Narendra, Life Insurance & Harry Potter

One may wonder how the above three are related. Narendra (Nath Dutt), later to become Swami Vivekananda, was left in impecunious circumstances on his father's death. This may be viewed as the turning point of his life, which pushed him into renouncing worldly life & later become the first Hindu to bring the glories of Hinduism to the world stage in Chicago.

Though he was born with extraordinary mental (& spiritual gifts), these might well have been utilised for wordly success, as even noted by his guru, Sri Ramakrishna. If life insurance was common in his time & his father had the foresight to insure his life, his family would not be thrown into destitution on his death. So Narendra might not have been drawn towards renunciation, but have succeeded in any worldly activity, as befitted his gifts.

To take the analogy further, (followers of Harry Potter may recollect that) at the time of admission to Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat was in a quandary as to whether Harry Potter should be put in Gryffindor or Slytherin, as he had qualities fitted for both houses. Finally it decided to put him into Gryffindor, without which he might not have been "The Chosen One" to defeat Lord Voldemort. 

So Harry's predicament may be considered as the worldly equivalent of the young Narendra's dilemma of choosing a worldly or a spiritual life. For the everlasting glory of Hinduism, Narendra made the right choice as did Harry, to get rid of the world threatening Dark Lord.

Sitar Concertos of Ravi Shankar

Indian classical music in a Western classical orchestral setting was frowned upon until Andre Previn, newly appointed Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra & familiar with other genres like Jazz & film scores decided to ask LSO to commission a Sitar Concerto by Ravi Shankar. The work was composed, performed & later recorded. The record, with the most beautiful of all Ravi Shankar LP jackets, sold "like a pop record."

Though he was the initiator of the project, Previn did not develop a close rapport with the composer & soloist like Zubin Mehta, who collaborated with Ravi Shankar for the second concerto. Later Previn even made unseemly remarks about the work, which he himself had commissioned. 

About a decade later, a second Sitar Concerto was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta conducting the world premiere. Both the Composer/Soloist & the Conductor got along like a house on fire this time, Mehta even playfully  suggesting to Shankar to make the work more complex!

Later it was also performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before a distinguished audience including the Prince of Wales & the Prime Ministers of U.K. & India. Subsequent recording was made digitally.

The crux of the matter is that in spite of the lack of rapport between composer & conductor, less technically demanding music & less advanced technology (analogue recording), the first Concerto makes for more delightful listening to many aficianados of both Indian & Western classical music even today! Even the reproduction sounds better may be because the pressing was on heavier vinyl.

"Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T. E. Lawrence

This remarkable book by Lawrence (of Arabia), about his Arabian campaign, was envisaged by him to match in content & style, "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky, "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Nietzsche & "Moby Dick" by Melville, the three he considered the best books ever written.

It was printed in 1926 in a small, sumptuous edition of 212 copies, Lawrence controlling the paper, typeface, margins, binding & even the number of lines on the page. The illustrations were sprinkled a few in the text & the portraits & the most spectacular paintings & crayons in the end of the book, where they appear in a blinding rush of colour.

The best of the copies, bound in calfskin with gold tooling, was presented to Mrs. Bernard Shaw, & is now in the New York Public Library. Other copies have become collectors' items. Each page has 37 lines, begins with a new paragraph, & no paragraph ends less than half-way across a line. No words are divided at the end of a line.

By this book, he will be remembered as long as the English language is read.

Saintly Liberator of France

Mark Twain is known as the author of the classics "Tom Sawyer" & "Huckleberry Finn." But towards the end of his life, he also produced a meticulously researched book on "Joan of Arc", which he considered his greatest work.

In it he narrated the true story of the teen aged, illiterate village girl, who, inspired by divine visions, managed to drive out the English, who had managed to occupy most of 15th Century France, forcing the cowardly Dauphin (Prince Regent) to cower in a corner of his kingdom. Things had come to such a sorry pass that the French soldiers would take to their heels on sighting an English soldier! She managed to convince the Dauphin with great difficulty to give her an army for this purpose. She became the only person in history to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of a nation's army at the age of 17. She succeeded in driving out most of the English army & crowning the Dauphin as the lawful King of France. 

It is said that she did not kill any English soldiers herself & only wanted them out of France. If she came across any dead, even the English, she would cry bitterly, being still at heart a young girl. In fact, once when she came across a dying English soldier, who had earlier vilely insulted her, she took his head on her lap like a sister & comforted him in his last moments!

However, she had incurred the hatred of both the English, who were incensed on being defeated in war by a mere chit of a girl & the French clergy, who were livid at her access to the Divine, bypassing them. So when at a final clearing operation, she fell into the hands of the English, the diabolical English did not kill her, rightly guessing she would be a perpetually honoured martyr for France. So they handed her over to the French clergy, who were only too glad to declare her a heretic & a witch & burn her alive at the stake. She was 19.

But they were not able to prevent her being honoured as a martyr the world over & even the Church, on thorough re-examination of the evidence, canonised her as a Saint belatedly in 1920.

The British had to wait many centuries later to come across another person, who did not hate them (exactly like Joan) but just wanted them out of the occupying country. He was called Gandhi.

Ironically, statues of both Joan & Gandhi are installed in England! There is even one of Joan in Pondicherry, installed during French occupation.

"Poetic Style" book by Dr. S. V. Ranganna

This is a remarkable 3 Volume work, full of erudition & uncanny insights into the world of Kannada Poetry. The learned author ranges freely over the world of poetry even in the western world to emphasise relevant points in Kannada Poetry.

Like English poets being classified roughly as "major" & "minor" for convenience in analysis, Dr. Ranganna classifies Kannada Poets into Excellent, medium & ordinary grades for ease of analysis & not to cast aspersions on their creativity. As he cogently points out, if it were not for ordinary & medium poets, the excellence of the topmost poets could not be recognised.

As he uses a global yardstick, he classifies Homer, Valmiki, Milton, Shakespeare, Pampa, Ranna & Kumaravyasa as occupying the highest grade. Just below them, but still higher than the medium grade are Wordsworth, Shelley, Racine, Pushkin, Raghavanka & Ratnakaravarni.

The medium grade poets in Kannada are Janna, Rudrabhatta, Harihara, Lakshmeesha & Nagachandra.

The ordinary ones are Nayasena, Aandayya, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Narahari, Sarvagna, Sanchi Honnamma & Shadaksharadeva.

It may be noted that Vachana Sahitya (Basava, Allamaprabhu & Akka Mahadevi) has been kept out of the ambit of this survey.

Dr. Ranganna also approvingly quotes Dante as saying that the only subjects for all literature are Religion, Love & War.

Profuse examples of their work have been quoted to justify the categorisation of these poets. Probably this is the finest work on Kannada Poetry appreciation to date.

"Kanada" group of Ragas

Some of these are in the "Asavari' Thaat & some in "Kafi" Thaat.

The most well-known is Darbari Kanada, also known as "The King of Ragas" & "The Raga of Kings" as Tansen reputedly created it to perform in court. This is in "Asavari" Thaat & the unique feature is the andolan on Komal Gandhar & Komal Dhaivat. Vadi & Samvadi are Shuddha Rishabh & Pancham.

Koushi Kanada also uses the same notes as above, but is distinguished by having Shuddha Madhyam & Komal Gandhar as Vadi & Samvadi. The Pancham string of the tanpura is also tuned to Shuddha Madhyam to help support the Vadi swara.

Suha Kanada is in Kafi Thaat & drops the Dhaivat altogether. The andolan on Komal Gandhar gives the Kanada touch. Rishabh is not used in ascent. Vadi & Samvadi are Ma & Sa. Surprisingly it is an afternoon raga.

A very similar Raga is Nayaki Kanada, having the same notes & even the same Vadi & Samvadi as above, but using the Rishabh in ascent. This is a night raga in the idiosyncratic time frame of the Hindustani system! This raga is favoured by the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana.

A raga recorded by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is Bageshree Kanada, in which the ascent progresses in the Kafi Thaat upto Pancham & then doubles back to Madhyam & proceeds again, dropping the Pancham & going straight to Dhaivat!

"Kalyan" Group of Ragas in Hindustani Music

These occupy a pre-eminent place in the repertoire of evening ragas. Also "Yaman", the most popular of these, is traditionally the first Raga to be taught to a student. These generally belong to the "Kalyan Thaat" in the ten "Thaat" system of classification.

1. Shuddha Kalyan

This uses only the notes in the parent Thaat, but pentatonic in ascent, dropping the Madhyam & Nishad but using all notes, in a convoluted way in the descent.

2. Yaman Kalyan

The name is a bit of a misnomer, because the distinguishing factor of this Raga is the use of Shuddha Madhyam in a unique way, in addition to the Teevra Madhyam basic to the Kalyan Thaat.

3. Maluha Kalyan

This is a rare variety using only the Shuddha Madhyam with plenty of zig-zag movements of the notes to distinguish the raga. Pandit Nikhil Banerjee has recorded this.

4. Gorakh Kalyan

This is another rare type, again using only the Shuddha Madhyam & omitting the Gandhar & Pancham & using the Komal Nishad. This has been recorded by Ustad Rashid Khan.

5. Shyam Kalyan

This is a quite popular raga, especially among the Etwah gharana Sitarists. The Gandhar & Dhaivat are omitted in the ascent but all notes with the Shuddha Madhyam also as a grace note after Gandhar, being the noteworthy factor.