Maarimuththaa Pillai

Raising one leg forever …..

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Lyrics: Courtesy S Sridhar

Meaning:
Pallavi: Oh, Lord, what is the purpose of your keeping one leg raised all the time?

Anupallavi: The people of the golden land praise the antiquity of this city (Cidambaram) and the folks in the prosperous land sing the glory of tillai (Cidambaram). You are the resident Lord of this golden hall and the city. You haven’t rested your leg yet.

Caranam: Is it because you attempted to extinguish the fire (in which your consort Parvati immolated herself) in haughty Dakshan’s palace?

Or did you sprain your leg when you kicked yaman (the Lord of death) to save Markandeyan?

Or did your foot freeze when you picked the waning moon (due to the curse of his father-in-law) and stomped on it to relieve the moon of the malady?

Or did you get tired upon competing with the ferocious Shakti (cAmuNDi) in dance?

Or did the primordial poison (from the milky ocean) spread through your body and exited through the leg?

Or is it because you got tired after doing the cosmic dance at the request of the sages vyAgrapAdA (puli, tiger’s foot) and patanjali (pAmbu, the avatar of AdisEshan) and your feet got hurt?

Is it why you keep one leg raised all the time?

General comments:

This song belongs in the class of ‘nindAstuti’ or ‘vanjcappugazhcci aNi’ (in Thamizh it is a figure of speech in which apparent ridicule of the subject is skillfully implied to suggest the opposite). The two composers who were well-versed in this style of writing were Marimutta Pillai (MMP) and Papanasa Mudaliar.

This song contains references to several episodes from shivapurANam or tiruviLaiyADal purANam, which deal with the heroic and benevolent acts of Lord Shiva. It describes various praiseworthy acts but camouflaged in a mock ridicule. Here the composer is asking Lord Nataraja the reason for the raised left foot and in doing so narrates the various heroic acts. It is interesting that Arunacala Kavi (a contemporary of MMP) also adopted this style in his song, ‘En paLLi koNDIrayyA…’ wherein he is asking Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam the reason for his reclining posture - whether he was tired after war activities against Ravana, walking through Mitilai to wed Sita, or riding the boat with Guhan, or even killing the demoness.

The composer was so much dedicated to tillai and enamoured of Lord Nataraja both of which find adorable expression in this song. The various episodes referred to in the song can be read at the shaivam.org references given below.

Composer’s bio:

Marimutta Pillai (1712-1787) was born in Tillaividangan, near Cidambaram, also known as tillai. tillai was named after a forest of trees of that species, known by the botanical name Excoecaria agallocha, which grows wild in the marshy tidal shores.

Sekkizhzar, the medieval Thamizh poet, wrote his classic work Periya Puranam in Cidambaram. He sang the glory of tillai thus:

AdiyAi naDuvum Aki aLavilA aLavum Akic
cOdiyAi uNarvum Akit tOnRiya poruLum Akip
bEdiyA EkamAkip peNNumAi ANum Akip
bOdiyA niRkum tillaip podunaDam pORRi pORRi

SEkkizhAr talks about Lord Shiva who manifests as the beginning, the immeasurable, the effulgence, the meaning of the inscrutable, the division as well as the union of the male and the female, and the universal knowledge that is represented by the cosmic dance - all represented by the cosmic dance performed only at tillai.

MMP, who is inseparable from tillai, was born in a devout shaivaite family. He was a great Thamizh composer well-known for writing prabhandham (a musical composition). His very first composition was the famous ‘puliyUr veNbA’ in praise of the city of Cidambaram. Only 25 of his songs on Lord Nataraja are now available. Many of the themes of his songs are connected to Lord Shiva and more particularly Nataraja of Cidambaram.

MMP, Arunacala Kavi and Muttut Tandavar are hailed as members of the Thamizh trinity (Thamizh mUvar) in recognition of their contributions to Thamizh music.

Not very many compositions of MMP have survived the test of time. Some of his compositions that are sung in music concerts are: kAlait tUkki ninRu (yadukula khAmbhOji), orukAl sivacidambaram (Arabhi), and Edukkittanai mODi tAn (suraTTi). 

References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1069.html
2. http://carnatica.net/composer/marimuthapillai.htm
3. http://ckrishnamurti.tripod.com/chap12d.html
4. http://siddhanta.shaivam.org/manata.html
5. http://siddhanta.shaivam.org/amchit.html

Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com

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Published on 28^th July, 2004