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K Ponnaiah Pillai
If only you have a father and a mother….
| Composition: |
tandai tAy irundAl ulagattil… |
| Composer: |
K. ponnaiyA piLLai |
| mudrA: |
none |
| (signature): |
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| rAgam: |
shanmukhapriyA (56th mELam) |
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tALam:
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Adi |
| ArOhaNam: |
SR2G2M2PD1N2 S |
| AvarOhaNam: |
SN2D1PM2G2R2S |
| Pallavi: |
tandai tAy irundAl ulagattil umakkinda
tAzhvellAm varumO ayyA peRRa
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(tandai)
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| Anupallavi: |
anDa migunda sri ambala vANarE arumaiyuDanE
peRRu perumaiyuDanE vaLartta
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(tandai)
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| CaraNam: |
kallAl oruvan aDikka uDal silirkka kAlin seruppAl
oru vEDan vandE udaikka
villAl oruvan aDikka (gANDIpamennum) kUsAmal
oruvan kai kODAliyAl veTTa
kUTTattil oruvan pittA pEyA ena tiTTa
vIsi Madurai mARan pirambAl aDikka
anda vELai yArai ninaindIrO ayyA
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(tandai)
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Lyrics:
Ref. # 1
Meaning:
Pallavi: If only you had a father and a mother, you would not suffer all the indignities in this world!
Anupallavi: In this vast universe, if only you had your parents who conceived you with such a rarity and reared you with pride, you would not have to face the hardships you are facing.
Caranam: One fellow hit you with a stone, another stepped on you with his footwear. One other person hit you with an arrow from his bow, another one cut you with an axe. In a crowd one abused you with epithets such as “madman and ghost”. The Pandya king (Madurai Maran) caned you. On such occasions whom did you think of, oh Lord?
General comments:
This song can be characterised as conforming to the figure of speech known as ‘vanjcap pugazhcci aNi’ in Thamizh and ‘nindAstuti’ in Sanskrit. The point driven is positive but a negative approach is taken. Some poets resort to this mode especially when dealing with divinity or well-heeled philanthropists. A familiar poem comes to mind.
vAdakkAlAm tamakku maittunarkku nIrizhivAm
bOdapperuvayirAm puttirarkku
vanda vinai tIrkka vagaiyariyAn
enda vinai tIrttAn ivan!
The poem mentioned above (author unknown) was written in praise of the presiding deity at
Vaideeswaran koil who is believed to cure all ills of the devotees who pray at the temple. The veiled praise is obvious as the reference is to the family of
Lord Siva. Lord Siva Himself is referred to as being afflicted with foot pain (reference to his dancing feet),
Vishnu (brother-in-law) is on the water-bed always, and
Ganapati (son) has a bloated belly, altogether a family afflicted with many ailments (!!). When He cannot cure his own family’s illness, how can He cure the ills of His devotees?
The song in discussion closely parallels the theme mentioned above. Lord Siva was worshipped by many noted devotees, each in their own style. Ponnaiah Pillai makes reference to stories from various episodes including the popular TiruviLaiyADal. He narrates the incidents from the purANAs. There was this Sakkiya Nayanar, who not being satisfied with being a Buddhist, adored Lord Siva. Apparently, he threw a stone at the Lord inadvertently during meditation at the sanctum, which the Lord accepted as a form of worship. It became a daily worship practice for the nAyanAr. The Lord was obviously pleased.
The bow and arrow insult refers to Arjuna (of Mahabharata) when he was seeking the pAsupatAstram from the Lord in order to win over his rivals.
There is also a reference to Kannappa Nayanar who offered both of his eyes to the Lord upon seeing the Lord’s eyes bleeding. The hunter had to place his foot on the second eye of the Lord for locational identity in order to remove his own second eye to replace the Lord’s.
Sundaramurthy Nayanar sang the Lord’s praise, ‘pittA piRai sUDi perumAnE aruLALA…’
The reference in the song to caning the Lord by the Pandya king is taken from TiruviLaiyADal purANam wherein the Lord wanted to help an old woman carry out her obligation of carrying sand to block the floods in Madurai in exchange for pittu, a sweet snack. The king caned Him for resting and not doing His duty (without realising his misdeed).
Ponnaiah Pillai refers to all these revered incidents and makes light of the situations by using the vanjacap pugazhcci aNi. He is telling the Lord that He would not have had to undergo such “mistreatments” if only He had parents. Nice concoction!
This song was first popularised by the late N C Vasantagokilam (one of the most under-recognised musicians of yesteryear).
Composer’s bio:
K Ponnaiah Pillai (1888-1945) hailed from the famous Thanjavur Quartet family. He was the grandson of the Ponnaiah Pillai of the Thanjavur Quartet (Chinnaiah, Ponnaiah, Shivananda, and Vadivelu). He learned music, dance and mridangam from his illustrious uncle Pandanainallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai. Later on he joined his father, Kannusamy Pillai, and taught music and dance to several disciples. He became a music professor in the Music College in Chidambaram and taught vocal music and mirdangam.
Ponnaiah Pillai also served on the Music Board of University of Madras and the Music Academy at Madras creditably. His songs were published in a compendium titled ‘Rajah Annamalai Tamil Isaik Karuvoolam’.
Some of Ponnaiah Pillai’s compositions that are heard often in the dance and music concerts and commercial recordings are: ranganAtuDE (saurAshtiram) murugan kauttuvam (gauLai) and mAyA atIta (mAyAmALavagauLai).
References:
1. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/c1161.html
2. http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/co1039.html
Sethuraman Subramanian
subramaniansethu@hotmail.com
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