Pancharatna Kritis

A Pancharatna kriti transliterated as Pañcaratna kṛti (Sanskrit pancha - five & ratna - gem) is a set of five kritis (songs) in Carnatic classical music, composed by the 18th century Indian composer, Tyagaraja. All the kritis, as is the case with almost all of Tyagaraja's compositions, are penned in Telugu, except the first one which is composed in Sanskrit.

Tyagaraja lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century in Tiruvayyaru in present-day Tanjore district in Tamil Nadu. His compositions are considered to be some of the finest in Carnatic music. Of the five Pancharatna Kritis, four are in Telugu and one in Sanskrit. They are set to music in five ragas: Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and Sri.

The Pancharatna kritis are written in praise of the Hindu deity, Rama. They are set to Adi Tala and each raga represents the mood of the song and the meaning of its lyrics. All the kritis are composed in the style of a Ragam Tanam Pallavi (RTP) with the charanams (stanzas) substituting for the kalpana swaras (improvisatory passages) in the pallavi section of the RTP.

The Pancharatna Kritis are:

The melodic forms of these compositions (Nata, Goula, Arabhi, Varali, Sri) are the five Ghana ragas of Carnatic music also called the ghanapanchaka. These 5 ragas lend themselves to elaborate improvisations. They are so called because they are suited to playing tanam on the veena. Nata and Varali are the most ancient of the Carnatic ragas and date back to over a thousand years ago.

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