CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION
 Conclusion 186

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

As Mahakavi Ulloor commented,

"Kerala has a highly developed musical style as early as the people of this
land".
Music in Kerala has evolved out of the folk melodies, temple steps, the theatre

plays, religious discourses, the Royal courts to give to the world at large many

composers. At the same time preserving its intrinsic music in Sopana ragas and

Kathakali talas which are akin to the present day Carnatic ragas and talas but different

in their own features.

This unique feature of raga and tala have influenced many composers from

earlier period

The system of performing with the percussion mridangam to taanam rendering

is still found among musicans of Kerala.

Carnatic music composers from the period of Trinity have revealed many rare

ragas and unraveled the unknown melodies through their kritis. These compositions

are the record of the composers’ musical output and are the only available source and

aid in understanding their lakshana and lakhshya.

E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar who has spent most of his days in the

village in Palakkad has imbibed the rich tradition of Kerala Music and has adopted

this heritage to Carnatic music. being not only a musician ,as a composer ,the kritis

left to us by him speak volumes of the musicianship .

The study of E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar‘s krtis reveals the following:

 Conclusion 187

E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar ‘s krtis arose out of his musical intution,

learning , and listening initially. Later his devout nature prompted him to sing out his

feelings and emotions in the form of propitiation to his ishta devata. These are

revealed in his Atma Katha.

Hence the form, structure of his kritis bear a lot of semblance to that of the

Trinity and his contemporary composers.

The adoption of the lakshana and lakshya in his compositions are due to his

stupendous knowledge of the Puranas, and the complex language of Sanskrit.

The form of composition used by him is only kriti.

The padas, sahitya used in his kritis conform to prosody

The known ragas used by him though are similar to the prevalent

compositions, aesthetically they are moulded into the sahitya padas in a manner

befitting the padaartha.

The unknown scales are scored into the lyrics befitting the ranjakatva, melodicity

of the mode and sahitya bhava, the prosody mould. –thus giving us a concrete record

of the lakshana of the raga.

The new talas for which he has applied the unique feature of Kerala Tala, that too

during the last days of his life speak volumes of the ripeness in music in E³³app¡¿a¯

VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar.

The Puranas E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma B h¡gavatar has depicted through his

poignant kritis, give us an insight of his literary excellence and Bakthi.

This uttama vakgeyakara has not composed for the sake of popularity or fame or

showing off his knowledge and musical prowess.

 Conclusion 188

E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar sincerely lived by the faith t he had in Nada

upasana as a means to live life fully .True devotion is the basis of knowledge, and

practice of this knowledge is the route to wisdom.

It is highly appropriate that these compositions were a part of the syllabus and

Venkataramaneeyam was prescribed as a Text in Kerala University.

The onus rests on the musicians and connoisseurs of music, institutions to

propogate works of this mammoth nature.

Much needs to be done in the field of works of other composers of Kerala and also

E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar‘s contribution to Harikatha, The limit of this

dissertation permits me to focus only on the contribution to Carnatic music by

E³³app¡¿a¯ VenÅki¿ar¡ma Bh¡gavatar.

With the advanced technology of the world wide web, the teachers, the

students ,researchers, practitioners of Music have lot of scope to dwell in to the music

of this land -Kerala-God’s own Country.