Sri Sidhendrayogi ans Sri Narayanatirtha are said to have a relationship between them as that of a student and a teacher. But there is a difference of opinion about the existence of two different people with two different names, considering the works supposedly written by these two personalities. This is due to the similarities in the lives led by them- both are said to be Sanyasis, both authored Parijathapaarayanam in Telugu. Which is said to be in Yakshagana form. The Kuchipudi Dance style gives equal importance to both “Bhamakalapam” and “Tarangam’. These are but some similarities that created doubts in the minds of the Kuchipudi dance lovers.“Kowtwam”, “Sabdam” and “Prabandam” are items meant for sole performances. The Kuchipudi dancers gave performances of these two solo items in the early days before they switched over to Siddhendrayogis Bhamakalapam.
But this change over the dance form achieved the popularity of the public in general. Hitherto this art form was limited to performance in Temples and the Courts of rulers.
Their works include sabdams, which are in the nature of both divine praise and also praise of a ruler. The Kuchipudi dancers over a period turned their attention to the more popular Yakshagana and the ancient Prabandham and Kowtwam slipped out of their repertoire. Thus they had move away from the tradition of “Bhagavatamela”. Bhamakalapam received popular appreciation. The songs in the Yakshagana are called “Daruvulu”. The song each character sings to introduce him or herself is called “Pravesiki Daruvu”. The various Daruvus are descriptive of the nature of the character or the situation in a drama.
They include “Akshepaki Daruvu”, “Nasikhramiki Daruvu” etc. Bhamakalapam as said earlier is very popular among the general public and some Daruvus like “Bhamane Satya Bhamane”, “Sakunala Manchivayene”, “Madana”, “Yendubothivi”, “Raajeevaakshudu Raajagopaludu” and . The format of Daruvu is different from the compositions of classical music and the musical aspect of the Daruvus inclines more towards the dance element of expression rather than strict classicism, which is why its sounds differently even though the Daruvus are set tot classical Ragas and Talas. Some of the Ragas adopted for Daruvu singing include “Nata”, “Saveri”, “Kamboji’, . However, kuchipudi can do well by paying more attention to its musical aspect. Its disadvantages are evident in some instances.
In the absence of a proper Swara Laya background and Systematic initiation into the field of classical music, the Daruvus do not very often conform to the established classical Raga norms. As such though the Daruvu is the same the rendering varies due to lack of Raga unanimity.
In this regard, it may be pointed that the classical music sympathetically accepts any systematic rendering, as it will conform to some raga lakshana or the other. But the difficult in the case of Kuchipudi music one may have to face is the inability to identify the Raga of the Daruvus sung by the Kuchipudi exponents with the known Raga classifications. It should be realised that its a matter of concern for everybody involved in the development of Kuchipudi form of art. It is not still too late to correct this discrepancy. Our efforts should be directed towards the unanimity of Raga adopted for each Daruvu and strict adherence to it by all practitioners.
It is said a beginning was already made sometime ago in this direction. All India Radio is supposed to have some Daruvus recorded under the guidance of late Sri Chinta Krishnamurti, which were later sung by the renowned Sri Venkateswarulu and Smt.