naDamADum nAthan aDimalarE - lyrics

[smala]

Poovi Kalyani, Khanda chapu


Thanks

[Lakshman]

naTamADum nAthan. rAgA: pUrvikalyANi. k/cApu tALA.Gopalakrishna Bharati.

P: naTamADum nAthan aDimalarE tuNai kanaka sabhaiyil Ananda
A: jaTaiyinil gangaiyum pAdi matiyum aravum shivakAmavalliyum ashaiya tattOm tattOm tattOm ena
C: bAlakrSNan pADa viraman tALam pODa nandi maddaLam muzhanga nAraNanum yAzh isaiya
jnAlam ellAm uyya mei jnAnalayam tannil takiTatOm takiTatOm tattakiTatOm ena

[rshankar]

Lji, small correction...it is biraman and nor viraman in the caraNam...

[Lakshman]

Thanks rshankar.

[smala]

rshankar, do post a translation here - am curious about the mention of balakrishnan in the dance of Shiva and Parvathi.

[rshankar]

Will do.

[classicallover]

Mr. Lakshman,

One more correction I can think of immediately : it must be naaradarum instead of naraNanum. What is " jnaalam ellaam uyya " ? Further, jnaanalayam --> gaana layam ( uDukku )

But for the above doubt above, the rest can be easily translated as :

P: The feet ( of the God ) passionately dancing on the golden stage is my protector.
AP: One who has Ganga and the moon locked in his plaits, with the serpent and his consort Shivakamavalli dancing along with him to the jati tattOm ( on the golden stage )- The feet of...
C: While baalakrishNa ( vishnu ) is singing, Brahma is reciting the jatis with taaLam, nandi is playing the drum, naarada is playing the yaazh for shruti, the udukku is vibrating by itself as takiTatOm, ( the feet of the God dancing passionately on the Golden stage is my protector ) .


smala,

This concept is not new. The same can be found in many compositions on Nataraja. Take for example the masterpiece kriti " kaalai tuukki ninru aaDum daivame" by Muthu Thandavar wherein he says in one charanam :
" nandi mattaLam tuukka , naaradar yaazh tuukka,
nondom enru ayanraaL shrutiyoDum tuukka,
chintaimagizhndu vaanOr chennimel karam tuukka,
mundum valiyuDaya muyalagan unnai tuukka - ( kaalai tuukki ) "

You can see how the single word " tuukka " is used in various moods and purposes .

Here a complete description of the naTana sabha is given with the accompaniments for the cosmic dance by Shiva and Parvati, which is witnessed by Govindaraja in his " yoga nidra " posture as seen in Chidambaram.

[PUNARVASU]

'gnAlam uyya'-means 'for the upliftment of the whole world'.
'bAlakrsNan' also is the composere's 'muddirai'.

[classicallover]

Punarvasu,

'gnAlam uyya'-means 'for the upliftment of the whole world'

doesn't it sound out of place contextually ? It must mean contextually, that the whole world is aroused or energised !

[Pratyaksham Bala]

rshankar:
Anxiously awaiting your translation!

[rshankar]

PB, smala: Here is my attempt - additions/corrections welcome:

pallavi
naTamADum nAthan aDimalarE tuNai kanaka sabhaiyil Ananda
The flower-like feet (aDimalarE) of that lord (nAthan) who performs (ADum) the Ananda tANDavam (Ananda naTam) in the golden (kanaka) hall (sabhaiyil) of cidambaram are my only succor/support (tuNai).

anupallavi
jaTaiyinil gangaiyum pAdi matiyum aravum shivakAmavalliyum ashaiya tattOm tattOm tattOm ena (naTamADum…)
(The feet of the lord who dances) to the sorkaTTu that go (ena) 'tattOm, tattOm, tattOm', making gangA (gangaiyum) and the crescent/half (pAdi) moon (matiyum) on his matted locks (jaTaiyinil), the snake (aravum) around his neck, and pArvati (SivakAmavalliyum) in his left half sway (aSaiya) along (are my only support…)

caraNam
bAlakrSNan pADa viraman tALam pODa nandi maddaLam muzhanga nAradanum yAzh isaiya
jnAlam ellAm uyya mei jnAna layam tannil takiTatOm takiTatOm tattakiTatOm ena (naTamADum...)
(The feet of the lord who dances) to the sorkaTTu that go (ena) 'takiTatOm, takiTatOm, takiTatOm' immersed in (tannil) true (mei) knowledge (gyAnam) and rhythm (layam), even as vishNu (bAlakRshnan) [1] sings (pADa), brahmA (biraman) wields the cymbals (tALam pODa), nandi plays the maddaLam resoundingly (muzhanga), and nArada (nAradanum) plays (isaiya) the yAzh (a stringed instrument, like a harp), and the entire world (nyAlam) rejoices/enjoys/is redeemed (uyya) (are my only support…)

[1] the composer's mudra as well

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Brilliant work! Thanks a lot!

[smala]

Thank you all for the varied input, Classicallover for your contributions with explanations and rshankar for a lovely translation.

The only contention/difference is :

Classicallover : Narada is playing on the yaz
rshankar : Vishnu is playing on the yaz.

Some doubts :
"Govindaraj seeing all this in yoga nidra" sounds plausible but then how would balakrishnan (vishnu) be singing if he is witnessing it in yoga nidra ?

If Balakrishnan (the author, mudra) is deemed to be singing - is the author visualizing this scene as he sings and acknowledges himself - which would be not a humble position in my take.

If, on the other hand, Vishnu as Balakrishnan is singing, how does this fit in with the scene? Child Krishna is only known to play the flute so what could the allusion/story be for a rare reference to child Krishna singing for Shiva's dance with Parvati swaying? Is there a precedent for this anywhere?

[rshankar]

I heard Dr. Prema sing this song - and she sings it as nAradanum yAzh isaikka..so I have modified my earlier posting. The rest of the words seem to be as given by Lji.

And we have discussed kAlai tUkki ninrADum deivamE here

[classicallover]

smala,

You have mixed up two situations in your post.

In the kaalai tuukki kriti, brahma is singing the jatiswarams with the time ( taalam ) keeping ( nondom enrayanraaL ) - while, in the subject kriti also Brahma keeps the time while Vishnu is singing. Even if here also you want Govindaraja in yoga nidra, you can have an amsa ( avatar ) of Vishnu ( Krishna ) singing isn't it ? All this is quite abstract which may be explained with quantum physics maybe but we should not look at it with our materialistic two eyes with very limited vision and imagination. For all the lyrics there is lot of inner meaning and it is for realising that thing, the songs have been composed incorporating the suukshma dharma or narmagarbha antaraardham.

Moreover, look at my post. Shankar has vindicated my contextual meaning for gnaalam.

It is apparent from this thread and others also that only wordwise meanings are appreciated while wholesome contextual meanings with explanations are not desired. So it is better to refrain from this translation excercise I suppose.

[smala]

Classicallover, please do continue to add your contributions with contextual meanings/import to translations, it adds depth and dimensions.

In your unique interpretation of jnaanalayam --> gaana layam ( uDukku)
What is "the udukku is vibrating by itself as takiTatOm"

Also, can you expand on :
suukshma dharma - narmagarbha antaraardham.

[classicallover]

smala,
Knowledge or teaching is to be done only to those who need it. I would prefer to discuss this between us . Pls tell me your e-mail id if you are so interested.

[smala]

Please use the forum mail by clicking on my name as it appears on the right side of the post to message me.