Sundhara moorthi (Sundharar).
Thiruvasagam:
8th Thirumurai by Manikavasakar and is known as Thiruvasagam.
9th Thirumurai consists of:
Thiru-isaippa - contributions of 9 Nayanmars (Thirumalikai thevar, Kuruvur thevar etc).
Thirupallandu by Senthanar.
10th Thirumurai is known as Thirumandhiram and is by Thirumoolar.
11th one consists of 40 volumes contributed by 12 Asariargal (authors). It includes amoung others Kazarirru arivar nayanar (Cheraman Perumal - A King of Kerala who is believed to have embraced Islam and migrated to Arabia), Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Nakkeerar, etc.
12th Thirumurai is known as Periyapuranam by Sekkizhar Swamigal.
The first 7 Thirumurais together is referred to as 'Thevaram'. The 8th Thirumurai is called 'Thiruvasagam'. The 10th is the 'Thirumandhiram'. The 12th is the 'Periyapuranam' that describes the lives of the Nayanmars.
Beyond these 12 Thirumurais, there are what is known as Pillaiththamizh viz.
Sakalakalavalli malai
Abhirami anandhi and Abhirami padigam by Abhirami pattar
Kandar Alangaram and Kandar Anubhuthi
Thirupugazh by Arunagirinadhar
Vazhththu by Kachiyappa munivar
Vanmugil vazhththupeykai - is a Vazthu ie. ending song
and many more.
However these are not included in the Thirumurais.
All the Thevarams were locked up in a room in the Chithambaram temple for some centuries. When the "Shiva padhasekara Thirumurai kanda choza Emperor Rajarajan took them out, many of the creations were lost to termites (they were written on palm leaves) and the pan for many of the padhikams that survived were not mentioned. He requested Madhanka chula maniyar, a lady from the Yazhpanar family, to specify the pan for all the padhikams. The padhikams are sung only in that specified pan.
The Tamil musicians are called paanar and the female musicians are called paadiniyar. The musicians were broadly classified in to Porunar, Panar and Kuttar. Porunar were supposed to be well versed in martial music like Parani, and were also able dancers. The Panar were both vocalists and instrumentalists. The Kuttar were dancers who possessed a sound knowledge of the art of dancing and were adept in portraying the feelings and emotions of a character.
The Porunar were further subdivided in to 3 sects:
Erkalam Paduvar: Those who entertained farmers and peasants and were folk musicians.
Porkkalam Paduvar: Those who accompanied kings to the battlefield. They played on instruments and sung music appropriate to the time of battle and also during recess so as to infuse courage in the hearts of the warriors and also to soothe the pains of wounded men. They played on Tandaripparai.
Parani: They displayed their musical talents in festivals. They probably sang the valorous deeds of the kings in the battlefields. Once the festival was over in one place, they moved on to another. Parani is also said to be a type of Kuttu or dance. Hence, these Porunar must have also been adept in dancing and must have made their presentations in the form of dance operas.
The Panar had the following subgroups:
Isaippanar: A vocalist.
Yazhppanar: An instrumentalist who was mainly the Yazh player. There were two subsections in the Yazhppanar. They were the Perumpanar who played on the Periyazh and the Siruppanar who played on the Seeriyazh.
Mandaippanar: Those who sang with begging bowls.
The main instrument used is Yazh. The city Yapanam in Srilanka gets its name form this instrument. The paanar is the main character in many of the sangam literature, Perumpanarruppdai, Chirupanarruppadai etc. The references to Tamiz (Tamil) music are there in one of the Ayimperum kappiyangal (five great ancient epics), Silappadhikaram by Ilangovadigal.
Tamil and Carnatic music systems
Tamil and Carnatic music have plenty of similarities between them. There is a view that Carnatic music might have originated from Tamil music. The very famous Carnatic music has its roots shared with / evolved from Tamil music. One finds that the current Carnatic music has given new names to the ancient Tamil terms, fine tuned and uses the same system.
The 7 basic notes known by
Sanskrit names today were known by pure Tamil names such as, Kural,
Tuttam, Kaikilai, Uzhai, Ili, Vilari and Taram.
There are even terms for the notes in different octaves. For example, Kurai
Tuttam and Nirai Tuttam refer to the
Rishabha in the lower and upper octaves respectively. The ancient Tamil treatises like Tolkappiam
and Silappadikaram mention about 'Pannati',
the equivalent of raga alapana.
The following list gives the
Tamil music terms and
their equivalents in Carnatic music.
|
Tamil and Carnatic Terms in music |
|
|
Dhevaram (Tamil) terms |
Carnatic equivalent terms |
|
pan |
ragam |
|
padham |
swaram |
|
thalam |
thalam |
|
arochai |
arohanam |
|
amarochai |
avarohanan |
|
padam ezhu
|
saptha swaram
|
In Thevaram there are 21 pans (It could even be 24 or 27 as some experts say). The entire Thevaram is arranged in sequence with respect to the pans (equivalent to ragaas of Carnatic). In the 9th Thirumurai a pan which is not used in other Thirumurai called salarapani is used. Some of the pans have same Carnatic raga equivalent. (like Kolli, Kolli kauvanam have equivalent as Navaros).
Karaikkal Ammaiyar, a lady saint who lived during the great Bhakthi revolution that took Tamilnadu to a great elevation was the first to sing songs with ten hymns called 'padhikam' in praise of Lord Shiva. The first three of the four pillars of Shaivaism in Tamilnadu, namely Sambandhar, Appar (Thirunavukkarasar), Sundharar composed innumerable songs in padhikam style, rich in music that revamped the whole Tamilnadu. The padhikams together called as Thevaram, were so popular that the kings starting from the great Thirumurai Kanda Raja raja chozan appointed musicians in temples across Tamiz land to sing these hymns of music in the specified manner. These musicians are called Odhuvars. Their service continues even today in the temples.
Musical instruments
The ancient Tamil treatises like Tholkappiam and Silappadikaram mention 'Pannati', the equivalent of raga alapana. Instruments like Kuzhal (Flute), Yazh (Vina / Harp) and Muzhavu (percussion) seem to have been the accompaniments for both music and dance.
String instruments
Yazh is the most famous musical instrument for Tamil music, as Veena is to Carnatic music. Yazh is a string instrument like Veena. The Periyazh with 21 strings and Seeriyazh with 7 strings were played by the Perumpanar and Sirupanar respectively. Patthupattu is the earliest of the Sangam works to exhaustively deal with the details of the Yazh. There were four kinds of Yazh. They are:
Periyazh with 21 strings
Makarayazh with 19 strings
Sagodayazh with 14 strings
Sengottuyazh (Seeriyazh) with 7 strings .
More information on this instrument Yazh can be found in "Yazhnool" written by Swami Vibulanandha. Some of the other music instruments referred in Thirumurai are kokkarai and kudamuzA (thala instruments). Some hymns in "kalladam" describe these instruments.
Wind instruments
The flute was the most popular among the wind
instruments. The process of making holes in the flute is explained in Perumpanatruppadai.
The holes were bored on the tube by placing a burning log at required intervals.
There is a reference in Kurinjipattu, to shepherds playing Ambal Pann on the flute. The
twelfth Thirumurai Periya Puranam tells about the making of flute and playing on
the flute in Anaya nayanar puranam songs.
The other wind instruments referred to in Malaippadukadam
are:
Pili, a small trumpet also called Siruchinnam
Kodu or Kombu
Kanvidutumbu - This has a larger circumference than flute and is supposed to have been as long as the trunk of an elephant
Kuruntumbu - a small flute. The pitch of this was supposed to be “Ili” or Panchamam. The ordinary flute also acted as a drone in addition to producing sweet music.
Percussion instruments
Of the various percussion instruments referred, the Murasu was the most popular and used on all occasions. During festivals, Murasu was played all day as it conveyed joy and gaiety. Muzhavu accompanied girls when they sang.
There is mention of the Viraliyar playing the Seeriyazh and also dancing to the Tala played by the hand on the Muzhavu which has Marcchanai on the drum face. The Pormurasu or war drum, was a very important instrument, which was played in the battlefield to frighten enemies and also infuse courage and enthusiasm in the hearts of the warriors. The Murasu seemed to have been as important as a national flag as the victorious king always captured the Murasu of the defeated king. The selection of wood and method of making Murasu is mentioned in Maduraikanchi. The construction and tuning of Murasu is referd to in Malaippadukadam. The sides were covered with skin, which were kept in position by leather straps. The left drum face was tuned to Panchamam (Ili) while the right one was tuned to Shadjam (Kural). In Porunaratruppadai, this instrument is referred to as Udukkai with the impression of the palm of the player on the drum face, resembling the dark color of the hood of dancing snake. The Porunar is supposed to have played on this drum with the Tala known as Irattai Talam.
The Malaippadukadam refers to Muzhavu, Aguli or Siruparai and Tattai. The Tattai is also known as Karadijai. The sound of this Parai is said to resemble the croaking of a frog and also that of the bear. This was a crude folk instrument made out of bamboo stick. Numerous slits were made across the stick and sound was produced on it by striking it on a stone or any other hard surface. The Kurinjipattu refers to this instrument being used by peasant women to scare away the pigeons and parrots from the field along with another drum called Kulir. Malaippadukkadam refers to a drum called Ellari, which was also called Salli or Sallikai.
The works Purananuru and Ettutogai refer to a percussion instrument called Padalai. Another name for this was Orukanmakkinai. The Ghana Vadyam referred to in Malaippadukadam in Kancha talam is known by the name Pandil, made of bronze. Paditrupattu refers to Kalappai, where all the instruments were kept and was carried by the singing bards everywhere.
