Abhayamba Vibhakti

Oh! Auspicious mother, who gives shelter and grants all boons to her devotees with the hand gesture of protection! This is the appropriate occasion for you to come forth to my protection, by showing compassion.

caraNaM:

You are full of wonderfully auspicious attributes.
You are my savior. Oh Goddess, with eyes resembling a beautiful lotus flower, who bears witness to all events in one's life! Oh Supreme mother, by hearing your wonderfully auspicious attributes, I believe in my heart that you are my savior, you are the one with eyes like the lotus, and you are the witness of the true self.
You are the one who looks with permanent joy at your son, guruguha (subrahmaNya).
Please come to my rescue and protect me.

[Here are the lyrics of this k.rti in "actual" maNipravALam - with sanskrit, telugu, tamil fonts]

NOTES

Technically, maNipravAlam refers to a harmonious blend of maNI (gem) and pravALam (pearl) forming a beautiful garland. In poetical and musical works, this means a combination of phrases in various languages, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing composition. There are numerous maNipravala poems vogue in Kerala, where the poet judiciously combines Malayalam with Sanskrit. The entire work, "shrIk.rShNa caritam" is a manipravALa kAvyam in Malayalam and Sanskrit. In our context, dIkSitar employs three languages, namely, tamil, telugu, and sanskrit. . Besides the abhayAmbA maN^gaLa k.rti, dIkSitar has composed two other compositions, "shrI mahArAj~ni", and "veN^katAcalapatE" (both in kaRNATaka kApi) in maNipravALam style.

While dIskSitar chose Sanskrit language as the medium of communication for almost all his compositions and exploited the various beauties this language has to offer, he also composed a few pieces in telugu in addition to the above three in maNipravALam style . Deviating from his usual style of composing in Sanskrit language, he must have adopted telugu/tamil instead, perhaps to please the temple dancer Kamalam, who used to perform dances in Tiruvarur temple singing these Compositions. The song "nI saTi daivamu" in rAgam shrIra~njani is a telugu daru on Lord valmIkEeshvara of Tiruvarur, believed to be composed by him. The piece, "rUpamu jUci" in tODi is a cauka kAla varNnam (a varNam in the middle-tempo) in telugu on Tyagaraja. Some musicologists attribute this composition to dIkSitar, while others give the credit to his father

Just as in the kamalAmbA navAvaraNa group, this group also concludes with the auspicious rAgam shrI. In both maN^gaLams, the rAga mudra is featured in the opening phrase itself. (shri kamalAmbikE shive pAhi mAM)

For a discussion on shRIrAgam, see the latter part of the recent write-up on kharaharapriya.

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