vijayAmbikE vimalAtmikE - doubt in the charanam lyrics

[SrinathK]

I had a doubt listening to Madurai Mani Iyer's rendition of vijayAmbikE (and MLV's) with the lyrics for reference.

pallavi

vijayAmbikE vimalAtmikE
(vijayAmbikE)

anupallavi

ajavanditE amarEndranutE nija bhaktahitE nigamAndarkadE
(vijayAmbikE)

caraNam

shruti svara grAma mUrcanAlankAra nAda janita rAga rasa bharita
sangIta rUpiNi gaurI pAlisau mAtE harikEsha manamOdini
(vijayAmbikE)

They do not sing the 2nd part of the charanam as gaurI pAlisau. With MMI, since he is a disciple of HMB, I had a doubt

Can someone tell me what they sang there instead? And can someone also help me with the grammar or any lyrical intricacies (such as vibhaktis) used in these kinds of songs?

[rshankar]

anupallavi: nigamAndarkadE - I wonder if the k/g and t/d bug with the tamizh script caused this - ningamAntargatE seems more appropriate...(nigama + antargatE). Not sure if andarkadE is even a word.... (PS: Sri MMI sings it as nigamAntargatE)
Sri MMI replaces gauri pAlisau with kRpa SAlini - and with that switch, the language of the composition probably changes from kannaDa to sanskRt

[rshankar]

By the way, Smt. MLV also sings it as kRpa SAlini .....
I think she sings the second line as sangIta rUpiNi kRpa SAlini nata harikESa manamOdini.

[SrinathK]

anupallavi: nigamAndarkadE - I wonder if the k/g and t/d bug with the tamizh script caused this - ningamAntargatE seems more appropriate...(nigama + antargatE). Not sure if andarkadE is even a word.... (PS: Sri MMI sings it as nigamAntargatE)
Sri MMI replaces gauri pAlisau with kRpa SAlini - and with that switch, the language of the composition probably changes from kannaDa to sanskRt

So did HMB originally compose it in Sanskrit?
I never knew that gaurI pAlisau converts it into kannaDa! I was thinking all along that the song was in Sanskrit (other skills aside, my linguistic knowledge is something that leaves a lot to be desired).

[Lakshman]

pAlisau is the only Kannada word in the song.

[rshankar]

gauri pAlisau - protect (pAlisau) me, Oh gauri - Lakshmanji is correct - pAlisau is the only word that is unambiguously in kannaDa - Smt. Nityashree, Smt. Nagavalli Nagaraj, and Sri OST (from what I have heard) use this version. Most of the others use the version popularized by Sri MMI.

Sri HMB was very adept at using a few words in kannaDa in a composition - for example, In the (kannaDa) daru varNam, mAtE malayadhvaja pANDya sanjAtE, AFAICT, there are three words that are not in sanskRt - tAyE gauri, sadA porE, and SaSimaNDala madhyagE (the bolded words are in kannaDa)

[Rajani]

Even mAtE is not there in Sanskrit. The vocative form of mAtA is mAtah

[rshankar]

Thank you, Rajani

[Sachi_R]

madhyage is a Samskrita word (vocative)

pālisau is the verb. If you omit it, there is no verb in the song.
HMB was clever in adding a couple of Kannada words... I am sure these were all compositions under the Mysore royal patronage.

[SrinathK]

Thanks everyone for all the insights. Then the question is - did HMB really introduce kannaDa in this song or should we follow Madurai Mani Iyer's version?

(I've seen variations in a lot of things in CM, but something like this deserves a separate category)

[Sachi_R]

SrinathK,
HNB was "requested" by Mysore Maharaja to compose 108 kritis on Devi and 108 kritis on Shiva. In response, he composed many with Kannada words. These are available from those times. If you remove so many key words from this kriti, it may turn out to be incomplete. A verb is needed in a song.

[SrinathK]

So a song must contain a verb? I confess I am completely clueless as to these requirements. Can anyone enlighten me?

[Sachi_R]

SrinathK,
I will let Rajani and other experts give you the official answer. Meanwhile, what I have observed is that a song is a prayer, and involves some mention of action, by the use of a verb.
It is also true of mantras. Words like Jaya, Swaha, also indicate action.
Now a series of addresses to Mother Goddess, "Vijayambike!", etc. involve a request like save me, protect me, give me a boon, or a mention of action that I bow down to you, surrender to you, depend on you, trust you, etc.
Without that verb, the goddess can very well turn around ask, what, HMB, what is all the fuss about? Do you want something or what? You see what I think.....
Now did HMB omit the verb? My belief is he said paalisau, and that was that.

[Jigyaasa]

Sri HMB was very adept at using a few words in kannaDa in a composition

At Mysore he composed 115 kritis in Kannada in praise of Chamundi devi, the matron goddess of the Mysore dynasty

Granted Wikipedia is no authoritative source but I've listened to a lecdem and these kritis (108) (cAmuNDAmbA aSTOttaraSata nama) are all nominally in Kannada due to the presence (most of the time) of one kannaDa word such as pAlisau, salahau etc. I was recently listening to a rendition of sudhAmayi in amrtavarSiNi (another in this set of kritis) where instead of singing vimale salahau, the artist introduced some other words. vijayAmbikE is a similar instance where the kannaDa word has been replaced in some versions.

[narayara000]

Why does a song need a verb? Can't it just be a list of names of the god or goddess?