Meaning- tandai kai kanipera (viruttam)

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 16 May 2006, 17:52

Namaste,

I would greatly appreciate if someone could provide the meaning of this
tamil viruttam :

tandai kai kanipera tanda mayilEri ittaraNi valam varavillaiyA
tAi vENDum iniya punalukkAga malaiyODu tanivEl viDukkavillaiyA
vindaiyilum vindai ena varaigaLai kAnal vEngai maramAgavillaiyA
kanda malaraiyanai kuDaindu paDaikka Or kartan ena varavillaiyA
kAinda varusuranai vadam purinda dEvar kaSTam tavirkkavillaiyA
cintaiyil santatamum unai vandikkum neri murai tErpadunakku malaiyA
ten parambApuriyil anbar koNDADa varum sankaTam pAr muruganE SaNmukhanE

the viruttam is set to ragamalika. Unfortunately I do not know who is the composer. Lakshmanji has kindly helped me to identify the lyrics.

many thanks for the kind help,
rasikapriya21

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 16 May 2006, 19:29

rasikapriya,
Some of the words are not correct, and I have no clue about some of the others..so I have not attempted a running meaning of some of the lines yet. Maybe Rajani can help.
The gist of the viruttam is that the composer gives examples of all the wonderful and 'difficult' things that murugan has performed, and requests/entreats that something similar be done to answer the call of his devotees.

tandai = father
kai = hand
kanipera = kani + pera = fruit + to receive
tanda = given
mayilEri = mayil + Eri = peacock + getting on
ittaraNi = i + dharaNI = this + world/universe
valam varavillaiyA = circumambulate + did you not?

Running meaning: To receive (win) the fruit in your dad's hand, did you not circumnavigate the world on your peacock (AT THE COST OF BORING YOU: this refers to the story when the sage nAradA gives one mango fruit to sivA and pArvatI and both gaNEsa and muruga want it: sivA tells them that he would give this to the person who goes around the world and comes back to him first - muruga takes off on his peacock thinking that he would get done eons before gaNEsa could accomplish the same on his ultra small and slow mouse...when he returns, he finds gaNEsa holding the fruit...upon enquiry, he discovers that gaNEsa just went around his parents - who were the 'world' to him, and won the contest. murugan feels abused and walks away to a hill top in a huff - pArvatI tries to pacify him by offering her vEl, and tells him that he himslef is the fruit (of knowledge), and doesn't need a fruit - pazham nI - you are the fruit - and hence pazhanI is the name of the hill where the sulking murugan went away to!)

tAi = mother
vENDum = wanting/requesting
iniya = sweet
punalukkAga = for the punal (no clue what that means)
malaiyODu = with the mountain
tanivEl = your spear
viDukkavillaiyA = did you not release

vindaiyilum vindai ena = As an example of the wonder of wonders
varaigaLai = NO CLUE
kAnal = forrest (?)
vEngai = a kind of tree (when murugan comes to check on vallI, about whose beauty he has heard a lot, he discovers her dad there, and becomes a vEngai tree)
maram Aga villaiyO = tree + become + did (you) not

Running meaning:
And wonders of wonders, did you not become a vEngai tree?

kanda malaraiyanai kuDaindu paDaikka Or kartan ena varavillaiyA
NO CLUE

kAinda = no clue but must refer to sUrapadman
varusuranai = asuranai = the demon
vadam purinda = vadam purindu = killing/destroying
dEvar = the gods
kaSTam = travails/troubles
tavirkkavillaiyA = (did you) not prevent it (Maybe this should be tIrkavillaiyA = put an end to it)

Running meaning:
Did you not help the gods and put an end to their troubles by detroying the demon, sUrapadman?

cintaiyil = in (my) mind
santatamum = always/daily
unai = you
vandikkum = praying to/worshipping (you)
neri murai tErpadunakku malaiyA = NO CLUE
ten = south
parambApuriyil = (in) parambApuri (must be some place in TN)
anbar = devotees
koNDADa = celebrate/worship
varum = coming (one's way)
sankaTam = troubles
pAr = see
muruganE = Oh beautiful one
SaNmukhanE = Oh six faced one

Ravi

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 17 May 2006, 02:21

Ravi: thank you for the meaning. I will listen to the song again and check if I can make sense of the missing beats. Thank you also for the explanatory notes you have given along with the translation. Contrarily to what you suggested, I always find your notes to provide invaluable insights into the context of the compositions.
thank you,
rasikapriya21

Rajani · Post by **Rajani** » 17 May 2006, 13:18

Some additions to what Ravi has posted
Line 2
punal - water ( did you not hurl the spear on the mountain when your mother wanted sweet water? - no idea which incident is referred to here)

Line 4
kanda malar-ayanai - Brahma seated on a fragrant flower(lotus)
kuDaindu - having clouted (him)
paDaikka Or kartan ena varavillaiyA - did you not become the creator
(since Brahma did not answer Muruga's question about the meaning of OM, He gave him a clout on his head and imprisoned him., and took over his task of creation. Then Shiva intervened , and Muruga explained the meaning of OM to his father and came to be called Swaminatha, and then released Brahma)

Line 5
kAindu varu = who came with hostility
sUranai = Him , Surapadman,

Line 6

neri murai = method
tErpadu = teaching (me)
unakku malaiyA = is it insurmountable as a mountain to you ?

Line 7
ten = south
parambApuriyil = this must be pazhanApuriyil, which is another name for Pazhani (found in Tiruppugazh)
anbar = devotees
koNDADa = celebrate/worship
varum = you come/live (being adored by devotees)

( my guess is it shd be) sen kaTampAr = wearing red Kadamba flowers
muruganE = Oh beautiful one
SaNmukhanE = Oh six faced one

One Important observation is that this verse has only 7 lines - one seems to be missing, between lines 3 and 4.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 May 2006, 18:54

THANKS, Rajani. That makes much more sense!
Rasikapriya,
I enjoy these exercises that you set for us. I assume you are a choreographer/dancer, and that is why I try to give you word-for-word meanings.
Ravi

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 19 May 2006, 14:02

Thank you Rajani for the added meaning-s you have kindly posted.
Ravi: your assumption is correct; from a dance perspective, the word-to-word translation is crucial as abhinaya largely deals with the literal meaning of the lyrics [ with the exception of the sanchari-s ].
regards,
resikapriya21

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 May 2006, 20:06

Ravi: your assumption is correct; from a dance perspective, the word-to-word translation is crucial as abhinaya largely deals with the literal meaning of the lyrics [ with the exception of the sanchari-s ].
regards,
resikapriya21

Rasikapriya,
This is padArtha abhinaya, correct, which is touched upon in these links that Meena has provided:

here is a site that explains it all:

http://www.kuchipudi.com/home.cfm
http://www.kuchipudi.com/htmlfiles/faqs.htm
http://www.kuchipudi.com/htmlfiles/faqs1.htm

So, if I understand correctly, then, since kuchipidi uses vAkyArthA abhinaya, running meanings are what will be important to a kuchipidi choreographer, right?
Thanks.
Ravi

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 22 May 2006, 04:59

Ravi: thank you for the link. I know very little about kuchipudi and found the reading very informative. As far as bharatanatyam is concerned, I would argue that this style has developed towards a more vakyartha-oriented approach to abhinaya in the recent years. This trend has met the approval of non-indian audiences, whose little understanding of the sahitya content would necessarily affect their ability to grasp the nuances of padartha-oriented abhinaya . The choreographic collaborations between western dancers and bharatanatyam artists have also favoured the visual element over the recitative and aural ones [sahitya]. But this is a very personal opininion and possibly a controversial one.
regards,
rasikapriya

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 22 May 2006, 05:17

Rajani:

I have listen to the song again and your suggestion is correct : there is a missing verse between the following two stanzas:

tAi vENDum iniya punalukkAga malaiyODu tanivEl viDukkavillaiyA
> >
vindaiyilum vindai ena varaigaLai kAnal vEngai maramAgavillaiyA

the lyrics seem to be as follows:

> > vindaiyilum vindai ena varaigaLai pandupo meleruttu adavillaya [?]

would someone kindly provide the meaning of the "missing" line ?
many thanks,
rasikapriya

Rajani · Post by **Rajani** » 23 May 2006, 05:23

vindaiyilum vindai ena - A wonder of wonders
varaigaLai - the mountains
pandupOl - like a ball
mEleDuttu - lifting up
adavillaya - did you not play

Did you not play with mountains as if they were balls? This refers to one of the Baala-leelas of Muruga described in the Kanda-puranam

The phrase "vindaiyilum vindai ena" is unlikely to be repeated in two , that too consequent lines. Please check.

Who has rendered this verse in music?

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 23 May 2006, 06:22

Rajani: MANY THANKS for the translation !
I listened to the song and the opening words of this line are the same ones found in the following stanza. . As for your question, I am afraid but I do not know who the vocalist might be, as this is a dance compilation which was given to me for practice purposes [ with no details of featuring artists ] . ..
thank you,
regards,
rasikapriya21

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 May 2006, 18:19

Ravi: thank you for the link. I know very little about kuchipudi and found the reading very informative. As far as bharatanatyam is concerned, I would argue that this style has developed towards a more vakyartha-oriented approach to abhinaya in the recent years. This trend has met the approval of non-indian audiences, whose little understanding of the sahitya content would necessarily affect their ability to grasp the nuances of padartha-oriented abhinaya . The choreographic collaborations between western dancers and bharatanatyam artists have also favoured the visual element over the recitative and aural ones [sahitya]. But this is a very personal opininion and possibly a controversial one.
regards,
rasikapriya

Rasikapriya,
I have started a thread under the 'dance-related' forum for some exhcnage of ideas on this topic..!
Ravi

rasikapriya21 · Post by **rasikapriya21** » 24 May 2006, 22:20

Ravi: I had not noticed there was a dance-related forum.. It's great !
I have posted a couple of toughts on abhinaya there.
regards,
rasikapriya21