How good is your Marathi ? Take this test :-) What does "कार्मुक" and "सायक" mean ?
A context would certainly help.
जोड झणि कार्मुका, सोड रे सायका,
मार ही त्राटिका, रामचंद्रा !
In गीत-रामायण, महाकवी ग.दि.मा. has written songs on situations that are hardly obvious candidates for writing poetry. But write did he. And fabulous poetry on every such occasion. Here, seeing the demon Tratika, sage Vishwamitra orders Shri Raam to kill her. The entire song is just one big command and its justification.
As you can guess now, "कार्मुक" means bow, and "सायक" means arrow. Actually I am guessing too. My Marathi-English dictionary doesn't have the word "कार्मुक".
Here is another test for you. Now that kind of धृपद (refrain) forces a difficult choice for यमक (rhyme). How many words can you come up with that rhyme with "रामचंद्रा" ? Quickly :-). Anyway, this is the list of words that GaDiMa used in this song : अभद्रा, मुद्रा, तंद्रा, मानवेंद्रा, मृगेंद्रा.
More often than not, Marathi is not soft and sweet on ears. This song has particularly harsh sounding words - like the यमक. In spite of that, the लय (rhythm) is impressive. Take the following as an example.
अतुलबलगर्विता, मूर्त ही क्रूरता,
ये घृणा पाहतां, कृर मुद्रा
How many other Marathi poems/songs that you know that have words "कृर", "घृणा" and still has a beautiful lay ? Such construction is not uncommon in Sanskrit, and there is a clear Sanskrit influence here.
This may not be as famous song as others from Geet Raamayana. I like it a lot, it's a very good प्रासंगिक कविता (situational poem).
I found the following YouTube video in case you are interested. I am not impressed by the singing. When I was a kid, I have heard Sudhir Phadake singing it in a live performance. He would bring out the वीररस and रुद्रारस as GaDiMa intended. That is missing from this rendition. If you haven't heard this song in a while, it will give you the idea of the tune, that's all.
Previously :
