By Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan
The morning sessions at the 24th JSS Annual Music Conference were both educative and entertaining. On 3rd December morning, Mysore V. Subramanya gave a lecture-demonstration on ‘The Glory of Jhanjuti.’ He described how the name came into existence. Pinakapani named it jhanjuti. ‘Raganidhi’ describes it as jinjuti. It is also known by the name jhanjuruti and senchuruti, meaning abundant, ample and prosperousness. The name also indicates the meaning of ‘Shiva’. The raga is known to be 200-250 years old. It is a Nishaadantya raga meaning the raga can be developed only up to ‘d’ or ‘ni’ in Madhyasthayi. ‘Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini’ mentions it as the janya of Kedara Gowla. Like Kambhoji, Jhanjuti has ‘snpd’ sanchara. Sung in madhyama shruti, the raga is known to depict veera and shringara rasa. Normally this is sung/played in pure notes with less of gamaka. There are about 15 compositions in this raga. Jhanjuti has appeared in Hindustani music in the 18th century. Usually labelled as a light raga, it is sung in the form of a devaranama or tillana towards the end of the concert. Being the great grandson of Veene Seshanna, Subramanya had chosen many compositions of his great grand father for the morning. Sheshanna’s well-known swarajati was demonstrated on veena by Geeta Ramanand. The last two stanzas of the swarajati, normally abandoned by the teachers perhaps due to its complication were played by Geeta. ‘Gange maam paahi’ by Deekshitar, Swati Tirunal’s ‘Kalaye Shree kamala nayana charane’, a devaranama of Veene Sheshanna ‘Sakhi Prana’ and the popular tillana ‘Dhirana tanadheem tadhirana’ were also played by her. Vikram Bharadwaj provided mridanga accompaniment. Mysore T. Chowdiah’s popular ‘Maha Tripura Sundari’ deserved at least mention.
