A poem by Kavalam Narayana Panicker is commonly used in dance repertoire, its lyrics are apt for a multitude of poetic interpretations. Kalamandalam Sajeeth helped me to make a translation of the poem and he immediately warned me that there are many implicit meanings behind the metaphors, known in Sanskrit as Gaunartham. Here I will give both word-to-word translation and the most apparent implicit meaning of the song. The song refers to a deity, but in reality, there is no specific God mentioned here, as it's just giving a high respect to the rain, monsoon season, so important to Kerala, India and our planet as such.
Karukare Kaarmukil
Samanthamalahari raga
Chaturashra ekam talam
Pallavi:
Karukarekarmukil kompanaane
Puratheriyezhunnallum moorthe
Karukara - the ultimate darkness
Karmukil - the dark cloud
kampanaane - the elephant
purather - on
yerunallum - coming
moorthe - deity
Translation:
The rain arrives on the darkest cloud resembling a tusker elephant
Anupallavi:
Mazhavilkodi manathu
Ponnambalamuttathu
Viriyunnu Kozhiyunnu
Alinyalinyangulanyu marunnu
Mazhavilkodi - a rainbow
Manathu - the sky
Ponnambalamuttathu - the yard of the golden temple
viriyunnu - gets clear
kozhiyunnu - moves
Alinjalinjanju marunnu - shatters, disappears, disperses
Translation:
The rainbow appears in the sky
Which lit by the sun looks like a golden temple
It moves and spreads, and when rain comes disappears, shatters.
Charanam 1.
Manathoru Mayilattam
Peelithirumudiyattam
Elakunnu Nirayunnu
Edanyidanyanjazhinju neengunnu
Mana - sky
mayilattom - the dance of the peacock
peeli - feathers
mudi - hair
attam - dance
Elakunnu - move
nirayunnu - still
Ednyidamyaganzhinyu - breaks time to time
neengunnu - moves in strange ways.
Translation:
When the rain comes, the clouds in the sky move like a celestial peacock
Who spreads its feathers and dances
The clouds are moving in such strange ways!
Charanam 2.
Karkkidaka thevare
Karkkidaka thevare
Kudam Kudam
thudam Thudam nee varthe
Karkkidaka thevare - the lord of the month of the rainy season in the Malayalam calendar
Kudam - pots
Thudam - another time of measuring pots
nee varthe - pouring
Translation:
Oh the lord of the rainy months,
you start by giving us small drops, the increasing and then the water pours all over.
