8. MANIPRAVALA KRITIS

In the sāhitya of these songs, the words of two or three languages figure and the sentences are so coined and presented, that they are in consonance with the rules of grammar and prosody. A complete idea is conveyed in each case. Muttuswāmy Dīkshitar's kriti in Kāpi raga, Venkatāchalapate , is a good example. The sāhitya of the pallavi and anupallavi of this song are given below in the scripts of the respective languages for the sake of clearness. The matter given within brackets is in Telugu.

Pallavi: ---



वेंकटाचलपते (निन्नु नम्मिति वेगमे नन्नु)
वेंकटाचलपते (निन्‍नु नम्‍मिति वेगमे नन्‍नु)    ர க்ஷியுமையா ॥


Anupallavi:
पंकजासनप्रमुखादिविनुत (पदमु नाश्रयिंचिन वारि केल्‍ल संकटमुलु दीर्िच संपदलिच्‍चि)
மங்களம் பொருந்திய புலிவலத்தில் விளங்கும் ॥

The kritis: Ni sari samāna in Bhairavi raga and Sri Tyāgarāja Swāmi mahimanu in Vāchaspati rāga are also instances of manipravāla kritis. (The former song is given in notation on Pp. 119-120 of Practical Course in Karnatic Music Book Ⅲ 8th Edition.)

The sāhitya of the latter kriti is given on the next page. The Telugu part is printed in Devanāgari characters and the Tamil part is printed in Tamil. This is a song in praise of the great composer, Tyāgarāja.


(page) 166

Vachaspati raga - Rupaka tala


Pallavi:---
श्री त्‍यागराजस्‍वामि महिमनु     சிந்திப்பாய் நீ மனமே ॥

Anupallavi:
नित्‍यानन्‍दमनुभविंचिन     நித்யமங்கள சொரூபியான ॥

Charanam:
श्रीनगरमन्‍ढु पुट्टि     ஶ்ரீநாரத முனியினருளால்
गानशास्‍त्र मर्ममुलनु     கருத்துடனே யுணர்ந்து
भानुवंश र्ितलक कृपकु     பாததிரரான பரம பக்தர்
मानवुलकु मोक्षमिच्‍चे     மஹிமை வாய்ந்த கிருதிகளைச் செய்த ॥

Note . --- This song is given with notation in the Author's Kīrtana Sāgaram Bk. Ⅱ (Third Edition) Pp. 87-88.

Mani means a gem (ruby) or a precious stone and Pravālam means a coral bead (நற்பவழம்). Thus mani-pravālam is a jewelled combination of two languages. Mani-pravāla hīram (மணிப்ரவாளஹீரம்) is a case wherin three languages figure --- hīram means diamond. The Dikshitar's song referred to above is an instance of Mani-pravāla hīram and the other two songs, Manipravālam .

As compared to the sāhitya in a single language, a manipravāla sāhitya affords greater scope for the introduction of svarāksharas.


The information on this page is from " INDIAN MUSIC BOOK Ⅲ SIXTH EDITION" by Prof. P. Sambamoorthy, published in 1964 by The Indian Music Publishing House, Madras.
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