Thread by @Raaga_Suresh

[Music thread - Jayadeva Ashtapadis] On the occasion of Janmastami I saw a lot of good film songs about Krishna on my TL, posted by friends. In this thread we will hear some Ashtapadis of Jayadeva.

As much as Radha cannot be separated from Krishna, Jayadeva cannot be separated from Radha Krishna. His poems have captured the imagination of all Krishna premis across India. Lot of Odissi dances are based on his ashtapadis, Kerala loves his ashtapadis

Bhajana Sampradaya in Tamil Nadu is heavily based on his ashtapadis. They sing all his ashtapadis in bhajanais that may last over two days, especially the Radha Kalyanam based bhajanais

Jayadeva is supposed to have set his ashtapadis to ragas. S Ramanathan mentions that in one of his lec dems. We have probably lost the original tunes so various tunes have been set for the ashtapadis. Bhajanais follow one set if tunes, Odissi follows another, light music another

We will look at various tunings of ashtapadis here. Classical, dance oriented, light music and films. Each is charming in its own way

We start with the first ashtapadi 'shrita kamala kucha' Odissi dance.

The same 'srita kamala kucha' was tuned in Bhairavi by Semmangudi. I am unable to get his recording. So hear this recording. The tune is in Bhairavi but differs from Semmangudi version. Song from 7 min mark

Aah. After some search got the Semmangudi version. Here he is with the ashtapadi. He segues into the ashtapadi by finishing the slokham in Bhairavi.

Next we will take up 'lalitha lavanga'. Here in the standard bhajani padhathi, Udayalur Kalyanaraman. The verses sung before the actual ashtapadis are lovely.

They sing it in Vasantha ragam. I don't know much Sanskrit but whatever little I understand, the ashtapadis sound very nice.

In the same Vasantha ragam, from the carnatic music end, T M Krishna

From the light music side, the great P.Susheela sing 'lalitha lavanga'

'chandana charchita' is an ashtapadhi which has inspired many. A lovely Mohanam based tune by Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy delivered by Susheela for the film, 'Tenali Ramakrishna'

I love everything about this song. The wonderful lyrics of Jayadeva, that honey soaked voice of Susheela, Mohanam and the wonderful tuning of Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy

Here are Priya Sisters singing 'chandana charchita'

Let me deviate here a bit and tell you a story. Vadivelu, a direct disciple of Dikshitar, was an asthana vidwan at Thiruvananthapuram palace. Once he came to Tiruvaiyar accompanied by an old man, who had arthritis. It was the desire of this old man to see Tyagaraja

Vadivelu knew Tyagaraja well and he took the old man to Tyagaraja's house. It was already dusk when they arrived there. Tyagaraja was sitting on the platform outside his house. His disciples were also sitting on the platform singing some krithis

Vadivelu and the old man sat down to listen. After some time the disciples finished their singing. Silence reigned. Then the old man's voice shattered the silence. "Why don't you sing one krithi?", the old man asked Tyagaraja

Tyagaraja was an old man himself then and was known for his quick temper. "How can I sing whenever someone feels like they want to listen to my singing. I am old and I cannot sing on command", he said. There was silence again.

To pacify him, Vadivelu said, "Can I ask him to sing?" and pointed to the old man. Tyagaraja looked at him and was not impressed by his form. "He can sing?" he asked. Vadivelu assured him that he can. Since Tyagaraja had good regard for Vadivelu he agreed to listen to the old man

The old man stated singing in a very slow speed. Called ati-ati-vilambam (that is around 16 times slower than the normal madhyama kalam). The song he chose was Jayadeva's ashtapadi 'chandana charchita neela kalebara'. He sang it in Pantuvarali

From ati-ati-vilambam, he upped the speed to ati-vilambam, then to vilambam, then to madhyamam, then to duritam and finally to ati-duritam. In other words he sang in six speeds. Tyagaraja was stunned by his virtuosity. He then asked his disciples to sing 'endhao mahanubavulu'

The old man name was Govinda Marar. He was known as Shatkala Govinda Marar. Shatkala indicating six speeds. Tyagaraja regretted having underestimated someone like him and gave him the name of Gopala Dasa (I think)

This incident is narrated in a book on Tyagaraja by one Ramaswami Iyer.

Here is 'chandana charchita' in the Pantuvarali ragam, in which Govinda Marar had sung. Sung now by Kavalam Srikumar.

'sakhi he' is the next astapadhi we will take. This was used in the movie, 'Swarna Kamalam'. Though Swarna Kamalam had music by Illayaraja, this was not by Raja. This is a tune of Bhubaneswar Mishra, the singer being Trupti Das

K Vishwanathan had said in one interview that he saw (or heard) this ashtapadi. He was very impressed and he dialled Raja to ask him they can include this in the movie. Raja said fine.

The same 'saki he' in Barathanatyam.

Another lovely ashtapadhi, 'sa virahe tava dheena'. Sung by Bhanumati for the film, 'Vipranarayana', the story of Tondarpodi Alzhwar. Music by S.Rajeshwar Rao.

Bhanumathi looks so ethereal in this song. And she sings the song very well too.

'sa virahe thava dheena' in the fusion form. Music Mojo. Nicely done.

T N Seshagopalan in top form was just unbeatable. Here he is with 'sa virahe' in Darbari Kanada.

We continue with Darbari Kanada. This time the ashtapadhi 'radhika krishna radhika' from the movie 'Mohiniyattam. Music by Devarajan Master. The singer: Mannur Rajakumaranunni

The link was wrong. Here is the right one.

Here is the inimitable Gantasala singing 'radhika krishna radhika'

The same ashtapadi appeared in the movie 'Megha Sandesham'. Music was by Ramesh Naidu. Sung by Susheela

The next ashtapadi we will take up is 'Dheera Sameere'. Here is Unnikrishnan in the light music format.

Abhijit Mishra in the north indian light music style

Gantasala and Susheela from 'Bhakta Jayadeva' The same 'Dheera Sameera'. Music by S.Rajeshwar Rao

Gantasala again. 'ramate yamuna pulinavane' Gantasala's voice is my comfort food

The same ashtapadi from Orissa, Dr. Guru Charan Patro. Sounds similar to Gantasala version.

In Odissi dance

'ya ramita' This ashtapadi from the movie 'Ganam'. Music by Dakshinamurthy Swami. Sung by Balamurali

A totally different take by S Rajeshwar Rao of the same ashtapadi. Sung by Gantasala and Susheela 'sakhi ya ramita'

'pasyati disi disi' (nada hare) from the movie 'Idavapathi' Tune by Ramesh Narayan. Sung by Madhushree Narayan.

Unnikrishnan with 'pasyati disi disi' based on Madhuvanthi

From the movie, 'Hamsa Geethe'. Set to Darbari Kanada. Sung by Balamuralikrishna

'pasyathi disi disi'. This one tuned in Desh and sung by Sudha Raghunathan

A fusion version of this ashtapadi, based on Sindhu Bhairavi, by Kavalam Srikumar. Interesting.

Now for the very popular 'priye charusheele'. We begin with the divine voice of M S Subbulakshmi. This is tuned in Mukhari.

Sikkil Gurucharan and Anil Srinivasan give this ashtapadi a different color

S.Rajeshwar Rao, once again, for the movie 'Bhakta Jayadeva'. Tuned in Darbar Kanada. Gantasala

From the movie 'Megha Sandesham', 'priye charusheele' Music by Ramesh Naidu. Susheela and Yesudas.(This also has Telugu lyrics, basically translation of the ashtapadi, in this song. Yesudas sings that part)

Shankar Mahadevan singing it in Mukhari but in a style different from that of MS. A sort of fusion.

My bad. I thought it was Mukhari. It is Bhairavi.

The legendary Kelucharan Mahapatra dancing to 'prie charusheele'

It is past midnight and I will close with this last ashtapadi. 'pravisa radhe'. An old style rendition. I like this rendition in Mand. Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi and Vinjamuri Seetha Devi

In the bhajanai padhdhathi, Bad recording. AVK Rajasimmhan & Party

My favorite rendition of this ashtapadi. By Gantasala. Yamuna Kalyani based.

No one has impacted music and dance as much as Jayadeva has. Be it Odissi or Barathanatyam.Carnatic music or fusion.Bhajanai sampradayam or light music,he has inspired everyone. And he will continue to inspire future generations of artists as well. It was great playing his poems

Will end the thread now. Thanks for following thus far.

cc: @hamsanandi @AndyGana @meerasndr