दर्शनादभ्रसदसि जननात्कमलालये ॥
darshanAth abrasAdasi jananat kamalAlaye
काश्यांन्तु मरणान्मु्क्तिः स्मरणादरुणाचले ॥
kAshyAntu maranAnmukti smaranAth arunAchale
The above verse found in the Arunachala Mahatmyam in Skanda Purana tells us about the greatness of the mukti kshetra-s, shrines that gives us Liberation, namely, Chidambaram, Thiruvarur, Kashi Varanasi and Thiruvannamalai. Having vision of the Lord at Chidambaram, being born at Thiruvarur, dying at Kashi all provide mukti which means one must be physically be present in these places. The greatness of the Lord of Thiruvannamalai – Arunachala is that you need to just think about the Lord (with devotion) from wherever you are, and He grants you Liberation!
SrI Muthuswamy Dikshitar (1775-1835), venerated as one among the trinity of Carnatic music, the others being Sadguru Thyagaraja and Sri Shyama Sastri, would hail the Lord, having been inspired by the aforesaid verse as “स्मरणात् कैवल्य प्रद चरणारविन्दं” –‘smaranath kaivalya prada charanAravindam’ – in his wonderful composition ‘Arunachalanatham smarami’ in ragam Saranga.
Dikshitar having been born into a family steeped in tradition surrounded by veda mantras and music (sangita) and also having had the privilege of being initiated into Srividya upasana by his guru Sri Chidambaranatha Yogi at Varanasi, he became a veritable carnatic music composer with his sahitya (lyrics) in Sanskrit. His kriti-s are quintessence of advaita philosophy and he followed the shanmata tradition set by Adi Sankara. He composed on all deities covered under Shanmata without discrimination though his ishta devata (preferred deity) was Subrahmanya. He used ‘Guruguha’ to sign off his compositions (kriti) in addition to raga mudra (name of the raga appearing in the kriti).
Dikshitar was a parivrajaka moving from place to place like Sankara himself and he composed on the deities enshrined in the temples he visited spanning the whole of Bharatavarsha (India). His kritis are storehouse of information on the shrine (sthala purana), the iconographic details of the deity, speciality of tradition followed, puranic details besides his forte’- advaita philosophy. He was a realised atman as it would become evident from many of his kriti-s. He would sing, ‘श्री गुरु गुहस्य दासोऽहं / नो चेत् चिद्गुरु गुह एवाहम् //’ – SrI guru guhasya dAsO(a)haM nO cEt cidguru guha EvAham – I am the servant of Guruguha, otherwise I am verily the Guruguha.
Dikshitar has composed Samudaya (Group) kritis on deity or a particular theme such as Sri Kamalamba Navavarnam, Sri Abhayamba Navavarnam, Navagraha kriti-s and so on.
He has also composed kriti-s on the ‘Pancabhuta kshetras :-
In each of these kriti-s Dikshitar would enunciate the tattva (principle) behind each element in addition to giving information specific to the sthala (shrine).
The Kriti we are trying to explore is the central one representing the effulgent FIRE element and is represented by Lord Siva in His ‘Tejomayalinga’ rupa (form). This form was taken by Lord Siva to specifically quell the Ego of his co-equals Vishnu and Brahma who were having an argument as to who is more powerful. He assumed the form of a huge column of fire whose beginning and end could not be traced. Brahma was asked to find the tip at the top and Vishnu the bottom tip. While Vishnu surrendered and praised Lord Siva and regretted his momentary indiscretion, Brahma lied to Lord Shiva that he had found the top and brought in a witness too! Brahma paid His price for his lie and lost one head. He too finally accepted the greatness of Lord Shiva.
According to Arunachala Mahatmyam this whole episode took place at Arunachala (Thiruvannamalai) and Siva as the column of Fire merged into the Hill thus making the whole of Arunachala Hill (achala– Hill) to assume the form of a Lingam. Ramana Maharshi would time and again assert that the mount itself was a manifestation of Lord Siva – Arunachalanathan. His long verse Aksharamanamalai (Garland of Letters) is a tribute to Arunachala and the very first line echoes the very idea expressed in Arunachala Mahatmyam and later by Dikshitar.
அருணா சலமென வகமே நினைப்பவ
ரகத்தைவே ரறுப்பா யருணாசலா (அ)
Aru/nā/chala/mena, aha/mē/ninaip/pavar
Aha/taivē/rarup/pā, arunā/chalā.
For those who think and meditate upon Arunachala in their heart, you, Arunachala, remove their Ego from the root (primafacie requirement for Liberation – kaivalyam).
The Composition of Dikshitar is as follows :
अरुणाचल नाथम् – रागं सारङ्गा – ताळं रूपकं
// पल्लवि //
अरुणाचल नाथं स्मरामि अनिशं / अपीत कुचाम्बा समेतम्
// अनुपल्लवि //
स्मरणात् कैवल्य प्रद चरणारविन्दं / तरुणादित्य कोटि संकाश चिदानन्दं
(मध्यम काल साहित्यम्)
करुणा रसादि कन्दं शरणागत सुर बृन्दम्
// चरणम् //
अप्राकृत तेजो–मय लिङ्गं /अत्यद्भुत कर धृत सारङ्गं
अप्रमेयं अपर्णाब्ज भृङ्गं /आरूढोत्तुङ्ग वृष तुरङ्गम्
(मध्यम काल साहित्यम्)
विप्रोत्तम विशेषान्तरङ्गं / वीर गुरु गुह तार प्रसङ्गं
स्व–प्रदीप मौलि विधृत गङ्गं / स्व–प्रकाश जित सोमाग्नि पतङ्गम्
Dikshitar in the Pallavi says he is constantly in thought about Arunachalanatha who is in the company of his consort Apitakuchamba.
In the anupallavi he opens up with the idea of ‘SmaranAth kaivalyam’ as dealt above – His Lotus Feet grant Liberation at the very thought of them. He is effulgent as crores of youthful and tender Sun. He is verily the Bliss-Consciousness (cidAnandam). He follows it up by extolling his compassion and glory of being worshipped by groups of Devas.
Dikshitar’s awe is evident in the Charanam when he describes the Lingam form as unnaturally effulgent column of Fire. Unnatural because the column is without a beginning or an end, as yet another composer in Tamil Papanasam Sivan would sing, ‘அரி அயனும் காணாஅரிய ஜோதி / ஆதியந்தமில்லா பழமனாதி’ (ariyayanum kaaNa ariya jOti /)aadiyandamillaa pazhamanaadi).
Dikshitar then describes the Lord as sporting the most fabulous deer in his hand (Saranga dharam) and brings about the raga mudra – Saranga. Deer is symbolic of our fleeting mind and the Lord holds it in check. For us to do ‘smarana’ (meditation) of the Lord, the mind must be checked. He is ‘aprameya’ – Immeasurable.
He is like the hovering bee (brnga) over the Lotus that is Parvati (Aparna). The obvious inspiration comes from Verse 45 of Soundaryalahari lines,’ परीतं ते वक्त्रं परिहसति पङ्केरुहरुचिम्।‘ – Your (Devi’s) face making mockery of the beauty of lotus flowers ‘… स्मरदहनचक्षुर्मधुलिहः’– ‘smaradahanacakṣurmadhulihaḥ’ – Siva’s (annihilator of Manmatha lustful eyes hovering like a bee.
Dikshitar’s style of alternating the saguna/nirguna (form/without form) aspect of Brahman is unique. The Lord mounts Himself on the lofty Bull. He is very dear to the Brahmins and the elevated beings and also to the valorous Guruguha (mudra) – Subrahmanya. He mounts Ganga on His self-illumined head. He surpasses the Sun, Moon and Agni in His glow or spark (patangam).
We just had a glimpse of one composition of Dikshitar whose about 470 kriti-s are available to us and considering the vast amount of vedantic spiritual material contained in them, the collection can veritably be termed as ‘Dikshitopanisad’. Pray a scholar be born to write a commentary on this musical-philosophical treasure trove. Let us offer our veneration to him on his 250th birth anniversary year. He was born in Panguni Kritika (1775 March 24) which was celebrated this year on April 2nd at his Samadhi at Ettyapuram.
