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Appreciating Annamacharya - Part 8
Continuing with the lecture, VAK asked Suresh to render enta mAtramuna which was set in rAgAs brndAvani and mAyAmALavagauLa.
The meaning of the song was read out by VAK as follows:
You are as you are thought of by different people.
Just as the flour determines the bread
Vaishnavas worship you as Vishnu,
Philosophers say that you are the ultimate
Shaivaites with apt devotion, think of you as Shiva
Kapalikas revere and praise you as Adi Bhairava
Shakti worshippers see you in the form of Shakti
By the rituals laid out in their chosen creeds people worship you differently
For the great minds who think of you as great, you are great
For those who dismiss you lightly, you are like that for them
There is no shortfall in you. You are the lotus that floats according to the water level
Just as Ganges water is found in the wells near the river.
As you are the Venkateswara, I deem you our saviour and seek your succour.
That is the supreme realisation for me.
This song, according to VAK, speaks of the different opinions that devotees have, as to which God the idol on Tirumala Hill represents. Annamacharya finally resolves it by saying that the Lord exists for each devotee depending on his devotion unto Him.
The next song taken up was Okapari kOkapari in rAga kharaharapriya. The song describes the abhiShEkam done to Lord Venkateswara, which as per Ranga Rao is even more beautiful at the Srinivasamangapuram temple, which is six miles from Tirupati on the route to Madanapalle. The idol there is an exact replica of the one on Tirumala, but is two and a half feet taller. This temple was first visited by Ranga Rao around forty years ago and then he organised the arangETram of 27 male students of the Veterinary College, who trained under him for a college function, at the temple premises. Later, a festival called the sAkShAtkAra vaibhavam, held on AshADha shuddha saptami, which had been discontinued, was revived by Ranga Rao and some of his friends and every year on the evening of the festival, Ranga Rao and other dancers offer nrtya nivEdana at this temple. They usually select songs from Annamacharya’s oeuvre for their performance.
The meaning was given as below:
For each and every time, your face sprouts new faces of light. (Each time when different unguents are poured on the idol, it takes on a new hue and form)
The pacca karpUra powder sprinkled on the Lord of the world, spills shiningly all over.
As it adheres to His form, it contours the body of Alamelumanga, whom He has intentionally kept on His chest, in a most beautiful manner, as though ripe moonlight is shaping Her form.
The civet unguent anointed on his shining cheeks, drips on both sides of His face. As He is the husband of the woman with the gait of an elephant, it drips like the mada jala (secretion when an elephant is in rut) from his cheeks.
Because He is sporting so many jewels, He shines although He is dark. And because She is naturally shining, He and She look as though the cloud and the lightning are alight at the same time.
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