Thaayae Ezhaipaal

Monday morning and it is already friday..Damn that week ran fast. I was under attack by that terrible trio of cold,cough and fever. I have caught another fever these days- "Counterstrike"( a game for those who havent heard about it)..the whole apartment shakes when the LAN party is on. I have been on a high since morning listening to "Sri Viswanatham", a beautiful chaturdasha('fourteen') ragamalika composed by thalaivar. I think i will require two or three blogs to talk about this one song as it is filled with so much stuff. For now, I will stick to this wonderful and simple Tamil krithi by Papanasam Sivan(who has become my second thalaivar now :) ) called 'Thaayae Ezhaipaal' in 'Bhairavi'. I have heard a few beautiful versions of this song by Sanjay Subrahmanyan(click for the song). He mixes the words a bit in the anupallavi..a beautiful rendition nonetheless..sung with so much 'bhaavam 'and 'azhutham'. Papanasam Sivan sings about Goddess Shankari, another name for Goddess Durga. He seems to be suffering from a seriously beautiful case of self-pity :) as he always describes himself as 'ezhai'(poor) or something similar, always at the mercy of the God he is singing about. The lyrics are filled with devotion and overflowing with rhyme schemes. The pallavi goes like :
Pallavi:
Thaayae Ezhaipaal Dhayai Seivaiye
Amba Dhayaapari Shankari Sakala Loka Naayaki
Meaning:
Sivan sings " Oh Divine Mother('Thaayae'), please show some mercy('Dhayai Seivaiye') on this clan of pitiful souls('ezhaipaal'). Goddess Shankari, the embodiment of compassion('Dhayaapari'), the queen/heroine('Nayaki') of the entire('Sakala') universe('Loka')." These few lines capture the essence of the "Bhairavi" raga with the proper use of both the dheivathams. In the anupallavi, Sivan imagines the Goddess as his own mother and sings with complete devotion asking her to grant him the great boon of attaining her feet.
Anupallavi:
Naayenum paalanri engae selvaen
Nalina Mrudhula Sukumara Manohara
Charnam yugalamarula tharunam idhuvae en..thaayae
Meaning:
Sivan combines tamil words for the rhyme scheme and to accomodate tala tolerances. He questions out of desperation "Where will i go('engae selvaen')? without('anri') the divine milk('paal') you feed me('Naan(me)+ye+num(your)')". He portrays himself as the child of the devi and here "milk" refers to the divine life force provided for humans. He continues to describe the beauty of the Godesses' legs which he wants to attain as graceful('Nalina'),tender('mrudhula'), beautiful('sukumara') and heart-pleasing('manohara') and he says " This is the time('Idhuvae Tharunam') to grant('arula') me the divine right to attain that pair('yugalam') of feet and surrender('charanam') myself, my('en') divine mother('thaayae')." The most beautiful aspect of his compositions are this sort of looping he brings in when he comes back from the anupallavi/charanam to the pallavi. When sung with full devotion, these lines make your hair stand up, scintillating with emotion.
Charanam:
Ennaadha Ennam ellaam Enni Enni
Etaadha Peraasai kotai Katti
Punnaaga Nenjam Pulambum Madam
Podhum ini mudiyaadhu unadhadi
podhumadaya idhu podhu varam aruli..thaayae
Meaning:
In the charanam, Sivan sings about the worthless materialistic desires of humans and how he wishes to attain the feet of God. He sings "Having all hazardous thoughts('enaadha ennam-referring to materialistic views') again and again('enni enni') and building('katti') castles('kotai') of unreachable('etaadha') greedy desires('Peraasai')." Unable to satisfy these desires, he sings, "The heart('Nenjam'), wounded('Punaaga') laments('Pulambum') that this is madness('Madam')." Having realised this, "Enough('Podhum')!! I cant take this anymore('ini mudiyaadhu'). So, this is the right time('idhu podhu') for you to grant('arul') the boon('varam') that I will attain('adaya') your('unadhu') feet('adi') daily('podhum-short for pozhudhum or epozhudhum')." These are beautiful words of Sivan hinting at the worthlessness of this human birth and how one should attain the 'paramaathma' through the 'Bhakthi marga'. Unfortunately, the beauty of these words cannot be expressed fully in the english language- due to the pitfalls of the language as well as the verbosity(or the lack thereof) of the blogger('me' :)).

Next on the list is another beautiful Papanasam Sivan krithi called "aadum deivam" in "kambhoji". A little hungry now..so cutting short and running off to cook.