Viraha bhava or the mood of pain caused by separation is very popular in Indian poetry and music. The anxiety faced by the nayika (female protagonist) when separated from her beloved, her suffering and her intense need for reunion is featured again and again in Indian literature.
Seemingly, there is no gender equality here as mostly the poetry or prose depicts the nayika as the one who suffers. This may well be because this pain of separation is also associated with the women who leave their maternal homes after being wed. The songs of bidai, the ceremony to bid farewell to the bride, sing of viraha bhava as well.
In the spiritual world, Viraha is one of the nine paths of Bhakti listed in Narada Sootra. It is defined as the love within the intense pain of separation from God. Very popular in the Krishna cult, it is Radha’s suffering when separated from Krishna which the devotee experiences. Is this pain not just the longing for completeness? Hinduism often portrays the Ultimate as a male-female duality. Vishnu encompasses Lakshmi whom he holds in His vakshasthalam – in His chest close to his heart. Shiva and Shakti are often shown as two halves of the whole – as Ardhanarishwarar. Sankhya philosophy proposed by Sage Kapila talks of Purusha-Prakriti, consciousness and matter, the experiencer and the experienced. Is it a coincidence that Purusha also means a man, and Prakriti a woman? Just as Vishnu is incomplete without Lakshmi, Shiva without Shakti and Purusha without Prakriti, the bhakta is incomplete without his Lord. In fact, Viraha is welcomed by the bhakta as it acknowledges his oneness with God and the union which is to come.
Many poets have written on this theme of viraha. Today I have chosen a beautiful song written by Ambujam Krishna(1917-1989). She says ‘It becomes late, why has Krishna, who left me alone, not come back yet? Perhaps the ladies who gathered around him when they heard his flute have cast a net with their glances and drawn him away? While I lament and writhe in agony like a worm here, is he talking and laughing with the women? Has he forgotten his words to me – ‘My parrot (a term of endearment), I’ll not leave you even for a moment!’ ? Has he abandoned this naive woman?’. Ambujam Krishna writes words which ring true. Her viraha bhava is tinged with jealousy and doubt. If you would like to know more about this poet, read this nice tribute published in the Hindu in 2004. She did not set her poetry to music. I am unsure who did set this song to the raga Revati but it suits it so very well. To know more about the raga Revati, click here.
Listen to Bombay Jayashri’s very pleasant rendition here.
Footnote (Lyrics) :
Language: Tamil
பல்லவி
பொழுது மிகவாச்சுதே
என்னை விட்டுப் போன கண்ணன்
வரக் காணேனே -சகி
அனுபல்லவி
குழலோசை கேட்டு கூடிடும் மங்கையர்
விழியால் வலை வீசி அழைத்து சென்றனரோ
சரணம்
புழுவென நான் இங்கு புலம்பி துடிக்கையிலே
பூவையருடன் அங்கு பேசிச் சிரிக்கப்போ ?
பைங்கிளி உன்னை கணம் பிரிகிலேன் என்ற
பேச்சும் மறந்தானோ பேதையை துறந்தானோ ?
Transliteration
Pallavi
pozhudu migavAchchudE ennai viTTup-pOna kaNNan varak kANEnE sakI
Anupallavi
kuzhalOsai kETTu kUDiDum mangaiyar vizhiyaAl valai veesi azhaittu sendranarO
Charanam
puzhuvena nAn ingu pulambi tuDikkayile pUvaiyaruDan angu pEsi sirikkappO
paingiLi unnaik-kaNam pirigilEn endra pEchchum marandAnO pEdaiyait-turandAnO
Translation
It becomes late, why has Krishna, who left me alone, not come back yet? Perhaps the ladies who gathered around him when they heard his flute have cast a net with their glances and drawn him away? While I lament and writhe in agony like a worm here, is he talking and laughing with the women? Has he forgotten his words to me – ‘My parrot (a term of endearment), I’ll not leave you even for a moment!’ ? Has he abandoned this naive woman?’
Music To My Ears 
Suja, Thanks for posting such a wonderful Ambujamma composition. What a lyrics! Bombay Jayasree is at her best when rendering light music- Like M.L.V.. Her pronounciation of zha is best. Who does it now.
I am glad you liked it 🙂 Its a very pleasant little song, isn’t it? I have never heard anyone else sing it – but I do have 3 versions from different concerts. And I know what you mean about zha – it really annoys me when people don’t pronounce it properly!! But carnatic musicians normally are fine with tamizh..its their Sanskrit pronunciation which can be very iffy!!
Could you fix a typo. In charanam, line 2, it should be பூவையருடன்.
In pallavi a lyric version has இன்னும் between கண்ணன் and வரக் காணேனே but Bombay Jaishri omits it and we don’t get any sense of her passing over a word.
Thank you Rishi for catching my typo! I honestly try to read and re-read my posts before submitting, but still, invariably, there are errors. My apologies.
இன்னும் between கண்ணன் and வரக் காணேனே sounds very correct, but as you say Bombay Jaishree’s rendition has the slightest pause after கண்ணன் which adds a sense of waiting. I like it this way.
Cheers. Suja
Suja, as I might have told you before, for the past few weeks, I have been writing down the lyrics of Tamil Carnatic songs. I listen to three or four vidwans or vidushis singing the same song. One of them often has an individuality, an effect, similar to what you have written above. I might mention that often it is Bombay Jayashri or Sudha Raghunathan. But of course it could be any singer. Sometimes there are variations in a word here or there. Each of the two versions may sit well in place, but a keen listener with a feel for the language could guess which one the composer is most likely to have used. though the variant has come down from generation to generation.
Incidentally, I notice that a sabha here in Chennai has programmes now and then of all-Tamil songs. Recently, in an ad I saw too many names in illegible print. I wondered if they were young singers each taking turn. Today I peered hard at the names and found that the singer was one and that the names were those of composers! So if you want to hear compositions of abc,,,xyz, come! How do you like that?