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.
karuNa jUDavayya
rAgam: sAranga
tALam: Adi
Composer: TyAgarAja
Language: Telugu
Pallavi
karuNa jUDavayya mA ayya kAvETi rangayya
anupallavi
parama puruSa vinu mA pAli penni dhAnamA varada nalugurilO vara mosagi karamiDi
caraNam
cAraDEsi kanulacE jElangubhaya nAnchArula tOnu mari sadbhaktulatOnu ALvArulatO
nIvu vara naivEdyamulanu Aragincu vELala hari tyAgarAjuni
Meaning:
karuNa jUDavayya – be kind and look at me
mA ayya – my lord (father0
kAvETi rangayya – Ranganatha by Cauvery river
anupallavi
parama puruSa – noble man
Vinu – listen
mA pAli – for us
penni dhAnamA – you are our rescuer/provider
Varada – bestower of boons
nalugurilO – among the people
Varamosagi – confer a boon
KaramiDi – holding my hand
cAraDEsi kanulacE – with very wide eyes
jElangu – dwell
Ubhaya – both sides
nAnchArula tOnu – together with nAncharis
Mari – also
sadbhaktulatO – with devotees
ALvArulatO – with ALwars (scholars & poets who worship Lord VishNu)
nIvu – to you
vara naivEdyamulanu – fondly offered food
Aragincu – eating
vELala – during the time
hari – lord vishNu
tyAgarAjuni – tyAgarAja
Summary:
This krithi is one of the srIranga pancharatnas of lord RanganAtha of SrIrangam. The composer TyAgarAja pleads to his lord RanganAtha by Cauvery river, to shower kindness on him. Listen Oh noble man, you are our saviour among the other people, please confer a boon and kindly hold my hand. Please kindly look at me with your beautiful wide eyes, aptly seated with both nAnchAris on your sides, while enjoying the delicious offerings from the devotees and ALwars, the great poets.
Last month we read and heard one of the Thiruppavai songs by Andal. This month, the song describes her lord srI RanganAtha in SrIrangam. It is said that Tyagaraja composed this song and four others, when he went to Srirangam. They are called Sriranga pancharatnas (five gems). The other songs are 1. vinarAda nA manavi in dEvagAndhAri, 2. chUtAmu rAre in Arabhi, 3. O Rangasayee in kAmbhoji, 4. rAju veDale in Thodi. Each one of them is a gem, with the various facets – music, lyrics, tune and devotion shining superbly, just like their name. Enjoy this song and listen to the other four as well. All of them are available on youtube by various great and notable singers.
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, teacher and a graded artist in All India Radio (AIR). She has performed extensively in India and abroad. She currently lives in Bangalore. She has rendered all 30 PAsurams for Sri Venkateswara Bhakthi Channel (SVBC) of TTD.
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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.