Oothukkadu, Aruna Sairam and Krishna Bhakthi

While I bite a piece of thenkuzhal and cheedai made for the occasion of Krishna Jayanthi, I am also reminded of some of the great compositions of Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaiyar who was an ardent devotee of lord Krishna and a few mind blowing renditions of Aruna Sairam.

Be it AlaipAyuthE or pAl vadiyum mugam or asaindAdum mayil ondru or thAyE yasOdA, the compositions are so simple and realistic and full of bhakthi and connects one with Krishna for sure.  I do not completely understand the sanskrit compositions of him like kalyAna rAma, mani nUpura dhAri, neeraja sama neela krishna etc. but certainly enjoy the songs.

Bombay sisters and Sudha Raghunathan have given many albums but Aruna's songs are more soulful.  Listen to Aruna's kAlinga narthana thillAnA, according to me, this is the best composition that I have ever heard.  And she preludes it with a viruttam describing the scene of Krishna playing the flute sitting on a rock surrounded by a few gopikas. This gathering is compared to that of an emperor and his ministers sitting in a durbar.  And the lyricist pays his pranams to a calf (signifying adiyaar vazhipaadu) that is blessed to be a part of this crowd.  What an imagination? It goes like this -

manamayakkum isaikkOlE senkOlAi 

thamAlathu mara nizhalE arakkudayAi

mAmayilin siragonrE makutamAi

vanam kidantha perum pArai ariyanaiyAi

mAnira andhi siru malargal padavinayAi

valathu amarnda nappinnai arasiyAi 

manam kasindu kAdal uru mangaiyargaL pEravaiyAi

danam perutha pasum kanathin manigalellam gana ganathu dharmathin pEroliyAi olithuvara

punal karutha yamunai nadhi thuraivan ivan amarndirukkum koluvinilE
anavaradam ammE ammE ammE endru azhaithu pala kattiyam sol azhagu siru pasum kandrE 
unakku Ayiram namaskAram

Aruna sings this virutham with full of bhavam.  When she sings manigal ellAm gana ganathu, you get a feeling that the bells actually ring.

VishamakkAra kannan and mAdu mEikkum kannE are two other cheerful songs composed by OVS and popularized by Aruna.  Though the songs appear to have been written for the youngsters, the elders like them more than the kiddos. I am no exception :))

mAdu meikkum kannE is a conversation between Yashoda and Krishna and the way Aruna finishes the song is just wonderful - with a mother's strict No and a son's pleading; kudos to her!

Chinnu will stand still and converge all his attention towards the song when he hears either of them. Look at how focused he is (must be around 7 months then), upon listening to vishamakkara kannan!