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.
tiruppAvai – vangakkaDal kaDainda
rAgam: Surati
tALam: TripuTa
Composer: AnDAL
Language: Tamil
vangakkaDal kaDainda mAdavanai kEsavanai
tingaL tirumugattu chchEyiLaiiyAr senRiRainji
angappaRai koṇDa Aṭrai aNippuduvai
paingamalat taNteriyal paTTar pirAn kOdai sonna
sanga ttamiL mAlai muppaduṃ tappAmE
ingu ipparisu uRaippAr IriranDu mAlvaraittOL
sengaN tirumugattu chchelva ttirumAlAl
enguṃ tiruvaruL peTru inbuRuvarembAvAy
Meaning:
vangakkaDal – Sea by Vangala
kaDainda – churned
mAdavanai – mAdhava
kEsavanai – kEsava
tingaL – moon
tiru mugattu – beautiful face
chchEyiLaiiyAr – maidens shining with red hue
senRiRainji – reaching to worship
angappaRai koṇDa Aṭrai – there (in brindavan) receiving the boons they desired
aNippuduva – celebrated Srivilliputhur
Paingamalat taNteriyal – fresh, cool lotus garland
paTTar – priest
pirAn – periazhvar
kOdai – maiden (Andal)
sonna – recited
sanga ttamiḻ – Tamil during Sangam period
mAlai – garland (of verses)
Muppaduṃ – thirty verses
tappAmE – without failing
ingu – here
ipparisu uRaippAr – those who recite these verses
IriranDu – four (2 x 2)
mAlvaraittOL – broad shoulders
sengaN – red eyes
tirumugattu – beautiful face
chchelva – glorious
ttirumAlAl – lord Vishnu
enguṃ – everywhere
tiruvaruL – grace
peTru – receive
inbuRuvarembAvAy – will attain happy, oh girls
Summary:
Young maidens, faces blushed with red hues, are going to brindAvanam (near Srivilliputhur) to worship, lord mAdhavan/kEsavan, the one with beautiful face like the full moon and the one who helped churn the ocean (the bay of Bengal) in the form of tortoise, during sAgara Mathanam. They celebrated and offered garlands of fresh lotus flowers and received blessings. The priest’s daughter Kodai/Andal, who authored the thirty verses during the Sangam Tamil period, tells people that who ever recites them shall attain happiness and will be blessed with the grace of lord vishNu, who has radiant face, broad shoulders and red hued eyes.
This song is the 30th verse of the “thiruppAvai” written by Andal/Goda Devi. Many devotees sing these songs during the month of Margasira to bring peace, prosperity and to attain grace of the almighty. AndAl is known for her untainted devotion towards lord VishNu and imagines him as her husband with no desire for conjugal pleasures and ultimately attains salvation. In this song, she conveys a message to the young girls to recite these 30 songs without fail to obtain blessings of lord VishNu. It is said that donating clothing and blankets during this winter month of Margasira is considered as an honorable deed. We wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season, a new year filled with Lord VishNu and Andal’s blessings, health, wealth and happiness.
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.