Guruguhaamrta is a unique organization dedicated exclusively to the preservation and propagation of Muddusvami Dikshitar’s Kritis. The brainchild of musician G Ravi Kiran, who is a disciple of Vidwans RK Srikantan and T M Krishna, Guruguhaamrta has conducted concerts, lec-dems and workshops of Dikshitar kritis. It has also conducted an exclusive Akhandam of Dikshitar kritis at Ettayapuram at the Holy Samadhi of Dikshitar.

On 27th of November, Guruguhaamrta, jointly with ISKCON Bangalore, conducted an exclusive daylong festival dedicated to Muthuswami Dikshitar – called Guruguhagaanam 2011.

The idea was to spend a day with Dikshitar!!!

The day began rather nervously with the weather gods in a terrible mood!!! However, the redoubtable Madurai TN Seshagopalan proved that he could draw his fans despite the inclement weather and the formidable Bangalore traffic. TNS along with Sthoka Prabhu of ISKCON inaugurated Guruguhagaanam 2011. Speaking at the inauguration, TNS emphasized that Dikshitar's kritis serve as compendiums of ragas and elucidated using the Kambhoji masterpiece Sri Subramanyaya Namaste.

The first concert of the day was of Vidwan TNS himself. He started with Manasa Guruguha in Ananda Bhairavi and went on to elaborate Shankha Chakra (Purnachandrika), Seshachala Nayakam (Varali), Soundara Rajam (Brindavani) and Sri Rajagopala (Saveri), concluding with the Sri Raga Navavaranam Sri Kamalambike.

The highpoints of the concert were the free flowing alapana for Soundara Rajam and the moving rendition of the Saveri kriti. In fact, so moved was TNS during Sri Rajagopala that he paused in between the anupallavi and charanams to explain the significance of the kriti. He recollected that Nadaswara Vidwans of the past would hold their breath for 3 minutes and render cascading sangathis. Veteran Vidwans VV Ravi on the violin, Trichur Narendran on the mridangam and G Guruprasanna on the khanjira ably supported Seshagopalan.

The second program of Guruguhagaanam was a talk on Muthuswami Dikshitar – his life and times – by author and historian V Sriram - he held the audience captive with his narrative style. The talk was peppered with several interesting facts about Dikshitar – especially the one about Dikshitar covering around 5700 kilometers during his lifetime (across various pilgrimages that he undertook).

The Bangalore Brothers, Ashok and Hariharan, rendered a brisk and spirited kutcheri with Vidwans M S Govindaswamy on the violin and C Cheluvaraju on the mridangam. They rendered Pavanatmajaagacha (Nata), Brihadamba Madamba (Bhanumati), Mahalakshmi Karunarasa Lahari (Madhava Manohari), Sri Raja Rajeshwari (Rama Manohari) and a nottu swaram Anjaneyam Sada Bhavayami.

The fourth concert was a group affair – comprising disciples of Vidushi Neela Ramgopal supported by Anand Viswanathan (violin) and Ranjani Venkatesh (mridangam). Several gems of Dikshitar were sung sincerely and in perfect synchronization. Sri Varalakshmi (Sri Ragam), Ananda Natana Prakasam (Kedara), Ramachandra Bhavayami (Vasanta), Sri Venkatagirisham (Surutti) and Hasti Vadanaya (Navaroj) were the kritis sung by the group. The Navaroj kriti in particular stood out for the immaculate rendition and bore testament to their tutelage under Vidushi Neela Ramgopal.

Scholar-writer B M Sundaram spoke in detail about the shishya parampara of Muthuswami Dikshitar with great emphasis on the Tanjavur Quartet. Of particular interest was the note about there being two Muthuswamis – one – Muthuswami Dikshitar and the other being Muthuswami Nattuvanar. It was Sundaram’s opinion that a few compositions that are called Dikshitar’s kritis (eg: Nee Sati in Sriranjini) were composed by Muthuswami Nattuvanar and not Dikshitar.

Pattabhiram Pandit sang next exploring Varali and Bhairavi. The neraval for Aravinda Patra Nayanam was brisk and elaborate and was suffixed with swarams for both Aravinda Patra as well as Nayanam. Mysore V Srikanth accompanied Pattabhiram on the Violin while Arjun Kumar was on the Mridangam.

The last talk of the day was by eminent scholar Prof. R Visweshwaran of Mysore. In the 90 minutes that he spoke, he covered the gamut of Raganga Ragas of Venkatamakhin and highlighted the unique Prayogas that characterize them. He stressed that popular Vidwans must render correct versions of Dikshitar Kritis – and gave Tarangini as a befitting example. He demonstrated the "real" Tarangini with the Shudha Daivatha and implored students and professional musicians to adhere to the Venkatamakhin Sampradaya while singing Dikshitar’s kritis.

The festival concluded with a concert by Vidushi M S Sheela with Mysore V Srikanth (violin) and V Krishna (mridangam). Vidushi Sheela began with a racy Devakriya (Sri Guruguha Taryashumam) and elaborated Bhairavi in detail with alapana, neraval and swarams for Balagopala. She concluded with the lilting Junjhooti kriti Gange Mampahi. One of the memorable aspects of the concert was the sketch of Namadesi that she rendered for the kriti "Narmada Kaveri".

Lyrics and meaning for all the kritis rendered were projected on the screens on stage for the benefit of the audience.

Guruguhaamrta can be reached by email guruguhaganam@gmail.com. The founder and trustee G Ravi Kiran can also be reached on 97398 67746.