lyrics and word to word meaning for Ambujam Krishna's Om nam

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 08 Oct 2007, 21:30

Could someone post the lyrics and word to word meanings for this beautiful kriti?

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 08 Oct 2007, 22:36

Om namO nArAyaNA. rAgA: karNaranjani. cApu tALA.

P: Om namO nArAyaNA enru uLLam uruga uraittidenavE
A: kSEmamum nALum shrI guruvAyuappan nAmamallAl uyvazhi vErEdu
C: paN ishaikkum pavazha vAidazhum pankaja kaNNazhagum kuNDalam tiga sheviyum veN
sangam tigiri olirk-karangaLum tAn tulabam tavazh mArbil minnum muppuri nUlumkinkiNi iDai

naaree · Post by **naaree** » 09 Oct 2007, 00:35

Lakshman wrote:A: kSEmamum nALum shrI guruvAyuappan nAmamallAl uyvazhi vErEdu

C: paN ishaikkum pavazha vAidazhum pankaja kaNNazhagum kuNDalam tiga sheviyum veN
sangam tigiri olirk-karangaLum tAn tulabam tavazh mArbil minnum muppuri nUlumkinkiNi iDai

kSEmam nalgum

kuNDAlam tigazh

muppiri nUlum

I think there is more to this song.

kinkini idayArpa kazhal silambu kala kalakka
maNN idai vaikuntath appan tharum kAtchi thanai
kandadoru kalippAdi paNN pAdi kondAdi
karam kuvithu mei silirthu yetthisayum yedirolika

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 09 Oct 2007, 00:58

Sorry I missed the madhyamakAla passage.

Here is the general meaning from karnatik.com:

Meaning: - contributed by R. Jayakumar
Om, With a melting heart I utter my salutations to Narayana
Without Guruvayoorappan's name, what else is the salvation, health and prosperity.
The beauty of the coral lips that sings the songs, the beauty of the lotus eyes, the ears that are resplendant with earrings
(the beauty of) The hand that holds the booming conch, the chest on which shines the muppuri (?)
(the beauty of) The slim waist with tinkling bells
With the tinkling bells of the waist and the anklets making pleasurable sounds,
Having seen the sight of the lord of Vaikuntam on the earth and ecstatic from it,
Singing (his praise) and celebrating,
With folded hands, with a melting body and soul
With all sides echoing
Om, salutations to Narayana

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 09 Oct 2007, 01:14

Here is the corrected version of the song:

Om namO nArAyaNA. rAgA: karNaranjani. cApu tALA.

P: Om namO nArAyaNA enru uLLam uruga uraittiDennAvE
A: kSEmam nalgum shrI guruvAyUr appan nAmamallAdAl uyvazhi vErEdu
C: paN ishaikkum pavazha vAi idazhum pankaja kaNNazhagum kuNDalam tigazh sheviyum
veN sangam tigiri olirk-karangaLum tAn tulabam tavazh mArbil minnum muppuri nUlum
(madhyamakAla)
kinkiNi iDayArpa kazhal silambu khala khalakka maNNiDai vaikuNTh-appan tarum kAtSi tanai
kaNDadoru kaLippODu paN pADi koNDADi karam kuvithu mei silirttu eddishaiyum edirolikka

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Oct 2007, 01:49

The first line: my tongue, say with a melting heart, 'Om namO nArAyaNA!

uyya vazhi Edu?=is there any other path to salvation?
paN iSaikkum=playing songs on the flute (it can also mean singing, but with krishnA, it is more like playing the flute).
tigiri=cakrA
tuLabam=tulasi
muppuri=three strands of yarn (yagnOpavItam)
kiNkiNi (that which makes the sound of a bell). Here a necklace (the name also is apt for other ornaments which are worn as anklets, but she has already mentioned kazhal Silambu which are tinkling anklets)

Lakshman,
I think Charumathi Ramachandran tuned this song.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 09 Oct 2007, 05:25

Shishya,
Do you need a word-to-word translation (padArtha), or does the running meaning (vAkyArtha) suffice?

Rajani · Post by **Rajani** » 09 Oct 2007, 16:08

"kinkiNi iDayArpa " would mean a belt (oddyanam) of tinking bells, since iDai=waist

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 09 Oct 2007, 17:11

rshankar, a word to word meaning (padArtha) with appropriate ways to break compound words is what I am looking for.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Oct 2007, 17:51

Rajani,
You are absolutely right! I missed the iDai (middle). Any ornament which makes a tinkling sound is kINkiNI, but here it is a tinkling belt!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 10 Oct 2007, 08:36

Shishya,
Hope this helps. Thanks to Arasi and Rajani - I have incorporated their suggestions...

Om namO nArAyaNA. rAgA: karNaranjani. cApu tALA.

P: Om namO nArAyaNA enru uLLam uruga uraittiDennAvE

Oh my (en) tongue (nAvE)!, please utter (enru uraittiDu) the words 'Om namO nArAyanA' in a fashion that will melt (uruga) hearts/souls (uLLam).

A: kSEmam nalgum shrI guruvAyUr appan nAmamallAdAl uyvazhi vErEdu

If not (alladAl) from uttering the name (nAmam) of SrI guruvAyUr appan (appan is a term of endearment, but also means father/father figure/protector) that bestows/grants (nalgum) well-being (kSEmam), is there (Edu) any other (vEru) way (vazhi) to live (uyya).
[EDITORIAL COMMENT: In just one line here, Smt. Ambujam Krishna expounds the nAma mahimA - the benefits from just uttering the name of the Lord - it is the reason why people usually named their kids after a god/goddess, so that, when they called their child, they would, as an added bonus, earn some puNya as well! However, all that is eventually lost, because usually, a child named bhuvanESwari becomes 'bUnc' or some such thing, and pArthasArathI becomes pAcA!

]

C: paN ishaikkum pavazha vAi idazhum pankaja kaNNazhagum kuNDalam tigazh sheviyum
veN sangam tigiri olirk-karangaLum tAn tulabam tavazh mArbil minnum muppuri nUlum

In the caraNa, the composer describes the incomparable beauty of body that is attached to the name:

With coral red (pavazha) lips (vAi idazh) that make a million tunes (paN - the ancient tamizh equivalent of rAga; iSaikkum - makes music) [from the flute], the beauty (ahzagu) of his lotus-like (pankaja) eyes (kaNN), ears (Seviyum) that glitter/bedazzle (tigazh) with dangling ear rings (kuNDalam) - [EDITORIAL COMMENT: these ear-rings are supposed to shaped like an aligator/crocodile - makara/makarAkrit kuNDal, right?], and hands (karaNgaL) that shine (oLir) with the sudarshan chakra (tigiri) and the white (veN) pAncajanyam (Sankham), and the ceremonial thread (janEvU - muppuri nUl) that shines (minnum) on the chest (mArbil) decorated with a tuLasI (tuLabam) mAlA.

(madhyamakAla)
kinkiNi iDayArpa kazhal silambu khala khalakka maNNiDai vaikuNTh-appan tarum kAtSi tanai

With the bells from his waist-belt (iDaiyArpa) tinkling (kiNkiNi), and the anklets (Silambu) on his feet (kazhal) keeping time (kala kalakka - literally making noise, I guess), that (tanai) vision (kATshi) of vaikunTham that he grants (tarum) us here on this earth (maNNiDai)...

kaNDadoru kaLippODu paN pADi koNDADi karam kuvithu mei silirttu eddishaiyum edirolikka

Seeing (kaNDadoru) that vison of the Lord will make us experience horripilation (mei Silirtu), and the songs we sing (paN pADi) in his praises with hands (karam) joined together in anjali (kuvittu) will reverberate (edirolikka) in every/any direction (eddiSaiyum).

Naada Priya · Post by **Naada Priya** » 10 Oct 2007, 11:46

Which is th Janaka Raga of karna Ranjani....

I have heard the one rendered by Sri Sudha Raghunathan.... I felt that there is a tempo variation somewhere in the middle of the krithi... Please confirm if it is true...

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 10 Oct 2007, 17:28

rshankar,

Thanks for the meaning and the beautiful explanation.

Naada Priya: Karna ranjani is a janya of kharaharapriya.

the tempo variation starts at kinkiNi

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 10 Oct 2007, 18:19

arasi wrote:I think Charumathi Ramachandran tuned this song.

That's correct - what a marvellous job she has done!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 11 Oct 2007, 07:08

shishya wrote:rshankar,

Thanks for the meaning and the beautiful explanation.

Shishya,
You are very welcome! These translations help me appreciate these compositions even more, and I learn from my goof-ups. That is why I do them!