You could call it a journey through the pages of history, a guided tour through the pages of Saivite bhakti literature or a musical voyage. In fact, Rama Kausalya’s lecture on the Ninth Thirumurai , was a brew of many flavours.
The Ninth Thirumurai has only 301 verses. Yet, when the Oduvar sings the Pancha Puranam in Siva temples, the much larger Tevaram and Peria Puranam are represented through just one verse each, whereas two verses from the Ninth Thirumurai are included, indicating its significance. The Ninth Thirumurai includes two works: Thiruvisaippa and Thirupallandu.
Eight of the temples celebrated in the Ninth Thirumurai are non-Tevaram temples. The one thing all nine composers of the Ninth Thirumurai have in common is their Siva bhakti, for the list includes people of disparate backgrounds -- Brahmins such as Karuvur Thevar and Purushothama Nambi who are well versed in the Vedas; Sethirayar, ruler of a small principality; Kandaraditha, a Chola Emperor, and Sendanaar, a woodcutter.
Kausalya spoke briefly about each of the composers and the temples celebrated in the Ninth Thirumurai. Sendanaar refers to Murugan in the Thiruvidaikkazhi temple by the Sanskrit name, ‘Subrahmanya’. When the chariot of the Chidambaram temple stalled, it was Sendanaar’s Thirupallandu that set it back in motion. Karuvur Thevar was witness to the building of four temples -- Big Temple, Gangaikondacholapuram, Aditteswaram and Trailokya Sundaram. One of Karuvur Thevar’s verses points to the variety of musical instruments used in the Chidambaram temple - Dundubhi, Muzhavu, Mondai (percussion), yazh and flute.
From inscriptions, we learn that Poonturuthi Nambi Kaada Nambi was a Brahmin who belonged to Atreya Gotram. The humility of Kandaradithar is evident in the tenor of his language. Even when he talks of his family’s military conquests and gifts to Lord Siva, he sees in all these the hand of God. Thiruvali Amudanar calls himself Mylayar Kon, the ruler of Mylai. But the Mylai referred to here is not Mylapore.
From Amudanaar’s descriptions of his country, we find that it belongs to the classification known as Maruda, whereas Mylapore belongs to the Neidal classification. So the Mylai referred to by Amudanaar is Mayiladuthurai.
Only six panns were used for Ninth Thirumurai- Panchamam (Ahiri), Saalarapaani (Anandabhairavi), Indalam (Mayamalavagowla), Gandharam (Navroj), Nattaragam (Pantuvarali) and Puraneermai (Bowli). Except for Saalarapaani, all are Thevara panns.
Panchamam was the most widely used pann, and so in the lec-dem, most of the verses sung by Madhuvanthi Badri were in Panchama pann.
Despite singing verse after verse in the same pann, Madhuvanthi not only kept tedium at bay, but also managed to bring out the bhakti bhava of the verses beautifully. But it would have added to the sacred aura of the programme if she had not followed the verses on her tablet, but learnt them by heart.
The verses of the Ninth Thirumurai are rich in imagery, and the lecture brought before the listener’s eyes a time when music and poetry walked hand in hand in temples, each enriching the other.
