Some "Fraudulent" Kritis of Thyagaraja

The other day a friend of mine mentioned that Thyagaraja had composed a kriti in Latangi - Diname sudiname. I had always thought that there were no compositions of Thyagaraja in Latangi and so was surprised at hearing this. (An exception is Kanta Judumi which some (many?) books mention as being in Latangi - however I have always heard this sung in Vachaspati and hence am not including this.) Since I had heard that in the earlier part of this century and the latter part of the last century, it was not uncommon for different composers to pass off their compositions as compositions of the trinity, I decided to check this. After a little research, I found that this was a composition of one Visaloor Gireesa Iyer. That prompted me to try and list all the "fraudulent" kritis of Thyagaraja.

Among these, some of the more prominent ones are the compositions of K. V. Srinivasa Iyengar - the brother of Tiger Varadachariar. These are the two kritis in Simhendramadhyamam - Needucharanamule and Natajana, as well as the harikamboji kriti - Vinata suta (not to be confused with the Jayantasena kriti of Thyagaraja starting with the same words). Despite the composer's public admission, these kritis are still considered Thyagaraja kritis. I have heard Natajana being referred to as a Thyagaraja kriti in an AIR program and Needucharanamule being sung at the Tiruvayaru Thyagaraja Aradhana. In a lecture-demonstration by the Tirumale Sisters in Bangalore in May 1986, organized by the Inidan Institute of World Culture in collaboration with the Karnataka Gana Kala Parishat, it was mentioned that the Hamsadhvani kriti, Sri Raghukula, was also a kriti of Srinivasa Iyengar. and his brothers. Why they chose to use the Thyagaraja mudra for these kritis is not clear.

Other such kritis are Paramukhamelara - Suruti (a comp. of Mannargudi Rajagopala Iyer) and Vedalanu Kodandapani - Todi (Tanjavur Krishna Bhagavatar).

Parthasarathy's book on Thyagaraja compositions mentions a whole bunch of other compositions which he claims are suspicious. Eg: are Maravairi Ramani - Nasikabhushani, Sri Gananatham - Kanakangi etc.

I would like to know if there are any others which should be added to this list, esp. ones where the composer is known.

On a somewhat related theme, I would like to find out if there are any kritis/varnams which are attributed to Swati Tirunal that are definitely the compositions of others, such as the Tanjore Quartette. For example, I have heard people say that Sarasija - the kamboji ata tala varnam is a composition of Vadivelu.

Thanks,

Ramana


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