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 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
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.
Kāntanōḍu Cennu melle kiḷimoḷi súchamihavada
ОтветитьУдалитьIt is not Vatha = It is vadA = speak, tell (Harvard Kyoto Sanskrit Protocol)
Undiha = Didn't eat
nyan = I
parinata = advanced, matured
(parinata + zazadhara+mukhi) = full moon faced.
Oh Shasha dhara = one who bears mark of rabbit. (see those dark spots on the moon, they form the figure of rabbit). dhara does not hole. dhara means to bear; hence earth is called dharA (long a) she who bears. shasha (zaza in Harvard Kyoto Protocol) is hare.
ОтветитьУдалитьThe story of about how moon bears the mark of hare is because of this story.
Long ago, men used to fast every full moon day. There were three animals which also decided to follow the practices of men and decided to fast that day.
Therefore the moon god came down to earth to test men. He approached the habitats of men and no one received even. In the evening he went three animals (otter, fox & hare) which were also fasting . It was night and it was cold & the traveller was tired. The otter said it will gather leaves for bed, twigs and branches for the traveller to light a fire. The fox ran to the village to gather a firebrand. Now the traveller lit a fire and after sometime he said he was hunger. The otter ran to catch fish, but returned empty handed. The fox could not catch hences. Thinking of the traveller hunger, the rabbit said to the man, eat me and jumped into the fire. But to the surprise of the rabbit, the fire didn't burn him. The traveller now assumed his full form as a god and said to the hare, since you sacrificied your own life, without any second thought, I shall always bear your mark on my face to remind men of your sacrifice.
Hence moon is called Shasha-anka (anka = mark), shashadhara (one who bears hare).
kiLi mozhi you have taken it too literally. It comes under simile. parrot voiced, cuckoo voiced means sweet voice. women's voices are compared to these.
ОтветитьУдалитьThank you for your drtailed feedback. I cannot comment on the word to word meanings, as those were given to me by my teacher. On the other hand, Indian dance interpretation is a poetry in itself as mudras are used to convey the meaning, and here, indeed, we show bird-like voice with mudras. This choreography is by Kalamandalam Sathyabhama and that is how she interpreted the poetic verses.
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