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Ghanam Krishna Iyer
tiruvoRRiyUr tyAgarAjan…..
| Composition: |
tiruvoRRiyUr tyAgarAjan….. |
| Composer: |
ghAnam krishNa Iyer |
| mudrA: |
subramanyA, muttukkumAra, vElavA |
| (signature): |
|
| rAgam: |
aTANA (janyam of dIrasankarAbharaNam, 29th mELam) |
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tALam:
|
rUpakam |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2M1PN3S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN3D2PM1PG3R2S |
| Pallavi: |
tiruvoRRiyUr tyAgarAjan cidvilAsa nAtanaDi
|
(tiruvoRRiyUr)
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| Anupallavi: |
paruvattilE avar pAdamE paNindadallAl onRaRiyEn
uruvattilE avaraik kaNDapin OhO nAn enna seivEn
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(tiruvoRRiyUr)
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| CaraNam: |
pArtta kaNgaL pArttadu pOl pArttaviDamellAm enakku
tOnRudaDi sakhiyE tOghaiyE oru vazhi sollaDi
AttirattAl manam padaRi AsaiyAgi mey melindEn
tOttiram seidu avarkkum enakkum tondam viDAmal sey
sukIrttamuNDu
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(tiruvoRRiyUr)
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Lyrics:
Ref. # 1
Meaning:
Pallavi: The Lord of Tiruvotriyur, Tyagarajan, is an illustrious one, oh, friend!
Anupallavi: Ever since I came of age I don’t know of anything other than worshipping His feet. When I saw his image in all splendour, oh, what can I say or do?
Caranam: Wherever I see, my sight registers only his image. Oh, friend, suggest a way out of my predicament. In all excitement my mind is so enamoured of Him and I got so emaciated thinking of Him all the time. Please pray for me and get me bonded with Him. You will have earned a lot of goodwill.
General comments:
 Once again we are looking at a classic
padam. Our nAyaki (to whom our heart goes out) is enamoured of the presiding deity (Tyagaraja, also known as Adipureeswarar) of
Tiruvotriyur (near Chennai). This town and temple have been visited and sung by many composers in the past, including Saint
Tyagaraja.
The tEvAram trinity, Appar,
Sundarar and
Tirugnanasambandar have composed hymns on the presiding deity here. In recent times,
Periasamy Thooran composed a song, 'tAyE tripurasundari' in sudda saveri ragam on the Devi (also known as vadivudaiyamman) at this temple.
Our nAyaki cannot think of anything or anybody other than the
Lord of
Tiruvotriyur. She says that her Lord is 'cidvilAsa nAtan' - someone who is illustrious. She (and by implication our composer) knows that the Lord has been sung about by the tEvAram trinity. She is single-mindedly devoted to Him and in the process neglects to take care of herself. She wants to move heaven and earth to attain her Lord. She is asking her friend to pray for her ('tOttiram seidu avarkkum enakkum tondam viDAmal' - which means she is asking her friend to pray so that she can be with her Lord and for the bondage to be held in tact).
The composer is called the 'Thamizh Kshetragna' after the originator of
padams. The
padam under discussion conveys a simple thought and is full of pathos but does not convey any despair. The full significance lies in the melody.
Composer’s bio:
'Ghanam' Krishna Iyer (1790-1854) was born in
Tirukkundram, near Udayarpalayam, in a family of musicians. His teachers were his father (Ramaswamy Iyer), Ariyalur Shenbagamannar, Pachimiriyam Adiyappaiah and Bobbili Kesavayya. He was not only a great composer but also an expert in the 'ghanam' style of music rendition which he learnt from Bobbili Kesavayya at the instance of Thanjavur king
Sarabhoji.
The zamindar of Udayarpalayam, Kachi Kalyanaranga, was his major sponsor in whose estate he was the 'Asthana vidwan'. 'Thamizh Thaaththaa' u vE sA has written about Ghanam Krishna Iyer (GKI) extensively in his book,
'Sangeetha Mummanigal'. Gopalakrishna
Bharathi, another accomplished composer who was a contemporary of GKI, learned quite a few keertanams from GKI. In addition,
u vE sA’s father and uncle also learned from
GKI.
GKI met Saint Tyagaraja (of the Trinity fame) at Tiruvaiyaru. He composed and sang the song 'summa summa varumo sukham' in the ragam aTANA before Tyagaraja. It appears GKI rode a horse of his own and lived in splendour until later in his life when he gave up all the luxury.
Some of GKI's compositions that are very popular in dance and music concerts and commercial recordings are:
summA summA varumO sukham (aTANA), vElavarE ummait tEDi and mAdE avar seida vanjcanai (bhairavi),
pArengum pArttAlum (kalyANi), teruvil vArAnO (kAmbhOji), niddiraiyil soppanattil
(pantuvarALi), jagat janani sukha pANi (ratipatipriyA) and ellA arumaigaLum and
yAr poic colluvAr (tODi).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1263.html
2. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1021.html
3. http://carnatica.net/composer/ghanamkrishnaiyer.htm
4. http://www.saigan.com/heritage/music/garlandk.htm
5. http://www.sangeetham.com/others/archives/uvesa.php3
6. http://templenet.com/Tamilnadu/s051.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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