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saraseeruhaasana
raagam: naaTTai

36 calanaaTTai janya
Aa: S R3 G3 M1 P D3 N3 S
Av: S N3 P M1 R3 S

taaLam: aadi
Composer: Puliyoor Shree Duraiswaami Aiyyar
Language: Sanskrit

pallavi

sarasIruhAsana priyE amba sadA vInA gAnapriyE sadAnanda hrudayE mahisadayE

anupallavi saraNAgatam mAmava manjuLa caraNa kisalayE
sammOdita kavijana hrudayE sarOja nilaiyE maNivalayE

caraNam

sarasIruhAkshi yugaLe amba saraNAgata dIna vatsalE amba
saradindu sundara vadanE vimalE
saraswati satitE suranuta guNajAlE
satatam vidyA lOlE sadA susIlE
sAmaja kumbha sthanayugaLe dhavaLE
sakala sAmrAjya prada kara dhruta pustaka jAlE

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

Carnatic Compositions - The Essence and Embodiment
-Aparna Munukutla Gunupudi

Saraseeruha - lotus (flower plant that dwells in the lakes)
Asana - seat
priyE - love
amba - goddess mother
Sadaa - always
Veenaa - veena, a musical instrument
gaanapriyE - loves music
Sada Ananda - always happy
hrudayE - hearted
mahisadayE - dwells on this earth

saraNaagatam - people who come in to her rescue
maamava - mine
manjuLa - delicate
caraNa - feet
kisalayE - tender
sammOdita - delights
Kavijana - poets
hrudayE - hearts
sarOja - lotus (a flower born out of a lake)
nilaiyE - housed
maNivalayE - gem studded bangles
Saraseeruhaakshi - lotus eyed
yugaLe - pair
Amba - goddess mother
saraNaagata - people who came in to her rescue
deena vatsalE - kind and affectionate
Amba - goddess mother
sarat+indu - moon in the autumn season
sundara - beautiful
vadanE - face
vimalE - unblemished
saraswati - goddess Saraswati
satitE - pious woman/ faithful to husband
suraNuta - praised by the celestial bodies
guNajaalE - virtuous one
Satatam - constantly
Vidyaa lOlE - who dwells in education
sadaa - always
suseelE - good character
saamaja - elephant
Kumbha - pot like
sthanayugaLe - pair of breasts
dhavaLE - white
Sakala - entire
Saamraajya - kingdoms
prada - giver
kara - hands
Dhruta - holding
pustaka jaalE - a lot of books

This is a very melodious song on Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music and art by Doraiswamy Ayyar. He portrays her as a pleasant, delicate and beautiful woman. He continues to describe her as the one who likes to be seated in the lotus, enjoys music from veena (a string instrument), always happy at heart and who made this earth as her home. She is kind to people who go to her lotus palace to surrender at her tender feet, she enchants in the poets' hearts and she is bedecked with gem studded bangles. She is known to have lotus petal shaped eyes and is kind and affectionate towards her pupils. Her beautiful face is shining as a full moon in autumn, she is unblemished, known as Saraswati, a very virtuous and faithful woman, praised by the celestial bodies, always dwells upon knowledge, very pious, has an elegant gait like an elephant, round breasted, fair and she bestows people with their wishes such as kingdom and she holds a book/vedas in her hands.

While there are a number of stories about Saraswati, the most prominent is that she is consort of lord Brahma the creator. A literal meaning of the Saraswati is the one who possesses water. Following the theme, she flows wherever there is knowledge & creativity. She is known as the goddess of sciences, queen of speech and she wears white for purity. She is the embodiment of education, music and art. Her musical instrument veena is called "kachchapi" and her vehicle is a swan (hamsa). A swan has a very significant role in Hundu mythology. It represents separation of right from wrong, a spiritual realization, transcendence and salvation. For example, a learned guru is known as a "parama hamsa". It is very symbolic that Saraswati uses swan as her vehicle just as the swan transcends all of us to realize with the knowledge and attain moksha/salvation. Saraswati is one of the tri-devis (three goddesses) along with goddess Lakshmi and goddess Parvati.

Notation:
Notation available here at Shivkumar Kalyanaraman's Krithi Archive. Also, listen to the music class here.

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