Annamayya, in this poem describes the Lord Venkateswara as He is prepared for the darshan, i.e, the process of "alankara" (adornments) for the Lord; by marvelous similes. An interesting format Annamayya follows is to attribute the similes to Lord Venkateswara, by referring to the sobriquets of Alamelmanga/Lakshmi.
There are a couple of websites providing the meaning of this poem. While Shivakumar's page describes the word-word meaning of this song, it has only the song version and hence missing the third stanza. Sahityam.net translated the whole song but does not have word-word meanings. So here is my contribution : word-word meaning with discussion on a few distinct similes that Annamayya uses and Annamayya's poetic skills to revel in :).
There is an appalling consistency in the format of the stanzas all through this poem. I'll try to explain this consistency as clear as possible even though it gives away the essence of this poem even before going over the word-word meanings :). Hope I can bring out the essence. Here it is...
1) In the first line, Annamayya describes the action of adornment/alankara being performed on the Lord ( Example, camphor powder sprinkled, application of aromatic paste on cheeks, adorning with ornaments/jewelry)
2) In the second line, Annamayya describes the consequence or an after-effect of the alankara/adornment performed in first line( Example: the camphor fell off of His body, the aromatic paste melted down His cheeks, the jewelry shone)
3) In the third line, Annamayya refers to a Sobriquet of Alamelmanga (example: Full-moon faced one, the elephant-gaited one, the woman as lustrous as lightning)
4) In the final line, Annamayya describes the scene( in first and second lines) using a simile that is directly related to the sobriquet of Alamelmanga( in third line). Example: moonlight poured down, elephant's temporin oozing from temples, cloud with lightning
While MS Subbulakshmi's rendition is scintillating, it misses the third stanza. You can find it here
The full rendition by Balakrishna Prasad can be found here
ఒకపరి కొకపరి వయ్యారమై |
మొకమున కళలెల్ల మొలచినట్లుండె ||
Okapari kokapari vayyaramai
mokhamuna kalalella molachinatlunde
Word-Word:
ఒకపరిokpRI=one time; కొకపరిkokapari=(okapari)once again; వయ్యారమైvayyaramai= becoming beauty/grace
మొకమునmokhamuna=on the face; కళలెల్లkalalella= all the qualities/arts; మొలచినట్లుండెmolachinatlunde (molachi+atlu+unde) =sprouted/ cropped+like that+was||
Meaning:
Once and again! as beauty/grace,
on the face, all the qualities seemed to have cropped.
Discussion:
This is yet another poem where Annamayya talks about the grace/beauty of Lord Venkateswara's face. But as usual, he doesnot let us know who the person is until last stanza. In this stanza, he starts off by saying that once again, the arts/qualities seemed to have cropped on the face as beauty/grace. This is a self explanatory stanza.
Interesting to note that Annamayya uses "molachinatlu" ("sprouted/cropped") to describe that the artful qualities srpung on the face.
జగదేకపతిమేన చల్లిన కర్పూరధూళి |
జిగికొని నలువంక చిందగాను |
మొగి చంద్రముఖి నురమున నిలిపెగాన |
పొగరు వెన్నెల దిగబోసి నట్లుండె ||
Word-Word
జగదేకపతిjagadekapathi(jagath+eka+pathi)= (world+one+Lord) the one lord of this world; మేనmena= hue; చల్లినchallina= sprinkled; కర్పూరధూళి karpura dhuli=camphor powder;|
జిగికొనిJigikoni= having sparkled; నలువంకnaluvanka=four directions; చిందగాను chindaganu= as it poured;
మొగిmogi= whole/total/together; చంద్రముఖిchandramukhi= the moon-faced; ఉరమునuramuna= on chest; నిలిపెగాన nilipegaanu=standing |
పొగరుpogaru=prideful; వెన్నెలvennela=moonlight; దిగబోసిdigabosi= to lower down; నట్లుండెnatlunde= seems as if;
Meaning:
The world's Lord's hue sprinkled camphor powder;
having become lustrous, poured in four directions;
The full-moon faced one, on his chest, as was standing;
the haughty moonlight seemed to have lowered.
Discussion:
This stanza is a marvel and filled with great poetic essence. I am skeptic about a few words at a couple of places in this stanza. It could that I am looking at it from a different perspective on this or that the lyrics I have are not correct. In the first line, "jagadekapathi meedaa" makes more sense and relevance than "Jagadekapathi mena". "Mena" means hue/color while "meeda" means upon. Annamayya in the first two lines presents a picturesque view of camphor powder sprinkling on the body, gaining lustre and then falling off of Lord's body. There are two descriptions that are amusing. First, that the camphor powder gained lustre/shine after falling on the Lord, and as they were falling off of his body, they shone. In the next two lines, Annamayya says that with the full-moon faced one(Lakshmi) established on His chest, seemed as if the haughty/prideful moonlight had lowered down its light on the Lord. The interesting point in these lines is the use of "pogaru vennela"(Proud moonlight) and "digabosi"(lowered). Annamayya emphasizes a couple of points by using these words. First, "pogaru vennela"(Proud moonlight) is used to describe that the moonlight is so proud of itself/himself and usually is in the sky. But such moonlight was humbled by the brightness/lustre of Lakshmi who was placed on the Lord's chest. By using the word "mogi chandramukhi"(full-moon faced) to describe Lakshmi, Annamayya has subtly brought out his poetic authority. The second point is that of using "digabosi"(lowered down). This refers to two things: the moonlight being humbled and also that the moonlight poured down its light onto the Lord. And hence when the lustrous camphor powder sprinkled off of the Lord's body, it seemed like moonlight pouring off of Him because of the moon-faced one on His chest.
పొరిమెరుగు చెక్కుల పూసిన తట్టుపునుగు |
కరగి ఇరుదెసల కారగాను |
కరిగమన విభుడు గనుక మోహమదము |
తొరిగి సామజసిరి తొలికినట్లుండె ||
Word-Word:
పొరిమెరుగుporimerugu(pori+merugu)=(exceedingly/strongly+ glitter) strongly glittering; చెక్కులchekkula= cheeks; పూసినpoosina=that applied; తట్టుపునుగుtattu punugu= (to strike+civet/perfume) |
కరగిkarigi= having melted; ఇరుదెసలirudesalu(iru+desalu)=(two+directions) in both directions; కారగానుkaaraganu= having spilled; |
కరిగమనkarigamana(kari+gamana)=(elephant+walk/gait)the lady with elephant-gait, Lakshmi ; విభుడుvibhudu= Lord; గనుకkanuka=because of that; మోహమదముmohamadamu(moha+madamu)=(infactuation+ passion)|
తొరిగిthoragi= lessened; సామజసిరిsamajasiri(samaja+siri)= (elephant+treasure)the juice or temporin exuding from the temples of elephant attributed to rut; తొలికిtholiki= rained; నట్లుండెnatlunde(atlu+unde)=(like that+was) it seemed like that ||
Meaning:
the exceedingly lustrous cheeks , when applied with civet(perfume);
having melted, in both directions spilled;
Because he is the Lord of the elephant-gaited one, his lustful passion
gushing as the elephant's temporin seemed to have rained.
Discussion:
The Lord is applied with aromatic paste on the cheeks as a part of the alankara. But it seemed to have melted and it started to run down his cheeks. Annamayya uses the simile of an elephant's temporin oozing out from its temples during musth.
I had to look for an elephant's behavior and the juices from elephant's temples in wikipedia. For reference, Wikipedia has a few pictures describing the process and also pictures of elephants in musth.
Coming back to the poem, Annamayya backs his simile with an indirect reasoning, that is reasonable only in poems :). So Annamayya says that since He is the husband of Lakshmi, who is described poetically to have the graceful elephant gait, it seemed as if the civet spilling out of his cheeks looked as if temporin was oozing out of the elephant's temples.
But this is an interesting fact about elephants and really amusing to be used in poems even though I have read similar similes especially in Hindi literature too.
మెరయ శ్రీవేంకటేశుమేన సింగారముగాను |
తరచైన సొమ్ములు ధరియించగా |
మెరుగు బోడి అలమేలు మంగయు తాను |
మెరుపు మేఘము గూడి మెరసినట్లుండె ||
Word-Word:
మెఱియmeriya=rock ; శ్రీవేంకటేశుSri Venkateshu(venkata+eesha)= Venkata's Lord; మేనmena=hue సింగారముగానుsingaramuganu= as ornaments |
తరచైనtarachaina= that was rare; సొమ్ములుsommulu= jewelry; ధరియించగాdharinchaga= as (he) wore; |
మెరుగుబోడిmeragubodi= a woman as lustrous/beautiful as a flash of lightning; అలమేలుalamelu=Lotus; మంగయుmanga= Lady; తానుthanu= and himself |
మెరుపుmerapu= lightning; మేఘముmeghamu=cloud; గూడిkudi=together; మెరసినట్లుండెmerasinatlunde (merasina+atlu+unde) = shine+ like that+was||
Meaning:
Lustrous Venkatesha, as ornaments,
very rare jewelry wore;
the lady lustrous like lightning, Alamelmanga herself,
lighting and cloud together shone, it seemed.
Discussion:
The Lord Venkatesha is adorned with jewelry. Annamayya says that it seemed as if the clouds shone with the lightning. Annamayya backs his simile by saying that Alamelmanga is herself lustrous like a lightning, (another sobriquet used in poems to describe women and their beauty).And so, the Lord who is usually dark like the cloud seemed to shine with the ornaments like lighting with clouds.
As always, any suggestions or comments are appreciated to help in understanding this poem better.
References:
[1]lyrics from http://godvenkateshwara.blogspot.com/2012/05/annamayya-keerthanas-okapari-kokapari_8866.html
[2]http://www.shivkumar.org/music/okapari.pdf
[3]http://sahityam.net/wiki/Okapari_kokapari
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musth
