Malaya maarutham – A gentle breeze in heart.

After a long gap, continuing my blog again.

I am a coffee freak. A cup of Coffee in the morning always gives me the first throttle for the day’s run. Coffee lovers generally prefer not to take anything after coffee at least for few hours, as normally the taste lingers in the tongue for few hours. So is the Caffeine effect. But Good Music in the morning has a Strong effect than this. You may be surprised as to why I relate coffee and music here.

Couple of days back, in the early morning, I accidentally landed up on youtube video of Ranjani and Gayathri’s “Karpaga manohara” composed by Papanasam Sivan. The rendition was so good that, they brought the bhaava and essence of the raaga in every line they were singing. It was so influential that Couple of hours later when I headed to office I kept singing the Raga while riding the bike. In office, I realized I was so calm, peaceful and yet joyful by heart. Immediately I could relate this to the effect of Raga. This is one of several times, where I have really experienced the effect of ragas on my mind’s state.

Just like “Revathi”, Malayamarutham creates a swirl of Bhakthi around you. Even after reaching office, I couldn’t stop my thirst for the Raga. Started listening “Anumane saamikinda” composed by Arunachala kavirayar sung by Bombay Jayashree. My thirst for the raga just shot up even more that, I started listening different version of the same song from various singers. I started listening to Sikkil Gurucharan’s version of “Anumaane saamikinda” where he effervescently starts it with a virutham from kamba ramayanam(சூடையின் மணி கண்மணி) in Ragamalika(Behag,kapi and Malayamarutham). OMG, what an excellent rendition of the song. Arunachala kavirayaar chooses this Raga for the situation where Hanuman meets Sita in Ashoka vana. She gives her Choodamani to hanuman and tells Hanuman to show this as proof of her existence to Rama. This anecdote of Ramayana is centering around “HOPE”.

What an excellent choice of Raga for the situation. The Raaga just suits the situation. Everybody is hoping for some good everyday. After so many days of hurdle and sorrow, Sita is seeing the first ray of Hope for her rescue via Hanuman and now you know why Kavirayar has chosen this raga. As the name suggests “Malayamarutham – A gentle breeze from mountain”, the raga just fills your heart with bliss. The Raga also brings in hope in the confused minds(Chanchala manam) and opens the flow of karuna rasa from loveless hearts.

Similarly, Thyagaraja swami’s composition “Manasa etulorthune”, the lyrics is written in such a way that it counsels the mind. Brings in bhakti rasa and positive thoughts.

Allied Ragas:

Classical compositions:
Manasa etulo – Thyagaraja
Smarane ondhe – Purandaradasa
Karpaga manohara – Papanasam sivan
Anumaane saamikinda – Arunachala kavirayar

Film Music:
Kanmani nee vara – Thendrale ennai thodu
Poojaikkaga vaadum – Kadhal Oviyam. IR’s excellent composition. Especially the notes sanchaaras in charanam are notable.
Thendral ennai muthamittadhu
Oomai Nenjin Sondham – Manidhanin Marupakkam
Ragasiyamai Ragasiyamai – Dum Dum Dum