Thamizh Songs in Carnatic
Music—13a
:
நாவுக்கரசனை
ஞானக்கொழுந்தினை-- nAvukkarasanai gnAnakkozhu^ndinai
Composer: M.
M. DaNDapANi Desikar
Let us sing the praise
of TirunAvukkarasar
Composition: nAvukkarasanai
Composer: M. M. daNDapANi dEsikar
mudrA: none
(signature):
rAgam: hEmavati (mELam 58)
ArOhaNam: SR2G2M2PD2N2S
AvarOhaNam: SN2D2PM2G2R2S
tALam: Adi
பல்லவி:
நாவுக்கரசனை ஞானக்கொழுந்தினை
நாவாரவே வாழ்த்தி நலம் பெறுவோம்
திரு
(நாவுக்கரசனை)
அனுபல்லவி:
பாவுக்கரசனாம் பண்புள்ள
தமிழனாம்
பாவாணர் போற்றும் திருத்
தேவாரம் தனைத்தந்த
(நாவுக்கரசனை)
சரணம்1:
தாண்டக வேந்தனாம் தண்தமிழ்
மீதன்பு
பூண்ட பெருமையைப் புகலவும்
கூடுமோ
வேண்டும் நல்வாழ்வினை விரும்பி
அன்றே தரும்
ஆண்ட பெருந்தகையான் அய்யன்
அருளடைந்த
(நாவுக்கரசனை)
சரணம்2:
இந்த உலகினை இயக்கும் இறைவனை
எந்த வடிவினும் எங்கணும்
கன்டவன்
நந்தமிழ் நாட்டினில் பைந்தமிழ் இசையுடன்
செந்தமிழ்ப் பாடலை செம்மையுடன்
தந்த
(நாவுக்கரசனை)
சரணம்3:
நாமார்க்கும் குடியல்லோம்
நடலையில்லோமென
நவின்ற திருமறையாம் நல்லோர்
வணங்கும் தமிழ்ப்
பாமாலையைப் புனைந்த பாவலனை
என்னாளும்
பரவிப் பணிந்து நோக்கிப்
பான்மையுடன் வாழவே (நாவுக்கரசனை)
Lyrics in Roman script
Pallavi: nAvukkarasanai
gnAnakkozhu^ndinai
nAvAravE vAzhtti nalam peRuvOm tiru (nAvukkarasanai)
Anupallavi: pAvukkarasanAm
paNbuLLa tamizhanAm
pAvANar pORRum tirut tEvAram tanaitta^nda (nAvukkarasanai)
CaraNam1: tANDaga vE^ndanAm
taNtamizh mIdanbu
pUNDa perumaiyaip pugalavum kUDumO
vENDum nalvAzhvinai virumbi anRE tarum
ANDa peru^ntagaiyAn ayyan aruLaDai^nda (nAvukkarasanai)
CaraNam2: i^nda ulaginai iyakkum
iRaivanai
e^nda vaDivinum engaNum kanDavan
na^ntamizh nATTinil pai^ntamizh isaiyuDan
se^ntamizhp pADalai semmaiyuDan ta^nda (nAvukkarasanai)
CaraNam3: nAmArkkum kuDiyallOm
naTalaiyillOmena
navinRa tirumaRaiyAm nallOr vaNangum tamizhp
pAmAlaiyaip punai^nda pAvalanai ennALum
paravip paNi^ndu nOkkip pAnmaiyuDan vAzhavE
(nAvukkarasanai)
Meaning:
Pallavi:
Let us sing the praise of Tirunavukkarasar,
who is a beacon of wisdom,
in
glorious terms and get the benefits of doing so.
Anupallavi:
He is the king of poetry. He is a noble
Thamizhan. He gave us the
tEvAram
which is held in high esteem by poets.
Caranam1:
He is the king of tANDagam (style of poetry).
Can we venture to speak of
his
love for noble Thamizh? Lord Siva is magnanimous in showering His
grace on devotees. Our tirunAvukkarasar reached His
abode. Let us
sing
his praise.
Caranam2:
He saw Lord Siva, who directs the whole
universe, in all forms and in all
places. He gave us refreshing songs in splendorous
Thamizh in all its
true
melody.
Caranam3:
He is the one who gave us the tEvAram song
which translates as, “we
shall
not be slavish subjects under anybody, nor shall we be
overwhelmed by any delusion.”
We shall thus respect him and lead a
meaningful
life by singing his praise always.
General
Comments:
This song is somewhat unusual in the
devotional series. This is about a human being who attained godhead through his
immense devotion. The subject of this song is tirunAvukkarasar (also known as
“appar”). He was one of the tEvAram trinity who composed a multitude of
devotional songs on Lord Siva. Some of
his popular songs are: “sanganidi padumanidi iraNDum tandu…”, “mAsil vINaiyum
mAlai madiyamum vIsu tenRalum ..”, and “nAmArkkum kuDiyallOm namanaiyanjOm..”
TirunAvukkarasar can be truly called a
“nAyanmAr’s nAyanmAr” because during the lifetime of tirunAvukkarasar, there
was another nAyanAr called appUdi aDigaL who worshipped one of his
contemporaries, tirunAvukkarasar,
instead of Lord Siva himself and did charitable work in the name of
tirunAvukkarasar. (Read about appUdi aDigaL in ref. 4 below).
Dandapani Desikar’s choice to eulogize tirunAvukkarasar
in this song shows his devotion to shaivism and the devotees of Siva. There is
a parallel event in Thamizh music similar to this. OottukkAdu Venkatasubbaiyer,
another great composer who lived in the 18th century CE, wrote a
song called “periya purANa kIrttanai” which starts as “ALAvadennALO sivame
aDiyArkkaDiyArkkaDiyanAi” in the ragam paras.
In that song Venkatasubbaiyer mentions all the 63 nAyanmArs in quite a musical
threading. Dandapani Desikar chose to extol a member of the tEvAram trinity in
his eulogy. These are instances of great souls recognizing other great souls
and immortalizing them.
Dandapani Desikar was quite enamored of
tirunAvukkarasar’s love for Thamizh as much as his love for Lord Siva. In fact,
he weaves both these characteristics of tirunAvukkarasar together intricately
in this song. He did not have the benefit of seeing tirunAvukkarasar in flesh
and blood, unlike appUdi aDigaL; nevertheless he composed this garland with
true imagination of the glory of tirunAvukkarasar.
Composer’s
Bio:
M. M. Dandapani Desikar (1908-1972) was born
at TiruccenkATTAnkuDi (the birthplace of the famous nAyanmAr ciruttoNDa nAyanAr) near TiruvArUr. He
was a veritable multi-talented composer in Thamizh music.. He was a musician,
teacher, and movie actor as well. He appeared on the music scene when Thamizh
isai was having a renaissance in the 1940s and contributed so much to it.
He learnt music and tEvAram initially from
his father (Muttaiah Desikar) who belonged to the traditional family of OduvArs
(the group that sings devotional songs in the temples). Later he learnt music
from others including the violin doyen KumbakONam Rajamanickam PiLLai. He went
on to become a professor and head of the department of music at Annamalai University in Cidambaram.
He gave a lot of concerts while teaching at Annamalai University. He published quite a few
Thamizh music works under the auspices of Thamizh isaic Cangam. He got several awards including “isai arasu”
and “isaip pEraRignar”. He acted creditably in many movies such as Pattinaththaar, Nandanaar, Thaayumaanavar,
Maanickavaacagar, and Tirumazhisai
Azhvaar, all of which featured his singing prominently.
Some other songs of M. M. DandapANi DEsikar (MMDD)
that are rendered in concert circuits are: unnaiyanRi
uTra tuNai (bhavAni), velanai nI
(AndOLikA), anjezhuttinai nenjilE
(rAgavinOdini), Anai mugattOnE
(dEvamanOhari), isaiyin ellaiyai (subhapantuvarALi),
pADa vENDumE (hamsanAdam), aruLa vENDum tAyE (sAramati), and ennai
nI maRavAdE (amritavarshini). The song unnaiyanRi
uTra tuNai was popularized by the late MLV.
References:
Audio clip of the
song
Listen to Suguna Varadachari here
Listen to
Sanjay Subrahmanyan here
