Let us sing the
praise of Tirunavukkarasar
| Composition: |
nAvukkarasanai |
| Composer: |
M M daNDapANi dEsikar |
| mudrA: |
none |
| (signature): |
|
| rAgam: |
hEmAvati (mELam 58) |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2G2M2PD2N2S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2D2PM2G2R2S |
|
tALam:
|
Adi |
| Pallavi: |
nAvukkarasanai gnAnakkozhu^ndanai
nAvAravE vAzhtti nalam peRuvOm tiru
|
(nAvukkarasanai)
|
| Anupallavi: |
pAvukkarasanAm
paNbuLLa tamizhanAm
pAvANar pORRum tirut tEvAram tanaitta^nda
|
(nAvukkarasanai)
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| CaraNam1: |
tANDaga vE^ndanAm taNtamizh mIdanbu
pUNDa perumaiyaip pugalavum kUDumO
vENDum nalvAzhvinai virumbi anRE tarum
ANDa peru^ntagaiyAn ayyan aruLaDai^nda
|
(nAvukkarasanai)
|
| CaraNam2: |
i^nda ulaginai iyakkum iRaivanai
e^nda vaDivinum engaNum kanDavan
na^ntamizh nATTinil pai^ntamizh isaiyuDan
se^ntamizhp pADalai semmaiyuDan ta^nda
|
(nAvukkarasanai)
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| CaraNam3: |
nAmArkkum kuDiyallOm naTalaiyillOmena
navinRa tirumaRaiyAm nallOr vaNangum tamizhp
pAmAlaiyaip punai^nda pAvalanai ennALum
paravip paNi^ndu nOkkip pAnmaiyuDan vAzhavE
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(nAvukkarasanai)
|
Source for lyrics:
Ref. #4 (some changes in the words have been made to make proper sense)
Meaning:
Pallavi: Let us sing the praise of
Tirunavukkarasar, who is a beacon of wisdom, in glorious terms and get the benefits of doing so.
Anupallavi: He is the king of poetry. He is a noble Thamizhan. He gave us the tEvAram which is held in high esteem by poets.
Caranam1: He is the king of tANDagam (style of poetry). Can we venture to speak of his love for noble Thamizh? Lord Siva is magnanimous in showering His
grace on devotees. Our tirunAvukkarasar reached His abode. Let us sing his praise.
Caranam2: He saw Lord Siva, who directs the whole universe, in all forms and in all places. He gave us refreshing songs in splendorous Thamizh in all its true melody.
Caranam3: He is the one who gave us the tEvAram song which translates as, “we shall not be slavish subjects under anybody, nor shall we be overwhelmed by any delusion”. We shall thus respect him and lead a meaningful life by singing his praise always.
General comments:
 This song is somewhat unusual in the devotional series. This is about a human being who attained godhead through his immense devotion. The subject of this song is tirunAvukkarasar (also known as ‘Appar’). He was one of the tEvAram trinity who composed a multitude of devotional songs on Lord Siva. Some of his popular songs are: ‘sanganidi padumanidi iraNDum tandu…’, ‘mAsil vINaiyum mAlai madiyamum vIsu tenRalum..’, and ‘nAmArkkum kuDiyallOm
namanaiyanjOm…’
TirunAvukkarasar can be truly called a ‘nAyanmAr’s nAyanmAr’ because during the lifetime of tirunAvukkarasar there was another nAyanAr called appUdi aDigaL who worshipped one of his contemporaries, tirunAvukkarasar, instead of Lord Siva himself and did charitable work in the name of tirunAvukkarasar. (Read about appUdi aDigaL in ref. 5).
Dandapani Desikar’s choice to eulogise tirunAvukkarasar in this song shows his devotion to shaivism and the devotees of Siva. There is a parallel event in Thamizh music similar to this.
OottukkAdu Venkatasubbaiyer, another great composer who lived in the 18th century CE, wrote a song called ‘periya purANa kIrttanai’ which starts as ‘ALAvadennALO sivame aDiyArkkaDiyArkkaDiyanAi’ in the ragam
paras. In that song Venkatasubbaiyer mentions all the 63 nAyanmArs in quite a musical threading.
Dandapani Desikar chose to extol a member of the tEvAram trinity in his eulogy. These are instances of great souls recognising other great souls and immortalising them.
Dandapani Desikar was quite enamoured of tirunAvukkarasar’s love for Thamizh as much as his love for Lord Siva. In fact, he weaves both these characteristics of tirunAvukkarasar together intricately in this song. He did not have the benefit of seeing tirunAvukkarasar in flesh and blood, unlike appUdi aDigaL; nevertheless he composed this garland with true imagination of the glory of tirunAvukkarasar.
Composer’s bio:
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|
M M Dandapani Desikar (1908-1972)
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M M Dandapani Desikar (1908-1972) was born at Tiruccenkaattaankudi (the birthplace of the famous
nAyanmAr ciruttoNDa nAyanAr), near Tiruvarur. He was a veritable multi-talented composer in Thamizh music.. He was a musician, composer, teacher and movie actor. He appeared on the music scene when Thamizh isai was having a renaissance in the 1940s, and contributed so much to it.
He learnt music and tEvAram initially from his father (Muttaiah Desikar) who belonged to the traditional family of OduvArs (the group that sings devotional songs in temples). Later, he learnt music from others, including the violin doyen KumbakONam Rajamanickam PiLLai. He went on to become a professor and head of the department of music at Annamalai University in
Cidambaram.
He gave a lot of concerts while teaching at Annamalai University. He published quite a few Thamizh music works under the auspices of Thamizh isaic Cangam. He got several awards including ‘isai arasu’ and ‘isaip pEraRignar’. He acted creditably in many movies such as
Pattinaththaar, Nandanaar, Thaayumaanavar, Maanickavaacagar, and
Tirumazhisai Azhvaar, all of which featured his singing prominently.
Some other songs of M M Dandapani Desikar that are rendered in concert circuits are:
unnaiyanRi uRRa tuNai (bhavAni), velanai nI (AndOLikA), anjezhuttinai nenjilE (rAgavinOdini),
Anai mugattOnE (dEvamanOhari), isaiyin ellaiyai (subhapantuvarALi),
pADa vENDumE (hamsanAdam), aruLa vENDum tAyE (sAramati) and ennai nI maRavAtE
(amritavarshini).
The song unnaiyanRi uRRa tuNai was popularised by the late
M L Vasanthakumari.
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1079.html
2. http://carnatica.net/composer/dandapanidesikar.htm
3. http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/dandapani.txt
4. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1274.html
5. http://www.shaivam.org//naayan_f.html
6. http://www.sangeetham.com/ddesikar.htm
Sethuraman
Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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M M Dandapani Desikar
