Indumouli harame .. ( O! garland of the lord who has the moon adorning his head )

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERdPMZx8NfU - beautiful rendering of the padam "Indumouli harame" from Nalacharitham by Sri Palanad Divakaran and Sri Sudeep Palanad. 


A humble attempt below to set the scene, paying obeisance to the great Sri Unnayi Warrier!!


King Nalan, the righteous ruler of the kingdom of Naishadham finds himself in a treacherous forest, away from his loving wife, family, kingdom and his possessions as a result of a series of tragic events. He hears someone screaming out his name and referring to his wife from the deep forest and finds a serpent calling out for help in the midst of a wild fire, half burnt and struggling to escape. 


Nalan rightly assumes this to be no ordinary serpent and jumps into the fire and rescues him. However, soon after, the serpent bites Nalan and disfigures him by the power of his venom. The serpent explains to an exasperated Nalan that he is indeed Karkotakan, the son of Kadru, a serpent prince who had been cursed by a sage and was awaiting Nalan for a long time to rescue him from his ordeal.


Karkotakan goes on to reveal to Nalan that a demon Kali has infested him and is the cause of all his woes and that the venom he has injected will eventually get rid of Kali from Nalan's body and gifts him a scarf to wear and regain his original beautiful form when Kali finally leaves.

A somewhat relieved yet worried Nalan then asks Karkotakan (in this padam):

 " O! Revered garland of lord Shiva, the one who seems to know all about me, When will I be able to go back home and live together with my beloved who is also in lots of pain? Tell me everything you know about me, O! King of the serpents!!"

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