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Bharathidasan
When misery strikes……
| Composition: |
tunbam nErkaiyil |
| Composer: |
Bharathidasan |
| mudrA: |
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| (signature): |
none |
| rAgam: |
dEsh (janyam of meLam 28,
harikAmbhoji) |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2M1PN3S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2D2PM1G3R2S (also SN1SN2D2PD2M1G3R2G3S) |
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tALam:
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catusra Ekam |
| Pallavi: |
tunbam nErkaiyil yAzheDuttu nI
inbam sErkka mATTAyA—emak
kinbam sErkka mATTAyA—nal
anbilA nenjil tamizhaip pADi nI
allal tIrkka mATTAyA—kaNNE
allal tIrkka mATTAyA
(tunbam)
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| Anupallavi: |
vanbum eLimaiyum soozhum nATTilE
vAzhvil uNarvu sErkka—em
vAzhvil uNarvu sErkka—nI
anRai naRRamizh kUttin muRaiyinAl
AdikkATTa mATTAyA—kaNNE
AdikkATTa mATTAyA
(tunbam)
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| CaraNam 1: |
aRamitenRum yAm maRamitenRumE
aRikilAta pOtu—yAm
aRikilAta pOtu—tamizh
iRaivanArin tirukkuRaLilEyoru sol
‘nanRikku vittAkum nallozhukkam—tIyozhukkam
enRum iDumbai tarum’
iRaivanArin tirukkuRaLilEyoru sol
iyambikkATTa mATTAyA—nI
anRai naRRamizh kUttin muRaiyinAl
AdikkATTa mATTAyA—kaNNE
AdikkATTa mATTAyA
(tunbam)
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| CaraNam 2: |
puRamitenRum nallahamitenRumE
pulavar kaNDa nUlin—tamizhp
pulavar kaNDa nUlin
iRaivanArin tirukkuRaLilEyoru sol
iyambikkATTa mATTAyA—nI
iyambikkAATa mATTAyA
tiRamai kATTiyunaiyInRa emmuyirc
celvamAka mATTAyA—tamizhc
celvamAka mATTAyA—kaNNE
(tunbam)
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Source for kavithai:
Amutham CD “BindhumAlini” WS008 booklet insert
Meaning:
Pallavi: When misery strikes, won’t you play the harp and provide me some happiness? Won’t you please provide me some relief? In the turbulent state devoid of compassion, won’t you sing Thamizh and remove the misery?
Anupallavi: In the world surrounded by violence and naïveté won’t you demonstrate to me the beauty of the ancient Thamizh traditional dance to add fervour to my life? - Please won’t you show me the beauty of the dance?
CaraNam1: When we cannot understand what is right and what is valorous, please read me from the Tamil vEdam ThirukkuRaL wherein it says, “Good conduct breeds admirable habits, bad conduct always leads to trouble”. Please show me the good features of the ancient art of Thamizh dance.
CaraNam2: The poets have delineated what is self and what is non-self in several works. Out of such works, ThirukkuRaL has lots of gems. Utter some gems from it for me. We brought you forth unto this world. Prove your worth and be our treasure, darling!
General comments:
 This song more or less mirrors the song of Subramanya Bharathi which goes as “cinnanj ciRu kiLiyE, kaNNammA” wherein Bharathi imagined ParAshakti as his child and adores her. Bharathidasan, who proclaimed himself to be a disciple/follower of Bharathi by changing his name to Bharathidasan from his given name, perhaps drew inspiration from Bharathi in providing a theme for this song. In this song Bharathidasan asks his darling (child? or beloved? - it is not quite clear) to mitigate his misery by playing the harp. This also shows the rarely witnessed delicate side of Bharathidasan, who was known to espouse the cause of the downtrodden and to uphold everyone’s civil and social rights.
Here he is asking his darling child (or beloved?) to sing in sweet Thamizh to relieve the sorrow from his mind. The violence in the world confronts the simplicity in people and he sees one way out of such confrontation and that is the traditional Thamizh kUttu - an ancient form of dance.
Bharathidasan was also an ardent admirer of TiruvaLLuvar, the Thamizh saint-poet. He wants the good words from TirukkuRaL to be uttered to soothe his mind. The couplet he picks up is a moralistic one which translates to:
“Propriety of conduct is the seed of virtue; impropriety will ever cause sorrow” (Translation by Rev Dr G U Pope). He is just yearning for the sweet Thamizh mixed with the gems from TirukkuRaL and woven into a fabric with the ancient dance to be staged for him. In his opinion, that provides an immense calming effect.
Composer’s bio:
Bharathidasan (1891-1964) was born in Pondicherry as Kanaka Subburatnam and grew up with a resolution to change society into a more equitable one for everybody. He changed his name to Bharathidasan (servant or disciple of Bharathi) as a mark of tribute to Subramanya Bharathi. He followed the doctrine of the Dravidian movement of the day. He was committed to socio-political causes, including the self-respect movement, Thamizh, Dravidian culture, socialism and humanity. He was honoured with the title “puratcip pAvEndar” (king of revolutionary poetry). He wrote several dramatic compositions and hundreds of poems on social and language themes.
Bharathidasan did not intend his poems to be set to music. They were intended to convey social and literary values. Some of his poems have been set to music by various musicians. Some of his songs which got inducted into the musical mode (either film or classical) are:
pudiyadOr ulagam seivOm involving a socialistic theme, tamizhukkum amudenRu pEr (literary tribute to the language), and
talaivArip pUccUDi (intended for little girls to quell their fear of going to school).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/pammal_sureshbabu/
2. http://www.pondy.com/bharathidasan/
3. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5180/bdasan.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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