© & ℗ 2021 V.Shrinivasan - Grandson of Bharat Ratna M.S.Subbulakshmi and Managing Trustee of "Suswaralakshmi Foundation for Classical Music and Performing Arts"
S.Aishwarya & S.Saundarya are amongst the most popular singers of India from amongst the younger generation of musicians. Both of them are the Great Grand Daughters of Bharat Ratna Dr M.S. Subbulakshmi & the Grand Daughters of Sangeetha Rathnakara Dr Radha Viswanathan and the torch bearers of the MSS legacy.
Dolayam
Composer : Annamacharya
Raga : Khamas
Tala : Tisra Adi
On the eve of the auspicious occasion of the upcoming festival “Krishna Janmashtami” (Aug 30th 2021), S Aishwarya and S Saundarya regale us with a melodious presentation of “Dolayam ” composed by the great Poet Annamayya and popularized by Bharat Ratna M.S.Subbulakshmi and Sangeetha Rathnakara Dr Radha Viswanathan. The music for this song has been tuned by Kadayanallur Sri Venkataraman in the delightful Ragam “Khamas”.
Tallapaka Annamacharya (1408-1503) the mystic saint composer of the 15th century is the earliest known musician of India to compose songs called “sankIrtanas” in praise of Lord Venkateswara, the deity of Seven Hills in Tirumala, India where unbroken worship is being offered for over 12 centuries. Annamcharya is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Venkateswara's “nandaka” (Sword)
During his long and prolific career, Annamacharya composed and sang 32,000 Sankirtanas, 12 Satakas (sets of hundred verses), Ramayana in the form of Dwipada, SankIrtana Lakshanam , Sringaara Manjari, and Venkatachala Mahatmamyam. His works were mainly in Telugu & Sanskrit.
In this composition “Dolayam”, Annamacharya exquisitely brings out the beauty of Mahavishnu through His “Dasavathara” (Ten Avatars) vis matsya, kUrma, varAha, narasimha, vAmana, paraSurAma, rAma, krishNa, buddha and kalki. Interestingly in the last charanam, Annamayya also mentions “sira-pANE” which means balarAma and thus does not restrict the Avataras to just ten (as seen in the bhAgavata-purAna)
Pallavi
डोलायां चल डोलायां हरे डोलायाम् ॥
டோலாயாம் சல டோலாயாம் ஹரே டோலாயாம் ||
డోలాయాం చల డోలాయాం హరే డోలాయామ్ ||
DOlAyAM cala DOlAyAm hare DOlAyAm
Let us rock the cradle/swing (DOlAyAm) with krishNa (harE) on it and set it into motion (cala).
caraNam 1
मीनकूर्म वराहा मृगपतिअवतारा ।
दानवारे गुणशौरे धरणिधर मरुजनक ॥
மீனகூர்ம வராஹா ம்றுகபதிஅவதாரா |
தானவாரே குணஶௌரே தரணிதர மருஜனக ||
మీనకూర్మ వరాహా మృగపతిఅవతారా |
దానవారే గుణశౌరే ధరణిధర మరుజనక ||
mIna kUrma varAha m.rgapati avatArA
dAnavAre guNashaure dharaNIdhara marujanaka (DOlAyAm...)
(Let us rock the cradle with krishNa), the father (janaka) of manmatha (maru), the one who held up (dhara) the earth (dharaNi), the repository of moral character (guNa) and valor (SaurE), and the enemy (arE) of the demons (dAnava), who incarnated (avatArA) as a fish (mIna), a tortoise (kUrma), a boar (varAha) and the king (pati) of the beasts (mRga), the lion (narasimha).
caraNam 2
वामन राम राम वरकृष्ण अवतारा ।
श्यामलाङ्गा रङ्ग रङ्गा सामजवरद मुरहरण ॥
வாமன ராம ராம வரக்றுஷ்ண அவதாரா |
ஶ்யாமலாம்கா ரம்க ரம்கா ஸாமஜவரத முரஹரண ||
వామన రామ రామ వరకృష్ణ అవతారా |
శ్యామలాంగా రంగ రంగా సామజవరద మురహరణ ||
vAmana rAma rAma varakRshNa avatArA
shyAmaLANgA raNga raNgA sAmajavarada muraharaNa (DOlAyam...)
(Let us rock the cradle with krishNa), who overpowered (haraNa) the demon, mura, who granted the boon (varadA) of life to the elephant king (sAmaja), the wonderful raNgA with blue-hued (SyAmaLa) limbs (aNgA), who took the form of (avatArA) vAmana, paraSurAma, rAma, and the excellent (vara) krishNa.
caraNam 3
दारुण बुद्द कलिकि दशविधअवतारा ।
शीरपाणे गोसमाणे श्री वेङ्कटगिरिकूटनिलय ॥ 2 ॥
தாருண புத்த கலிகி தஶவிதஅவதாரா |
ஶீரபாணே கோஸமாணே ஶ்ரீ வேம்கடகிரிகூடனிலய || 2 ||
దారుణ బుద్ద కలికి దశవిధఅవతారా |
శీరపాణే గోసమాణే శ్రీ వేంకటగిరికూటనిలయ || 2 ||
dAruNa buddha kaliki dashavidha avatArA shIrapANi gosamANe shrIveNkaTagiri kUTanilaya (DOlAyAm...)
(Let us rock the cradle on the swing at srI venkaTagiri, that is equal to the whole world.. with krishNa), who lives/resides (nilaya) at the summit (kUTa) of the divine (SrI) venkaTa mountain (giri), holds a plough (shIra) in his hands (pANE), and smells (AnE) of myrrh (gOsam), who took the form of (avatArA) as the superlative (dAruNa) buddha and kalki (kaliki) to make up the ten (daSa) types (vidha) of incarnations.
Credit for Translation :
R Ravishankar and N Keerthi (Rasikas.Org)
We are also extremely grateful to the following persons in the making of this memorable video.
Cinematography : Shreedhar Mechri
Orchestration : Praveen D Rao
Flute : Varijashree Venugopal
Sitar : Shruti Kamath
Mridangam : B C Manjunath
Tabla : Gurumurthy Vaidya
Rhythm Pad : Pramath Kiran
Audio Recording and Mastering : Ashwin Prabhath
Sound Engineer : Rangaswamy
