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.
shrI vallI
rAgam: naTabhairavi
tALam: Adi
Composer: Paapanaasam Shivan
Language: Sanskrit
pallavi
srI valli dEva sEnApatE srI subramaNyA namOstutE
anupallavi
dEvathA sArva bhauma jaya jaya tavi shaD-bhuja kArtikEyA mEyA
caraNam
mAmava sadA sivakumArA vimAnI krita citra mayUrA srita
kAmita phala dAyaka haThasUra karuNA jaladhara jagadAdhAra
Meaning:
srI valIi – srIvalli
dEva sEnA – devasEna
patE – husband
srI subramaNyA – subramaNya
namOstutE – praise with reverence
dEvathA – gods
sArva bhauma – chief
jaya jaya – victory
dwishaD-bhuja – 2×6 twelve shouldered
kArtikEya – kArtikEya
amEyA – immeasurable
mAmava – protect
sadA – always
sivakumArA – sivakumAra
vimAnI – aeroplane
Krita – like
citra mayUrA – mystic peacock
srita – good
kAmita – desires
Phala – fulfils
dAyaka – provider
haTha – killed
sUra – the demon sUra
karuNA – kind
Jaladhara – flow
Jagat – world
AdhAra – keystone
Summary:
Oh SubramaNya, you are the husband of srIvalli and dEvasEna I bow to you with reverence. Oh kArtikEya, you are the chief of army for the gods and you have twelve arms and your strength is immeasurable. Oh sivakumAra, please protect me always and you have made the mystic peacock as your flying vehicle, you fulfil the desires of the devotees, you killed the demon sUra and your kindness flows and you are the keystone for this world. We can observe two different meanings in the charaNam from the split of the phrase.
mAmava sadA sivakumAra – protect me always, Oh son of Siva
mAmava sadAsivakumAra – protect me, oh son of sadAsiva
Skanda shashTi is known to be day of Skanda/kArtikEya defeating demon SUran and it is celebrated all across SubrahmaNya temples with processions and special decorations. SubrahmaNya is known to remove fear from snakes and bestow good health, strength and courage.
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 and a graded artist in All India Radio (AIR). She worked as a lecturer of music at Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh Music College. She continues to train a number of students via on-line. She has performed extensively in India and abroad. She lives in Bangalore.
Lakshmi Lavanya Tumuluru learnt Carnatic music from Sri Neti Srirama Sarma. She has performed a few concerts and provides vocal support along with her mother Smt. Tanikella Chandra Bhanu. She is a software professional working in Information Technology. She lives in Bangalore, India.
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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.