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Harikesanallur Muththaiah Bhagavathar
| Composition: |
unnai ninaindu migha urugi |
| Composer: |
harikEsanallUr muttaiyA
bhAgavatar |
| mudrA: |
harikEsa |
| (signature): |
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| rAgam: |
rAgamAlikai (see below for
each line) |
| The lyrics given
below are just independent lines for each rAgam mentioned. There are no
separate pallavi, anupallavi and caraNam. They are all caraNams. |
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1. ShankarAbharaNam (janyam of
mELam 29 dhIrashankarAbharaNam)
unnai ninaindumigha urugi melindAL guhA tanmEl paDum
tenRalai shankarAbharamengiRAL
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2. mOhanam (janyam of mELam 28 harikAmbhoji)
manamOhana rUpa mAnini maNiyavan dinamum unai ninaindu tighaikkiRAn vaDivElA
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3. vasantamum (janyam of mELam 17 sUryakAntam)
vasantanum madanum vAritiyum kuyilum matiyum sati seyya vADugiRAL murugA
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4. sahAnA (janyam of mELam 28 harikAmbhoji)
nIyE sakhanAga niccayamAga ninaivu koNDOngi niRkiRAL ARumukhA
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5. tODi (janyam of mELam 8 hanumattODi)
ennaik kaNDAlunnai azhaittODi vAvenbAL pinnEyoruvarODum pEsavum nANuvAL
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6. nAyaki (janyam of mELam 22 karaharapriyA)
unakkisain^dA nAyaki ivaL tAnenRu uRudiyAgak koLLuvIr umai maindA
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7. kAnaDA (janyam of mELam 22 karaharapriyA)
kannaDamum vaDa mozhiyum sentamizhum kaRRaRinda kaNmaNiyAL
innisaiyil kinnariyAL anna naDai minniDaiyAL un ninaivuDaiyAL
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8. sArangA (janyam of mELam 65 mEca kalyANi)
avaLin nEsam sArangAn avaniyil uvamai shollavoNNAda uttami siddhini
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9. sRI (janyam of mELam 22 karaharapriyA)
shrIkari ivaLai nI sEr^ndu vAzhvAi tiruccendil murugA harikEshan kumArA
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Lyrics: Ref. # 1
Meaning:
1. She is always thinking about you. Such a thought makes her emaciated, Oh, GuhA. She says that the breeze that embraces her is like shankarAbharaNam (the ornament of
Lord Shiva) to her.
2. The handsome Lord Krishna thinks about you everyday in bewilderment, Oh,
VaDivElA!
3. Oh, Muruga, the conspiracy of the spring season, the Lord of love (madan), the ocean, the cuckoo and the moon make her terribly depressed.
4. Oh, ArumukhA, she is absolutely sure that you are her mate and always immersed in that thought.
5. When she sees me she bids me to bring you to her. She hesitates to talk to anyone else.
6. Please understand that she is the most appropriate life-partner for you, Oh, the son of
umA!
7. She is such a darling well-versed in KannaDam, Sanskrit and sweet Thamizh. In singing she is like a kinnari (a celestial maiden), and in walking she resembles a swan. She has a waist that is invisible and she is always contemplating you.
8. Her love for you is not something which can be described by referring to what is known in this world. She is such a chaste and sweet maiden.
9. I exhort you, Shrikari, that you should take her as your life partner, Oh,
TiruccendUr Muruga, the son of harikEsan (the presiding deity at Harikesanallur).
General comments:
 This song is somewhat unique in that the traditional segmentation into
pallavi, anupallavi, and caraNam is not maintained. Instead, the entire lyrics
describe one theme, namely the status of a lovelorn maiden who is in love with Lord
Murugan. The whole song is divided into nine lines with each line sung in
different rAgam as mentioned at the beginning of each line in the lyrics. The
singular beauty of this composition is that the name of the rAgam (concurrently
the meaning of the phrase) is woven intricately into the text of the song to fit
into the context thus creating a quilt work tapestry of a musical fabric.
This song is also a padam
wherein the heroine is silently pining while her friend is taking the emissary
role of her own volition. There are other padams where the heroine pours her
heart out to her friend or a pet such as a parrot. In this song, the friend of
the heroine takes it upon herself to plead her friend’s case of love in a
persuasive manner. She indicates how lovely and delicate the heroine is and how
she is pining for Lord
Murugan day in and day out. Nothing short of the union between the Lord and
the heroine would suffice.
This song uses many of the
standard rAgams in Carnatic music
- nine of them in all.
Composer’s bio:
Harikesanallur
Muththaiah Bhagavathar (HMB) (1877-1945) hailed from Harikesanallur
in Tirunelveli district. He lost
his father at the age of six and came under the protection and tutelage of his
maternal uncle. Later, he went to TiruvaiyARu and learnt music from Sambasiva
Iyer (saint Tyagaraja’s music lineage) and his son Sabesa Iyer. He became an
ace musician and an excellent harikathA exponent.
In 1897 he performed
impressively before the maharaja of Travancore which resulted in his appointment
as the court vidwan. He composed over 400 varnams, kritis, tillanas and
ragamalikas in Thamizh, Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit, many of which are either
in rare ragas or ragas discovered by him. He was the first principal of the
Swati TirunAL College of Music started in 1939. He also popularised Swati
TirunAL’s compositions. He was awarded a doctorate degree in 1943 for his
work ‘Sangeeta Kalpadruma’, a treatise in Thamizh which dealt with the
theory of music.
HMB loved good things in life.
He wore impeccable and grand attire including dhoti with brocade, silk-and-gold
turban and impressive jewelry. He used a Daimler automobile for his
transportation. He used all kinds of fragrances to feel good. He doted on his
disciples and younger musicians.
HMB leant vEdAs and purANas and
gave harikathA performances too. He was awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidi in 1930.
He has the rare distinction of musicians in his lineage who also got Sangeetha
Kalanidi awards (Madurai Mani Iyer in 1959, BUdalUr Krishnamurthy SastrigaL in
1963 and Madurai Mani Iyer’s disciple and nephew T V Sankaranarayanan in
2003).
Some other songs of HMB that
are popular in concert circuits and commercial recordings are: BhuvanEswariya,
and siddi vinAyakam sEvEkam (mohana kalyANi), vAncatOnu (karNaranjani),
ambavANi (kIravANi), himagiritanayE (sudda danyAsi), Arukkum
aDangAta (bEgaDa), dinamaNi vamsa (mAyAmALavagauLai), sudAmayi
sudAnidi (amrutavarshiNi), mAtE malaiyadwaja, and en annaiyE (khamAs),
manadiRkisainda (sankarAbharaNam), and mUvAsai koNDa (karaharapriyA).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c2222.html
2. http://carnatica.net/composer/hmb1.htm
3. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1024.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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