Suladi

Suladi (from suda, a desya word for gita) is a composition very much like the gita in musical structure and arrangement. But it is a talamalika, the sections being in different talas. Suladis are illustrative of the suladi talas and are of a higher standard than the gitas. The sahitya syllables are fewer than in gitas and are characterised by a profusion of vowel extensions. The sahitya is devotional. Unlike the gita, suladis are composed in different tempos ie., vilambita, madhya and druta. Suladis are the counter part of the earlier Talarnavam and Pancha talesvaram.

Sripadaraya, Vyasaraya, Purandaradasa, Vijayadasa, Gopaladasa, Jagannnathadasa, Narhari Tirtha, Sri Vadiraha and Kanakadasa have composed Suladis.

Vijayadasa has composed a suladi describing the greatness of sripadaraya swami. When vyasaraya came to the Vijaynagar court, Krishnadevaraya, the Ruler honoured him with ratnabhiseka ie., precious stones. Suladis are either devotional songs or talamalikas. They may also be raga talamalikas.

In addition to the sapta talas, adi tala and trivida tala (another name for tisrajati triputa tala) are used in the Suladis. They are composed in ragana matya tala also. The repitition of a tala in the same Suladi is allowed.

In a Suladi, each section is independent by itself. The pallavi is not sung at the conclusion of each section. In Suladis, some sections are sung in different tempos. This is a special feature of this composition and not noticeable in other forms.

There is n navavidha bhakti prasamsa suladi by purandara dasa. In each section, the particular bhakti mudra is introduced. Annamacharya (15th century) has composed a Suladi in Telugu. This is the only suladi telugu and is in 7 sections. Each section is in a different raga and tala. The suladi starts in Malavagaula raga and ends with Sriraga. The 7 talas used are Daruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Trivida, Ata and Eka. This Suladi figures in Tirypati copper plate No:41.

There is a Gopika viraha suladi wherein the sorrow of the Gopikas due to the separation of Lord Krishna is described. Shahji Maharajah of Tanjore (1684-1720) has composed suladi which is a raga tala malika. The seven sections are in the sapta tala in their order. The 7 ragas are all Gaulantya ragas, it., ragas with the suffix gaula: Malavagaula, Kedaragaula, Ritigaula, Kannadagaula, Narayanagaula, Purvagaula and Chhayagaula.