Inspired by a very very moving rendition of “varugalamo” by *TM Krishna, RK Shriram Kumar and Arun Prakash at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 28 November 2015
Lyrics and Translation (from here)
pallavi: varugalAmO ayyA undan arugil ninru koNDADavum pADavum nAn
My Lord (ayyA) [1], may I (nAn) be permitted to come (varugalAmO) close and stand/stay/exist (ninru) beside (arugil) you (undan) to celebrate (koNDADavum) [2] and sing (pADavum) your praises?
*anupallavi: parama kripAnidhi allavO indap-parayan upacAram shollavO undan
paramAnandat-tANDavam pArkkavE nAnangE (varugalAmO ayyA…)
Aren’t (allavO) you the veritable repository (nidhi) of compassion (kripA)? Do you need this (inda) lowly harijan/untouchable (parayan) to explain (SollavO) the niceties of being civil (upacAram)? So, please (my Lord), may I (nAn) (be permitted to come close to you) here (ingE), so that I can observe (pArkkavE) your (undan) supremely (parama) blissful (Ananda) cosmic dance (tANDavam) to my heart’s content?
caraNam: bhUmiyil pulaiyanAip-pirandEnE nAn puNNiyam sheyyAmal irundEnE en
sAmi un sannidhi vandEnE bhavasAgaram tannaiyum kaDandEnE karai kaDandEnE
sharaNam aDaindEnE tillai varadA paritApamum pApamum tIravE nAn (varugalAmO ayyA…)
(My Lord), not only was I (nAn) was born (pirandEnE) as an outcaste (pulaiyanAi) upon this earth (bhUmiyil), but I have also lived (irundEnE) my life without accumulating/performing (SeyyAmal) deeds that would gain me moral merits/virtue (puNNiyam). However, my (en) lord and master (sAmi), the benefactor (varadA) [3] of cidambaram (tillai), I have arrived (vandEnE) at your sanctum (sannidhi) and sought (aDaindEnE) your refuge (SaraN) after crossing (kaDandEnE) this worldly ocean of misery (bhavasAgaram) and attaining (kaDandEnE) the shore (karai). So, (may) I (nAn) (be permitted to come and stay close to you) so that my painfully miserable anguish (paritApamum) and heinous sins (pApamum) are destroyed (tIravE) forever?
*MDR and Amritha Murali start from the anupallavi; I noted in bold some of the differences in MDR’s sahityam
*The versions by MDR, KVN and Amritha Murali are are s.l.o.w and beautiful (vilamba laya, chowka kaalam)
S Soumya Violin: RK Sriram Kumar, Mrudangam: Neyveli Narayanan
Sangeetha Sivakumar Violin: Meera Sivaramakrishnan Mrudangam: Umayalpuram Mali Ghatam: RA Rajagopalan Kanjira: BR Latha. 2001. DD Bharati
Udayalur Kalyanarama Bhagavathar
MM Dandapani Desikar From the film, Nandanaar (1942)
*Parayan, poramboku and devadasi: The dark casteist history of these common words – article by TM Krishna
Thank you very much for the lyrics and translation here. I’m comparing these lyrics and other lyrics I’m finding against a set of KVN recordings and one concert by Ramakrishna Murthy, and I’m noticing some discrepancies. I’m sure your lyrics are also fine, but I’m wondering if you can help me with the meaning at the spots that are different as I’m trying to learn the KVN pADAntharam:
1) In the anupallavi, KVN sings: “parama krupAnidhi allavo inda [Ezhai] upacharAram shollavo” – here, Ezhai comes where you have written “parayan”
2) In the charanam, KVN sings: “bhUmiyil [dInanai]” – dInanai replaces pulaiyanai
3) At the end of the charanam where the antara gAndAram comes, KVN seems to sing “kaDandE” and “aDandE” rather than “kaDandEnE” and “aDandEnE”
There is also a minor discrepancy in the anupallavi where KVN seems to sing “pArkavum” rather than “pArkavE,” but that does not change the sangathee substantially.
Once again, I appreciate the work you’ve done here, and hello from a fellow aspiring scientist!
Hello, and thank you for your words of appreciation.
Firstly, the translation is not mine, and I have edited the page to reflect this clearly (it took a scientist to point that out, maybe…).
My impression on “parayan” vs. “ezhai” — the song is about untouchability, and “paraayan” is what the original lyric was/must have been. Given the troubled history of the term, it is possible that “ezhai” was considered socially more acceptable. (see TM Krishna on aspects of this)