Raga Appreciation

[kamala]

Thanks to the newsletter from the hub, i happened to to see a posting on raga amirdhavarshini. I am neither a singer nor a music literate. But i would like to share a few points about this raga.

The musical trio Muthuswamy Dikshitar has given a wonderful krithi in this raga. There is a famous incident attached to the making of the krithi in this ragam. "Anandhamridhagarshini amruthavarshini". When he was passing throug the village Ettayapuram in thirunelveli District, there was an acute drought. Since he was wellknown for his powers , people in the village requested him to get rains in. At their request Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar sang the above song in the Amirdhavarshini ragam.

When he sang the line varshaya varshaya varshaya it started rainging heavily flooding the village and he had to sing the same song with the slight modification . Instead of varshaya varshaya varshaya, he used sthambaya sthambaya he sang to stop the rains.


If my understanding is right he was the founder of the raga.

There are lots of miracles that have taken place and are still taking place by singing and chanting his krithis.

Infact there is an organisation doing research on his krithis and have succeeded in curing various diseases and also energise the system thereby ensuring good mental and physical health. Two articles published in Economic times and Deccan Herald carry more details on the miraculous power of Dikshitar kritis. If anyone needs more information on this, i will be happy to provide.