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Anai-Ayya Brothers
Why this malice towards me?
| Composition: |
varmamA enmIdil …. |
| Composer: |
Anai Ayya Brothers |
| mudrA: |
umAdAsan |
| (signature): |
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| rAgam: |
sAvEri (janyam of mELam 15, mAyAmALava
gauLai) |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR1M1PD1S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN3D1PM1G3R1S |
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tALam:
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rUpakam |
| Pallavi: |
varmamA enmIdil dharmasamvardhani Isvari
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(varmamA)
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| Anupallavi: |
karmam vilakkum nirmala siva-kAraNi ennaik kAkka innamum
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(varmamA)
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| CaraNam1: |
anju vayadu mudalAyunadu kanja malar padam tanai yAn
tanjamenRE anjit tudikkum nenjam aRindum
konjiDum sukham ozhiyAyinda vancakam sheivadenna nyAyam
panca nadIsarkkuganda pancAkshari karuNai pozhiya
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(varmamA)
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| CaraNam2: |
sencaDaiyinil pinju matiyum nenjil koDu nanjaNindiDum
sencol madhurattamizh vAkkaruL sabyEsarkku rANimAnE
sencilamboli minjiyadAl konjum en mozhi kETTilaiyO
en solluvEn un carittiram en sollaik kETTaruL innamum
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(varmamA)
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| CaraNam3: |
manjaDar tennanj cOlaiyum kanja malarttaDavAviyum
manjaL kadali inji mAtturunji palAkkaniyum
ranjitamAyOngum engaLanju nadikkarasAgiya
vanji umAdAsan tudikkum sanjIvi aparanji innamum
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(varmamA)
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Source for lyrics:
Ref. #1 (see below).
Meaning:
Pallavi: Oh, Dharmasamvardani, Iswari, do you entertain malice towards me?
Anupallavi: You, blemishless consort of Siva who can cure all ills, hesitate to offer your protection to me!
Caranam1: You are aware that I have been seeking refuge at your lotus feet right from the age of five and yet you do not cure my ills - Why this cruelty? You, the consort of pancanadIswarar (of Tiruvaiyaru), are reticent to shower your grace on me!
Caranam2: You are the queen of Lord Sabesan who has the tender moon on his red locks of hair, the primordial poison at his throat, and who has sweet Thamizh words to utter to his devotees. Is it because the sound of your anklets overwhelms the sound of my request that you do not hear my appeal? How can I speak effectively of your greatness? Please pay heed to my request.
Caranam3: You are the consort of the Lord who is the ruler of this Tiruvaiyaru which is resplendent with tall coconut trees which touch the clouds, lotus flowers-filled pond, turmeric, plantain and ginger plants, mango and jack fruit trees. I, umAdAsan, worship you the dispenser of relief from all ills.
General comments:
This song is typical of the age in which the Anai-Ayya Brothers were living. Most people agonised over their fate and aspired to achieve salvation by worshipping their favourite deities. It is customary for composers to believe they did something wrong in not receiving divine grace. In general, their songs appealed to the Lord or Devi to take pity on them and offer solace.
This particular song addresses Dharmasamvardhani, the consort of the presiding deity at Tiruvaiyaru. The song describes the splendour of the town Tiruvaiyaru, surrounded by the five rivers (KAviri, KudamuruTTi, VeNNAru, VeTTAru and VadavAru*) with all the plantations fostered by the fertile soil around the five rivers. Anai-Ayya brothers sing the glory of Dharmasamvardhani and invoke Her blessings.
It is noteworthy that the pallavi and Anupallavi lines have the same rhymes (etugai) for the two lines while the 12 caranam lines have a different sequence of rhyme but all of them same, containing significantly precise syllables.
* This river running in Tiruvaiyaru may be in question. It may be arisilAru. Those who know the local geography may verify this fact.
Composer’s bio:
Anai Iyer and Ayya Iyer were the cousins of Doraiswamy Iyer, the father of the composer-musician brothers, Ramaswami Sivan and
Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan. They lived in the early to mid-part of the 19th century and taught music to the two Sivans. They were junior contemporaries of the composers, Tyagaraja, Syama Sastri, and Muttuswamy Dikshitar, collectively known as the Trinity of Carnatic music. They lived in Vaiyacheri and Tiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district. They were patronised by the king Serfoji II of Thanjavur. Together they wrote at least 26 Thamizh and 12 Telugu compositions that are currently available.
Their theme was devotion sprinkled with philosophy. They sang as a pair on Lord Siva and Devi. Their favourite deities are Mangalambika of Vaiyacheri, Dharmasamvardhani (aRam vaLartta nAyaki in Thamizh) of Tiruvaiyaru (the subject of the song under discussion), and PranatArtihar alias pancanadIswarar (also known as ayyArappan in Thamizh) of
Tiruvaiyaru.
Other songs of Anai-Ayya Brothers that are devotional and philosophical are:
paruvam pArkka (dhanyAsi), bhajanai seyyavE (kEdAram), inda paraka (nAdanAmakriyA), and
amba nannu, a Telugu song (tODi).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1202.html
2. http://carnatica.net/composer/anaiayya.htm
3. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1059.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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