Poetry Section #5
Now that we've (hopefully!) finished the first part of this song, let's move on...
Immediately after the first verse, part of it repeats. From now on, this will be the chorus:
ÖßÖßøµÞÜ çθ ÎßÅáÈ øÄßÉøÞ·çÎÞ
¥çÄÞ çÆÕøÞ·çÎÞ?
µá{ßøßW ÎáBáÎÞvÆÞÙ ÎãÆáÕßµÞøçÎÞ
¥çÄÞ çÆÕøÞ·çÎÞ?
...which, of course, means:
Is it the fragrance of the coupled clouds' "love" during the cold season,
Or is it just God's grace?
Is it the charming feeling of my soul's thirst diving into the cold,
Or is it just God's grace?
Go ahead and listen to me singing the chorus...though it certainly isn't the best singing in the world...!
Now, on to the next verse! I apologize once again for my horrible singing:
¦ÆcçøÞÎÙV×Õᢠ¥·á¢ÜàÏ Éá×íÉÕá¢
¥ÈáÍâÄß ÉµøáK ÎÇáø¢
¦ ÆßÕÞØbÉíÈÕᢠ¦ÈwÌÞ×íÉÕá¢
µÄßøß¿á¢ ÙãÆÏB{ßW
ÎÆÈ·ÞÈ ÉÜïÕß ÙãÆÏ ¼àÕø¼í¾ßÈß
§Ä{ß¿áÎà ÈßÎß×BZ
ÇÈc¢ ÇÈc¢ ÖßÖßøµÞÜ...
(Chorus (which, unfortunately, I didn't include in the sound file!))
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¦ÆcçøÞÎÙV×Õᢠ/aadyarOmaharshavum/- written & col., meaning "(both) the first thrill (and...)." Listen! This word is actually two words: ¦Æc çøÞÎÙV×Õᢠ/aadya rOmaharshavum/. ¦Æc /aadya/ is an adjective meaning "first." çøÞÎÙV×¢ /rOmaharsham/ means "thrill," and the suffix -ᢠ/-um/ means "and" in Malayalam.
¥·á¢ÜàÏ Éá×íÉÕᢠ/agumliiya pushpavum/- poetic phrase meaning "and [an] opening flower." Listen! My dad figured out the meaning of ¥·á¢ÜàÏ /agumliiya/, neither of us remember how. Éá×íÉ¢ /pushpam/ is the poetic word for "flower"; the common, colloquial word is ÉâÕí /puuvu/.
¥ÈáÍâÄß ÉµøáK ÎÇáø¢ /anubhuuthi pakarunna madhuram/- WELL!!! This is an expression literally meaning "sweetness transferring enjoyment." Listen! Obviously the lyricist (M.D. Rajendran) was doing what a lot of Malayalam lyricists (and musicians, etc.) do (disguising such disgusting scenes with flowery language and entrancing music)! Please tell me I don't have to explain that phrase!!! :) ¥ÈáÍâÄß /anubhuuthi/ is a poetic (probably not colloquial) word meaning "enjoyment," "experience," or "apprehension." ɵøáK /pakarunna/ is a descriptive verb (= transferring) from the verb ɵøáµ /pakaruka/, which means (written & col.?) "to move," "to transfer," "to infect," or "to mix." ÎÇáø¢ /madhuram/, perhaps from Sanskrit madhu which means "honey," is written & col. "sweetness."
¦ ÆßÕÞØbÉíÈÕᢠ/aa divaasvapnavum/- written & col. for "(both) that daydream (and...)." Listen! ¦ /aa/ is written & col. for "that" before a noun. ÆßÕÞØbÉíÈ¢ /divaasvapnam/, or "daydream," comes from the words ÆßÕØ¢ /divasam/, written & col. for "day," and ØbÉíÈ¢ /svapnam/, written & col. for "dream."
¦ÈwÌÞ×íÉÕᢠ/aanandabaashpavum/- written (I don't know if it's actually colloquial) for "and tears of joy." Listen! This is from the two words ¦Èw¢ /aanandam/, which is written & col. for joy (the name of Buddha's cousin--Ananda--means the same thing), and ÌÞ×íÉ¢ /baashpam/, which is a poetic word for a tear. The colloquial words for "tear" are µHàV /kaNNiir/ and/or, more properly, µHáÈàV /kaNNuniir/. Literally, the colloquial term means "eye-water"; µHí /kaNN/ means "eye" (written & col.) and ÈàV /niir/ (also written & col.?) is a word for "water" in Malayalam and other Dravidian languages.
µÄßøß¿á¢ ÙãÆÏB{ßW /kathiriTum hrdayangngaLil/- written & col. for "will blossom in hearts." Listen! µÄßøß¿á¢ /kathiriTum/ is the future tense of µÄßøß¿áµ /kathiriTuka/, which means the same thing as ÕßøßÏáµ /viriyuka/ from last time (i.e. "to blossom"). ÙãÆÏB{ßW /hrdayangngaLil/ comes from the plural form of ÙãÆÏ¢ /hrdayam/, which is written & col. for "heart," except in figurative love expressions, where, as explained in Jokes #14, one talks about the "liver" (µø{í /karaL(u)/ or µøZ /karaL/).
ÎÆÈ·ÞÈ ÉÜïÕß /madanagaana pallavi/- written for "the chorus of a delightful song." Listen! ÎÆÈ- /madana-/ is a prefix in literary Malayalam meaning "delightful" or "passionate." ·ÞÈ /gaana/ is an adjective which is from the poetic word for a song, ·ÞÈ¢ /gaanam/; the colloquial equivalent is ÉÞGí /paaTT/, which is apparently also the name of a language previously used in Kerala. ÉÜïÕß /pallavi/ means "chorus," or the most emphatic part of the song.
ÙãÆÏ ¼àÕø¼íEßÈß /hrdaya jiivaranjnjini/- written for "the existent queen of my heart." Listen! The meaning of ÙãÆÏ¢ was already discussed; ¼àÕø¼íEßÈß /jiivaranjnjini/ means "an alive queen" and is made up of two parts: ¼àÕ- /jiiva-/ is an adjective from ¼àÕX /jiivan/, which means "life." The more commonly used word for "life" is ¼àÕßÄ¢ /jiivitham/. ø¼í¾ßÈß /ranjnjini/ and øÞ¼í¾ß /raanji/ are both fancy, soft-sounding poetic versions of the word ùÞÃß /rraaNi/ (written & col.), which means "queen."
§Ä{ß¿áÎà ÈßÎß×BZ ÇÈc¢ ÇÈc¢ /ithaLiTumii nimishangngaL dhanyam dhanyam/- written for "these seconds will give rise to petals full of wealth." Listen! §Ä{ß¿áÎà ÈßÎß×BZ = §Ä{߿ᢠ¨ ÈßÎß×BZ /ithaLiTum ii nimishangngaL/, or "these seconds will give rise to petals." §ÄZ /ithaL/ means "petal," so §Ä{߿ᵠ/ithaLiTuka/ would mean "to give rise to petals," and §Ä{߿ᢠ/ithaLiTum/ = "will give rise to petals." ¨ /ii/ is written & col. for "this," and ÈßÎß×BZ /nimishangngaL/ (plural of ÈßÎß×¢ /nimisham/) is written & col. for "seconds." ÇÈc¢ /dhanyam/, or "wealth," is a more poetic equivalent for what is more commonly known as ÇÈ¢ /dhanam/ (same meaning).
So, this is our translation for the second part of Sisirakala:
The first thrill and an opening flower,
Sweetness transferring enjoyment,
That daydream and those tears of joy
Will blossom in our hearts.
The chorus of a delightful song, the existent queen of my heart,
These seconds will give rise to petals full of wealth--
During the cold season...
And finally, at last, the last part of the poem next time, for those of you who are still interested...!