Lyrics & Translation Sirai aarum

[HariKrishna]

Sirai aarum (rAga: sudda sAvEri, tALa: tripuTa)
Composer: Gnana Sambandar
Artist: M.S. Subbulakshmi
CD: Naada Sudha Rasa

[Enna_Solven]

1.60 tiruttONipuram
paN - pazhandakkarAgam

654
siRaiyArum maDakkiLiyE ingEvA tEnoDupAl
muRaiyAlE uNattaruvEn moybavaLat toDutaraLan
tuRaiyAru#n kaDaTRONi purattIsan tuLangumiLam
piRaiyALan tiru^nAmam enakkorukAR pEsAyE 1.60.10

655
pOrmigutta vayaTRONi purattuRaiyum purisaDaiye#n
kArmigutta kaRaikkaNDat tiRaiyavanai vaNgamalat-
tArmigutta varaimArban sambandan uraiseyda
sIrmigutta tamizhvallAr sivalOgancErvArE 1.60.11

[smala]

Hmmm. I think I follow the last word. Any takers?

[Rajani]

A running meaning of the first verse :

O parrot of lovely wings, come here. I shall give you milk and honey to eat. Won't you chant to me, at least once, the name of the Lord of ThoNi-puram (Sirkazhi), where (during the Pralaya) the ocean deposited lovely corals and pearls, the one who wears a shining crescent moon.

[Enna_Solven]

There are many songs, this is one of those, that defined what she was. This is a short rendering, without any elaboration of the song or the rAgA, sung crisply in a facile voice. Simply beautiful.

[HariKrishna]

Is Gnana Sambandar one of the 63 Nyanars, and if so, are there any other names by which he is known?
Also, with the numbering above, am I to infer that this song is merely a few verses out of a larger work?

[Rajani]

Yes he is one of the 63. He is known as Thiru-gnana-sambandar or Gnana-sambandar or Sambandar. His works are in units of Padigams , each Padigam having 10 or 11 stanzas. The verses provided here are verses 1 and 11 ( first and last) of the particular Padigam. Sambandar would have composed about 300 Padigams, which are classified into 3 Thirumurais of about 100 each. The numbering means that this verse is from the 60th padigam in the 1st Thirumurai.

[smala]

Rajani, the first verse translation is so beautiful in thought and expression.

[rshankar]

Rajani - thank you for the lovely translation. Is the parrot being called a foolish one (maDakiLiyE)?

[PUNARVASU]

Rajani - thank you for the lovely translation. Is the parrot being called a foolish one (maDakiLiyE)?

I thought 'maDakiLiyE' means young parrot; I have heard the word 'maDa mangai' -referring to young ladies.

[Rajani]

Thanks Smala and Ravi!

"maDa" means female here Often by extension it means lovely, naive etc.

[smala]

Rajani, eagerly waiting for the other verse

[HariKrishna]

Thank you for the explanation. Regarding the numbering, though, what do numbers 654 and 655 indicate? Also what are the terms "tiruttONipuram" and "paN - pazhandakkarAgam" indicating here? Are either one of these the name of this padigam? What is the other indicating?

[HariKrishna]

Also, forgot to ask - has anyone a translation of the second verse?

655
pOrmigutta vayaTRONi purattuRaiyum purisaDaiye#n
kArmigutta kaRaikkaNDat tiRaiyavanai vaNgamalat-
tArmigutta varaimArban sambandan uraiseyda
sIrmigutta tamizhvallAr sivalOgancErvArE 1.60.11

[Enna_Solven]

The verses provided here are verses 1 and 11 ( first and last) of the particular Padigam. Sambandar would have composed about 300 Padigams, which are classified into 3 Thirumurais of about 100 each. The numbering means that this verse is from the 60th padigam in the 1st Thirumurai.

Rajani, I saw this just now. Project Madurai.org lists these as the 10th & 11th songs of padigam 60.

[Enna_Solven]

Thank you for the explanation. Regarding the numbering, though, what do numbers 654 and 655 indicate? Also what are the terms "tiruttONipuram" and "paN - pazhandakkarAgam" indicating here? Are either one of these the name of this padigam? What is the other indicating?

The numbers are just serial numbers from the beginning of the first thirumuRai. tiruttONipuram is the name of the town, modern seerkAzhi. paN is the Tamil equivalent of rAgA. pazhandakkarAgam is the name of a particular rAgA: pazham-dakka-rAgam

[HariKrishna]

Ahh, OK, thanks. I take it that "pazham-dakka-rAgam" is either an older name (from a different rAgam classification scheme) for "sudda sAveri" or a different rAgam which this was originally supposed to be sung in?

[Enna_Solven]

See the 2nd table here:
http://www.shaivam.org/siddhanta/tisai.html

[Rajani]

Thank you, Enna-solven for pointing out my error.