Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavthar

Carnatic composers (other than performing vidwans)
cmlover
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:36

Post by cmlover »

RC

Thanks for those fascinating mythical conversations. MV was by no means a fanatic. He chose to compose in Telugu and even teach in Telugu to MS. Being a Kannadiga one would have expected him to find the muse in his mothertongue. which he must have. But then there must have been a traumatic event (like rebuke?) that must have prevented him or even take a vow not to compose in his own language. We know very well that Thyagaraja living in the heartland of TN refusing to compose in Tamil. There is the element of ego even in great souls. If that were not so they would indeed be godheads. When Rama said " atmaanam maanuShaM manyE.." he was not talking like an avataara. Did HMB compose in Tamil? I hope kartik will pitch in...

Raja Chandra
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Joined: 16 Oct 2005, 12:39

Post by Raja Chandra »

CML,


Well, the conversation is what MV himself has recounted; I may have just done a poor translation. One of the unique contributions of MV has been his recollection of his illustrious career, when he was already 90 and above. Thanks also due to his grandson Mr. S. Krsihna Murthy .

As I understand, MV just thought Kannada as a language is not suitable for classical music composition.

Of all the things It was the dreaded plague in Mysore, which was responsible for launching MV as Vaggeyakara! Sitting in temporary tents outside the fort- when death stared at one and all- an Ursu Gentlemen coaxed him to compose for posterity.

meena
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Post by meena »

Deleted
Last edited by meena on 06 May 2008, 04:18, edited 1 time in total.

Lakshman
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Post by Lakshman »

Meena: HMB did compose a number of songs in tamil. I will post a list after I get back home.

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

I have heard Nithyasree render a couple: a very lyrical thenmAngu in yadhukulakAmBOjI (sundharan chEr peN mayilE, antharanga mA mayilE...), and another in jOnpuri (managaLarUpiNI)...both very nice! I am sure there are few more: I am waiting for Lakshman's list!
Ravi

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

Thanks RC for the clarification!

I hope coolkarni once he is ready will be able to satisfy our curiosity.
The historical events are fascinating.

RC

Could you elaborate the "plague" and how it influenced MV?

Raja Chandra
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Joined: 16 Oct 2005, 12:39

Post by Raja Chandra »

RC

Could you elaborate the "plague" and how it influenced MV?
MV has done a reamarakable job in his memoirs to recreate the wondeful life at Mysore in the early part of the last century. May be away in chennai at the ripe age of 90 made him long for his mother tongue and write those immortal memoirs and do in prose what he did not want to do in poetry/music.

The plague episode in his life was an epochal first step in the making of MV as a eminent Vaggeyakara and and i sincerely hope the following few lines bring the essence of the story:

In the year 1905, Mysore was devastated by an attack of Plague. In those days around 3000 families still lived inside the Mysore Fort (Today you can find only Palace and Temples inside). Even some of the senior musicians like veena sheshanna, subbanna and subba rao had their houses inside the fort. Outside on the eastern side was a vast sheet of water known as Dodda Kere. As it became a source of plague and cholera it was completely drained in later years and it is just Dodda Kere maidan today. During the Great Plague of 1905 most of the people were sgifted to temporary tents in what is known as Alanahalli (near the Lalitha Mahal Palace) . MV also found refuge their due to his proximity to an old Ursu gentleman. (Urs is a surname by which the kinsmen of the Royal family are knownand they were generally reverentially addressed as buddhi). Sri. Gopala Raja Urs was a contemporary of MV?s father and he had immense liking for young Vasu and used to play game of dice (pagaDe) with him to kill time.

Gopala Raja Urs seeing the havoc caused by Plague told MV: Vasu, see the havoc caused by plague, there is no guarantee for life. It is better to leave something for posterity for which you will be remembered.

MV: When we are gone, what is there to be left?

GRU: Stop joking, God has given you equal expertise in two fields. You have experience in music and good knowledge in sAhitya. Why not make your name immortal by composing keertana?

MV: OK, it is enough to digest what our elders have left behind to sing, why should I compose?

GRU: No Vasu, it is not right for some one knowledgeable to talk like this. It is not fair to live on the assets left behind by our elders alone. It is the duty of scholar like you to follow the path set by the elders and make use of your learning and do something for posterity and do justice to your knowledge. May be with your work, my name will also be remembered. Vasu, you should agree to my request and compose.

This conversation between MV and GRU sowed the seed in MV?s mind and set him thinking. The result was ? chiMtEhaM jAnakIkAMtaM saMtatM?. He later went to a well-known scholar Sri.Rama Shastri from Chamaraja Nagar and explained the circumstances, which inspired him to compose, and demonstrated the keertana by singing before him. Sri. Rama Shastry blessed him and told him you have divine blessings, go ahead and compose many more..

Hope as GRU wished ,he is also rememebered when ever this story of MV is recounted by the rasikas.

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

What a wonderful episode. RC thank you for bringing it to our attention! Now, evertime I hear MV's mudhra, I will think of GRU as well, and thank him.
Ravi

drshrikaanth
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Post by drshrikaanth »

Wow, beautiful. Thanks RCji.

drshrikaanth
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Post by drshrikaanth »

Thanks RC

Interesting how the incentive prompted MV to composing. Since he was a musician himself it is right he felt that existing compositions of Trinity were adequate. His apprenticeship with Patnam must have also prompted him to compose on his own, though Patnam composed mainly in Telugu. Perhaps that is another reason why MV also started composing in Telugu. But I am still puzzled about the statement that he felt Kannada was not fit for musical compositions. Could you throw some light on his reasonings? On the otherhand HMB( a non Kannadiga) did not feel the same way. Also were there other composers in Kannada in late 19th century ? I assume Purandara was always popular with CM folks and there must have been more who wanted to follow on his footsteps!

harikesa
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Post by harikesa »

I am extremely sorry for the delay in my posts as I have been very busy officially.
CML,HMB has composed MANY compositions in Tamil.There is one full volume of his Tamil compositions.Several kritis are in Natabhairavi and Jonpuri.There is one piece in Hamir Kalyani where he talks about human sentiments-about how man is greedy and jealous etc,RS is right-Nityasree has rendered a temmangu in yadukulakambodi and one piece in Jonpuri in the pre-rec release.
He has composed a kriti in Kalyani during the coronation of the Mysore Mharaja.His humble respect to Tyagaraja lies in the Hindolam piece he has composed on the latter.

Lakshman
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Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:52

Post by Lakshman »

Here are the 27 tamil songs by HMB.


AnandamAna-kAmbhOji-Adi
ANDavan darishanam-jOnpuri-Adi
annai mAkALiyAm-kApi-Adi
Arukkum aDangAda-bEgaDa-Adi
Avan sheyalanri-hamIrkalyANi-Adi
bhAratiyE endan-jOnpuri-t/Adi
candranE-hindustani asAvEri-Adi
en annaiyE-khamAs-Adi
kAlam viparItamAccu-mukhAri-rUpaka
kaNNan maNivaNNan-kharaharapriyA-rUpaka
manadirkkisainda-shankarAbharaNa-Adi
manam aDanguvadE-tODi-Adi
mangaLa rUpiNiyE-jOnpuri-Adi
mangaLam pongiDum-mAND-Adi
mAvUr vaLam peruga-sindhubhairavi-t/Adi
mAvUr vaLar-jOnpuri-Adi
muruganukkoru-kalyANi-Adi
mUvAshai koNDa-kharaharapriyA-Adi
paccaiyAna-tODi-Adi
shAntamga kATSi-yadukulakAmbhOji-rUpaka
sundaram sEr-temmAngu-t/Eka
tAyiDattil-jOnpuri-t/Adi
tudikkaikkuriya-pUrNacandrikA-cApu
tungamAlviDai-suraTi-Adi
unnai ninaindu-navarAgamAlikA-Adi
vAlai manOnmaNI-naTabhairavi-rUpaka
vEdattin ucciyil-viruttam

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

seldom heard any of these rendered!
Does anybody have recordings? (perhaps TNS?)...

Thanks Harikesa

would love to see any of those compositions ; better rendered by someone...

Lakshman
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Post by Lakshman »

>would love to see any of those compositions ; better rendered by someone...<
Do you want me to post the lyrics of any of these compositions?

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

CML,
Nityashree has released a commercially available CD on HKMB''s compositions. The song list is:
ambavANi - kIrvANI
BuvanEshwarIya - mOhanakalyANI
himagiri thanayE - shudhDHa DhanyAsI
krithivAsasE - pUrvIkalyANI
mangaLarUpiNI - jOnpurI - TAMIZH
samayamidhE - budhDHamanOharI
thenmAngu - yadhukula kAmBOjI - TAMIZH
vijayAmbikE - vijayanAgarI

Ravi

I never cease to be amazed at the repertoire of the DKP school of musicians!

Raja Chandra
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Post by Raja Chandra »

He has composed a kriti in Kalyani during the coronation of the Mysore Mharaja.His humble respect to Tyagaraja lies in the Hindolam piece he has composed on the latter.
harikesha,

I understand he composed a tillana during the coronation of JCRW (1940) in kapi??

He has used poshaka mudra in few of his compositions (both KRW IV and JCRW). Here is an interesting anecdote:
Once krwiv suffered from severe mouth ulcers and was in great pains. DR.HMB was moved by the pain of his patron and did not sleep that night. Early in the morning he came with a unique composition - raja raja radhite in raga niroshta (non contact of lips) and thus praying for the maharaja?s speedy recovery. Unique characteristic of the composition was during singing the lips do not come in contact with the lips!

As for as his composition on saint Thyagaraja, i understand it was a Sanskrit kavya called srimat thyagaraja vijaya in the year 1940 and it consisted of 487 slokas and it was a comprehensive treatise on the life and times of the saint composer and his achievements and his contributions to music etc. It consisted of seven parts denoting sapta svaras.

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

RC

Thanks for that anecdote which I have heard before! It is now official!
Could somebody post the lyrics and if possible a rendering....

Raja Chandra
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Post by Raja Chandra »

Thanks RC

But I am still puzzled about the statement that he felt Kannada was not fit for musical compositions. Could you throw some light on his reasonings? On the otherhand HMB( a non Kannadiga) did not feel the same way. Also were there other composers in Kannada in late 19th century ? I assume Purandara was always popular with CM folks and there must have been more who wanted to follow on his footsteps!
CML,

It certainly is an enigma, which defies any logical answers. Any analysis at this point of time would not be fair. But certain facts may only add to this enigmatic stance of MV.

A contemporary of MV and a fellow student of Patnam Subramaya Iyer was Bangalore Kempe Gowda (a native coimbatore) is known to be impromptu singer in Kannada. He was once was sitting in a shop at Mysore and was inspired by a curd-selling woman chiming ? mosaru beke mosaru and he used this as a pallavi and sang for hours on end! Another time he used a popular Kannada tongue twister ? tarikere kere yeri mele moor kari kuri maitittu (meaning in tarikere town?s tank bund three black sheep?s were grazing!) - to sing and astound the audience by his immaculate rendition.

Another contemporary of MV in mysore asthan was Bidaram Krishnappa and also a favorite of KRW IV. His forte was singing Kannada devara nama and Kirtana?s. He is largely credited for popularizing the puranadara Dasa?s compositions.

May be MV just did not want to follow the beaten track and found it more appropriate to compose in Sanskrit and Telugu.

Acharya had many admirers among the contemporary giants of Kannada literature. Janana Peeth awardee Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (also an official of the Mysore Govt.), G.P. Rajaratnam and D.V.Gundappa . In fact D.V.G in one of his book elaborates on this issue. On DVG?s request MV visit him at Bangalore. He met daily for about 15 days for few hours. Despite his effort to elicit reasons in this regard, he could not succeed.

So your guess is as good as mine !!

meena
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Post by meena »

RC

"He has used poshaka mudra in few of his compositions (both KRW IV and JCRW)".

what is "poshaka mudra"?

meena
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Joined: 21 May 2005, 13:57

Post by meena »

Lji

could u pl. post the lyrics for MV's kannada kriti - karuNisau tAye mAye SivajAye rAgA: saraswati manOhari. thanku

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

Thanks shankar
I'll track them down...

Lakshman
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Post by Lakshman »

Meena: I thought I had all of Vasudevachar's songs but this kannaDa song is not in my database.

Raja Chandra
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Post by Raja Chandra »

meena,

When you say Asthan Vidwan, it means they were paid a monthly honorarium, may be in some cases house to live, monthly ration etc in addition to various gifts etc. But they were free to perform outside also. Thus the King was a Poshaka ? a patron. Some of the Asthan Vidwan?s have embedded the poshaka?s name in their compositions. It is known as poshaka mudra.

harikesa
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Post by harikesa »

RC.
Sabesha Iyer,the acclaimed musician,says that HMB composed a kalakshepam called 'Tyagaraja Charitram' in addition to his very famous 'Valli Parinayam'which had this great kriti 'Valli Nayaga Neeve Gatiyani' in Shanmukhapriya.The other famous kalakshepam is 'Sulochana Sati'.

srkris
Site Admin
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Post by srkris »

I am not familiar with many of HMB's compositions. Are these kalakshepams/kritis available today?

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

His valli PariNayam was the alltime best!

abadri
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005, 00:04

Post by abadri »

Here's a MMI rendition of Nidu Mahima (Hamsanandi) that I found when doing
some organization of my files:-
[rapidshare links deleted]

sriucl
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Joined: 12 Nov 2005, 16:52

Post by sriucl »

Sometime back there was an idea of discussing HMB's krithis with some recordings, just like we had with JCW..Will someone flag it off, time permitting...

Thanks

Srivathsan

coolkarni

Post by coolkarni »

Let someone start with a list of say 25-30 krithis.Then we can set ourselves on this task.

meena
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Post by meena »

For starters here is the varnam list of Sree HMB:

Sri Mahaganapathe -Tanavarnam -Kambhoji -Ata
Sri Rajamathangi-Tanavarnam -Suddha Dhanyasi -Adi
Sri Mahabala -Tanavarnam -Suddha Saveri -Adi
Chalamela -Tanavarnam -Narayanagowla -Adi
Sarasaksha -Tanavarnam -Kedaragowla -Adi
Sri Shubha -Tanavarnam -Thodi -Ata
Manamohana -Tanavarnam -Mohanam -Ata
Manchi Panadhira -Tanavarnam -Hindolam -Ata
Sarasakshi Tanavarnam -Kalyani -Ata
Pankaja Lochana -Padavarnam -Anandabhairavi -Adi
Sannutangi Daruvarnam -Vasantha -Adi
Balumosa -Daruvarnam -Shahana -Khandachapu
Mate Malaya -Daruvarnam -Khamas -Adi
Sri Rajarajeshwari -Daruvarnam -Kapi -Chapu

abadri
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Post by abadri »

Manamohana -Tanavarnam -Mohanam -Ata
As rendered by TNS:- [rapidshare links deleted]

meena
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Post by meena »

manamOhanA (tAna varNa). rAgA: mOhana. aTa tALA.

P: manamOhanA mAnini nIpai cAla marulukoni gAsi yunnadirA
A: ghanuDaina shrI bhAskara bhUpAla varapAla
gAnalOla muddu rAmalinga rAjarAjEshvarA sEtupatIndrA
C: nIkE taginarA nI vElukOrA

kartik
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Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 06:25

Post by kartik »

What I am to post now are a series of some rare kritis by HMB,which I recorded primarliy during the Dasara period.Most of them are the Devi Ashottara kritis.

I have uploaded a kriti of HMB in Nagabhushani , an apurva raga of HMB which derives from Shankarabharanam.

The link is http://www.geocities.com/harikesa3/WebP ... ushani.mp3

We will need the help of DRS,CML,RC,Cool ji and others to make this thread also a grand success.

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

Bravo!
Count on us!

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

Kartik,
Is this a downloadable song?
Would it be possible to post in as a rapidshare file? geocities is listing the page as unavailable?
Thanks.
Ravi

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

manamOhanA (tAna varNa). rAgA: mOhana. aTa tALA.
P: manamOhanA mAnini nIpai cAla marulukoni gAsi yunnadirA
A: ghanuDaina shrI bhAskara bhUpAla varapAla
gAnalOla muddu rAmalinga rAjarAjEshvarA sEtupatIndrA
C: nIkE taginarA nI vElukOrA
Kiran,
Can you translate this varNam, please?
With my rudimentary knowledge of Telugu, it appears that HKMB is informing (some) king (bhAskara bhUpAla) that a beautiful damsel is interested in him....
Ravi

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

Can we have the lyric as also the description of the raga?

meena
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Joined: 21 May 2005, 13:57

Post by meena »

gaNEsha skanda. rAgA: nAgabhUSaNi. rUpaka tALA.

P: gaNEsha skanda jananI gandharva gAna vinOdini
A: phaNIndra maNibhUSaNi paramEshvari niranjani
C: sharaNAgata vatsalE ninna caraNadhiyAnadali sukhisada
nara janmavadEtakE suravarArcitE harikEsha niratE


Deleted
Last edited by meena on 06 May 2008, 04:19, edited 1 time in total.

venkas
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Post by venkas »

Ravi,
Nagabhusani is very much downloadable. Right click directly on the link and do "save target as". If no luck, I can upload this in rapidshare.

drshrikaanth
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Joined: 26 Mar 2005, 17:01

Post by drshrikaanth »

Kathik
The kannaDa krti in nAgabhuSHaNi is very nice.
kRtiyanna yAru hADi nuDisirOdu?

Nice rAga. I will chip in when time permits.

nAgabhUShaNi has the following scale

SR2M1PD2~,N3S* | S*DPMRS ||

Given the rAgas swaras and being dhaivatavarjya, the rAga can be placed under gaurI vELAvaLi/gaurimanOhari or dhIraSankarAbharaNa. The texts place it under dhIra SankarAbharaNa as I see in
vid|| R.R.Keshavamurthy`s book. However, I would place it under gaurivELAvali as the treatment of D and N is very much like the 23rd mELa. A very nice rAga indeed.

drshrikaanth
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Joined: 26 Mar 2005, 17:01

Post by drshrikaanth »

Kathik
The kannaDa krti in nAgabhuSHaNi is very nice.
kRtiyanna yAru hADi nuDisirOdu?

Nice rAga. I will chip in when time permits.

nAgabhUShaNi has the following scale

SR2M1PD2~,N3S* | S*DPMRS ||

Given the rAgas swaras and being gANdhAravarjya, the rAga can be placed under gaurI vELAvaLi/gaurimanOhari or dhIraSankarAbharaNa. The texts place it under dhIra SankarAbharaNa as I see in
vid|| R.R.Keshavamurthy`s book. However, I would place it under gaurivELAvali only as the treatment of D and N is very much like the 23rd mELa. A very nice rAga indeed.

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

DRS
I assume you meant to say 'gAndhAravarjya..'!

Indeed a nice ragam! I assume it is HMB's invention ! are there any specialities?

drshrikaanth
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Post by drshrikaanth »

oops. Yes I did. Thanks for correcting CML.

kartik
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Post by kartik »

It is very interesting to note that HMB has composed several ragas quite close to each other,such as SarangaMalhar(SRMPDNS/SNDPMRS),Nagabhushani(SRMPD~,NS/SDPMRS),Gowdamalhar(SRMPDS/SDMGRS)and of course Pashupatipriya(SRMPMDS/SDMPRMS).Seems that the Gandhara varjyatva (in the arohi phrases) in Shankarabharanam found a lot of favour in him.

DRS avare,on all the 9 days of Dasara in 2004,Rajeswari Padmanabhan on the veena along with her disciples rendered some excellent devi ashottara kritis of hmb,which I was fortunate to record.This was broadcast in DD Chennai.

cmlover
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Post by cmlover »

Great!
we are in for a treat! Feels like dashara time! Just give us also the highlight of the ragas (I hope LakShman will pitch in giving us any rare kritis too!). Pl also tell us any HM connetions that we should know!
Thanks for sharing!

kartik
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Post by kartik »

Lji,do you have the lyrics for the Ranjani (Devi) composition of HMB?

rshankar
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Post by rshankar »

CML,
Can you translate the composition, please?
Ravi

kiransurya
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Post by kiransurya »

Sorry Rsankar
I missed the post about the translation.
mana mohana- someone something that attracts
Maanini-Damsel
Nee- You
Pai-on
Chaala-A lot
Marulukoni- interested
gasi yunndaira- Waiting for you
ganhudaina-oh great one!!!
Sri Bkaskara Bhupala-King Bhasskara Bhupala
Ganalola-One who is entertained by music
Muddu Raamalinga
Raaja Raajeswara Setupatindra- Emperor Setupatindra
Neeke- only you
Taginara-deserve
Nee-you
Velukora-pursue her

Oh great Bhaskara Bhoopala!!!! u are the emperor and are entertained by music. That damsel is very interested and is waiting for you, You deserve here and you should prusue (have) her right away...

rshankar
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Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Post by rshankar »

Oh! Kiran, thanks for the translation, but now I wish I had not asked for it!
A little yucky!
Ravi

kiransurya
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Joined: 13 Dec 2005, 15:58

Post by kiransurya »

?????????
:cry:

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