Samasya Pooranam – Part II

A few years ago, when I wrote about Samasya Pooranam here, and here,  I had no clue one day I could try these word games too.  But over the last year, thanks to the wonderful lessons and posters on Padyapaana, I did make some effort in this direction. And I thought of presenting a few of those in this post.

Samasysa Pooranam refers to the art of completing a verse in a specified meter when one line of the verse is given. The given line in isolation may often border on being meaningless or ridiculous. It is up to you to solve the puzzle, and  bring sense into the senseless line in an effective way.

The open nature of the problem can result  scores of interesting solutions. Here are some of my recent trials at Samasya Poorana:

Question:  “ರಾಮಗಾಗದ ಕಾರ್ಯ ಕಪಿಗಳಗುಂಪಿಗತಿ ಸುಲಭ ” -  “The task easy for a bunch of monkeys is impossible for Rama”

This is the 3/6 line of a verse in written in Bhamini shatpadi meter.  How can the almighty Rama be inferior to a bunch of monkeys? Oh Well, hold on. Didn’t a bunch of monkeys build the bridge across the ocean during Ramayana? True, but then how about solving the question a little differently?

ನೇಮದಲಿ ಹಂಬಲಿಸೆ ಸೀತೆಯು
ಕಾಮ ವೈರಿಯ ಮಡದಿ ಮಂಗಳ
ಧಾಮೆ ಗೌರಿಯ ಲಕ್ಷ ಪೂಜೆಗೆ ವಾನರರ ಸೈನ್ಯ
ಆಮರೀಮರಕೆಲ್ಲ ನೆಗೆದಾ-
ರಾಮದಲಿ ಹೂಗಳನು ಬಿಡಿಸಿರೆ
ರಾಮಗಾಗದ ಕಾರ್ಯ ಕಪಿಗಳಗುಂಪಿಗತಿ ಸುಲಭ!

When Seeta wanted to perform the Laksha Pooje for Mangala Gouri, who else but the monkey army could climb up trees and bushes and pick all those flowers? Certainly Rama could not have done it so fast. Right?

Since we’re on the topic of Ramayana, here is a related samasya poorana – this one in mattebhavikreedita meter:

ಪತಿಗಳ್ ಸೀತೆಗದೆಷ್ಟು ಮಂದಿ ಗಣಿಸಲ್ಕೇನೊರ್ವರೇ? ಇರ್ವರೇ?

Sounds on the border of being offensive – Right? This kind of talk definitely not befit Seeta, who is considered the epitome of virtue!

I had to send Seeta to her Physics classroom to solve this

ಹಿತದೊಳ್ ತೋರ್ಪೆನು ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಪಾಠಗಳ ನಾಂ ನೀ ಬೇಗಬಾರೆಂದೆನ-
ಲ್ಕತಿಸಂತೋಷದಿ ಬಂದ ಸೀತೆ ಮುದದೊಳ್ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲೆ ಕಣ್ಣಾಗಿ ಜಾ-
ಗೃತಿಯಿಂ ಪಟ್ಟಕಮಂ ತಳೆರ್ದಿರೆ ಮೊದಲ್ ಬಾನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡರ್ ದಿವ-
ಸ್ಪತಿಗಳ್ ಸೀತೆಗದೆಷ್ಟು ಮಂದಿ! ಗಣಿಸಲ್ಕೇನೊರ್ವರೇಯಿರ್ವರೇ ?

What did Seeta see in her Physics class when she turned the kaleidoscope towards the sky? A hundred (or more) Suns!  Definitely qualifies for the adjective “uncountable”!

(ಪಟ್ಟಕ = prism, but used here to mean a kaleidoscope   ದಿವಸ್ಪತಿ = literally, the “lord of the day”, or the Sun)

OK, now let me move from Ramayana to Bharata, that is to India, more specifically today’s India. One of the samasya poorana lines given during the Shatavadhana in Dec 2012 was “ಭಾರತದಿ ದುಶ್ಯಾಸನನೆ ದ್ರೌಪದಿಯ ಸಖನಲ್ತೆ!” – “Truly, Dushyasana is a friend of Draupadi”.

Here is my solution, which unfortunately, is based on what happened in Delhi during Dec 2012:

ನಾರಿಯೋರ್ವಳ ಬೀದಿಬೀದಿಯ
ಲಾರು ಕೇಡಿಗ ದುರುಳರು ಬಲಾ-
ತ್ಕಾರಗೈದಿರೆ ಗೈದಿರೆ ಯಾರು ಕಾಯ್ದರು  ರಾಜಧಾನಿಯಲಿ ?
ಕೌರವನ ಖಳಸಭೆಯಲೆನ್ನಯ
ಸೀರೆಯನ್ನೆಳೆದವನೆ ಲೇಸೀ
ಭಾರತದಿ ದುಶ್ಯಾಸನನೆ ದ್ರೌಪದಿಯ ಸಖನಲ್ತೆ !

In one of my earlier posts on this subject here, I’d  sort of mixed up two distinctly different puzzlers: Dattapadi and Samasya poorana. Let me not dwell into that,  but suffice it to say that  while Samasya Poorana refers to completing a verse when one of the lines is given,  Dattapadi refers to composing a verse that includes set of given words are given, on a specified topic – Not unexpectedly, often the words totally unrelated to the topic are given.

Here is one such example - How would an experienced politician advice an upcoming politician to take the right ways to success ? Since this is the internet era, the solution must contain the words: e-mail, chat, phone and gram!

Here are two different solutions I came up with in the Bhamini shatpadi meter:

ಗ್ರಾಮ ಪಂಚಾಯ್ತಿಯಲಿ ಕಾಲಿ-
ಟ್ಟಾಮೆಯಂತೆಯೆ ಬೆಳೆಸು ಚರ್ಮವ!
ಸಾಮದಲ್ಲಿಯೆ ಗಳಿಸಿ ಫೋನಲಿ ಸೋನಿಯಳ ಕೃಪೆಯ!
ನೇಮದಲ್ಲಿರೆ ಹೈಕಮ್ಯಾಂಡಿನ
ಮೈಮೆಯಲೆನೀ ಮೇಲಕೇರುವೆ!
ರಾಮನೇ ನೀ? ಬೇಡ  ಸೇವೆಯ ಗೀಳು! ಹುಚ್ಚಾಟ!

ರಾಮರಾಜ್ಯದ ನೆಪದಿ ನೀಕು-
ಗ್ರಾಮದಲೆ ಮುಂದಾಳುವಾಗು! ನೋಡೈ
ನಾಮಹಾಕುತ ಜನಕೆ ಮಾಡುತಲಷ್ಟು ಕಿರುಚಾಟ!
ನೇಮವಿಡೆ ಮೇಲ್ನವರ ಫೋನಾ-
ರಾಮದಲ್ಲೇ ಹುದ್ದೆ ತರುವುದು!
ಗೇಮೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಮೇಲಕೇರ್ವುದು ದಿಟದಿ ಬಲುಕಷ್ಟ!

And now, how about describing an outdated mode of transportation – such as a bird using some modern vehicles? The question here is to describe the well known story of Gajendra Moksha, using the words “Cycle”, “Van”,”Lorry” and “Car”.

Here is my attempt at answering the question in a pancha mAtrA  choupadi –  a traditional 4 lined meter:

ಅಸುವು ಹೋಗುತಲಿಹವು ವ್ಯಾನಾದಿ ಪಂಚಕವು

ತುಸು ನೀನು ಕರುಣಿಸೈ ಕಲ್ಲಾಗಿಸದೆ ಮನವ

ಮೊಸಳೆಯಿಂದೆನ್ನುಳಿಸಲಾರಿಹರೆನಲು ಗಜವು

ಎಸೆವ ಕಾರ್ಮುಗಿಲಿಂದ ಗರುಡವಾಹನ ಬಂದ!

Here is another small variation of the same question to describe Gajendra Moksha episode, using the words “Auto”, “Rickshaw”, “Volvo” and “Lorry”.

ಮೊಸಳೆಯಾರ್ಭಟವೇನು! ಆಟೋಪವಿನ್ನೇನು!

ಹಸುಳೆಯಾನೆಯ ಬಾಳೆಗಿಡದವೋಲ್ವೊರಗಿಸೆ

ಅಸುವ ಕಾಯೆಂಬ  ಮೊರೆಗೆಲ್ಲಾರಿಗೂ  ಮೊದಲು

ನಸುನಗುತ  ಹರಿಯಂತರಿಕ್ಷದಲೆ ಪೊರೆದ!

But to really enjoy Samasya Poorna, Dattapadi and many more interesting poetic puzzles in Kannada, I must urge you to visit Padyapaana, a great resource of fun in learning prosody. I’m sure you’ll definitely be astounded by the variety of answers to each such puzzle on Padyapaana. I strongly encourage you to go and checkout a few posts here.

-neelanjana

(Picture courtesy: Wikipedia; Gajendra Moksha sculpture on the walls of Dashaavataara temple, Deoghar)

Jupiter-Moon Conjunction: January 21, 2013

Last couple months we’ve seen some nice conjunctions of Jupiter and the Moon. On January  21st, they will come closest seen from the Earth. They would be seen about half a degree apart at the closest. As a comparison, the full Moon is about half a degree in diameter.

Here is a simulated view of the conjunction.

This conjunction is well placed seen from the western hemisphere, because it happens during the early part of night for this side of the Earth. The closest point being around 7:00 pm Pacific time.  If you remember the Moon moves almost 13 degrees in one day,the conjunction may not appear so close from the eastern hemisphere  unless you wait until late in night/early morning. In any case, don’t forget to look up at the Moon on 21st January 2013

This conjunction is also a good time to observe the movement of the Moon in the background of stars on the Ecliptic. Jupiter being farther away does not move much in a few hours. But the Moon is much closer, and also there is a the advantage of a bright Jupiter close by – So if you see the Moon at an hours interval a few times in the night, you will easily be able to see how the Moon has traveled towards East  in the background of stars.

A bonus this time is the conjunction occurs in a very star-studded region of the sky – surrounded by prominent constellations such as Orion, Taurus, Auriga and Perseus. And by the way, the orange-red star close to the Moon & Jupiter is Aldebaran, also known as Alpha Tauri in sky-terminology, and is the 4th nakshatra Rohini, in the Indian lunar Zodiac.

-neelanjana

Graha Bheda - A Beginner's Guide

Reblogged from ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ:

The first time I came across the phrase 'graha bheda' was in  a book called Sangeetha Darpana by Prof. Ramaratnam. For someone who exactly knew the aarohana and avarohana of three or four raagas, a detailed discussion of graha bheda, it's possibilities and limitations were too much to swallow. What? Getting Kalyani from Shankarabharana and todi?

Luckily, I had the luxury of having my grandma's old harmonium at my disposal.

Read more… 221 more words

My friend Pavan pointed out that the google video link wasn't playing anymore. So, reblogging with updated youtube link.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 44,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 10 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

(Yet) Another Swarajati for Navaratri …

Dasara of 2012 is just over. In the past few years, I’d written series of music-based articles in my web spaces, in English, and in Kannada. This year, I was planning out another thematic series along the same lines during the festival but it ended up just being a plan. Or if I look at the brighter side, yay! it’s an opportunity for next year’s Navaratri!  Just the case of seeing the glass half-full or half-empty I guess

Last couple years, I also posted some of my musical compositions on my blog  around the Navaratri time. You can visit those posts from 2009 (Nasamani),  2010 (Ranjani) and 2011 (Bindumalini) by clicking the hyperlinks.

This year, I’m not posting a brand new composition, but am posting an updated one! Earlier this year,  I’d composed a swarajati in the rAga Kamavardhini (also called as Ramakriya and somewhat incorrectly as Pantuvarali).  You can listen to the swarajati here, sung by my friend “IndianMusicFan“.

Listen to the swarajati by clicking here

Thanks to the Samskirtam group on Facebook, I met  Sri Mahesh Bhat, who recently wrote a very beautiful lyric for this swarajati, just in time for Dasara 2012.  Here it goes:

पल्लवि:

तव मृदुलम् पदयुगलम् मम शरणम् शिवे जननि
तव मृदुलम् पदयुगलम् मम शरणम् परशिवे जननि
तव मृदुलम् पदयुगलम् मम शरणम् जय परशिवे जननि ॥ पल्लवि॥

अनुपल्लवि:

कल्याणानाम् वितरणि पापे मयि ते करुणा भवतु ॥॥

चरण १:

ईशनायिके लोकपालिके इन्द्रवन्द्य पदसरसिज लसिते
दितिसुत गजगण विदलनचतुरे सदा निवस मम  हृदि गुहजननि ॥१॥

चरण २:

कुवलय  दलसम सुरुचिर नयने निरुपम परिमलयुत मधुचषके
अतिधवल – रजतगिरि – वरनिलये कलशजनुते मधुमथनसोदरि ॥२॥

चरण ३:

साधकजनतापरमशुभदे लोहितसुमनोनिचतेकलिते
पायसमुदिते मधुरहसिते  जनिमृतिहरसुधे कलिमलहरणि ॥३॥

चरण ४:

संसारे परमविषमे संतापो दहति हृदयम्
एहि त्वम् तुहिनगिरिजे तापम् मे शमय ललिते
नीरागमतिरायातु मयि वेदादिनय संस्तुत चरिते
नाकलोकशोकहारिसुबले चारुचंद्रभासमान चिकुरे!  ॥४॥

If you are interested in the notation along with sAhitya, click this link:  A Swarajati in Kamavardhini

Finally here is a video slideshow from the “Bombe Habba” at our home during Dasara 2012:

The background music for the slides is also played by IndianMusicFan,  the first part of a varna that I composed sometime ago. To listen to the entire Varna, click here: Kalyanimalaika Varna .

-neelanjana