Sri Periyavachan Pillai Pasurapadi ramayanam set to tune

[Guest guest]

Condensed epic set to tune

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/01/04/stories/2008010451380600.htm

 

 

 

 

SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI

 

Vasundhara sang Peria Vachan Pillai’s Paasurapadi

Ramayanam as Velukkudi Krishnan provided erudite

comments.

 

Photo: N.Sridharan

 

LEC-DEM: Velukkudi U.Ve.Krishnan (left) commenting as

Vasundhara Rajagopal (right) renders a musical

presentation.

 

 

Vyaakhyaana Chakravarthi Peria Vachan Pillai, the only

commentator to have written commentaries on all 4,000

verses of the Divya Prabandham, has also written

“Pasurappadi Ramayanam.” He has strung together words

from the Azhwars’ pa surams to give us the whole

Ramayana story in just 180 lines. And the beauty of

his work is that he has retained the original words of

the Azhwars, making only minimal changes in the

vibhakthi or lingam, said Velukkudi Krishnan. Or a

word or two might have been added, to maintain

continuity.

 

On Sunday last at the Parthasarathy Swami Sabha,

Vasundhara Rajagopal rendered Paasurappadi Ramayanam

giving the lines musical shape — she had roped in 33

ragas for the purpose — with Velukkudi Krishnan coming

up with appropriate comments.

 

Extensive work by azhwars

 

 

The Azhwars have written extensively on the vibhava

and archa forms of the Lord. Tirumangai Azhvar, for

example, sums up the Dasavatara in the verse,

“Meenodaamai, kezhal ari kuralaai...” Of the ten

avataras, Rama and Krishna are considered complete

(poorna) avataras. References to Rama lie scattered

through the prabandhas, making it difficult for a

reader to zero in on them. Pasurappadi Ramayanam is

therefore a boon to Rama Bhaktas.

 

Peria Vachan Pillai begins with the words from

Tirumangai Azhwar’s Peria Tirumozhi — ‘Tirumadandai

Manmadandai iru paalum tigazha…’ He (Rama) came as the

scion of the Surya vamsam — Venkadiron kulathukkor

vilakkaai. Peria Vachan Pillai has added the words

nadandu to the words from the Divya Prabandham.

 

It might be apt to recall an article of D. Ramaswamy

Iyengar. While writing about the Tiruneermalai temple,

he says that the “Nadandaaan” in Tirumangai Azhwar’s

pasuram relating to that temple could not be a

reference to Trivikrama, but instead pointed to Rama.

After all, Trivikrama took three giant steps, and that

was it. But Rama walked miles and miles in the forest.

 

Velukkudi Swami spoke of how the Lord at

Tirukkannamangai redeemed his promise to Tirumangai

Azhwar, when the latter was born as Nampillai under

the star Karthikai, in the month of Karthikai. The

Lord himself appeared as Peria Vachan Pillai in the

month of Avani under the star Rohini, and studied

under Nampillai.

 

Why is Sundara Kandam so called? According to

Velukkudi Swami because Sita, Rama, Hanuman and the

other principal characters in it are beautiful, and

because we become beautiful too when we read it!

 

Velukkudi Swami’s lecture was brilliant, with many

references to other works. His erudite and absorbing

comments with a dash of humour, left one yearning for

more.

 

It was an admirable effort on the part of Vasundhara.

“I sang the Rama Nataka kritis at the TTD centre, T.

Nagar. Srinivasan of the centre then suggested that I

should set to tune the Pasurappadi Ramayanam too and

gave me the text. I then asked

M.V.Anantapadmanabhachariar to explain the work to

me,” said Vasundara.

 

“Getting the meter to fit into a tune was difficult. I

had to ensure that the beauty of the sahityam was

highlighted. I felt it would be ideal to have a

lec-dem. So I requested Velukkudi Swami to talk on the

Pasurappadi Ramayanam.” One hopes she will include

portions of the ‘Pasurappadi Ramayanam’ in her regular

concerts.

 

Vasundhara was accompanied by Usha Rajagopalan on the

violin, Nellai Balaji on the mridangam, and

Madippakkam Murali on the ghatam. Usha’s rendering,

especially of ragas Varali, Kedaragowla, Saveri and

Sahana, was very good. A Thanjavur painting of Rama

Pattabhishekam on the dais added an artistic touch to

the programme.

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________\

____

Never miss a thing. Make your home page.

http://www./r/hs