sarasIruhAsanapriyE - nAttai

सुवक्षोजकुम्भाम् सुधापूर्णकुम्भाम्

प्रसादावलम्बाम् प्रपुण्यावलम्बाम् //

सदास्येन्दुबिम्बाम् सदानोष्टबिम्बाम्

भजे शारदाम्बाम् अजस्रं मदम्बाम् //

I sing praise (bhajE) of Mother zAradA, Who has beautiful (su) pot (kumbha) like breasts (vakSOja) , Who has breast-pots (kumbhA) which are full of (pUrNa) nectar(sudhA), Who is the support (avalambA) of benevolence (prasAda), Who is the support (avalambA) of blissful deeds (prapuNya), Whose image (or face) (bimba) is like a servile (sadAsya) moon (indu) , Whose image (or face) is always (sadA) cool (na uSTa: nOSTa) ,Who is perpetual (ajasra) , and is my (mat) Mother (ambA)

(zAradA bhujangam : Adi zankarA)

Happy Pongal and Makara Sankranti!

I thought I'l postpone gurulEka for later for the sake of Akshay, a dear old friend who gave me good company and support during his days at VNIT( He is a year senior to me) . He asked to post this composition, so here it is.

This composition is a very popular one in nAttai. But first something about the composer: Sri Puliyur Duraiswami Iyer. The following has been taken from karnatik.com:

"Also known as Panchanatha Iyer or Manattattaai Duraiswami Aiyar, the father of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, he himself was a renowned musician. He lived in Vaiyacheri, a small village in Tanjore district, with his wife Arundati. Duraiswami was proficient in Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit. Once while he was singing Thyagaraja's "Chakkani Raja" (Kharaharapriya), Sri Thyagaraja, who was passing by, blessed him saying that his two sons would become very famous in music. Duraiwami had four sons - Sambamurthy, Ramaswami, Vaidyanathan and Sivaraman (or Appaswami). They belonged to Koundinya Gothram and Brahacharanam sect. Duraiswami found that Ramaswami and Vaidyanathan evinced keen interest in music and trained them in singing. Among his well-known compositions are sarasiruhAsana priyE, and the dasaragamalika varnam Intha Gopa.''

Here are the lyrics:

pallavi

sarasIruhAsanapriyE amba
sadA - vINAgAnapriyE sadAnandahrdayE mayi - sadayE

anupallavi:

zaraNAgatam mAmava! manjuLa - caraNakisalayE
sammOdita - kavijana - hrdayE sarOja nilayE maNi valayE

caranam:

sarasIruhAkSiyugaLE amba
zaraNagata - dIna- vatsalE amba
zaradindu - sundara - vadanE vimalE
sarasvatI satidEzikanuta - gunazAlE
satatam - vidyAlOlE sadA - suzIlE
sAmbujakumbhastana - yugaLE dhavalE
sakala - sAmrAjyaprada - karadhrta - pustakajAlE

(Pl note that "z" refers to the letter "श " : and "S" refers to "ष" .Kindly go through the transliteration scheme given at the end.)

As the reader might surely know, this is a composition on Sri sarasvati, the Goddess of learning.

The composer first describes Goddess Sarasvati as " sarasIruhAsanapriyE", the one who is enamoured (priyA) of sitting (Asana) on the lotus (sarasIruha). Next he calls her : "sadAvINAgAnapriyE" , the one who is always (sadA) in love (priyA) with the music (gAna) of the vINA. "sadAnandahrdayE" means one whose heart (hrdayA) is always (sadA) blissful (Ananda). "mayisadayE" refers to the one who is merciful towards me.

This is perhaps the only composition of Puliyoor Doraiswamy Aiyyar that is sung on the concert stage. And he is no mean composer! This one composition is enough to prove his expertise and command over the sanskrit language and the musical technicalities.

In the anupallavi, Sri Doraiswamy says:

Protect (ava) me ( mAm), who has sought (Agata) refuge (zaraNa) (zaraNAgatam) in you. Then he calls zAradAmbAL by the following epithets:

manjuLa caraNa kisalayE: The one with feet which are lovely (manjuLa) like a tender foliage (kisala) i.e one with adorable and tender feet.

sammodita kavijana hrdayE: one whose heart (hrdaya) delighted (samodita) by poets (kavijana)

saroja - nilayE : one who resides (nilaya) on a lotus (saroja)

maNi - valayE : one who wears a with bracelet (valaya) of gems (maNi)


In the caraNam too, the composer describes zAradA devi with many names:

sarasIruhAkSIyugaLE : one who has a pair (yugaLa) of eyes (akSha) like a lotus (sarasIruha)

zaraNAgata - dIna - vatsalE : one who is affectionate (vatsala) towards the poor (or needy) (dIna) who seek (Agata) her zaraNa ( refuge) .

zaradindu - sundara - vadanE : one whose face (vadana) is as beautiful (sundara) as the autumnal (zarad) moon (indu) (or the moon during the winter season)

vimalE: one who is pure

satidEzikanuta - gunazAle : (not so sure what this means, any suggestions???) dEzika means "illustrious preceptor" , and isn't mahezvara the parama guru? sati could refer to ambAL. So I guess Sri Doraiswami means: one who is praised (nuta) by durgA (sati) and dezika ( ziva) and who is virtuous (guNazAlE).

satatam - vidyAlOlE : one who is a constant (satatam) enjoyer (lOla) of knowledge (vidyA)
sadA - suzIlE : one who is always (sadA) of virtuous conduct (suzilA)

sAmbujakumbhastana - yugaLE : one whose pair (yugaLa) of breasts (stana) are round (sAmbuja: sa+ ambuja, ambuja means 'moon' as well as 'lotus' ,'sa' could convey 'like' so i am interpretting this word as 'round like the moon'; any suggestions??) like the pitcher (kumbha)

dhavaLE: one who is fair

sakala - sAmrAjyaprada- karadhrta - pustakajAlE : one who bestows (prada) the entire (sakala) empire (sAmrAjya) (or imperial wealth) and who holds (dhrta) a collectection (jAla) of books (pustaka) in Her hands (kara).

I am actually surprised I never bothered to check the meanings of so many words out here. The words are not so easy as they sound. I had to check and recheck before posting! Thanks to Akshay for having prompted me to write about this composition.

The best part about this composition is its rhythm. The perfect madhyama kAlam is just about right to sing this in the beginning of the kutcheri. It surely sets the pace and mood for the concert. It is so full of lyrics that it feels like you are singing the actual svarAs. That is the mark of great composers. They never sacrifice sahityabhAva for rAgabhAva or vice versa. A friend of mine at college asked me whether I compose. I couldn't say anything to him at that time but looking at this beautiful composition, I feel that even if I can string two words like this together, my life's cause would be served!

May the Goddess Sarasvati shower her grace on all of us!

Sri KriSNArpaNamastu!

(The transliteration scheme that I have used: (The Harvard Kyoto scheme)

a A i I u U R RR lR lRR e E ai o O au M H
k kh g gh G c ch j jh J
T Th D Dh N t th d dh n
p ph b bh m y r l v z S s h

O: elongated o
E: elongated e )

P.S. I often use 'E' instead of 'e' in words like priye, valaye, etc
because the 'e' has to be elongated. In sanskrit words, I mostly make use of 'E';
eg: gaNEza