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.
Krithi: Challare
rAgam: Ahiri
tAlam: Misra chApu
Lyrics: Tyagaraju
Language: Telugu
Pallavi
challarE rAmachandrunI pai pUlu
anupallavi
sompaina manasutO impaina bangAru gampalatO manchi champaka pUlanu
caraNam 1
pAmaramulu mAni nEmamutOnu ramA manOharuni paini tAmara pUla
caraNam 2
dhAta vinutuDaina sItApati paini cEtulatO pArijAta sumamula
caraNam 3
I jagatini dEva pUjArhamau pUla-rAjillu mEtaina jAji sumamula
caraNam 4
amita parAkramudau maNikulArNava vimala chandruni pai hrutkumuda sumamula
caraNam 5
ennarAni janana maraNamu lEkuNDa manasAra tyAgarAjanutuni pai pUlu
Meaning:
challarE – shower
rAmachandrunI pai – upon Ramachandra
pUlu – flowers
Sompaina – with a beautiful
manasutO – heart
Impaina – desirable
bangAru – golden
gampalatO – baskets
Manchi – good
Champaka pUlanu – champaka flowers
pAmaramulu – material thoughts
mAni – stop
nEmamutOnu – with pleasure
ramA manOharuni paini- upon the one who stole the heart of Ramaa
tAmara pUla – lotus flowers
dhAta – Brahma
vinutuDaina – praised by
sItApati paini – upon the husband of Sita
cEtulatO – with your hands
pArijAta – night blooming jasmine
Sumamula – flowers
I jagatini – in this world
dEva pUjArhamau – eligible to worship the gods
pUla – flowers
rAjillu – known
mEtaina – top quality
jAji – jasmine
Sumamula – flowers
Amita – limitless
parAkramudau – valorous
maNikulArNava – from the ocean of solar dynasty
Vimala – unblemished
Chandrunipai – upon the moon
Hrutkumuda – lotus like your heart
Sumamula – flowers
ennarAni – countless
Janana – births
maraNamu – deaths
lEkuNDa – avoiding
manasAra – whole heartedly
tyAgarAjanutuni pai – upon the one praised/worshiped by Tyagaraja
pUlu – flowers
Summary:
This krithi is simple yet a crown jewel for the lilting melody. It simply asks people to bring good and desirable flowers in a golden basket and shower them upon Lord Sri Ramachandra with a beautiful heart/mind. Suspend all your material thoughts and pleasantly shower lotus flowers upon the beautiful lord of Ramaa. Shower the night blooming jasmines upon the husband of SIta, who is praised by lord Brahma. Shower the jasmine flowers that are best known for worshiping in this world. Shower the lotuses of devotion and emotion from your heart upon the one who shines with limitless valor and rises like a moon from the ocean of the solar dynasty. And finally, Tyagaraja says to shower the flowers whole heartedly on the one he praises, lord Sri Rama, to avoid the cycle of births and deaths, in other words attain moksha/salvation.
After a vivid portrayal of Sri Rama Pattabhishekam in Maamava pattabhirama krithi last month, this is a perfect song to shower the flowers upon Sri Rama to continue his crowning ceremony celebrations and also fits well in this beautiful spring season. While there are thousands of varieties of flowers, Tyagaraja chooses to name a few that are extremely fragrant, which states that he wants nothing but the best for his beloved lord, Sri Rama. And he mentions to bring the flowers in gold baskets, which follows closely along with the Maamava Pattaabhi rama, the coronation krithi’s theme and grandeur. Though spread apart, geographically and on the timeline, we may notice that all the composers, have an underlying theme of treating/worshiping their beloved gods and/or goddesses with nothing but the best and choicest objects, may it be flowers, fruits, creamy milk/butter/yogurt, other edibles, silks, jewels and of course an untainted devotion goes without saying. It is a beautiful springtime and a lot of flowers are in full bloom. Take a stroll around the neighborhood while listening to the song and you will actually experience nice fragrances around and in fact this song may magically transcend you to feel the fragrance from the flowers in the song. Happy springtime!
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 teaches music at Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh Music College. She has performed extensively in India and abroad. She currently lives in Bangalore.
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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.