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.
gAyati vanamAli
rAgam: Yamuna Kalyani
tALam: Adi
Composer: SadAsiva Brahmendra
Language: Sanskrit
Pallavi:
gAyati vanamAli
madhuram gAyati vanamAli
caraNam 1:
pushpa sugandha sumalaya samIrE pAvana munijana sEvita yamunA tIrE
caraNam 2:
paramahamsa hridayOtsavakAri paripUrita muraLI ravadhAri
Meaning:
gAyati – Sing
vanamAli – Krishna, the one who adorns flower garland
Madhuram – sweetly
pushpa – flowers
sugandha – fragrance
sumalayasamIrE – gentle breeze
pAvana – pious
Munijana – sages and others
sEvita – attended
yamunAtIrE – by the banks of Yamuna
paramahamsa – people who have attained sainthood
hridayOtsavakAri – causing happiness in their hearts
paripUrita – completely filling
muraLI – flute
ravadhAri – holder
Summary:
There are innumerable numbers of songs composed on lord Krishna and each one of them is a gem by itself. This song is no exception! The composer Sadasiva Brahmendra describes the Brindavan by the banks of river Yamuna, the people and the surroundings and sets the stage to listen to Krishna’s melodious singing, who fills the hearts of people with happiness. Krishna always possessed a flute and is known as a magical music maker from his mesmerizing instrument!
Devotion of Krishna is an inexplicable magical phenomenon! Krishna consciousness has broken the barriers of country, religion and spread across the wide world with countless devotees, compositions, lyrics, poems, songs, bhajans and so forth! Just the thought of Krishna makes many people become very emotional! Such is the story of his life! Starting right from his childhood, all the way to Kurukshetra war, he has demonstrated many supernatural skills that made him a supernatural human being and therefore became a godly character that everybody loves and adores! As we celebrate Krishna’s birthday in August, a number of devotees still imagine him as baby Krishna and prepare his favorite foods and draw rangoli patterns of baby feet and offer pots of butter and so forth! Singing songs and dancing rAsa leela are very popular activities around this time. Enjoy listening to this song and actively participate in various forms of celebrations!
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
Sreelakshmi Kolavennu is an accomplished musician, composer and music director. She has given a number of concerts in India as well as in the San Francisco bay area. She has provided score and set many dance ballets to music. She also set many AnnamAchArya compositions to music. She lives in the San Francisco bay area.
*****
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.