One song at a time - 14. Janani Sivakamini
One such incident happened to me when I was staying in Chennai. One evening I went to the Sharadamba temple in Krupa Sankari street, West Mambalam, which was close to my house. It was that mysterious evening time when the sun has finished his duty but the night has not yet taken over. The time of strange light. Accentuating this dusk hour were the oil lamps inside the sanctum sanctorium. There was no one around save the poojari and a mother-daughter pair. The daughter was young, dusky, short and had a round and pleasant face. Upon her mother's urging, standing in front of Sharadamba, she started singing an old Telugu melody, "Janani Sivakamini". Her voice was sweet and she sang quite sincerely. It was a great experience. The evening time, the almost empty temple, oil lamps in sanctum sanctorium, Sharadamba's graceful idol and the girl singing with sincerity. I never saw that girl again nor was that incident of any significance in my life but whenever I hear "Janani Sivakamini", the image immediately props up in front of my eyes. Such is the power of an image, once embedded, it doesn't leave you!!!
I will feature that same song today. "Janani Sivakamini", sung by Susheela at her peak, is from the movie 'Narthanashala'. The music is by Susarla Dakshinamurthy (for a long time I thought Susasrla Dakshinamurthy and V Dakshinamurthy were the same. They are not.) Lyrics by Samudrala. Susarla Dakshinamurthy has not done too many films but 'Narthanasala' is enough to give him musical immortality. This movie has some excellent songs, atleast one more of which we will feature in this series. This movie is based on the 'agnatha vasa' chapter of Mahabharata. An Italian director is supposed to have been so taken in by S V Ranga Rao's portrayal of Keechaka in this movie that he remarked, "This man is six feet full of talent." Very true words indeed.
Check out this video. You will see that the scene in the movie very closely matches my own experience !!!
Comments
Growing up, I still remember in our households my aunt/s singing this song for Navatris or such ther 'Perantam' occassions (I don't know the exact transalation word for Perantam in English or in Tamil)and also they also sang this one at any auspicious times' - mostly during aartis. You picked a great number Suresh, as always :) and gave us the 'must know trivia' about the music director, the song writer and the legendary S V Ranga Rao!
Apparently, SVR went to the same college as my dad, AVR was a senior I heard.
I wonder what would you write- if at all, about another song alled 'Chandana Charchitha..'. I hope/ have you heard of that song.
I am sure that this song would have been THE song in any function!! This song is divine and very melodic.
I ofcourse know about 'Chanda Charchita'. A lovely astapadhi. There are multiple versions of it in classical music, film and bhajana paddathi contexts. There is also a nice story associated with this song which has nothing to do with Jayadeva!!! You have now given me an idea for a later post. Thanks.
:) True. That would apply to Savithri as well but the girl I saw did not resemble Savithri :)
And yes..A melodious song full of peity..
Great!