Kriti (music)

{{Short description|Carnatic musical composition}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{More references needed|date=November 2023}} {{Carnatic}}

A '''''kriti''''' ({{Langx|sa|कृति|lit=kṛti}}) is a form of musical composition in the Carnatic music literature. The Sanskrit common noun ''Kriti'' means 'creation' or 'work'.

A kriti forms the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format of a Carnatic song.

==Structure== A conventional ''kriti'' typically contain three parts: #''Pallavi'', the equivalent of a refrain in Western music #''Anupallavi'', the second verse, which is sometimes optional #''Charanam'', the final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song

The ''charanam'' usually borrows patterns from the ''anupallavi''. The ''charanam's'' last line usually contains the composer's signature, or ''mudra'', with which the composer leaves their mark.

==Variations== Some Kritis have a verse between the ''anupallavi'' and the ''{{IAST|charaṇam}}'', called the ''{{IAST|chiṭṭaswara}}''. This verse consists only of notes, and has no words. Other ''krithis'', particularly some of Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi and Muthuswami Dikshitar's compositions, are intentionally composed without an ''annupallavi'', where the verse after the pallavi is called the ''samashti charanam''. Still others have some more ''sāhityā'' at the end of the ''{{IAST|charaṇam}}'', set in ''madhyamakāla'' (few lines within a song that are sung faster than the rest of it).<ref>[http://aboutindianmusic.blogspot.com/p/carnatic-music-trinity.html About Indian Music]</ref>

There are krithi's, such as Thyagaraja's ''Enduku Nirdhaya'' that have no ''annupallavi'' but many short ''charanams''. Often, the artists take up certain lines of a Krithi for ''neraval''. One of the greatest explorers of the krti form was Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi (1700–1765), who has created numerous varieties within this form, often with innovations in contrasting speeds, gaits (''gatis'') and lyrical variation (''sahitya-sangatis''), sectional partitioning and singular blending of rhythmic syllables and lyrics.

==References== {{Portal|India|Music}} {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.shivkumar.org/music/index.html Sivakumar Carnatic Music Archive Kriti collection]

Category:Carnatic music Category:Carnatic music terminology