This song would belong in the category of a ninda stuti. "Stuti", pronounced "Sthuthi", means "prayer/song". "Ninda" means "blame/complaint." A "ninda stuti" is essentially a prayer that is also a complaint. The poet takes liberties to ask questions to the Lord by taking liberties, treating Him as a close friend. Here, the poet asks Shiva,
“You have wandered around so much. Why is your left limb gone lame, or crippled?” The poet uses the fact that Shiva dances with his left foot up, to construct a stuthi around it.
In the two charanams, the poet is talking about several possibilities for Shiva’s “lame” limb: Is it because of the fact that you have" vaata" trouble caused by holding up Ganga on your head? Is it because of helping Markandeya? Did you trip at your doorstep? Is it to show your bhaktas that yours is the “parama padam”? Did you do it to not hurt Parvati sitting by you? Or is it actually because of your cosmic dance as the ruler of this world?
Warm and sunny Friday morning in NJ was lovely. I opened the windows and could hear birds chirping. I start off in the morning with Bhauli ragam instead of a varnam, and it makes me feel so peaceful.
Sri Parvati Parameswarau Vande
by
Muthuswami Deekshitar in Bhauli ragam, Adi talam.
I was able to find the best translation and interpretation in a commentary by Prof. L. Ramakrishnan on medieval.org. This is given in the youtube link.
I learned this when I was eight or nine....., and this had sort of got lost. It is a short and sweet composition by one of the lesser known Kerala composers Kunhiyoor Kunhikrishna Kurup, aka Mahakavi Kuttamath (1881-1944). He is the author of several important works in Malayalam, and was a Sanskrit scholar as well. This kriti is attributed to K.C. Kesava Pillai by some, and to Irayimman Thampi by some others. To my best knowledge, this is a work of Kuttamath. I do welcome comments and corrections on this from listeners.
This composition on Sanskrit is on Lord Ayyappa, or Shastha.
This is not a very rare kriti, but one of my all-time favorites. I had the opportunity to learn this composition from my guru Sri C.S. Krishna Iyer, who learned directly from Tanjavur Ponnayyah Pillai, the composer of this kriti. Sangeeta Kalanidhi Sri Ponnayyah Pillai is a descendent of the famous Tanjore quartet, and taught at Annamalai University while Sri Krishna Iyer was a student there.
A cold and flu left me unable to sing last week, but this week I am back with a kriti in Vasanta ragam, composed by Sri Tyagaraja. This is one of the lesser heard Tyagaraja kritis taught at the PSN school, but I have also heard that Sri Chingleput Ranganathan used to sing this song. I have not heard it anywhere else. It is amazing to see how Tyagaraja weaves sahityams from his feelings. The conversation, and the questions he had for Rama convinces the listener that her had Rama before his very eyes when he composed.
Etladorikitivo - Ragam Vasanta- Talam Adi - Tyagaraja
Sahityam and meaning given in the youtube link. (courtesy: Sri T.K. Govinda Rao)
