Papanasam Sivan

What penance did you do?

Source for kavithai: Papanasam Sivan “kIrttana mAlai” published by his daughter Dr. Rukmani Ramani. Also see ref. 1

Meaning:
Pallavi: Oh, YasOdA! What penance did you do to let the omnipresent Lord Almighty call you “ammA” (mother)?

Anupallavi: You held the Lord, who created the fourteen worlds, in your arms, fondled Him, fed Him, and sang lullaby to let Him sleep.

CaraNam1: You tied Him to the grain thresher (mortar) and made Him beg for your mercy with folded hands and closed mouth to the utter envy of Brahman and Indran.

CaraNam2: You, holy woman, achieved with great ease what the sages like SanakA did through painstaking efforts and intense penance.

General comments:
This is a song in tribute to YasOdA, the foster-mother of Krishna, glorifying her for her fortune in having to enjoy the pleasure of raising the baby Krishna as well as the power to punish the Lord when she so chose. It is simple in style but has a deep meaning. Usually, the Lord does not have a mother. In this instance, since Krishna was born to Devaki but transported to YasOdA to be raised by her, the implication is she must have earned so much merit to deserve such a boon as to be called “ammA” by the Lord Himself.

Several sages like SanakA, SanandanA, SanatkumArA and SanatsujAtA had to undertake severe penance to have such privileges as to have a vision of the Lord while for YasOdA it is a cinch. On the one hand she gets to hold the Lord in her arms, attend to His daily needs such as feeding, clothing and singing Him to sleep but correspondingly she also has the power to punish Him by tying Him to the grain thresher with a rope for such minor offences as stealing butter. Her power to punish Krishna at will, induces envy in Brahman and Indran, who were humiliated** by Krishna even while He was growing up in Brindavanam.

This song just describes two instances: the fortune to have the exclusive privilege of caring for the baby Krishna and the authority to punish Krishna at will. Ordinary mortals, let alone sages, never get such a reward. Sivan wonders as to what YasOdA must have done to deserve such a good fortune.

**(The humiliation of Brahman is connected with an episode of Brahman kidnapping the cowherds in Krishna’s clan with a subsequent apology from Brahman after knowing the greatness of Krishna who recreated the lost cowherds in His own form. Likewise, when Krishna ordered the residents of Brindavanam to ignore Indran and worship the Govardhana mountain, Indran got angry and lashed out a rain storm on the community. Krishna lifted the mountain and held it as an umbrella under which all the residents took shelter. Finally, Indran recognised Krishna’s power and apologised.)

Some other songs of Sivan that are very popular are: kANa kaN kODi vENDum (kAmbhoji), kArtikekEya gAngEya gowri tanayA (tODi), kA vA vA (varALi), kaRpagamE (madyamAvati), mA ramaNan (hindOLam), pArvati nAyakanE (shanmukapriyA), sAma gAna lOlanE (hindoLam), sivakAma sundari (mukhAri), singAra vElavan vandAn (Anandabhairavi), unaiyallAl gadi yAr (kalyANi) and tatvamaRiya tarama (rItigauLai).

Composer’s bio:
Papanasam Sivan (1890-1973) was born as Ramaiah in Polagam in Thanjavur district. He spent a lot of time with his older brother in Papanasam (near Kumbakonam). It was common in the early 20th century to confer the title of Sivan on men of God. Thus he acquired the name, ‘Papanasam Sivan’. He was influenced greatly by nIlakaNTa Sivan (another great composer) in his early life for a couple of years. He also drew inspiration from Gopalakrishna Bharathi. He did not have a traditional musical curriculum but learnt music occasionally from several musicians. Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer served as his mentor and sponsor in his adult life.

He was committed to Thamizh, Thamizh music and the freedom movement. He composed around 2,500 songs (mainly devotional, and occasionally social and national themes) and performed in several theatrical productions. He was a teacher at the famed Kalakshetra during 1934-39. He composed classical music for several movies and also acted in four movies. He composed mainly in Thamizh but also penned a few compositions in Sanskrit and Telugu. He used the signature ‘Ramadasan’. But many of his compositions did not contain his signature, including the song discussed here.

He was awarded ‘Sangeetha Kalanidhi’ by the Music Academy in Chennai in 1971. During his lifetime, he published around 400 of his songs which are currently out of print. Currently, his daughter, Dr Rukmani Ramani, is (re)publishing many of his songs with monetary help from philanthropists, music organisations and foundations.

References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1007.html
2. http://www.carnatica.net/composer/trinitycomposer.htm
3. http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit10152001/musicarts1.asp
4. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1008.html
5. http://www.venkateswara.org.uk/krishna.htm
6. http://www.sangeetham.com/others/m_perdetails.php3?submit=yes&rdoperson=16

Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com

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Published on 21^st Jan, 2004