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.
rAmAbhi rAma
raagam: darbAr
taaLam: chApu
Composer: TyAgarAja
Language: Telugu
pallavi
rAmAbhirAma ramaNIya nAma
anupallavi
samAja ripu bhIma sAkEta dhAma
caraNam
nIkE dayabuTTi nIvu brOvavalE rAkEndu mukha tyAgarAja varada srI
Meaning:
rAma – rAma
abhirAma – delightful
ramaNIya – beautiful
nAma – named
samAja – elephant
Ripu – enemy
bhIma – like bhIma
sAkEta – city of sAketa/Ayodhya
dhAma – abode
nIkE – to you
dayabuTTi – feel the kindness
nIvu – you
brOvavalE – have to rescue
rAkEndu – full moon
Mukha – faced
tyAgarAja – tyAgarAja
Varada – bestower of boons
srI – srI
Summary:
Oh rAma, your name is beautiful and delightful! You are strong like bhIma or possess the strength of an elephant for your enemies and you made the city of sAketapura as your abode. Oh full moon like faced one, hope you rescue me and bestow boons out of the kindness sprouted from your heart.
This song describes the beauty and the power of rAma’s name. It is said that uttering the name srI rAma moves several hundred nerves in the body that soothes and heals by mere chanting. Millions of people chant “srI rAma” for millions of times.
***
padmAvati ramaNam jayadEva kavirAja
raagam: pUrvikalyANi
taaLam: chApu
Composer: OotukkaaDu VenkaTasubbaiyyar
Language: Sanskrit
pallavi
padmAvati ramaNam jayadEva kavirAja bhOja dEva suta padmapAda smaraNam guru mAnasa
anupallavi
yatgOpi vadanEndu manDala ramitam tatgOvinda pada candra cakOram
caraNam
kindubilva sadanam ati ati divya mangaLa vadanam
sundarAnga shubha shObhita madanam
sumukhi ramAdEvi priyakara sudhanam
(madhyamakAlam)
saha paNDita samUha sEvyam shata manmatha jita mahanIyam
Satata kriSNa prEma rasamaghna samAna rahita gIta gOvinda kAvyam
Meaning:
padmAvati ramaNam – lord of padmAvati
jayadEva kavirAja – jayadEva, the king of poets
bhOja dEva – bhOja dEva
Suta – son
padmapAda – lotus feet
smaraNam – think of
Guru – teacher
mAnasa – oh mind
yatgOpi -where the gOpies
Vadana – face
IEndu – moon
manDala – region
Ramitam – enjoys
Tat – thereMarch
gOvinda – gOvinda/KrishNa
Pada – feet
Candra – moon
cakOram – chakOra, a bird that enjoys moon beams
kindubilva – city of Kindubilva
sadanam – home
ati ati – extra extra
Divya – handsome
mangaLa – auspicious
Vadanam – face
sundarAnga – beautiful bodied
Shubha – good
shObhita – shining
Madanam – madonna, cupid
Sumukhi – charming faced
ramAdEvi – ramAdEvi
Priyakara – affectionate
Sudhanam – good wealth
(madhyamakAlam)
saha paNDita – co-scholars
samUha – group
sEvyam – appreciating
Shata – hundred
Manmatha – manmatha, cupid
jita – defeating
mahanIyam – noble man
Satata – constantly
kriSNa – KrishNa
prEma – love
Rasamaghna – involved in
samAna – equal
Rahita – none
gIta gOvinda – gIta gOvinda
kAvyam – poetry
Summary:
Oh mind, think of Jayadeva, lord of padmAvati and the son of BhOjadEva, who has feet like lotus. Wherever delightful and moon faced gopis are wandering, KrishNa walks there like the chakora bird that is yearning for moon beams. Extraordinarily handsome, beautiful bodied with an auspicious face, JayadEva is shining like Madana/cupid and he is the prized and cherished son of charming rAmAdEvi, lives in the city of Kindubilva. He is as handsome as hundred manmatha/cupids, he is noble and while a group of co-scholars are appreciating and praising, he is indulged in the love of KrishNa and has written poetry depicting the same, called Geeta gOvinda, that has no equal.
This is a very rare and unique krithi in praise of a noted poet JayadEva, by another poet composer VoothukAdu VenkaTa Subbaiyyar of 18th century. JayadEva is a poet and a Sanskrit scholar hails from Kindubilva town in current Orissa region, and belongs to the period of 12th century. He is married to PadMavati and his parents are bhOjadEva and ramAdEvi. He wrote a collection of poetry depicting the love of rAdha and KrishNa in a format that contains 8 verses, called asHTapadis, all in Sanskrit. They are sung by many classical musicians. It is said that JayadEva himself sang these songs at the JagannAth temple in Puri. From his time till to date, his krithis are sung everyday at JagannAth temple at the nightly service. It is customary around UgAdi time to have poetry recitations (Kavi SammelaNam) and we are privileged to have a composition where one poet praises the other, and both equally talented.
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
Mar is a statistician and works as a Sr. Statistician. She is a vocalist and a Carnatic music and is a disciple of Sri Arvind Lakshmikanthan and she resides in Redwood City, CA.
*****
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.