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.
GirirAja SutA Tanaya
raagam: bangaLa
taaLam: Adi
Composer: Tyagaraja
Language: Sanskrit
Pallavi:
girirAjasutA tanaya sadaya
anuPallavi:
suranAtha mukhArchita pAda yuga
paripAlayamam ibharaja mukha
caraNam :
gaNanatha parAtpara sankara gama vArinidhi rajanI kara
phaNirAja kankaNa vighna nivAraNa sambhava sri tyagarAjanuta
Meaning:
girirAjasutA – the daughter of mountain king, PArvati
Tanaya – son
Sadaya – kind one
suranAtha mukha – the lord of celestial bodies, Indra
Archita – worshiped
pAda yuga – pair of feet
paripAlayamam – protect
Ibharaja – king of elephants
Mukha – faced
gaNanatha – chief of the army
parAtpara sankara – provider of welfare
Agama vArinidhi – sea of agama sastra
rajanI kara – moon
phaNirAja – king of snakes
kankaNa – bangle
Vighna – obstacle
nivAraNa – remover
sambhava – son of Siva
sri tyagarAjanuta – praised by tyagaraja
Summary:
This is one of the rare krithis in Sanskrti by Tyagaraja. This krithi is simple yet a clear introduction and description of the fundamental essence of lord Ganesa. He is the son of goddess Parvati and lord Siva! He is elephant faced and leads the army, kind protector and Indra and other celestial bodies worship his feet! He shines like a moon in the ocean of knowledge of Agama Sastras. He wears snakes as his bangles and he is the remover of obstacles and is praised by saint Tyagara.
People all over the world, across the cultures, and religion, know Ganesa now and is known as an obstacle remover. Everybody offers their prayers to lord Ganesa before they start big projects, home building, music concerts, dance performances, big travel and so forth. Everybody can choose their form of worship as there are countless songs and bhajans in praise of Ganesa. World is filled with friction and tensions with wars in many regions. Some parts of the world are suffering with natural calamities, famine and diseases. There are countless songs, bhajans, poems and prayers on Lord Ganesa. We need to pray to lord Ganesa in as many forms as possible to remove all the obstacles in this world to establish peace!
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.
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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.