Excerpt from a live performance of a Varnam in Ragam Todi, a composition of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. In this excerpt from the Bhakti Shringara varnam, the nayika (Heroine) tells her sakhi (friend) that the beautiful time of Spring with birds chirping and bees buzzing doesn’t help her agony of being away from her lord. When she sees her Lord Padmanabha in the Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, she is overcome by various feelings towards him as she views him through the three doors of the temple. In the absence of her beloved, she yearns for his company, forsaking all thoughts of her individuality in the pursuit of merging with him… for as long as this duality exists; union with him ceases to exist.

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