srI kaantimathim
raagam: hEmaavati

58 hEmaavati mela
Aa: S R2 G2 M2 P D2 N2 S
Av: S N2 D2 P M2 G2 R2 S

taaLam: aadi
Composer: Muttuswaamee Dikshitar
Language: Sanskrit

pallavi

shrI kAntimatIm shaHNkara yuvatIm shrI guruguhajananIm vandEham

caraNam

hRImkAra bIjAkAra vadanAm
hiraNya maNimaya shObhAsadanAm
pAkashAsnAdi dEva vintuAm
parashurAmanata himashailasutAm

madhyama kaalam

shuka shaunakAdi sadArAdhitAm shuddha
tAmraparNItaTasthitAm shaHNkhA dyaSTOttara sahasra
kalashAbhiSEkAmOdAmsurahitAm

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

Carnatic Compositions - The Essence and Embodiment
-Aparna Munukutla Gunupudi

srI kAntimatIm - Sri KAnthimathim
sankara yuvatIm - The girl of lord Sankara
srI guruguha - Sri Guruguha/Subrahmanya
jananIm - mother
vandEham - respects to you

hRImkAra - the sound of Hreem
bIjAkAra - powerful form
vadanAm - of face
hiraNya - golden
maNimaya - plenty of jewels
sObhA - shining
sadanAm - housed
pAkasAsnAdi dEva- Indra and other celestial bodies
vinutam - praised by
parasurAma nata - praised by Parasurama
hima saila - snow clad mountain
sutAm - daughter
suka - sage Suka
saunakAdi - sage Saunaka and others
sadArAdhitAm - always praise you
suddha tAmraparNI - pure TamraparNi river
taTasthitAm - residing on the banks
sankhadyaSTOttara Sahasra - 1008 shells
kalasAbhishEkAm - showered with pots full of water
mOdAm - enjoying
surahitAm - friend of the celestial bodies

Summary:

Composer Deekshitar, in this krithi, bows to srI KAnthimathim who is the consort of Sankara and the mother of srI Subrahmanya. Her face shines with the effulgence from the powerful mantra “hreem”. She is housed in the golden temple decked with the many jewels. She is praised by Indra and other celestial bodies as well as ParasurAma. She is the daughter of the king of snow-clad mountains (hima saila). She is always worshiped by Suka & Sounaka and she is sternly residing by the river banks of TamraparNi. She is known to enjoy the showers poured from the one thousand and eight shells and pots and she is friendly with all the celestial bodies.

KAnthimatim is the consort of lord Nellai appar, in the famous Nellai Appar temple in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, on the river banks of TamraparNi, which is known as an ever flowing river. The temple is very large and has a few special features such as tall and beautifully sculpted raja gopuram, sapta swara pillars and so forth. The temple was built by Pandya kings and further developed by Chera, Chola and Pallava kings. The composer carefully embedded the river tAmraparNi and the krithi is set in a rare rAgam HEmavati. HEmavati, literally means a woman with golden hue, which befits the golden hued goddess Parvati. Also, on special occasions like Parvati Kalyanam and Arudra festival, she is taken out on a procession in a golden chariot. Devotees consider an opportunity to pull the chariot as a privilege and a blessing.

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

Other information:
This kriti was written about the Mother Goddess on the banks of the tAmrapaNI river (shuddha tAmraparNItaTasthitAm).

Lyrics contributed by Lakshman Ragde. Meaning contributed by Aparna Gunupudi via Neccheli.