Shri chakra raja nilaye – the gem of a composition in raga Shivashakti by the mighty Shri GNB - the most famous acronym in Carnatic music! A striking personality, the charismatic G N Balasubramanian was a musical prodigy and grew up under his father's guidance. She is the presiding deity of “Sarvāshā-paripūraka chakra” (the chakra which fulfils all wishes), she is the beloved of Lord Shiva, she is the Gupta yógini (the yógini of this āvaraña) who is worshipped by sage Dhūrvāsa, she is the annihilator of miseries, she is Hamsini (one who is in the company of great sages), she bestows the absolute bliss of renunciation, she is the ever auspicious one, she is the daughter of the sage Katyāyana, she is the wife of Sharva(Shiva), her tress is more dense and dark than a swarm of bees, she is the mother of Guruguha, she is blemishless, she destroys the arrogance in humans (the arrogance manifests as Bhandāsura), she delights the Shaktīs in this āvaraña (kamākarshini and 15 others), she is beyond attributes, she is the supreme spirit and the form of the world. She is attended on by Kamalā (Lakshmi) and Vāñi (Saraswati), the beauty of her neck surpasses the profile of a conch, she is worshipped by the celestials, she resides in the Kamalāpuram (the lotus in the heart of those who worship her), she speaks softly, she has beautiful teeth and a lotus-like face. Oh mind, worship the goddess Kamalāmba and cast aside this illusion (the apparent world) The worship of this āvaraña is believed to result in the fulfilling of one’s wishes when worshipped with purity. This āvaraña has 16 petals, each is presided by a goddess. Kamalāmbam bhajaré is the second āvaraña kriti. Each āvaraña or enclosure in the yantra has a shape, chakra name, presiding goddess, a yógini, a mental state and a unique form of Shakti. On each āvaraña, Dikshitar has composed a kriti and hence the Navāvaraña (9 enclosures) kritis. This is believed to be that entity which created the universe. The Chakra also symbolises Shiva and Shakti as one entity. The Chakra is intricate and it consists of yantrās and mantrās thus it depicts the union of space and sound i.e., blending of nāda brahma and the soul into one supreme. The Sri Chakra (also called Sri Yantra) is the most celebrated of all the yantras and depicts the mother goddess as the source of all creation. Having studied in detail the philosophical and spiritual aspects of worship, Dikshitar explains the intricacies of worshipping the mother goddess (Tripura sundari) and the Sri Chakra in the Kamalāmba navāvarna kritis. Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, one among our musical trinity, is known for the nature of the rāga, the contemplative mood and the lyrical brilliance in his kritis. Now, a short narration on this celebrated composition by Vinaya S.įor a Carnatic music rasika, no Navarātri is complete unless one listens and gets absorbed into the Kamalāmba navāvarna kritis of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Can anyone of you give me some leads to trace this recording.? I was so fascinated to listen to PCR narrate this incident and now my mission is to look for BMK’s 1959 rendition of the same kriti. Then BMK mentioned to him that GNB had said, after his radio programme “now that you have played Kamalāmbām bhajaré on the viola, I suggest you sing the same during your programme next week” and BMK sang. Listening to BMK and LGJ’s violin, PCR discovered his goal of becoming a violinist and went on to lean violin from LGJ.Īfter many years, when he met BMK as his guru, he narrated the seemingly coincidence of both GNB and BMK rendering the same kriti (Kamalāmbām bhajaré) in a radio programme that followed one another. Exactly a week after, AIR broadcasted another programme in which BMK sang the same kriti (Kamalāmbām bhajaré) as the main item with Sri. The concert was a live relay by AIR and PCR listened Kamalāmbām bhajaré rendered by GNB and accompanied by BMK(Viola) and Tanjore Ramamurthy(mridangam). He was a young lad of 15 years or so and was learning music in Hyderabad. His memory of this concert of about 58 years old and the details that he mentioned (including all the items that had been sung) stunned me. Purnachander (PCR), he mentioned an interesting anecdote about this AIR broadcast. In one of my discussions with violin maestro Sri. Listening to the restored and remastered audio provides an enjoyable listening experience and one could also observe the accompanying artiste in Balamuralikrisna of those days. It is one of the oldest recordings of Balamuralikrishna as an accompanying artiste. This was relayed from All India Radio (AIR) on 22nd August 1959. G N Balasubramaniam(GNB) accompanied on the Viola by Sri. Here is a vintage Kamalāmbā Navāvarña kriti in Kalyāñi sung by Sri.