Karukare Karmukil lyrics with English translation

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.