17 sooryakaantam janya
Aa: S M1 G3 M1 D2 N3 S
Av: S N3 D2 M1 G3 R1 S

taaLam: aadi
Composer: Mysore VaasudEvaacaarya
Language: Sanskrit

pallavi

dEvi ramE mAmavAbdhi tanayE dEva dEva vAsudEva jAyE

anupallavi

pAvana kanakAdri vara nilayE dEvAdi vinuta mahimAti shriyE

caraNam

rAkAdIsha sannibha vadanE rAjIva lOchanE gaja gamanE
lOkAnanda vidhAyinE lOkavidhita kIrtishAlinE akArAdi varna
svarUpinE tava karunApUrna bhaktAnAm anupama saubhAgya
dAyinE amudAnanda sandOha dAyinE

Meaning:

By Aparna from Neccheli (original article here, reproduced with permission)

Carnatic Compositions – The Essence and Embodiment
-Aparna Munukutla Gunupudi

No one is ever satisfied enough in praising goddess Lakshmi. Sri Vasudevacharya composed this krithi in praise of Lakshmi. He describes her as ramA devi, the daughter of the Ocean king and who won the heart of god Sri VAsudEva. In anupallavi, he describes her as the one who lives on the mEru mountain (Mount Meru is referred to as golden mountain), attained a lot of powers and is praised by the celestial bodies (devAs). Then comes the charanam, where he describes her with many adjectives, such as having the beautiful face like the moon, wide eyes, delicate gait pattern, who is a provider of happiness, the origin of the alphabet and who showers countless blessings on the devotees who worship her. A very interesting aspect in this charanam is that he refers to happiness as amanda Ananda which means “actively happy” (manda means slow and amanda is not slow). Similarly, he uses “sanDoha dAyine”. A very commonly used expression is “santosha dAyine” which means bestower of happiness. sandOha means being happy as a group or festivity like celebrations. It shows the author’s intention that he is praising Lakshmi not only for his well being but for the happiness of the entire community.

Goddess Lakshmi is naturally a beautiful and a wealthy person. In addition, she is a kind and unassuming person to bestow her blessings to everyone without any prejudice. The story of her birth is beautifully described in Bhagavatam by Sri. Pothana. As dEvAs and dAnaVas were churning the milky ocean for amrutham, many objects like Sankham (conch), Chakram (discus) Kalpavruksham (ever giving tree), animals such as Kamadhenuvu (sacred cow), Uchchaisrawam (horse), Iravatam (elephant), Apsarasas, the Moon and then Maha Lakshmi emerged from it. That is why she is known as the sister of the moon. As she emerges very effulgent with beautiful eyes and a smiling face, all the celestial women tend her and deck her up. Her father, the king of the ocean presents her silk clothes, Varuna gives her the Vyjayanthimala, Viswakarma presents her with jewelry and goddess Saraswati presents her a pearl necklace. We can see that even back then exchange of gifts was a common practice.

In this context, it is only apt to discuss the qualities of goddess Lakshmi. One may find it very amusing that people offer gifts and jewelry to the goddess of wealth and she gladly accepts them. In my opinion, it shows that she is proving that no matter how rich the children are, they should not discount or belittle the gifts from the parents. She shows extreme humbleness and accepts gifts from others. Scriptures say “uchitAnuchita vichAraNam na kurutE”, which means you should not distinguish the appropriateness by the class, when it comes to showing your love, affection, kindness and friendship. The beauty here is that even though Lakshmi has all the wealth in the world, they did not feel uncomfortable giving her small gifts and Lakshmi on the other hand accepted the gifts without being arrogant. Even more noble characteristic of goddess Lakshmi is that she simply shares her wealth with everybody, it could be wealth, grains, education, valor, children and so forth. By doing that she attained the title of “Ashtalakshmi”, the one with 8 different kinds of wealths, who is a great example for all of us. I believe that, whenever we worship goddess Lakshmi, if we could learn and practice her attribute of sharing, then we need to look no further for goddess Lakshmi, but she dwells in each of us and we each can become a Lakshmi incarnation (avataram).

Other information:
Lyrics contributed by Lakshman Ragde. Meaning contributed by Aparna Gunupudi via Neccheli.