How many meanings abound
In your look –
The look you fling at me (He)
How many heavens are there
In (your) full embrace (She)
With the wafting floral scents
The worlds are thrilled (worlds have swooned)
When the ancal
plays (in the wind)
The beauties peep through… (He)
Beauties are for you to feast upon
And those feasts are your favorite things (She)
When the
Breeze flows away
Playing sehnai songs
Then I fall upon you in a trance (She)
Let us play swing in the distant
Blue blue clouds (He)
Let the time stop
Let this joy continue (He)
Let us forget the world
Let the heart melt away
Let us reach the distant lands
Today
[I’ve come to appreciate Dasarathi’s poetry mostly through
his movie songs. In India, there is a wrong perception about “poetry” among
intellectuals. Some academic scholars and critics have sidelined exquisite
movie lyrics (songs) and bhakti poetry into a lesser class of literature. But
if we go by the simple dictum, namely that
“any poem that touches your heart or makes demands on your intellect is
a good poem” then definitely there is plenty of excellent poetry in Dasarathi’s
writings. The last stanza in this song encapsulates very intense joy, a joy
known only to true lovers and artists. Here
in this instance the poet communicates to us the three most essential things in
life: time, joy, and a soft heart (a heightened emotional state1 that
is common to romance and bhakti). In such a state, it is not a big crime if we
momentarily suspend the external world and its worries. Let us enjoy this
melodious song sung by P. B. Srinivas and L. R. Eswari. The female vocalist is
an incomparable singer with her signature lilting vibrant voice, controlled
vibrato, and her masterly utterance of the difficult vowel (O). The
choreography and dance of the actress also deserves praise. And of course, how
can we ignore the excellent music of Vedha? I might have taken a bit of liberty
in the translation, just a phrase may be.]
1. See the classic (Sanskrit) work on aesthetics “Bhakti
Rasayanamu” by Madhusudana Saraswati. The Telugu translation by Prof. P.S. Sastri is
available at Kanchi Kamakoti website: http://www.kamakoti.org/telugu/30/index.htm
Copyright 2016 by the author
