Carnatic Compositions – The Essence and Embodiment
– Aparna Munukutla Gunupudi
Our intent for this essay is to highlight the great features of the language, emotion and melody (rAgam) of a krithi (song/composition) and also to provide the song for your listening pleasure. Most of you may know these krithis, but when you discover the distinct features of a krithi, you may enjoy a new beauty or an attribute in the krithi.
Note: Krithi is defined as a song containing pallavi, anupallavi and charanam that have high musical value and can be sung elaborately with improvisations. Whereas, Keerthana also has a pallavi, anupallavi and charanam but is sung in a single form or simpler pattern.
Nannu viDachi
rAgam: RIthi Gowla
tALam: Misra Chapu
Composer: Tyagaraja
Language: Telugu
pallavi
nannu viDaci kadalakurA
rAmayya rAma kOdanDa rAma paTTAbhi rAma
rAmayya vadalakurA
anupallavi
ninnu bAsi ara
nimishamu OrvanurA
caraNam
abdhilO munigi SvAsamunu baTTi
ANi mutyamu gannaTlAye SRI ramaNa!
Meaning:
nannu – me
viDaci – leave
Kadalakuraa – don’t move
rAmayya rAma – Oh rAma
kOdanDa rAma – kOdanDa rAma
paTTAbhi rAma – paTTAbhi rAma
RAmayya – rAma
Vadalakuraa – don’t let me go
Ninnu – you
BAsi – without
Ara – half
Nimishamu -minute
OrvanurA – can not bear
abdhilO – ocean
Munigi – dip
SvAsamunu – breath
baTTi – hold
ANi mutyamu – precious pearl
gannaTlAye – discovered
SrI ramaNa – lord of Lakshmi
Summary:
Oh rAma, kOdanDa rAma, paTTAbhi rAma, please don’t go without me and please don’t let me down. I can not bear the separation from you even for a half minute. Oh lord of Lakshmi, being with you is like when I discovered a precious pearl after jumping into the ocean while holding my breath. Oh rAmayya, please don’t move away from me and don’t leave me!
TyAgarAja, in this song portrays himself as a child describing his feelings when he experiences lord rAma in his vision. Just as a child will not let go of his/her father when he has to leave the house or how a child pleads with his/her father to take them along as they leave, TyAgarAja pleads with rAma to be by his side and never let him down. TyAgarAja’s devotion for rAma is well known and represented in many forms in various krithis, however, a special father and son relationship is depicted in this song.
The power of music is profound
The joy of music is sweet and sound
The awe of music is abound
Music makes the world go round
Tanikella Chandra Bhanu is an accomplished Carnatic musician, teacher and a graded artist in All India Radio (AIR). She has performed extensively in India and abroad. She currently lives in Bangalore. She has rendered all 30 PAsurams for Sri Venkateswara Bhakthi Channel (SVBC) of TTD.
*****
Aparna Munukutla Gunupudi is a poet, lyricist and short story writer. She has written dance ballets such as Queen of Jhansi, Prasanna Ashtalakshmi, Usha Kalyanam, Sneham, Jamsetji Tata and they were performed in Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam styles. She wrote songs for “Prema Tarangini” an audio cassette released by noted music director Sri Manohar Murthy. She considers her parents, who provided and encouraged her in book reading, are her “gurus” and Sri Jandhyala Payayya Sastri as her writing mentor.