Slokams set to music: rAgam and tALam

[shankarank]

Sri rAmacandra SRta parijAta samasta kalyANa guNABhi rAma sItamukha ambOruha sancirIka nirantaram mangaLa mAtanOtu.

http://www.shivkumar.org/music/varnams/ ... eetham.htm

A rendition here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qapLzoyz5M

If it is elongated like this, could become a vaRNam. sItamukha ambOruha sancirIka can become the caraNam or the refrain fulfilling the SrngAra requirement.

[Sachi_R]

Beautiful, Shankaran!
I have learnt it like this:
श्री रामचन्द्राश्रितपरिजातः समस्तकल्याण गुणाविरामः।
सीतामुखाम्बरूहचञ्चरीक: निरन्तरं मङ्गलमातनोतु ॥

The word चञ्चरीक means the black bee. Sri Rama's glance hovers on the lotus face of Seeta.

I know that Vedanta Bharati encourages setting Adi Shankara's stotras to CM and singing like compositions in regular concert format. Your idea is great!

[shankarank]

I have two errors there sancirIka -> cancarIka. Your version reads ambarUha. Should it not be ambhOruha, like the same used in ambhOruha lOcana in sambhO mahAdEva ( SrI tyAgarAja kriti)?

[Sachi_R]

Typo. Sorry.
अम्बोरुह

[ajaysimha]

i have seen sr. musicians singing this shloka as a last piece in concert tuned to madhyamavathi.

but i also noticed that it is tuned in bhairavi (as a geetham)

[rshankar]

अम्बोरुह

Is it ambOruha (अंबोरुह), or ambhOruha (अम्भोरुह)? I thought ambhOruha (अम्भोरुह) and ambhOja (अम्भॊज) referred to a lotus as did ambuja (अम्बुज).

[Sachi_R]

Yes, Ravi.
What I know is this
अम्भस् and अम्बु both mean water.
अम्भोरुह =अम्बुरुह =lotus (=water-arisen/born)
In this shloka, I do think the original was अम्भोरुह.
So I stand corrected.

This shloka occurs in Sri Ramakarnamritam by Swami Bodhendra Saraswati

[rshankar]

Thank you, Sachi!

[shankarank]

Had the same question. ambhoruha - Monier says that refers to the Indian crane as well. Which also leaps over water?

[Sachi_R]

Samskrita words are all mostly anvartha.... A word that describes the nature or phenomenon of the named object. ambhoruha means anything that rises in water. Generally it is applied to a lotus (Amarakosha defines it as a living, immobile thing born in water). But poets often resort to fancy constructions and i won't be surprised if somewhere it is described as a crane. But a crane flies and comes to the water only to pick its food.

For lotus, it is अम्भोरुहम्। For crane or सारसपक्षी, it will be अम्भोरुहः।

[Vakulabharana]

Here is Sri Sarada Bhujangam of Sri Sankara tuned by The Lost Melodies. There are two special features - First, all the ragas are in their old forms and second only allied ragas were used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GKkbycvsbo

[shankarank]

The tALAm says khaNDA Ekam! But the natural tALam in there is khanDA cAPu or khanDa naDai with atItam!

It is like tIrAta viLaiyATTu piLLai, or even Siva pancAkShara stOtram - which are on the beat ( samam). The speed is almost khanDa naDai - done with two taps ( instead of 1 & 2 quick =3) - like how triSra naDai is done.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Mahaavidwan (late) C S Krishna Iyer had set to music select passages of Lalitha Sahasranama with a very natural flow. The opening 'Sreemaataa sreemahaaraajni' is in Mayamalavagoula covering the aarohana of the raga (resembling Dikshitar's Sreenaathaadiguruguhojayati).

AIR Calicut (Kozhikode) must be having the recording.