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Periasamy Thooran
Did I earn a
lot of merit?
| Composition: |
puNNiyam orukOTi purindEnO |
| Composer: |
periasAmy tUran |
| mudrA: |
none |
| (signature): |
|
| rAgam: |
kIravANi (mELam 21) |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2G2M1PD1N3S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN3D1PM1G2R2S |
|
tALam:
|
Adi |
| Pallavi: |
puNNiyam orukOTi puri^ndEnO nAn pORRidum
kAmakOTi AccAryAL aruL peRavE
|
(puNNiyam)
|
| Anupallavi: |
kaNNil karuNai kATTi karamalar abhayam kATTi
eNNilA inbam kUTTi ennai avar ATkoLLa
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(puNNiyam)
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| CaraNam: |
annai kAmAkshi pOlE anbE vaDivAi va^ndAr
amudURum eLiya sollAl arumaRai ellAm ta^ndAr
tannai maRa^ndu aduvE tAnAgum tava vE^ndar
caraNAravi^nda madil tanjam pukundiDa
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(puNNiyam)
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Source for lyrics:
Courtesy of Lakshman Ragde of Toronto, Canada
Meaning:
Pallavi: Did I earn a lot of merit to obtain the blessings of kAmakOTi AccAryAL whom I adore immensely?
Anupallavi: Radiating compassion through his eyes, his gentle hand offering protection, he is providing immeasurable happiness to me. To be taking shelter under his cover, what merit have I earned?
Caranam: He is like goddess Kamakshi full of love. He preaches the glorious scriptures in sweet and simple words. He is the vEdAs personified. He is the zenith of all penance. To take shelter at his feet, how much merit must I have earned?
General comments:
 This
song is what we call a ‘pAmAlai’ in Thamizh. It is a eulogium offered to a
great soul, in this case the ‘paramAccAryA’
Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam who attained ‘mukti’
in 1994. Periasamy Thooran (PT) offers his tribute to the ‘jagatguru’
wherein he espouses the age-old Thamizh saying ‘ahattin azhagu mugattil
teriyum’ which means the inner beauty manifests itself on the face. It was
Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the US president in the 1930s and early 1940s,
Franklin Roosevelt, who said, “Beautiful young people are accidents of Nature,
but beautiful old people are works of art”. What a veritable example of this
saying that the jagatguru was! PT has no qualms in feeling elated at the very
sight of the jagatguru.
There are very few people in
the world who have an aura surrounding them which decimates the evil environs
around them. It offers peace to those who recognise it. In this case, the very
appearance coupled with the preachings of the Sankaracharya, is like partaking
‘manna’ which is what PT is conveying in this song.
In this context it is worth
pointing out an incident concerning the AccAryA when he was alive. In 1961 the
Paramacharya was camping at Devakottai and observing “mauna vratham” (no
wordy communication). Ariyakkudi
Ramanuja Iyengar, the prominent musician of that time, was in Karaikkudi,
having recently received a presidential award. The AccAryA wanted to meet with
Ariyakkudi and the singer gladly obliged. However, the camp was in Spartan
surroundings. After Ariyakkudi paid obeisance to the AccAryA, he broke his
silence and entered into a lengthy literary and musical discussion of Muthuswami
Dikshitar’s, ‘Shri SubrahmaNyAya namastE’ in the ragam kAmbhOji. At
the end of the discussion Ariyakkudi was awestruck at the profound knowledge of
music and philosophy that the AccAryA exhibited in discussing that particular
kriti. Very rarely such interactive discussions come to light.
This song of PT is noteworthy
for its content rather than diction. It depicts pure admiration for a noble
soul.
Composer’s bio:
PT (1908-1987) was born in Modakkurichi in Coimbatore district. Right from his childhood he showed precocity for an intellectual pursuit. As a child he was greatly inspired by Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi. He became a teacher for a living but his passion was to become a poet. He wrote about 600 songs in all, with spiritual, moral and national themes. He was very patriotic and his song ‘Adu rATTEy’ was a hit during the freedom struggle.
PT was not a musician but he sought out some musical gurus to learn some music and to set his songs to music. He published ‘isai maNi manjari’ in 5 volumes. He published several other books. His major achievement was serving as the chief editor to publish a Thamizh Encyclopaedia in 10 volumes.
Some other songs of Periasamy Thooran (PT) that are rendered in concert circuits and commercial recordings are:
tAyE tripura sundari (suddasAvEri), kaliyuga varadan (brindAvana sArangA),
muraLIdarA gOpAlA (mAndu), murugA murugA (sAvEri), gaNa nAtanE (sArangA),
enna puNNiyam seidEnO (dEshyaranjani), and engu nAn selvEn (dwijaAvanthi)
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1061.html
2. http://entertainment.vsnl.com/thooran/Thooran_Biography.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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