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Ooththukkaadu Venkatasubbaiyer
Come without dancing or jerking…
| Composition: |
ADAdu asangAdu vA kaNNA… |
| Composer: |
OoththukkaaDu venkaTasubbaiyer (also known as OoththukkaaDu
venkaTakavi) |
| mudrA: |
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| (signature): |
venkaTakavi (occasional) |
| rAgam: |
madyamAvati (janyam of karaharapriyA , 22nd
mELam) |
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tALam:
|
Adi |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2M1PN2S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2PM1R2S |
| Pallavi: |
ADAdu asangAdu vA kaNNA un
ADalil IrEzhu bhuvanamum asaindu asaindADudu enavE (ADAdu)
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| Anupallavi: |
ADalaik kANat tillai ambalattiRaivanum tan
ADalai viTTu ingE gOkulam vandAn
AdalinAl ciru yAdavanE oru
mAmiyiliRakaNi mAdhavanE nI (ADAdu)
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| CaraNam: |
cinnanj ciru padangaL silambolittiDumE adai
sevimaDutta piRavi manam kaLittiDumE
pinniya saDai saRRE vaghai kalaindiDumE mayil
pIli asaindasaindu nilai kalaindiDumE
panniru kai iRaivan Erumayil onru tan
pasu^n tOghai virittADi parisaLittiDumE kuzhal
pADi varum azhagA unaik kANa varum aDiyAr evarAyinum
kanaka maNi asaiyum unadu tiru naTanam
kaNpaTTup pOnAl manam puNpaTTup pOghumE (ADAdu)
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Lyrics:
Ref. # 1
Meaning:
 Pallavi: Oh, KaNNA please come without dancing or jerky movements since when you dance the entire galaxy of 14 worlds oscillate in unison with your dance.
Anupallavi: In order to watch your dance, the
Lord of tillai (Nataraja of
Chidambaram), abandoned his dance and came to Gokulam. Hence, you MAdavA, who wears a peacock feather, please stop your dancing.
Caranam: Your little feet make the jingling sound of the anklets in them. Those who hear such sound get immense pleasure. Your braided hair goes out of alignment and the peacock feather that you wear keeps moving around. The peacock, vehicle of the 12-handed
Lord (Murugan) spreads its plumage, dances and entertains you.
You handsome KaNNA with your sweet music emanating from your flute, those who come to see you watch you dance. If ever they cast an evil eye on you, I would be terribly offended. So do not dance, just come without dancing.
General comments:
This song is a dream of every student of Bharatanatyam since it lends itself to deft handling of the little activities described. Traditionally only Lord Siva is known to be the foremost expert in dance. However,
Krishna, especially in his childhood was known to dance beautifully. The Kalinga narthanam (the dance on the head of the huge snake (in the Yamuna river which terrorized folks in
Gokulam) has also been captured in absolute splendor by the same composer.
The composer imagines that Lord Nataraja comes to
Gokulam to watch Krishna dance which gives testimony to the charm of Krishna’s dance. The incident that is imagined by the composer is the dance by the child Krishna who is bedecked with jewels and peacock feather with his hair braided up. The dance is so enchanting that the whole universe participates in witnessing it. The composer is also imagining here that some in the audience might cast an “evil eye” on the child Krishna which would be unbearable.
Ooththukkaadu Venkatasubbaiyer (OVK) wrote most of his songs in Thamizh in a mixture of chaste and colloquial language which blend quite easily and flow smoothly. A remarkable group of his compositions is the trilogy that he wrote about the ladies of Gokulam complaining about the mischief of Krishna to his mother Yasoda. The three compositions,
tAyE YasOdA (tODi ragam), illai illai illai ammA (mOhanam), and pEsAdE pOngaLaDi
(madyamAvati) constitute a beautiful set of pleasant but rational arguments about Krishna’s mischief, the accusation by the ladies at Gokulam, a forceful defense by the child Krishna, and the dispensation of the judgment by Yasoda. They resemble the modern day court arguments of plaintiff and defendant with the judge delivering a fair(?) judgment.
OVK’s diction in Thamizh is commendable. It is worth mentioning that in several songs, the choice of certain words is so impeccable and absolutely irreplaceable.
Composer’s bio:
 Ooththukkaadu Venkatasubbaiyer (1700-1765) predates the Trinity. He was born in Needamangalam and lived in
Mannargudi in Thanjavur district. Very little is known about him. His songs have been compiled, edited, and published by Needamangalam Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar, one of OVK’s descendants. OVK composed many kritis in Sanskrit and Thamizh, mainly on Krishna.
OVK was the first to compose thematic compositions like Navavarana and Saptaratna kritis consisting of nine and seven songs in each, respectively. He learned the rudiments of music from Pooranur Natesa Bhagavatar. Without further recourse to additional training, he found his mental guru in
Lord Krishna himself. In addition to kritis on Krishna, OVK also composed on
Lord Ganesha and other deities.
OVK
was the first one to use the ‘madyma kAlam” –a fast-pace delivery- in his
compositions. His compositions have pleasant melody, ringing rhythm, and free-flowing rich devotional lyrics. Most of his compositions are popular among dancers. His famous works include Rudra sabhadham, Nandana geetham, Kalinganarthana prabhavam, Rajagopala Nrityotsavam, and Sri Krishna Ganam. There are quite a few
padams in the compendium Sri Krishna
Ganam.
Some other OVK’s Thamizh compositions that are very popular in music concerts and commercial recordings are:
tAyE yasOdA (tODi), asaindADum mayilonRu (simmEndira madyamam), alai pAyudE (kAnaDA),
kuzhalUdi manamellAm (kAmbhOji), pArvai onRu pOdumE (suruTTi), nI tAn meccikkoLLavENum (sriranjani),
kaNNan varuginRa nEram (kAvaDic cindu), ADum varai ADaTTum, and tEril vandAnO (husEni),
yArenna sonnAlum (maNirangu), pullAip piRavi taravENum (senjcuruTTi),
eppaDittAn en uLLam (nIlAmbari), and pAl vaDiyum mukham (nATTaikkurinji).
References:
Sri Krishna Ganam (Ooththukkaadu Venkatasubbaiyer paadalgaL). Edited by Needaamangalam Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar. Publisher: K. RajammaaL. Printed by Rajan & Company Printers, Chennai-6000 001
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1036.html
2. http://www.carnatica.net/composer/oothukadu.htm
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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