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.
brihaspatE tArApatE brahmajAtE
rAgam: aThAna
tALam: t/triputa
Composer: Muttuswami Deekshitar
Language: Sanskrit
pallavi
brihaspatE tArApate brahmajAte namOstute
anupallavi
mahAbala vibho gISpate manju dhanur mInAdhipate mahendrAdy-upAsitAkrute mAdhavAdi vinuta dhImatE
caraNam
surAcArya vArya vajradhara shubha lakSaNa jagatraya gurO jarAdi varjita akrOdha kacha janakAshrita janakalpataro
purAri guruguha sammOdita putra kAraka dInabandhO parAdicat-vAri vAk-svarUpa prakAsaka dayAsindhO
nirAmayAya nItikartre nirankusAya visvabhartrE niranjanAya bhuvanabhOktrE niramsAya makha pradAtrE
Meaning:
bruhaspatE – Bruhaspati, known as the teacher of gods, also one of the planet
tArApate – husband of tArA
brahmajAte – created by Brahma
namOstute – bowing to praise
mahAbala – intellectual and physically strong
Vibho – leader
gISpate – lord of speech
manju – beautiful
Dhanur – bow or sagittarius
mInA – fish pisces
Adhipate – lord
MahendrAdi – Indra and others
upAsitAkrute – possess the body that is worshiped
mAdhavAdi – mAdhava and others
Vinuta – praises
dhImatE – righteous willed
sura – gods
acArya vArya – teacher
vajradhara – decked by diamonds
shubha lakSaNa – good natured
jagatraya – three worlds
gurO – teacher
jarAdi – aging and ailments
varjita – avoid
akrOdha – non-angry
kacha janaka – father of kacha
Ashrita jana – people who seek his help
Kalpataro – banyan tree
purAri – sankara, enemy of tripurAsura
Guruguha – subramaNya
sammOdita – affectionately praised
putra kAraka – provider of children
dInabandhO – savior to people who seek help
parAdi – para and other
chatvAri – four
vAksvarUpa – forms of vocabulary
prakAsaka – shining
dayAsindhO – ocean of kindness
nirAmayAya – curer of mental ailments
nItikartre – establishes righteous
nirankusAya – without a weapon
visvabhartrE – commander of the world
niranjanAya – effulgent
bhuvanabhOktrE – ruler of the universe
niramsAya – complete
makha – the rituals
pradAtrE – giver
Summary:
I bow to Bruhaspati, husband of tArA and teacher of the gods. He is strong and intelligent and well versed in speech and the lord of zodiac signs of beautiful sagittarius and pisces. He is worshiped by Indra and mAdhava and others and he is very intelligent and righteous. He is the prime teacher for the gods and the three worlds, decked with diamonds and good nature. He is ever young and refrains from anger. He is the father of Kacha and he is like a banyan tree to the people seeking help. He is affectionately worshiped by Sankara, SubramaNya and he is the provider of children and the dear friend to everybody around. He is well versed in rules of phonetics (para, pasyanti, madhyama and vaikhari are the phonetic rules about the sound generated from the stomach and travels via heart, neck and the face). He is like an ocean of kindness and remover of mental disturbances (clears the mind), he establishes the righteousness, he needs no leader to direct him to lead the world and he is effulgent and bestows complete effects of the rituals.
Bruhaspati, is Deva guru (the teacher of gods) and teacher of teachers. Bruhaspati is also referred to as one of the nine planets (Jupiter) and is known to influence the mind and intellect as per astrology. The legend says that one of Deekshitar’s students was suffering from a disturbing and incurable health issue. Kind hearted Deekshitar checked the students horoscope and noted that the planet Jupiter was causing this disturbance. He composed this krithi and asked the student to sing everyday or at least on every Thursdays. After a few weeks it is said that the student showed signs of improvement and ultimately got better. Therefore, singing or listening to this song on every Thursday bestows blessings, well wishes and good health from him and from all the teachers as well. Our respect and regard for all the teachers in the world that enable every student to climb up the ladder and enjoy their success as their own.
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
Anupama Gunupudi is an engineer, works as a technical program manager. She is a vocalist and a violinist in Carnatic music and violist in Western classical. She is a disciple of Sri Arvind Lakshmikanthan and she resides in Los Angeles, CA.
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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.