Sollale Iyambidal|Siva Keerthanam|Madurai Muralidharan composition|Lakshmi Venkatesh|Lekha Sivakumar

This composition starts with a verse from Thiruvaasagam- Shiva puraanam written by Maanikavaasagar. Being one of the most profound works in Tamil literature, It leads us into the spiritual path. It says,
“Oh Lord Shiva, I praise you. I praise your divine feet. My soul doesn’t stop thinking about you even during the split second when i blink. You reside in our souls and in the prapancham in the finite and the infinite form, I praise you.”
Sollale Iyamdidal is a beautiful Keerthanam written by Madurai R. Muralidharan describing the dancing form of Lord Shiva – Nataraja. The first paragraph says, “Oh Lord Nataraja! It is not possible to describe the beauty of your dance in Chidambaram using mere words…”
In the next paragraph, the dancer depicts the story of the veneration conducted by 3000 deekshitars in Chidambaram. they find that there were only 2999 deekshitars present. Lord Shiva descends as a deekshitar and takes part in the veneration. Sage Vyaghrapaadhar and Sage Patanjali worship the Lord and request him to reveal his physical form. Lord Shiva emerges from the flames revealing his physical form as Lord Nataraja. One very interesting fact to note here is that, In all the temples in India, Lord Shiva is seen in his Shiva lingam form except in Thillai Natarajar temple where he is seen in his dancing form as Lord Nataraja.
In the last paragraph, the composer describes Lord Nataraja dancing with his eyebrows bent like a bow expressing the nine emotions perfectly. He is accompanied by Parvati who is dancing with her slender waist and several ganas dancing to the soothing music. The crescent moon sways and Ganga on his head which is filled with water to the brim dances along with him. While the earth moves, the devotees and the snake around his neck dance gracefully.
Whose bodily movements is the entire universe,
Whose speech are the languages,
Whose ornaments are the moon and the stars,
To him, we surrender.
Sollale Iyambidal, A Keerthanam written by Madhurai R Muralidharan in Ragam Vasantha, set in Aadhi thaalam and choreographed by Smt. Lakshmi Venkatesh.
Vocals-Sahana Lakshmi Venkatesh
Mridangam-Jayaram Iyer
Violin-Shankar Krishnan
Flute-Rajesh Raghavan
Nattuvangam-Lakshmi Venkatesh