 Paapavinaasa Mudaliyar
Whatever happened to your left leg …..
| Composition: |
naDamADit tirinda umadu iDadu….. |
| Composer: |
pApavinAsa mudaliyAr |
| mudrA: |
pApanAsa |
| (signature): |
|
| rAgam: |
kAmbhOji (janyam of harikAmbhoji, 28th mELam) |
|
tALam:
|
jhampa |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2G3M1PD2S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2D2PM1G3R2SN3PD2S |
| Pallavi: |
naDamADit tirinda umadiDadu kAl udavAmal
muDamAnadEnenRu solvIrayyA
|
| Anupallavi: |
dhiDamEvum tillai nagar maruvum pErAnandattANDavarE
nidamum enadANDavarE sabhaiyariya
|
| CaraNam1: |
tirunIRaic cumandIrO neruppAna mEni tanil
sItattinAl migunda vAda guNamO
orumaiyuDan mArkkaNDark kudaviyAi maRali vizha
udaikka suLukkErRiyuNDa bEda guNamO
paravaitanin teruvAsarppaDi iDariRRO endan pApamO
en sivanE mUvarkkum mudalvarenRu
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(naDamADit)
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| CaraNam2: |
bhakti seyyum periyOrgaL pApanAsamAgum
paramapadam iduvenRu tUkki ninRaduvO
shakti sivakAma valli tan bhAgam nogumenRE
taraiyil aDi vaikka tayangi ninRaduvO
satyalOkAdipatit tALattiRkERpa naTam tAngiyE oru kAlait tUkki ninRaduvO
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(naDamADit)
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Lyrics:
The lyrics were kindly provided by Lakshman Ragde.
Meaning:
Pallavi: You have been moving around well. Will you please, Oh Lord, tell me how your left leg is of no use to you any more - now that it is lame?
Anupallavi: You dwell in the great city of tillai (Cidambaram) dancing away blissfully everyday for all devotees to witness.
Caranam1 : Did you smear the sacred ash on your fiery body to cool it off and in the resulting excessive cold, did you encounter the ailment in your leg?
In order to help mArkkaNDan (to be an immortal) you kicked the lord of death. Is the lameness encountered on account of that?
Did you get tripped at the doorway of Paravai nAcciyAr (wife of Sundaramurty nAyanAr) when you entered her house?
Is it a consequence of my sin? My Lord, you are the first among the Trinity and you were dancing around in bliss.
Caranam2 : Did you lift the leg to eliminate the sins of your devotees?
Did you lift it so that your consort (Sivakama valli) may not feel the pain, which would result if you rest it on the ground?
Did you want to dance to the rhythm of Brahma (the head of satyalokham) and in the process raised your left leg forever?
General comments:
 Readers should bear with us here for the third song in a row on Lord Nataraja. In the past two weeks we featured
Marimuttaa Pillai (ennEramum oru kAlait…) and
Muttut Tandavar (ADik koNDAr anda vEDikkai..). These two songs were also on
Nataraja.
There is another version of the pallavi line wherein the starting word is ‘naTamADi’ meaning ‘dancing around’. However, we feel that the word should be ‘naDamADi’ meaning ‘moving around’ in keeping with proper grammatical construction. In Thamizh poetry, most writers conform to ‘ethugai’ (wherein the second letter of the starting words in different lines is the same) and ‘mOnai’ (where the first letter of the starting words is the same). In order to rhyme with the ‘dhiDamEvum’ in the Anupallavi line, the starting word of the pallavi line must accordingly be ‘naDamAdi’. Experts may have a different interpretation if the ‘naTamADi’ version is also correct.
We mentioned earlier that Paapavinaasa Mudaliyaar (PM) was a specialist in the ‘nindAstuti’ style of writing. He used Sanskrit words mixed with Thamizh words in order to have an uninterrupted flow of verse.
In this song, PM dwells on the dancing posture of
Nataraja of Cidambaram and imagines the various possibilities that could have triggered the ‘ailment’ in the left leg. The usual episode of kicking the lord of death to save MaarkkaNdEyan (who is considered an immortal along with VibhIshaNan, and
Hanumaan in the religious folklore) is referred to here in addition to the episode of
Lord Siva helping to mediate the reconciliation between Sundaramurty nAyanAr and his wife Paravai NaacciyAr.
The Lord entered Paravai nacciyAr’s house at midnight to argue with her to take back her erring husband. The veiled reference here is that the Lord tripped upon entering nAcciyAr’s house in the darkness of the night. It is a case of praising the Lord’s act through a veiled ridicule. This episode can be read in detail in reference 3.
When it comes to singing the praise of
Nataraja, most of the composers have used either the episodes from periyapurANam or other religious works. A few, like
Gopalakrishna Bharathi (sabhApatikku vERu deivam… in AbhOgi ragam), dwelt simply on the greatness and kindness of the Lord and the grace that one would obtain in worshipping Him.
Composer’s bio:
Paapavinaasa Mudaliyaar (1650-1725) lived in Kumbakonam and Tiruvarur. His birthplace is not known. It is understood that he was well-versed in music and aspects of dance. The language he used in his compositions is what is known as maNippravALam (a mixture of Thamizh and Sanskrit).
It appears he was under the patronage of king Tulaja-II of Thanjavur. He has composed most of his kritis in the ‘nindAstuti’ style. He wrote an opera, titled ‘Kumbheswarar Kuravanjci’ on the presiding deity of Kumbakonam, Kumbeswarar.
Some of PM’s compositions that are sung in music concerts are:
pErum nalla (pUrvi kalyANi), and mukhattaik kATTiyE (bhairavi). These two songs are on
Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of Tiruvarur. Some other songs by PM include:
adaRkkuLLE (kAmavardani/pantUvarALi), azhaittuvADi mAnE, and sollaDi mAdE (both in
kalyANi).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1038.html
2. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1141.html
3. http://www.thedivinelifesociety.org/download/nayanar.pdf
Sethuraman
Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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