Raga citta ranjani , 22 karaharapriya janya
Aa: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S Av: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S
Taalam: Adi
Aa: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S Av: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S
Taalam: Adi
| Lyrics: Pallavi: nāda tanumaniśaṃ śaṅkaram namāmi mē manasā śirasā Anupallavi: modakara nigamottama sāma- vēdasāraṃ vāraṃ vāram Charanam: sadyojātādi pañcavaktraja sarigamapadhanī vara saptaswara vidyālolaṃ vidalita kālam vimala hṛdaya tyāgarāja pālam | English verse: To Sankara, the embodiment of the musical art, I bow my head with all my heart. Of delightful Sama Veda, The acme of the Vedic domain, As He is the essence, I bow time and time again. From Sadyojata and the others of His five faces, The scale Sa-Ri-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni, arises. Etudes of the fine seven notes, Death's bane, titillate, That guardian of Tyagaraja the immaculate. |
Comments:
As a Nadopaska, or one whose music was his worship, Tyagaraja frequently praised music itself, or its elements, and considered it the most exalted. This kriti is an example. Sama Veda is considered the origin of music, as singing its verses was the first sacred music. The other vedas are not sung. In his five headed form, Siva is considered the creator of music. Such themes appear in many places in Tyagaraja's kritis. Strangely, though Tyagaraja calls Siva the essence of Sama Veda, in his form as Rudra, or as one of the Rudras, Siva appears in the Sama Veda in only eight or nine verses of nearly two thousand. Sankara literally means "He who does good". Usually, the allusion to crushing Death, is taken as a specific reference to Siva saving the boy-sage Markandeya. But more generally, Siva as the destroyer of the Trinity, has overlordship over Kala, Yama, Dharma or Death, and is described as having saved several other devotees from death. That is why he is called Mrityunjaya, and when someone is at death's door, the Mrityunjaya Homa is performed to save them. Allusion to Mrityunjaya is more frequent. Vidalita Kaalam can in fact, be alternately given as Mrityunjaya literally, Victor over Death. Studies of the seven notes is a figurative reference to music, and literally can be taken as an etude.
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Just to add a point here. Shiva as destroyer ends life of the whole creation and thereby gives it moksha and absorbs everything into himself. Mrityunjaya means victory over death. When a creature no longer fears death then its a victory over death itself. Shiva gives the courage to face death by liberating from mortal world and by giving Moksha.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very thoughtful comment. Thank you. As noted in the song, Mrityunjaya is the aspect of Shiva as transcending Time and Death. And of course, apart from becoming immortal, overcoming the fear of Death, is itself a victory over Death.
ReplyDeleteThis comment leads me to say two things about the nature of this site. Firstly, unless I have explicitly said I will expound on a topic in a song, I stay very close to the original text, and won't comment more than necessary. Regular readers will also know that this was one of the earliest songs on this site. I changed my approach substantially a little later. At that point, I was trying to be accurate and also brief.
Secondly, a great focus of this site is to explain relevant Hindu praxis and involved theology on the one hand and Philosophy (Hindu and World Philosophy in general) on the other, and to keep the two matters clear and distinct from each other, as objects of scientific method and enquiry. That is the longhand for saying that "Moksha" is a very weighty and loaded word on this site, as almost all modern Hindu Philosophy is Vedantic, Moksha is the principal goal or topic in it. So, though it seems such an innocuous statement in the poster's comment, Moksha and how one may attain it in the different schools, has so much relevance for us on this site, that it will breed much exposition and discussion. That is, as we study our composer, we are also trying to study his context.
When one tries to interpret 'literally' and combine it with some 'intellectual' knowledge of the sacred texts, one is inviting trouble.....as is obvious from this superficial translation. The utterances of enlightened individuals (especially when in poetry form) can only be FELT and never understood. Similarly one has to sing and meditate about the meaning of such songs in deep contemplation to feel the jist of Tyagaraja's feeling about the supreme source. It is not about understanding but about feeling! Ramesh
ReplyDelete@Ramesh-Venugopal:
DeleteCongratulations. This is the second most stupid comment ever received on this site, in almost 10 years, thousands of regular readers from dozens of countries and millions of page views all included. Readership has included quite a few vidwans, scholars and writers. The point of this comment is the exact thing we loathe on this site. This comment is second only to the one wanting to sue me, and wash my mouth in the Ganges. To repudiate that one, we set up a whole page. See what we did with that pile of bile: www.tinyurl.com/NGSillyComment - scroll down to "Another misguided soul's take:"
We clearly give our principles of translation in the intro pages. And explain what we are trying to do with Tyagaraja's message. Your kind of ignorant deification of anything and everything is why Indian culture becomes a joke to anyone outside. Instead, learn what the real worth is, and celebrate that! There is much of true value. First learn that value, and celebrate that. And just go over to the nagumomu page to see how so many people have been moved to tears learning the true meaning. Surely, they all saw something here you miss.
Jist is spelt "gist" btw. And you want to learn and sing. But given the historical record of Tyagaraja is not accurate, and the original raga and melody of quite a few songs are under dispute or have evolved from Tyagaraja's time, how will you reconcile the different texts and tunes of the different Tyagaraja sishya paramparas? With all these problems, which official version do you plan to learn? Which one do you plan to sing? Whichever one you "feel"? Can you now "feel" your ignorance? Or do you want to try for #1 stupid comment?
Now, slink back to whatever alternate reality you came from. Or, you can wake up to the reality here.
@ Ramesh-Venugopal #2:
DeleteYour pound of insanity cost me 20 minutes to reply with blogger giving a headache. Another 20 to redo it in the main thread. Time I could have been doing some good to mankind in some little way. Instead I am up in the wee hours rebutting your fruitcakery. Jeez.
@ Ramesh-Venugopal #3:
DeleteWhat really angers me is your choice of song to expound your nescience. There are so many songs where Tyagaraja mentions some recondite detail or the underlying melody itself is subtle. Whereas this is one of his most direct songs in meaning and music! And here, you are "feeling" hidden things. What exactly? The difference with Tyagaraja is how personal he gets in the sentiments he conveys. Where is that, his prime feature, in this song?!
@ Ramesh-Venugopal #4:
DeleteIt's people like you who caused the wrong impression of India being a land of snake charmers, fakirs and hobgoblins, which image has not been completely shed as yet. There is much of real value here; laughable fables do not need build our case for us. The anonymous nutcase who scored the #1 mischievous comment accused me of writing atheistic translations, just because I was sticking to the text of the scriptures Tyagaraja had referenced. It is all quite ironic. The point of this work and this site, is to not be a panegyrist or encomiast of Tyagaraja, nor an unfairly trenchant critic. As stated so many times throughout the site, the point is our trademark "rigorous yet respectful" approach. This seems like just a phrase; but, as cultural theorists can tell you, it is far easier for an outsider to adopt, than for an insider to achieve.
@ Ramesh-Venugoapl #5:
DeleteNow, it is hard for unlearned dogmatists to come and see your comment rebutted. But if you are the exception, then, know this. I welcome different interpretations and differing opinions on this site, in preference to appreciative comments and emails. Because, these differing opinions start new discussions, and er are able to further develop the treatment of Tyagaraja here. Just last month, a votary of Madvha sampradaya opined that Tyagaraja was close to Dvaita, whereas I had explained back in 2010 that Tyagaraja was close to being a Vishishtadvaitin in some ways, because of his unremitting synncretism in his lyrics. And the latter faith pioneered that within the Vedantic system. In an elaborate reply, I took his point, and worked out how it was not so; and finally concluded, in daily life, Tyagaraja was a stauch enough traditional Advaitin. If it is a fair point, politely made, fine, I can take it or dissect it and so on. But, invective of yours, with no foundation, should never be tolerated.
@Ramesh-Venugopal:
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. This is the second most stupid comment ever received on this site, in almost 10 years, thousands of regular readers from dozens of countries and millions of page views all included. Readership has included quite a few vidwans, scholars and writers. The point of this comment is the exact thing we loathe on this site. This comment is second only to the one wanting to sue me, and wash my mouth in the Ganges. To repudiate that one, we set up a whole page. See what we did with that pile of bile: www.tinyurl.com/NGSillyComment - scroll down to "Another misguided soul's take:"
We clearly give our principles of translation in the intro pages. And explain what we are trying to do with Tyagaraja's message. Your kind of ignorant deification of anything and everything is why Indian culture becomes a joke to anyone outside. Instead, learn what the real worth is, and celebrate that! There is much of true value. First learn that value, and celebrate that. And just go over to the nagumomu page to see how so many people have been moved to tears learning the true meaning. Surely, they all saw something here you miss.
Jist is spelt "gist" btw. And you want to learn and sing. But given the historical record of Tyagaraja is not accurate, and the original raga and melody of quite a few songs are under dispute or have evolved from Tyagaraja's time, how will you reconcile the different texts and tunes of the different Tyagaraja sishya paramparas? With all these problems, which official version do you plan to learn? Which one do you plan to sing? Whichever one you "feel"? Can you now "feel" your ignorance? Or do you want to try for #1 stupid comment?
Now, slink back to whatever alternate reality you came from. Or, you can wake up to the reality here.