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‘Kalki’ R. Krishnamurthy
In the orchard where bees roam….
| Composition: |
vaNDAdum sOlaitanilE |
| Composer: |
‘Kalki’ R. krishNamUrty |
| mudrA: |
none |
| (signature): |
|
| rAgam: |
harikAmbhoji (mELam 28) |
|
tALam:
|
rUpakam |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2G3M1PD2N2S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2D2PM1G3R2S |
| Pallavi: |
vaNDAdum sOlaitanilE kaNDenaduLLam koNDAn sakhiyE
|
| Anupallavi: |
kONTal pOlum vaNNamudaiyAn gOkulam tanda bAlan avanO
|
| CaraNam: |
pAda tAmaraigaL nondiDa pArtanil
ennait tEDi vandavan
mAdavan maturai maindan maRaigaL
paravum mAyan avanO
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Lyrics:
Courtesy of Lakshman Ragde and Vani CD v009
Meaning:
Pallavi: In an orchard in which the bees roam around, I saw him and was captivated by him, Oh my friend!
Anupallavi: He has the complexion of the cloud. Isn’t he the darling child that Gokulam was fortunate to have?
Caranam: He came looking for me in my world despite the pain experienced by his gentle lotus feet. He, mAdavan, the son of the city of Mathura (on the banks of the river Jamuna) - isn’t he the inscrutable one who enunciates the scriptures?
General comments:
This song is simple, short and sweet in that it expresses an amorous thought by a maiden who is enamoured of Lord Krishna. It is a simple padam without going into elaborate details of how this maiden is languishing. It states that she has been taken prisoner by Krishna. The very thought of him gives her raptures and she narrates her impressions to her friend. The environment where it takes place is a flower garden. She thinks about Krishna and his hue resembling the blue-grey clouds. She thinks he has come to see her exclusively and is a little concerned that his delicate feet would hurt. She transfers the human dimensions of pain to Krishna.
The author (Kalki, as he is popularly known), in composing the song, has set up a background that is conducive for amorous thoughts, namely a flower garden with bees humming all around. The addition of bees, cuckoos, a pond and gentle breeze add to the environment that sends a young maiden into thoughts of love - in this case a divine one. The song is short and simple but the choice of a few words like “vanDADum”, and “koNTal” add glamour to it.
One cannot but admire the fertile imagination, the depth of thought and the choice of beautiful words by Kalki in other poems, exemplified in a character in his historical novel, Ponniyin Selvan. The boatgirl, pUnkuzhali sings her heart out thus:
alaikaDalum Oyndirukka ahakkaDaltAn ponguvadEn
nilamagaLum tuyilugaiyil nenjahamtAn padaippadumEn
kATTinilvAzh paRavaigaLum kUDukaLait tEDinavE
vETTuvarum villiyarum vIDu nOkki EguvarE
vAnagamum nAnilamum mOnamadil Azhndirukka
mAnvizhiyAL peNNorutti manattil puyal aDippadumEn
vAritiyum aDanginiRkum mArutamum tavazhnduvarum
kArigaiyin uLLa^ntanil kARRu cuzhanRaDippadumEn
The verse quoted above accentuates the agony that resides in her heart by contrasting it with the calm that prevails on the outside. Choice words and crisp expression, indeed!
Composer’s bio:
R Krishnamurthy (1899-1954), popularly known as ‘Kalki’, was born in Puttamangalam in Thanjavur district. He was a true blue patriot who joined the freedom struggle at Gandhi’s call. He left school to join the Non-Cooperation Movement and went to prison three times during a span of 20 years.
He had a natural talent for writing. He started writing for magazines in 1923, soon after coming from his first stay in prison. He was influenced by
Rajaji and Sadasivam (co-founder of ‘Kalki’ magazine) in political and social beliefs and by Thiru Vi Ka on the literary front. His writings covered history, art, culture, society and everything in between. He had a passion for Thamizh and Thamizh music in particular. He was one of the founders of the Thamizh isai movement in the 1940s.
He edited ‘Ananda Vikatan’, the magazine founded by S S Vasan, for nine years and wrote several serial novels for the magazine in addition to short stories and other feature articles. He started the magazine ‘Kalki’ in association with Sadasivam in 1941. He wrote several novels, short stories, music and dance reviews. His three historical novels, ‘Parthibhan Kanavu’, ‘Sivakamiyin Sabhatham’, and ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, are considered classics by many.
Several of his novels were made into movies: among them ‘Thyaga Bhoomi’ and ‘Parthibhan Kanavu’ are noteworthy. He also wrote the script and lyrics for the Thamizh movie ‘Meera’, which starred
M S Subbulakshmi.
Recently a book titled ‘Amarar Kalki PaadalgaL’, containing 35 of the songs written by Kalki, was published. Song writing was the best-kept secret of Kalki since he was more known for his novels and humorous articles than poetry. Many of his songs were popularised by the famous female trio Carnatic singers, MS,
MLV and DKP.
Some other Kalki’s songs that are quite popular are:
tavamum palittadammA (featuring attainment of Indian independence), deivattamizh, kARRinilE varum gItam (sindhu bhairavi) and
pUnkuyil kUvum pUncOlaiyil orunAL (kApi).
References:
1. http://www.hindu.com/2003/12/06/stories/2003120610100300.htm
2. http://www.sangeetham.com/kalki.htm
3. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1621/16210810.htm
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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