Post by Sumi on Jan 13, 2012 22:32:45 GMT 5.5
Courtesy: Shri Venkatraman Gurumurthi
Source: www.periva.org
Dear all:
From Mahamahopadhyaya Brahmasri Krishnamuthy Sastrigal's Upanysam and youtube, I happened to learn that the three things mentioned in the subject line have a very good connection/association. Let us see how...
1. "nija sallApa mAdhurya vinirbhatsita kacchapi". We are all familiar with this verse from Lalitha Sahasranamam. It means, one (Ambaal) whose speech is more melodious than kaccapi, the Veena of Saraswathi. This single line from Lalitha Sahasranamam has been elaborated by Maha Periyava with the 66th Sloka of Sri Adi Sankarar's Soundarya Lahari.
2. "vipanchyA gAyanti vividham apadAnaM pashupateH
tvayArabdhe vaktuM calita shirasA sAdhu vacane
tadIyair mAdhuryair apalapita tantri-kala-ravaAM
nijAM vINAM vANI nichulayati cholena nibhRtaM"
There is a whole dramatic scene (much much better than those from Tamil Serials) happening here. It takes place in the very presence of Ambaal. Ambaal is sitting totally relaxed and she is listening to Goddess Saraswati's music performance. The word VANI in the fourth line confirms this. The phrase vipanchyA gAyanti tell us that Goddess Saraswati was playing Veena. Simultaneously she is also singing. So, the very Goddess of Arts, Music and all Knowledge is playing Veena and singing the praise of her (Ambaal) Lord (Shiva). We can all imagine the infinite grandeur of the sweet richness of such a performance.
It seems Ambaal was enjoying the performance and was also very much pleased. (Hmm.. yaarukku thaan avaloda aathukaar perumaya paadina pidikaathu) While relishing the same, Ambaal was nodding her head in approval and appreciation. This can be validated by the phrase Calitha shirasA in the second line. It appears that, Ambaal suddenly, instead of silently nodding her head, also began to applaud orally by saying a few appreciative words ("sAdhu, sAdhu"), which means "Good, Good" (just like carnatic music rasikas say "besh, sabaash" and so on). But, as soon as these words were spoken by Ambaal, something dramatic happened. This is the punchline of the story. This is present in the third and fourth line of the sloka.
There could be nothing sweeter and more melodious than the music of Saraswati's veena; for she si the Goddess of Music. If there could be something more pleasant, it must be her own voice. But now the few words (sAdhu sAdhu) that stemmed forth from Ambaal, have transformed all that into nothing. It seems Saraswati stopeed her singing when she realised the overpowering of Ambaal's voice. Her Veena music also has been over-powered. Saraswati draws the cover of her Veena and hides it. To say it in other words, Saraswati accepted that her Veena is nothing before the sweet voice of Ambaal and she stopped it then and there. It seems, even after being stopped, the music of the veena has a characteristic of reverberation, due to the resonating vibrations of the strings. So, Saraswati quickly silences it by hiding it under its own cover. This can be inferred from the fourth line of the sloka.
So, in a nutshell, Ambaal, though she had all the musical sweetness in her own voice, intended to honour Saraswati by nodding her head all along and saying the appreciative words "sAdhu". But instead of encouraging the performer to perform more, it resulted in the performer bowing down and stopping the performance. This incident brings into focus the greatness of both Saraswati and Ambaal.
3. In the below mentioned YouTube link, you will see how beautifully Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan has sung and taught this sloka in Ananda Bhairavi ragam.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hv54K_tgw8
Best regards
Venkatraman
Source: www.periva.org
Dear all:
From Mahamahopadhyaya Brahmasri Krishnamuthy Sastrigal's Upanysam and youtube, I happened to learn that the three things mentioned in the subject line have a very good connection/association. Let us see how...
1. "nija sallApa mAdhurya vinirbhatsita kacchapi". We are all familiar with this verse from Lalitha Sahasranamam. It means, one (Ambaal) whose speech is more melodious than kaccapi, the Veena of Saraswathi. This single line from Lalitha Sahasranamam has been elaborated by Maha Periyava with the 66th Sloka of Sri Adi Sankarar's Soundarya Lahari.
2. "vipanchyA gAyanti vividham apadAnaM pashupateH
tvayArabdhe vaktuM calita shirasA sAdhu vacane
tadIyair mAdhuryair apalapita tantri-kala-ravaAM
nijAM vINAM vANI nichulayati cholena nibhRtaM"
There is a whole dramatic scene (much much better than those from Tamil Serials) happening here. It takes place in the very presence of Ambaal. Ambaal is sitting totally relaxed and she is listening to Goddess Saraswati's music performance. The word VANI in the fourth line confirms this. The phrase vipanchyA gAyanti tell us that Goddess Saraswati was playing Veena. Simultaneously she is also singing. So, the very Goddess of Arts, Music and all Knowledge is playing Veena and singing the praise of her (Ambaal) Lord (Shiva). We can all imagine the infinite grandeur of the sweet richness of such a performance.
It seems Ambaal was enjoying the performance and was also very much pleased. (Hmm.. yaarukku thaan avaloda aathukaar perumaya paadina pidikaathu) While relishing the same, Ambaal was nodding her head in approval and appreciation. This can be validated by the phrase Calitha shirasA in the second line. It appears that, Ambaal suddenly, instead of silently nodding her head, also began to applaud orally by saying a few appreciative words ("sAdhu, sAdhu"), which means "Good, Good" (just like carnatic music rasikas say "besh, sabaash" and so on). But, as soon as these words were spoken by Ambaal, something dramatic happened. This is the punchline of the story. This is present in the third and fourth line of the sloka.
There could be nothing sweeter and more melodious than the music of Saraswati's veena; for she si the Goddess of Music. If there could be something more pleasant, it must be her own voice. But now the few words (sAdhu sAdhu) that stemmed forth from Ambaal, have transformed all that into nothing. It seems Saraswati stopeed her singing when she realised the overpowering of Ambaal's voice. Her Veena music also has been over-powered. Saraswati draws the cover of her Veena and hides it. To say it in other words, Saraswati accepted that her Veena is nothing before the sweet voice of Ambaal and she stopped it then and there. It seems, even after being stopped, the music of the veena has a characteristic of reverberation, due to the resonating vibrations of the strings. So, Saraswati quickly silences it by hiding it under its own cover. This can be inferred from the fourth line of the sloka.
So, in a nutshell, Ambaal, though she had all the musical sweetness in her own voice, intended to honour Saraswati by nodding her head all along and saying the appreciative words "sAdhu". But instead of encouraging the performer to perform more, it resulted in the performer bowing down and stopping the performance. This incident brings into focus the greatness of both Saraswati and Ambaal.
3. In the below mentioned YouTube link, you will see how beautifully Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan has sung and taught this sloka in Ananda Bhairavi ragam.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hv54K_tgw8
Best regards
Venkatraman