Yesterday I was treated to a delightful buzzfest at ISS by the teachers and students of the upmarket Carnatic music school in Indiranagar run by close family/friends.
The programme of group singing for over 2 hours was titled Purandara Kshetra Darshana. An interesting song presented therein was composed by the Saint bard at Torave near Bijapur addressed to the local deity, Narasimha.
As was explained, this is a Nindastuti, a devotional poem composed in an ostensibly mocking tone. Such liberties are taken by a poet reflecting the usual intimate relationship between the devotee and his deity. Bhakti is a many-splendoured path to liberation!
Let me give you the poem scanned (ref. Prof. S. K. Ramachandra Rao) and its English free-translation by me 😀
"Oh, Lord Vishnu, famed for your bewitching looks, what is this grotesque form you show here? Oh Lord Narasimha (avatara of Vishnu), after all you are the father of Cupid (Manmatha is the most attractive one in creation)!
" Even when the gods come and bow down to you in devotion, you are so nonchalant that you don't give them even a smile. But here you have this fierce grin displaying your deadly leonine fangs! Why?
"You wear the best of sapphire, pearl and other gems-studded necklaces, but here you sport a garland of entrails ( that you tore with your claws from Hiranyakashipu)!
" Oh dear Lord Narasimha of Torave, my dear Purandaravitthala, your lap is adorned usually by Goddess Lakshmi, the epitome of grace and beauty and love. But here, you have spread across your lap the body of your enemy killed in battle!"
To enjoy the irony and the poetic allusions, please read this blog post on Narasimha 🙏
