gAGgEya vasanadhara ( gAngeya vasana dhara)- hamIr kalyANi-svAti tiruNAL kriti

[This post was written in 2009 and remained unpublished until 2023].

svAti tiruNAL is a composer whose compositions have delighted musicians and rasikas alike for a long time. His compositions, which are generally in sanskRt are usually simple but the lyrics have deep meaning and at times complex compound structures. We find wonderful metaphors in his compositions, for example, in the kriti mAmava sadA varadE in the rAgam nAttakuriJji, the anupallavi is : "zamala giri kulizE". zamala means sin or impurity. giri, as you may know means mountain. "kuliza" means thunderbolt. So, zamala giri kuliza means "One who is like a thunderbolt to the mountain of sins." Aha! What kalpanai!

Most of svAti tiruNAL's compositions have been notated and perhaps, even set to tune by Semmangudi mama and K.S.Narayanaswami. gAGgeya vasana dhara is a beautiful composition that I learnt recently from my grandmother, a vaiNika gAyakI who is a veritable treasure trove of svAti kritis. She learnt saGgItam at the svAti tiruNAL Academy at Travancore (presently at Thiruvananthapuram) when Semmangudi mama was the principal. 

hamIr kalyANI is a beautiful rAgam. Although it is rAgam from Hindustani music, Carnatic composers have adapted it very well to the needs of Carnatic music. One must actually hear a rendition of venkaTa zaila vihAra by brindamma to see how well some schools have "carnaticized" a rAgam like hamIr kalyANI. You might also be surprised to know that the composition parimaLa raGganAtham of dIkSitar has phrases like S R G M2 P, with lots of gamakams as against the usual piDi: S M2 G P in my Chittappa's pAThAntaram. But this composition preserves the Hindustani flavor. 

pallavi:
gAGgeya vasanadhara! padmanAbha!
mAmava navajaladAGga!

anupallavi:
raGgasthala-phaNiphaNa!
rAmaNIyaka! guNalaya! murahara!

caraNam:
vAraya pApamakhila mayi mAmita
mohana-mRduhAsa! pAtavijaya! khala-
phaNivihaga! parilasa mama hRdi
pannagEndrazaya! sAdhujanAvana!
sarasijabhava-valavidalana-parinuta! kRpAvAsa! bhave kSipa mA viSaye!


pallavi:

The kriti starts off with mahAviSNu's nAmAs:
gAGgEyavasanadhara: "gAGeya" actually means "born out of gaGga"; however some dictionaries suggest "golden". The latter meaning makes more sense here as this is a kriti on hari; although hari and haran are one and the same! Hence this nAma would mean: " One who wears (dhara) a golden garment".

padmanAbha: He in whose navel (nAbhi) the lotus (padma), the source of the universe stands or One whose navel is beautifully shaped like the lotus or One who shines in the middle of the heart lotus of all. These translations have been taken from Adi Sankara's bhASyam on the viSNu sahasranAmam.

navajaladAGga: One whose body (aGga) is like the new (nava) cloud (jalada). mahAviSNu is generally accepted as dark hued, in fact as dark as the freshly formed cloud. The famous zlOkA zAntAkAram... has the nAmA meghavarNa, meaning One who has the colour (varNa) of a cloud (megha).


The composer says: mAm ava i.e Deign to protect (ava) me (mAm) , oh navajaladAGga! Oh padmanAbha! Oh gAGgeyavasanadhara!

anupallavi:

The anupallavi has only nAmAs:

raGgasthala-phaNiphaNa: One who used the erect hood (phaNa) of a serpent (phaNi) as a dancing floor ( raGgasthala). This obviously refers to the Kaliya episode from the zrImat bhAgavatam. This can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliya

rAmaNIyaka: One who is beautiful and charming.

guNAlaya: One who is the repository (Alaya) of good virtues (guNa)

Talking of the virtues of nArAyaNa, I am reminded of tyAgarAjasvAmI's description of zri
rAma's virtues. In the kriti mummUrttulu, tyAgarAjasvAmI says:

rOSamutO raghurAmuni guNamula
rUDiga tamaguNamulanaTu vrAsI
trAsuna sari nilva lEdani!
tyAgarAjanutuDevvaDo anucunu

which roughly means: The trinity in agitation weighed their own famous virtues against zrI rAma's with a scale and found that there was no balance! zrI rAma's guNas outweighed even the virtues of the trinity all put together! Aha! enna kalpanai!


caraNam:

Here, svAti tiruNAL says : Kindly cover up i.e put an end to (vAraya) all (akhila) my (mayi) sins (pApam) . Describing the Lord as :
mAmita: mA + mita i.e without measure,

mohana : The charming one,

mRdu - hAsa: One with the gentle (mRdu) smile (hAsa),

pAta-vijaya: One who is victorious (vijaya) over ruin (pAta). This can also be translated as Protector of Arjuna, who is also called vijaya,

khala-phaNi-vihaga: This is another wonderful compound. khala means " wicked" phani refers to a serpent. vihaga refers to garuDa, or the eagle, the king of birds. So this nAma could mean " One who is to the wicked, like an eagle is to a serpent",

svAti tiruNAL says : shine (parilasa) in my (mama) heart (hRdi).

The madhyama kAla sAhityam is intriguing and reminds one of muthusvAmI dikSitar. The nAmAs here are as follows:

sarasijabhava- valavidalana- parinuta : One who is praised (parinuta) by the One born out of the lotus : sarasijabhava, i.e Lord brahma and the One who ripped apart (vidalana) the demon vala i.e indra.
We all know the famous Indra- vRtra episode from the purANAs. However there is another version of this story, one that is found in the Rig Veda. According to this version, vRtra had kept the waters of the captive, until indra had destroyed him. vRtra also had a brother by the name vala. vala was supposed to be the soul of a cave in which demons called the paNi 's had hidden celestial cows. indra defeated them in battle and also split open the cave vala. Hence he is called vala - vidalana.

kRpAvAsa: One who is the repository (vAsa) of compassion (kRpA).

zrI svAti appeals to the Lord thus: Please do not (mA) throw me (kSipa) into the sphere (viSaya) of worldly affairs ( bhava).

Do leave a comment if you found any errors. Hope you liked the new theme.

May the all pervading protector of the universe, the satya saGkalpa help us cross this bhavasAgara !

zrI kRSNArpaNamastu!