Kanthanodu Chennu melle lyrics with word to word translation and meaning

A Swathi Thirunal padam, perfectly representing the bhava of his style. Bhakti again is transmitted through the idea of a female intoxicatingly desiring reunion with her Lord, here in the form of  Krishna. The lady is talking with her friend, asking her to go to Krishna and in a sweet bird voice talk to him about her sufferings in separation from the Lord. She is trying to please her friend mentioning her beauty and good qualities of a character, meanwhile asks her not to forget  how much sufferings she is enduring.

When I was getting help to translate the padam, I had to look for a person knowing Sanskrit, as Malayalam here is intermixed with Sanskrit words. Our Registrar , Sundareshan sir, was a big help. He also shared some interesting peculiarities about some words used. Like for example word Shashadharamukhi – moon faced girl, which literally translates in a curious way. So Shasha means rabit and dhara hole. The dark craters on the moon visible for us, earthlings, apparently were compared to the holes of a rabbit, so the moon got one of such epithetic names.

The words kadarakshi and chalamizhi used in the context of the beautiful girl, actually translates as – the girl whose eyes move from side to side, trembling eyes. On my question why  would it be related to beauty he laughed and said that it represent that epoch men’s arrogance, where female in fear, shyness or any other subjected role would be considered as possessing an ideal feminine quality.

The padam as learned in Kalamandalam is a short version of the original kriti, as only one Caranam was used for the choreography, making it compact and audience friendly piece.

Roman script transliteration is taken from the book  "Musical Works of Maharaja Swati Tiurnal" by M. Hariharan, Gowri Kuppuswamy

Kāntanōḍu Cennu

Raga: Nīlāṃbari

Tāḷa: Rūpaka

Pallavi:

Kāntanōḍu Cennu melle kiḷimoḷi súchamihavada

Kanthanodu – beloved

Chennu – approach

Melle- slowly

kili – bird moḷi – voice

Shucha – clear

Iha – here

Vatha – tell

Approach my beloved slowly and with your bird voice let him know about my state( my sufferings)

Anupallavi:

Kādarākshi tāntayāyi maruvunnēn taruņīmayi

Hē ramaņīya guņavasati chaḷamizhi

Kādarākshi – moving (trembling) eyes

Tāntayāyi – uneasiness, anxiety

Maruvunnēn – I am living

Taruņīmayi – beautiful girl
Ramaniya - beautiful
guna - quality
vasati - good

Oh friend with trembling glance, I feel so restless and anxious. You are beautiful and posess outstanding qualities.

Caranam:

Paladivasam uņḍihajŋān pariņata sásádharamukhi

Valayunnathu mōŗkka nī valabhidādi suranatanām

Vasudēvasutan varumenniha mamadhavanayi sakhi

Paladivasam – several days

Undiha nyan – I am

Pariņata – suffer

Sásádharamukhi – moon faced

Valayunnathu – troubles

ōŗkka – remember

Valabhidādi – perhaps meaning Inra

Suranatanām – protector of devas

Vasudevasutan – son of vasudeva

Varumenn – will come

Iha – here

Mama – my

Dhavanayi  - ? (we couldn’t translate, but perhaps the one belonging to me)

Sakhi – friend

For several days I have been suffering

Oh, moon-faced, remember all my troubles

I thought that Krishna, son of Vasudeva , who is worshipped by Indra and other devas, would come to me and be mine.