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.
siddhivinAyakam anisam
raagam: cAmaram
taaLam: rUpaka
Composer: Muttuswami Deekshitar
Language: Sanskrit
pallavi
siddhivinAyakam anisam chintayAmyaham prasiddha gaNanAyakam vishiSTArtha dAyakam varam
anupallavi
siddha yakSa kinnarAdi sEvitam akhila jagat prasiddha mUla pankaja madhyastham mOdaka hastam
caraNam
bhAdra pada mAsa caturthyAm brAhmaNAdi pUjitam pAsAnkusa dharam chatra chAmara parivIjitam
raudra bhAva rahitam dAsa jana hridaya virAjitam rauhiNEyAnujArchitam IhanA varjitam adri rAja sutAtmajam ananta guruguhA grajam bhadraprada padAmbujam bhAsamAna chaturbhujam
Meaning:
siddhivinAyakam – capable vinAyaka
anisam – always
chintayAmi – thinking
aham – I
prasiddha – famous
gaNanAyakam – chief of gaNas (troops)
vishiSTa – special
Artha – wishes
dAyakam – provider
Varam – boons
siddha – siddhis, people who attained special powers through practice of yoga
yakSa – YakSas, celestial bodies
kinnarAdi celestial singers
sEvitam – worshiped
akhila – whole
Jagat – world
prasiddha – famous
mUla pankaja – the lotus of mUlAdhara
madhyastham – seated in teh center
mOdaka – rice dumpling
Hastam – in hand
bhAdra pada mAsa – sixth month in lunar calendar
caturthyAm – fourth day
brAhmaNAdi – brahmana and others
pUjitam – worship
pAsAnkusa – bullhook
dharam – holder
Chatra – umbrella
chAmara – fan
parivIjitam – around you
raudra – angry
bhAva – feeling
Rahitam – removed
dAsa – service
Jana – people
Hridaya – heart
virAjitam – dweller
rauhiNEyA – balarAma, son of rOhiNi
anujA – younger to him, krishNa
architam – worshiped
IhanA – worldly
varjitam – abstain
adri rAja – king of mountains
suta – daughter/pArvati
Atmajam – born out of her/son
ananta – endless
guruguha – subramaNya
agrajam – elder to him
Bhadra – good fortune
prada – giver
padAmbujam – lotus feet
bhAsamAna – shining radiantly
Chaturbhujam – four armed
Summary:
I am always thinking of siddhi vinAyaka, the famous chief of the troops and provider of special boons and wishes. He is worshiped by Siddha, Yaksha and Kinnera and is seated in the center of the mUlAdhara lotus with his favorite food the rice dumplings in his hand. BrAhmaNa and all others worship him on the 4th day in the month of lunar calendar. He holds a bullhook and is surrounded by people who are holding an umbrella and the fans. He is worshiped by BalarAma and his younger brother KrishNa. He abstains from the worldly pleasures. He is the son of goddess pArvati, and an older brother of guruguha for ever. His lotus feet are the provider of good fortune and he shines radiantly with four arms.
VinAyaka has a number of skills and capabilities, therefore he is known as siddhi vinAyaka. This song details the festival time and the format of worship with services like holding the umbrella, fanning him and offering his favorite dumplings “mOdakam”. During this festival, it is also significant that he is worshiped with twenty one different herbs that have very high medicinal value and healing power, which brings us the awareness of Indian herbal medicine. The festival is around fall season August/September and generally the fall and winter are the most common for many infections. The awareness of the herbs and their qualities will help people create home remedies and alternative treatments to attack such common illnesses.
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
Ranjani Gunupudi is a statistician, works as a senior statistician. She is a vocalist in Carnatic music. She is a disciple of Sri Arvind Lakshmikanthan and resides in Redwood City, CA.
Anupama Gunupudi is an engineer, works as a technical program manager. She is a vocalist and a violinist in Carnatic music. She provides violin support to local artists. She is a disciple of Sri Arvind Lakshmikanthan and resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Venu Madhav Kolavennu is an engineer and an accomplished veena player. He learned vocal music from his mother Smt. Sreelakshmi Kolavennu and veena from Sri Srikanth Chari. He has performed a number of solo concerts and provides veena support to his mother. He lives in the San Francisco bay area.
Anant Kumar is an engineer and a trained mridangist. He is a disciple of Sri Ravindra Bharati. He resides in Pleasanton, 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.