Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Mother tripura sundari!
O Sister of our Lord SrI rAma - son of King daSaratha and who is Father of cupid! O Most Compassionate Mother!
O Mother! O Queen of all the three Worlds! O Mother whose face surpasses (the beauty of) the orb of moon! O Mother wearing golden (hued) garments established at tiruvoTriyUr! O Protector of humble people, who bestows desired boons to those who trusted You!
O Mother who protects by granting great opulence (and) by destroying the forest of (results of) past actions! O Mother of subrahmaNya and vinAyaka! O Red Lotus eyed! O Mother resident in the hearts of ascetics! O Daughter of himavAn!
O Mother wearing radiant ornaments of precious stones! O Mother with gait like that of a king elephant in rut! O Bestower of auspiciousness to the World or people! O Conqueror of the mind of Lord Siva – SrI tyAgarAja - One who wears (digit of) the moon on the head! O Mother gauri! O Mother who is beyond everything!
I have come to know the path of liberation.
I sought You alone as refuge.
- I have come to know the path treading which brahmA, indra, sage sanandana, tumburu, nArada and all others, seeking Your holy feet, are always sporting in the eternal ocean of bliss.
- I have come to know the path by treading which, in this World, the sages, because of Your great wonders of might, having dispassion towards World phenomenon, became eternally blissful.
- Probably because of fruit of (actions of) my some (earlier) birth, I beheld the service conducted on Friday.
- I have come to know the path (for liberation) because great people, throughout their lives considered, in their minds, that chanting Your names only to be the path for liberation.
Therefore, I sought You alone as refuge.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
dArini telusukoNTi tripura
sundari ninnE SaraNu-aNTi

O Mother tripura sundari! I have come to know (telusukoNTi) the path (dArini); I sought (aNTi) You alone (ninnE) as refuge (SaraNu) (SaraNaNTi).

anupallavi
mAruni janakuDaina mA daSaratha
kumAruni sOdari dayA-pari mOksha (dArini)

O Sister (sOdari) of our (mA) Lord SrI rAma - son (kumAruni) of King daSaratha and who is Father (janakuDaina) of cupid (mAruni)! O Most Compassionate (dayA-pari) Mother!
O Mother tripura sundari! I have come to know the path of liberation (mOksha); I sought You alone as refuge.

caraNam
caraNam 1
amba tri-jagad-ISvari mukha jita vidhu
bimba Adi puramuna nelakonna
kanaka-ambari nammina-vAriki-abhIshTa
varambulu-osagu dIna lOka rakshaki
ambuja bhava puruhUta sanandana
tumburu nAradulu-anduru nIdu
padambunu kOri sadA
nitya-Ananda-ambudhilOna-OlalADucu-uNDE (dArini)

O Mother (amba)! O Queen (ISvari) of all the three (tri) Worlds (jagat) (tri-jagad-ISvari)! O Mother whose face (mukha) surpasses (jita) (the beauty of) the orb (bimba) of moon (vidhu)!
O Mother wearing golden (hued) (kanaka) garments (ambari) (kanakAmbari) established (nelakonna) at tiruvoTriyUr (Adi puramuna)!
O Protector (rakshaki) of humble (dIna) people (lOka) who bestows (osagu) desired (abhIshTa) boons (varambulu) (varambulosagu) to those who trusted (namminavariki) (namminavArikabhIshTa) You!
O Mother tripura sundari! I have come to know the path treading which -
brahmA – abiding (bhava) in Lotus (ambuja), indra (puruhUta), sage sanandana, tumburu and nArada (nAradulu) –
all these (anduru) (nAradulanduru), seeking (kOri) Your (nIdu) holy feet (padambunu), are (uNDE) always (sadA) sporting (OlalAducu) (literally sport in water) in (lOna) the eternal (nitya) ocean (ambudhi) of bliss (Ananda) (nityAnandAmbudhilOnOlalADucuNDE);
therefore, I sought You alone as refuge.

caraNam 2
mahad-aiSvaryamu-osagi toli karma
gahanamunu koTTi brOcu talli
guha gaja mukha janani aruNa pankE-
ruha nayanE yOgi hRt-sadanE
tuhina-acala tanayA nI cakkani
mahima-atiSayammula cEtanu I
mahilO muni gaNamulu prakRti
virahitulai nitya-Anandulu-aina (dArini)

O Mother (talli) who protects (brocu) by granting (osagi) great (mahat) opulence (aiSvaryamu) (mahadaiSvaryamosagi) and by destroying (koTTi) the forest (gahanamunu) of (results of) past (toli) actions (karma)!
O Mother (janani) of subrahmaNya (guha) and vinAyaka – elephant (gaja) faced (mukha)! O Red (aruNa) (literally rising Sun) Lotus (pankE-ruha) (literally growing in mud) eyed (nayanE)! O Mother resident (sadanE) in the hearts (hRt) (hRt-sadanE) of ascetics (yOgi)!
O Daughter (tanayA) of himavAn – snow (tuhina) mountain (acala) (tuhinAcala)!
O Mother tripura sundari! I have come to know the path by treading which –
in this (I) World (mahilO), the sages (muni gaNamulu), because of (cEtanu) (cEtanuyI) Your (nI) great (cakkani) (literally fine) wonders (atiSayammula) of might (mahima) (mahimAtiSayammula), having dispassion (virahitulai) towards World phenomenon (prakRti), became (aina) eternally (nitya) blissful (Anandulu) (nityAnandulaina);
therefore, I sought You alone as refuge.

caraNam 3
rAjita maNi gaNa bhUshaNi mada gaja
rAja gamani lOka Sankari danuja
rAja guruni vAsara sEva
tanaku-E janma phalamO kanugoNTini
A-janmamu peddalu tama madilO
nI japamE mukti mArgamu-anukona
rAja SEkharuNDagu SrI 5tyAgarAja
manO-hari gauri parAt-pari (dArini)

O Mother wearing radiant (rAjita) ornaments (bhUshaNi) of precious stones (maNi gaNa)! O Mother with gait (gamani) like that of a king (rAja) elephant (gaja) in rut (mada)! O Bestower of auspiciousness (SaM-kari) (Sankari) to the World or people (lOka)!
Probably because of fruit (phalamO) of (actions of) my (tanaku) (literally to me) some (E) (literally which) (tanakE) (earlier) birth (janma), I beheld (kanugoNTini) the service (sEva) conducted on Friday - (danuja rAja guruni vAsara);
O Conqueror of the mind (manO-hari) of Lord Siva – SrI tyAgarAja - One who (agu) wears (digit of) the moon (rAja) on the head (SEkharuNDu) (SEkharuNDagu)! O Mother gauri! O Mother who is beyond everything (parAt-pari)!
O Mother tripura sundari! I have come to know the path (for liberation) because great people (peddalu), throughout their lives (A-janmamu) considered (anukona) in their (tama) minds (madilO) that chanting Your (nI) names only (japamE) to be the path (mArgamu) (mArgamanukona) for liberation (mukti);
therefore, I sought You alone as refuge.

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – dArini – darini : When connecting anupallavi and caraNams to pallavi, the meaning derived is ‘path’ only. Therefore, ‘dArini’ is the appropriate word because ‘dari’ does not mean ‘path’. It is felt that the word ‘darini’ has been interpolated to facilitate sangati.
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References
² - tumburu - King of gandharva (celestial musicians)

³ - aiSvaryamu – Eight kinds of powers – ashTha aiSvarya – vision, audition, cogitation, discrimination, omniscience, and active powers – swiftness of thought, power of assuming forms at will, and faculty of expiation. Some also consider eight siddhis such as aNimA, laghimA etc are also aiSvarya.

⁵ - tyAgarAja – Here it refers to the name of Lord Siva at tiruvoTriyUr
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Comments
This kRti was sung in praise of Mother tripura sundari (consort of tyAgarAja) at tiruvoTriyUr near Chennai.

⁴ - danuja rAja guruni vAsara - Friday – bRgu vAsara or Sukra vAsara : ‘Sukra’ is the royal preceptor (rAja guru) of asuras (danuja); hence zrI tyAgarAja uses ‘danuja rAja guruni vAsara’ to mean ‘Sukra vAsara’ (Friday).
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dArini telusukoNTi - rAga Suddha sAvEri