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.
lAli srI krishNayya
rAgam: dvijAvanti
tALam: Eka
Composer: AnnamAcArya
Language: Telugu
pallavi
lAli srI krishNayya nIla mEgha varNA bAla gOpAla bAla pavvaLimparA
caraNam1
sringArinchina manchi, bangAru uyyalalOna sankhu chakradhara svAmi nidura pOrA
caraNam2
Saddu seyakurA muddu nAkivvara gaddari vagalu mAni nidura pOra
caraNam3
lalitAngi rukmiNi lalanaye kAvalenA paluku kOyila satya bhAmaye kAvalenA
caraNam4
satakOti magasiri nAnchAru kAvalena vinavo sammati pErundeviye kAvalena
caraNam5
srungAra tara sudantayE kAvalena indIvarAksha kALindiye kAvalena
caraNam6
evvaru kAvalenayya indarilO nIku navamOhanAnga nA chinni krishNayya
caraNam7
andElu muvvalu sandaDiga mrOyaganu andamugA nuvvu pavvaLimparA
caraNam8
alukalu pOvEla alamElu mangato kulukuchu sayaninchu vEnkaTesvaruDA
Meaning:
lAli – a soothing word used in lullabies
srI krishNayya – srI krishNa
nIla mEgha – dark cloud
varNA – complexion
bAla – a child
gOpAla bAla – young gOpAla
pavvaLimparA – go to sleep
sringArinchina – well decorated
Manchi – good
bangAru – golden
uyyalalOna – swing
Sankhu – conch
chakradhara – discuss holder
svAmi – my lord
nidura pOrA – go to sleep
Saddu – noise
seyakurA – don’t do
Muddu – kiss
nAkivvara – give me
Gaddari – naughty
vagalu mAni – stop mischief
nidura pOra – to go sleep
lalitAngi – delicate bodied
rukmiNi – rukmiNi
lalanaye – maiden
kAvalenA – do you want
Paluku – sweet tongued talker
kOyila – like a cuckoo bird
satyabhAmaye – satyabhAma
kAvalenA – do you want
satakOti – on hundred crore fold
magasiri – handsome
nAnchAru – nAnchAri
kAvalena – do you want
vinavo – listen
sammati – favorable
pErundeviye – pErundevi
kAvalena – do you want
srungAra – beauty
tara – full of
sudantaye – sudanta
kAvalena – do you want
indIvarAksha – lotus like eyed
kALindiye – kAlindi
kAvalena – do you want
evvaru – who
kAvalenayya – do you want
indarilO – among these people
nIku – for you
navamOhanAnga – beautiful bodied
nA – my
chinni – little
krishNayya – krishNa
andElu – anklets
muvvalu – little bells
sandaDiga – loudly
mrOyaganu – making noise
andamugA – beautifully
nuvvu – you
pavvaLimparA – go to sleep
alukalu – don’t be angry
pOvEla – what is the reason
alamElu mangato – alamElu manga
kulukuchu – happily
sayaninchu – go to sleep
vEnkaTesvaruDA – vEnkatEswara
Summary:
Oh krishNa, shining like a dark cloud, little child of gOpAla please go to sleep. Oh, sankha chakradhara, go to sleep in this beautifully decorated golden swing. Don’t make any noise and please give me a kiss and stop being naughty and don’t be mischievous and go to sleep. Do you want delicate and beautiful rukmiNi or a sweet tongued satyabhAma? Oh hundred crore fold handsome one, do you want nAnchAri, or a favorable pErundEvi? Do you want the beautiful sudanta or oh lotus eyed one, do you want kALindi? Who do you want among all these people, my dear little krishNa? Just go to sleep peacefully/beautifully with the gentle tinkling noise from your anklets and little bells. Oh Venkateswara, don’t be cross with AlamElu Manga, just go to sleep joyously.
This month many people celebrate KrishNa’s birthday (KrishNashtami) in various forms but undoubtedly they all have a picture or statue of a crawling baby KrishNa and prepare special items with milk and butter, two of his favorite items. They draw baby feet with rangoli powder to welcome him into their home. This song is simply a peaceful lullaby for baby KrishNa by AnnamAchArya. It is a soothing melody to calm him down from the naughtiness and mischief and make him go to sleep. He adds a few enticing nuggets like RukmiNi, SatyabhAma, Sudanta, kAlindi etc. to dream about in his sleep. Enjoy this beautiful song which is soothing to everyone, young and old and provides peace.
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.
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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.