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Home > Kerala Temples > Ritualistic Arts > Sopaana Sangeetha Sopaana Sangeetha Ritualistic Art in Kerala TemplesSopaana Sangeetha Ritualistic Art in Kerala TemplesFrom time immemorial man has expressed his feelings and the delight in musical sounds. These impulses of man have taken a concrete and well-defined shape during the period of Puraanaas (400 B.C.) as most of the verses therein contain praises of various attributes of deities. However, the period of introduction of sopaana sangeetha is still later as the very name indicates it is sung in front of sopaana (front stony steps) of the sreekovil. Thus it dates back to the period of structural temples, particularly in the absence of literary evidence in respect of the early centuries. In Kerala it is believed that Adi Sankaracharya had laid down the procedure of pooja system in several important temples. His book Prapanchasaara Thanthra testifies the distinguishing marks of thaanthric rituals. Those who look at the structures of the temples in Kerala will come across the depiction of dance scenes in the sopaana of the shrine of the subsidiary deity of Govardhan at the Kulasekharapuram Sree Krishna temple (near Kodungallur); The carving on the banister of sopaana depicts a dance by beating a drum (presumably Itayka). As the installation of this temple is ascribed to the period of Kulasekhara Aazhvaar it can be safely concluded that sopaana sangeetha was in vogue around ninth century, if not earlier. There are various literature available on sopaana-sangheetha but special mention has to be made to some important works like Sangheetha Vidya Darppanam, Sangheetha Chandrika (Aattoor Krishna Pisharati), Sopaanam (Njaralath Rama PoduvaI) etc. The Bhakthi movements in Kerala gave a new impetus to the importance of sopaana-sangheetha. The sublime, exalted and heightened forms of geeths of Jayadeva (13th century) influenced the sopaana sangeetha and most of the lyrics (ashtapathi) are based on his immortal work Geetha Govinda. The karnaatic classical music also had its influences but the sopaana sangeetha keeps up a distinct style. As against 72 mela-raaga-paddhathi primarily adopted in karnaatic music the sopaana-sangeetha adopts the principles enunciated in Raaga-anga-paddhathi in which some specific svaras of raagas have greater stress, while the rest casual. Another notable difference is in the mode of raaga-aalaapana. Unlike karnaatic music the sopaana-sangeetha is strictly thaala bound and -is marked by different divisions, calculations, signs and expressions. The statement which follows gives the differences between the most common thaalas used in sopaana sangeetha in comparison with those in karnaatic music:
It is to be noted that according to the time of performance and the deity the geeths and raagas vary, i.e. separate for each type and time of pooja. The raagas which are used in sopaana-sangeetha are described in detail in the book entitled Sangeetha Vidya-Darppanam. Accordingly the raagas of sopaana-sangheetha for each time are as follows:
Keertthanas of Gapapathi and Saraswathi are sung in madhyamavathi for palli-unartthal (awakening of the deity). It is further stipulated that the following raagas are to be used for thyaanees. (Thyaanee is a corruption of the Sanskrit word dhyaana.)
In some temples there are slight changes in the use of thyaanees and raagas. There are certain other stipulations also. The musician has always to stand on the left side of the sopaana or half-faced with the Thanthri. Another aspect is that the singing has to be stopped when the shrine is opened. The instruments used for sopaaaa-sangeetha are itayka, chengala and sometimes sruthi. All the raagas mentioned above are not generally used. However, ashtapathi geeths taken from Geetha Govinda, a Sanskrit work of Jayadeva and Keertthanas of Maharaja Sree Swaathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813-1846) form part of the sopaana-sangeetha. The important geeths/ keertthanas and thyaanees sung on this occasion are as follows.
The above brief account indicates the great importance of sopaana-sangeetha, its rich legacy and the importance for giving prominence to this traditional musical form.
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