Varnas - Page 4

Written by Smt.Harini Raghavan

Varnas are usually composed in Telugu perhaps owing to the beauty of the language which lends itself to the lyrical requirement of such a composition.  Even though all composition of Dikshitar are  in Sanskrit and Manipravalam, when it comes to varna, he has used telugu! Now Varnas are found in Tamil and Kannada also.  Depending on the ‘swaroopa lakshana’ (identity) of aVarna, one finds varieties like Ragamalika varna - Dina Raga malika- Vara Ragamalika – Nava Ragamalika - Taalamalika varna, Grahabheda varna, Nakshatramalika varna, Swara-Sahitya varna, etc. in Taana varna.  It is said that Swara-Sahitya varna in raga Todi set to Adi tala composed by Ramaswamy Dikshitar is the one and only varna of its kind in the entire field of Carnatic music.

The theme of a taana varna will be devotional, sringara, (erotic) or in praise of the patronizing king or his minister..  The only essential requirement is that there should be a perfect blending of the swara and sahitya.  It is said that the famous Tanjavur Quartrets who were composers of Varnas as well, would compose the Varna  format with all the swara patterns and for the same pattern they would match different sahitya depending on the requirement and circumstance, be it romantic, in  praise of the diety, or in praise of their patrons.  Such was their genius. 

Some of the most popular composers of TaanaVvarnas are:  Veena Perumalaiah, Pachchimiriam Adiappaiah, Sonti Venkatasubbaiah, Veena Kuppaier,Shamasastri, Pallavi Gopalier, Mutuswami Dikshitar, Manambuchavadi venkatasubbaier, Swatitirunal, Patnam Subramanya iyer, Rudrapatnam Venkataramaiah, Tanjore Quartrets, Pallavi Seshaier, Thiruvottiyur Thyagaier, Fidle Ponnuswamy, Ramnad Srinivas Iyengar,  Shatkala Narasaiah, Ramaswami Sivan, Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar, Mysore Sadashiva Rao, Veena Seshanna, Veena Subbanna. (the  list is not exhaustive). The famous Tanjore Quartrets, Ramaswamy Dikshitar, Vadivel Nattuvanar,Pallavi seshaier, Mysore Sadasiva Rao, Kunrakkudi Krishnaiyer and others have composed many valuable Pada Varnas. Padmabhushan Lalgudi G. Jayaraman,recognized as one of the most prolific composers in carnatic music of the modern era ,has composed many Taana and Pada varnas that have come to serve as guides to various ragas.  Earlier it was believed that only certain ragas were suitable for composing Varnas.  He has disproved this by composing in ragas like Neelambari, Devagandhari, Valaji, Bahudari, etc.