nIlOtpalAmbA gauLAnta-rAga k.rtis
of muttusvAmi dIkSitar

P. P. Narayanaswami

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DAY 8 (saMbOdhanA vibhakti k.rti)

 nIlOtpalAmbikE

 rAgam:  chAyAgauLa (15)   tALam: rUpakam

 pallavi

 nIlOtpalAmbikE nityashuddhAtmikE mAmava

 anupallavi

 trilOkajanani tribhuvanamOhini

trailOkyacakravAsini sadguruguhavishvAsini

 caraNam

 mAyAprapa~njAtItasvarUpiNi

mucukundabhaktapAlini varadAyini

chAyAgauLarAgamOdini nira~njani

sAyujyAdidAyini saccidAnandarUpiNi

This k.rti is in sambodhanA vibhakti (vocative case).

anvayam (word order) -   nIlOtpalAmibikE! mAM ava – Oh nIlOtpalAmbikA, please protect me. All nouns ending in ”E” or “ni/Ni” qualify the saptamI noun “nIlOtpalAmibikE”.

Word for Word Meaning

nIlOtpalAmbikE  - oh nIlOtpalAmbA!

nityashuddhAtmikE – who has the form that is eternally pure

mAM - me

ava - protect

trilOkajanani – who is the creator of three worlds

tribhuvanamOhini – who deludes all three of them

trailOkyacakravAsini  - who resides in the trailOkya mOhana cakra

sadguruguhavishvAsini – who is affectionate towards guruguha

mAyAprapa~njAtItasvarUpiNi – whose form  transcends the illusory universe

mucukundabhaktapAlini – the one who protected the devotee mucukunda

varadAyini – the one who grants boons

chAyAgauLarAgamOdini – the one who delights in the rAgam chayagauLa

nira~njani – who is without any blemishes

sAyujyAdidAyini – who grants the various stages of liberation, like sAyujya

saccidAnandarUpiNi – who is the personification of  existence, consciousness, and bliss

Free Translation

Oh nIlOTpalAmibikA!, the one who is ever pure- please protect me.

You, who is the creator of the universe; and who deludes them; who dwells in the trailOkya cakram; who is affectionate to guruguha; the one who transcends the illusory universe;

The one who protected the devotee mucukunda; one who bestows boons; one who delights in the chAyAgauLa rAgam; the one without blemishes; one who grants various stages of liberation such as  sAyujya; the one who is the form of existence, consciousness and bliss.

NOTE

The rAgamudra, chAyAgAula is direct, as in the case of the previous k.rti in pUrvagauLa.

rAgam chAyAgauLa

A janyam (upA”ngam No. 2), placed under mAyamALavagauLa. (15)

vE”nkaTamakhi defines this rAgam as follows:

chAyagauLashca saMpUrNah ArOhe ga ni varjitaH |

niSada graha samyuktaH sAyamkAlE pragIyatE ||

mUrccana ArohaNam: s r m p d p m p d s n s avarOhaNam: s n d d p m g s r s

rAgA”ngam; sampUrNam; niSAda graham; gandhAram,and  niSadam varjyam in ArOhanam; suitable for singing in the evenings.

Sa”ngIta sampradAaya pradarshini gives only the k.rti, “sarasvatyA bhagavatyA” by muttusvAmi dIksitar, and a sa~ncAri by subbarama dIkSitar, with no lakSya gItam.

Prof: SRJ’s recent book gives the following information:

An  auDava – SADava janyam of mElam 15, mAyAmALavagauLa

ArOhaNam: s r m p n S

AvarOhaNam: S n d p m g  s

ArOhanam omits Ga and Dha; avarOhaNam omits Ri.

Even though this rAgam can be traced from the 18^th century, k.rtis are hard to find. There are three other scales in literature, one under mELam 3 (r g r m p d n s; s d n p m g r s), and the other two under mELam 15.  In spite of the fact that there are various possible scales of chAyAgauLa, compositions are very very rare.

The only k.rtis that are available in rAgam chAyAgauLa seem to be

sarasvatyA bhagavatyA (muttusvAmi dIkSitar)

nIlOtpalAmbikE (muttusvAmi dIkSitar)

mInAkSi (N.S.Ramachandran)

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