Thamizh Songs in Carnatic Music 1. VAraNa mukhavA--வாரண முகவா

Thamizh Songs in Carnatic Music

                                           VAraNa mukhavA

                       

 Composition: vAraNa mukhavA thuNai varuvAi….

Composer:     kOTIswara Iyer

mudrA(signature):    kavi kunjara dAsan

rAgam:           hamsadwani (janyam of meLam 29)             tALam: rUpakam      

ArOhaNam:     SR₂G₃PN₃S

AvarOhaNam: SN₃PG₃R₂S

பல்லவி:            

வாரண முகவா துணை வருவாய்

      அருள்வாய் தயவாய்                                        (வாரண)

அனுபல்லவி:      

ஆரணப் பொருளான கந்த கானாமுதத்திற்குன்

       கருணாமுதம் உதவியே அருள் மத             (வாரண)

சரணம்:       

 இன்னிசை இயல் இலக்கியம் ஆரியம் தமிழ் அறிவேதுமின்றிக்

 கன்னல் அன்ன இக்கந்த கானாமுத நன்னூலை

 உன்னும் கவி குஞ்சர தாசன் நான்

 உன்னருள் கொண்டே பண்ணத் துணிந்தேன்

 முன்னவனே நீ முன்னின்றால் முடியாததொன்றில்லை

          ஆதலால் அதிவேகமதாகவே அருள் மத         (வாரண)

 In Roman script,

Pallavi:            vAraNa mukhavA tuNai varuvAi

                        aruLvAi dayavAi (vA)

Anupallavi:      AraNap poruLAna kanda gAnAmudattirkkun

                        karuNAmudam udaviyE aruL mata (vA)

CaraNam:       innisai iyal ilakkiyam Ariyam tamizh aRivEduminRik

                        kannal anna ikkanda gAnAmuda nannUlai

                        unnum kavi kunjara dAsan nAn

                        unnaruL koNDE paNNat tuNindEn

                        munnavanE nI munninRAl muDiyAdadonRillai

                        AdalAl ativEgamadAgavE aruL mata (vA)

Meaning:       

Oh, elephant-faced one, please come to my assistance and please                                   

confer your grace on me.

I am writing this musical offering to Lord Murugan who is the essence of                                              the vEdAs. For that effort please provide your grace to me.

I, kavi kunjara dAsan, am contemplating writing this book “kanda                                        gAnAmudam” (which should be as sweet as sugarcane) without the                                   

knowledge of sweet music, prose, poetry, literature, Sanskrit, and                                                 Thamizh. I am undertaking this venture only with your benediction. Oh,                                

the foremost among Gods, if you take the lead there is nothing which is                                  impossible. So please hasten to help me, Oh elephant-faced one!

Listen to M S Subbulakshmi here

Listen to Sangeetha Sivakumar    here 

Listen to R Ganesh    

 http://www.mediafire.com/download/y4yzy7ioxudi89x/01-vAraNa_mukhavA-hamsadhvani_%286%29--R_Ganesh.mp3

Listen to Chinmaya Sisters (Uma, RAdhikA) here  http://www.mediafire.com/download/7lqc18e128sb766/01-vAraNa_mukhavA-hamsadhvani_%282%29--chinmaya_sisters.mp3

Listen to Abhishek Raghuram        here

To listen to Divya Ramachandran, here

Listen to Deekshita Venkatraman here

General Comments:

This composition is the prefatory invocation song (kappup pADal) written by the composer as he started to write his “kanda gAnAmudam”, a series of 72 songs one in each of the mELakartta ragams, all of them in Thamizh. The language is simple and the flow is smooth.  The ragam name is not seen in this particular song. Both his signature and the ragam name are blended smoothly into the lyrics in all his 72 songs on Lord Murugan, who was the family deity of the composer.

The brilliance of his modesty (isn’t the term an oxymoron?) is revealed in the caraNam wherein he says that he is undertaking this venture without knowing much of music, Thamizh, or Sanskrit, which is a terrible understatement. In fact he had learnt a lot of sAstras, and music from his grandfather and became very proficient in Thamizh and Sanskrit as well. Modesty apparently has its merit in seeking and obtaining the blessings of Lord VinAyaka. The diction and adherence to strict grammar are admirable within the short piece. It is noteworthy that the word “AraNapporuL” in the anupallavi line has been used ingeniously, the figure of speech being “Akupeyar” in Thamizh (synecdoche in English) to denote “vEdapporuL”, in order to rhyme with “vAraNa” in the pallavi line. That shows the scholar in KOTIswara Iyer.

Composer’s Bio:

Koteeswara Iyer (1870-1940*) was the grandson of his namesake and was raised by his grandfather (maternal) who also taught him music, Thamizh, and Sanskrit. His grandfather was conferred the title of kavi kunjara bharathi by the king of Ramanathapuram. In deference to his grandfather he adopted the name of kavi kunjara dAsan and used it as his signature in his musical compositions. He had written over 200 compositions, including his magnum opus (kanda gAnAmudam). He was the first among composers to compose separate songs in Thamizh in all the 72 mELakartta ragams.

*The date of his demise is  given variously as 1938 and 1940 by different sources.

Some of Koteesswara Iyer’s songs that are popular are: antaranga bhakti (shaDvidamArgiNI), aruL seyya vENDum (rasikapriya), ini namakkoru kavalaiyumillai (bhilahari), EdayyA gati (calanATTai), gAnAmuda pAnam (jyotiswarUpiNi), and vElavA vinai (kIravANi). Some musicians who have recorded (commercially) Koteeswara Iyer’s songs are S. Rajam, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Gayathri Girish, and Nithyasree Mahadevan, among others.

References:

1. http://www.carnatica.net/lyrics/koti.pdf    (For all KOTIswara iyer kritis in Thamizh)

2. http://www.carnatica.net/composer/koteeswaraiyer.htm