Songs of Purandara dasaru had become a part and parcel of Kannada culture, tradition and civilisation. They are not just devotional songs filled with vocabulary praising the lord but they deal with every aspect of our day to day life and presence of Good and Lord in every moment of our lives!
Janaki amma got to sing beautiful Dasara padas in Kannada cinema. Sharing 10 songs here..
(1) Kandu Kandu Nee Enna – Bhale Adrushtavo Adrushta – Vijayabhaskar
This is a song where Dasaru just surrenders himself to Lord.. He pleads the Lord not to leave him all alone and not to leave his hand in hard times! He pleads – ‘I have no one else in this world but you .. You are my mother, father, friend and relative’ .
This song is epitome of surrendering nature – ‘Samarpana’ of a devotee .. Vijayabhaskar sir tuned every single word of this song with a perfect care and Janaki amma rendered it with all devotion. She sang it so soft, soothing and dedicated that it is really hard not to fall in love with this great song!
(2) Acharavillada nalige – Upasane – Vijayabhaskar
In this song, Dasaru asks the ‘culture less tongue’ to leave the bad habit of cribbing about others and to give up rumours. For Dasaru, Devotion is not just praising Lord, it is cleansing our hearts and doing good deads.
He advises here not to waste time in talking worldly matters but to dedicate for goodness by singing glories of the Lord! It is Vijayabhaskar sir again who gave the required ‘movie look’ to this song and Janaki amma rendering in one of her career best musicals!
(3) Poogadiliro Ranga – Haalu Jenu – G K Venkatesh
What a great imagination great soul ‘Purandara Dasaru’ had! In this song he requests Krishna not to leave home telling that all his devotees are eagerly waiting for him to steal him away and save in their hearts! He compares Lord to a ‘invaluable thing’ when he says ‘Dorakada vasthuvu dorakitu thamagendu’ and praises his beauty and character at same time in lines ‘Aganitha guna ninna jagatha naariyarella hagayeaagi nodidharu Gopalane’ !
G K Venkatesh sir is music director for this soulful melody. Rajkumar sir’s acting on screen gave a perfect filmy look to the song..!
(4) Lalisidalu magana yashode – Devaru kotta thangi – Vijayabhaskar
Dasaru explains beauty of Motherly love in this song. He explains how Mother Yashoda took care of Little Krishna in this song. Kannada Language is celebrated at her greatest legacy in his songs! Just listen to words like ‘ Aralele magayi berali gongura bittu’ they sound simple, sweet and nostalgic at same time! Listening to this song, every devotee will fall in love with Lord and every person would remember his/her mother!!
This song is another ‘Gem’ from combination of Vijayabhaskar – S Janaki. Their combination is so rich in quality that almost every song from this combination remains top in class!!
(5) Mella Mellane bandene – Mrugalaya – Rajan Nagendra
Childhood of Lord Krishna is most important and best aspect of his life for many devotees. Many devotees tend to remember Lord in his happy childhood days playing with gopis and many songs came in classical music describing his mischief and naughtiness in childhood! In this song, it is gopis complaining about all teasing and fun that Krishna does with them !
In movie, this is a dance sequence with interesting background set by composer duo ‘Rajan – Nagendra’. As for many other songs, they chose Janaki amma to do justice to their composition and as always she did not leave a second chance to do so!
(6) Thalu Thleleo Rangayya – Adda Dari – Rajan Nagendra
Ninda sthuthi – Praising in disguise of complaining, is one of major ways of glorifying their deity by many devotees and poets of Indian classical music. This song serves as a perfect example for the same!
In this song, Dasaru says it is ‘enough and enough’ with Krishna but he continuously praises his activities ..! Listeners would enjoy the poetry and devotion at the same time!
This song is composed by Rajan – Nagendra for movie ‘Adda Dari’ and we can see ‘Dubbing Janaki’ dancing in the song who became popular as character artist and Dubbing artist in Telugu cinema in later days of her career.
(7) Brindavanadalu aaduvan yaare – Maalathi Maadhava – T G Lingappa
Dasaru belonged to an era much before musical trinity ‘Thyagayya – Muthuswamy Deekshitar – Syama Sastry’. He was pioneer in bringing music close to common people by writing it in spoken language Kannada instead of difficult Sanskrit. He composed songs that ranged from bhajans to krithis. Listen to this song where he describes the greatness of Lord Krishna starting with a question .. ‘Who is the one playing in Brindavana’
Janaki amma rendered this song for a tune set by T G Lingappa.
(8) Gummana Kariyadire – Rajan Nagendra
This is a Devaranama where Lord Krishna explains his version when encountered by mother Yashoda for all his mischief and complaints from Gopis! This explanation would be very similar to the one small kids in our home’s give to get away from their troubles! Greatness of purandara dasaru was bringing most complicated emotions of devotion in simple language and link them with our day to day life..!
P B Srinivas sir sings the beginning of the song and Janaki amma lends her voice for little Krishna in rest of the song ..:)
She released an album called ‘Balakrishnane baaro’ with 8 exclusive Dasara songs. Above song is also present in this album (with a different look all together)
(9) Bagyada Lakshmi baramma
If all above songs were singing praises of Lord Krishna/ Lord Vishnu, this song is all about glorifying Goddess Lakshmi. He requests her to come and stay in house and bring all prosperity to her devotees.
Although Janaki amma sang this song for a private album, it became hugely popular in Karnataka. Janaki amma’s version of this song is played in many temples regularly even now!
(10) Shree Gananatha , lambodara
She sang few more Dasara pada’s in private albums. Ending this article with this keerthana.
One of greatest contributions of Purnadara Dasaru to Classical music was systematising the early music lessons and making it easy for every one to learn! This composition is generally taught as one of initial lessons in Carnatic classical music..