evarE AravEsEramma ...

Sri Bhujanga raaya Sarma has written scripts for many dance dramas by the Academy. In these dramas, the songs occupy a very special and dear place. In their recent tour, like a few CAD-CAM(1) families(2), our family has seen all three dramas several times, travelling to several cities. I am especially captivated by two songs in these plays, one a lilting melody, evarE? by Sita and her sisters, and another, a haunting melody, taruNa sakhI, by Siva after Dakshayani's immolation. The lyrics to the first song were transcribed by my daughter, as Seetalakshmi(3) hummed them on the tour bus, probably from Toronto to Syracuse. I typed them in, and got a few corrections courtesy of Venku(4), and with Master's permission, quoted the song in an article published in Telugu Jyothi, Nov '94. This is the song Sita and her three sisters sing in the garden, tossing a ball to each other. I will list the English transcription of the song, and a translation to the best of my abilities by its side. I would welcome any corrections, a better way of phrasing, etc... from knowledgeable people. I am by no means satisfied by my translation.

                           Behag Raga

enta vennela I rEyi                 such a moonlit night,
Emi cEsukundamE?                    what shall we do with this?
inta hAyi gunDeleTu bharincunE      how can my heart bear this happiness
gAli nA oDalella tanadigA nimurunE  the breeze is caressing all over my body
vinta giligintagA, sukhamugA...     with a ticklish feeling, so softly....

                       Ananda Bhairavi Raga

evarE, Ara vEsErammA,               who is it, that spread them to dry,
ETi isukapai venDi cIralU           silvery saris on the sands of the brook!
evarE, Oraga visirErammA,           who is it that gently cast,
ETi alalapai velugula valalU|evarE| nets of light, on the waves of the brook!

evarE, O yammA, evarE O yammA,      who is it, dear, who is it
vennellO, vennellO                  in this moonlit night!

evarE, allana callErammA,           who is it that sprinkled
Uru vADalA vajrAla dhULI            diamond dust on the city streets?
evarE, callaga vIcErammA            who is it that is coolly fanning,
iLLa bayaLLa tellani gAlI   |evarE| refreshing breeze on house fronts?

evarE, vintaga vEsErammA,           who magically applied
iLLaku manci mutyala vella,         whitewash of pearls to the housewalls?
evarE, krummarincErammA             who is it that emptied
ilapai gumma pAla velluvA   |evarE| such fresh milk on the face of the earth?

evarE, visuruga kurisErammA,        who briskly poured forth,
eDateripi lEni karpUra vAnA         this incessant shower of camphor?
cinuku cinukugA, tumparagA,         in a drizzle, like a shower,
jallu jallugA, kunDa pOtagA |evarE| like a sprinkle, in a downpour!

Such mesmerizing beautiful words!. The poet has woven rich, fine, imagery into the song, as a skilled artisan weaves fine jarI-work into a silk sArI.

Usually, songs in Telugu have a lot of Sanskrit words, and even longish phrases, which might make it easy to capture the meaning, by people conversant with other Indian languages. Such is not the case in this song. Many simple short Telugu words are used here, to create a delicately rich quality, striving for pada- lAlitya, instead of pada-gAmbhIrya. As it should be, considering the situation, and the content of the song.

The recurring aspect in the song is a kind of white-on-white imagery. To invoke this, the poet uses rather common things, such as the moonlight, the white sands of the beach, light reflecting off of the waves creating interesting patterns, cool breezes, colorful diffractions of the whitelight (perhaps by lamp globes), newly white-washed walls (With no less than powdered pearls! It is then nothing but "chuna", isn't it! Never mind the affordability! Those were the days when "muktA-chUrNa-samAyukta tAmbUlam" was offered as part of naivedyam to the ishTa dEvata. No substitution by mere akshatas. The fact that later, it is actually consumed by the yajamAni will be left unsaid here!). It is the combination of these simple words that creates a light lilting pattern.

Sita says to her sisters, that her happiness is unbearable, the moonlit night and the cool breezes are adding to that mood. She sees the sands by the brook, lit by the bright moonlight, as silvery sarees left there to dry, the meshy patterns of light being reflected by the gently swaying waves as nets made of light rays (photo- nets, as it were). She imagines the light scattered into several colors as someone sprinkling diamond dust all over the streets of the town, the sparkling walls as being the result of pearl dust applied as white-wash. She imagines the moonlight shining over the entire city, as the result of someone emptying huge quantities of "gumma-pAlu" (warm, freshly squeezed, milk) over the entire town! No, that is not enough. She imagines an incessant rain of camphor powder over the town, first in a light shower, then in a drizzle, then in a sprinkle, then in a downpour! How can one bear such happiness all alone! She shares it with her three sisters. And indirectly with all of us. Kalpalathika(5), when are you coming back?

I wanted to write a little bit about Sri Sangeetha Rao. In matters musical my knowledge is not little, it is plain non-existent. Yet, over the last four months, I had the good fortune to talk to this walking treasure of music a few times, and just listen to him as he was discussing things with others. He is as comfortable with explaining some intricacies in music, as he is with playing on the veena. With a solid grounding in the Classical Karnatic Music, he freely experiments with and employs Hindusthani Ragas, whenever the occasion demands it, and thereby conveys the "rasa" to the audience, which after all, is the task of the musician and the artist.

There is a song in the scene right after Siva sends Veerabhadra to punish Daksha. Here Siva is alone, brooding over the demise of his beloved. The song, "taruNA sakhI, praNaya SikhI", will be silently haunting me, until SVT starts mailing the video tapes. Then the haunting will be more intense.

The words, the tune, the skillful flute and violin bits (by veteran Nagarajan, and the up-and-coming Balasubramanian, whose violin touched a chord in my heart many a time) make this a memorable song. This song is set in the raga "bilAs khAnI tODi". When I mentioned this particular song to Sri Sangeetha Rao, he said that he generally picks Karnatic ragas to convey a scripture, a stricture, or such, whereas he picks a Hindusthani raga, to convey a mood, a grief, a solicitous word, and such. The story is that bilAs khAn, at the death of his father, tAn sEn, gave expression to his grief in his own inimitable style of interpretation of this tODi rAgA, which afterwards came to be known as bilAs khAnI tODi. (It is also said that the father himself had his own inimitable interpretation of the tODi rAgA, which is called "miyAn kI tODi".)

Along with Dr. China Satyam, these two people serve as prime movers in the mission of the Academy. I hope that in a future tour of this nature, the extra-ordinary talents of these two people would be utilized in organizing literary speeches, and music lecture-demonstrations. I haven't met Sri Sarma, but what I have seen of Sri Sangeetha Rao makes me feel that he could offer the music enthusiasts here, a great deal more in a format lecture than what he does as part of the orchestra.