Transliteration Scheme

amma dharmasaMvardhani - rAga aThANA

Tamil Version
Language Version

pallavi
amma dharmasaMvardhani(y)AdukO(v)amma mA(yamma)

anupallavi
immahini nI sari(y)evar(a)mma Sivuni komma mA(yamma)

caraNam
caraNam 1
1dhAtri dhara nAyaka priya putri madana kOTi manjuLa
gAtri aruNa 2nIraja daLa nEtri nirupama Subha
gAtri 3pITha nilayE vara hasta dhRta 4valayE parama
pavitri bhakta pAlana dhurandhari 5vIra Sakti nE namminA(namma)


caraNam 2
amba 6kambu kaNThi cAru 7kadamba gahana sancAriNi
bimb(A)dhara 8taTit-kOTi nibh(A)bhari dayA vAri nidhE
9Sambar(A)ri vairi hRc-cankari 10kaumAri svara jita
tumburu nArada sangIta mAdhuryE durita hAriNi mA(yamma)
caraNam 3
dhanyE 11tryambakE mUrdhanyE parama yOgi hRdaya
mAnyE tyAgarAja kula SaraNyE patita pAvani
kAruNya sAgari sadA aparOkshamu kArAdA sahya
kanyA tIra vAsini parAtpari 12kAtyAyani rAma sOdari mA(yamma)


Meaning - Gist
  • O My Mother dharmasaMvardhani (name of Mother at tiruvaiyAru)! O Spouse of Lord Siva!

  • O Mother! O Dearest daughter of himavAn! O Mother who has a beautiful personality like crore cupids! O Mother who has eyes like the red lotus petal! O Mother who has peerless auspicious body! O Mother resident in the Holy Seats! O Mother who wears bracelets or bangles in Her sacred hands! O Supremely sacred One! O Mother who bears the burden of protecting the devotees! O Mother who is the chief of powers!

  • O Mother who is shell necked, found in the charming kadamaba thicket! O Mother with splendour resembling crores of lightnings, having lips like the (red) bimba fruit! O Ocean of mercy! O Mother Sankari abiding in the heart of Lord Siva! O Mother who is Sakti of Lord kumAra (subrahmaNya)! O Mother with sweet voice which surpasses the (sweetness of) music of tumburu and that of sage nArada! O Destroyer of sins!

  • O Auspicious Mother! O Three-eyed! O Pre-eminent One! O Mother who is honoured in the hearts of supreme ascetics! O Mother who is the refuge of the family of tyAgarAja! O Mother who sanctifies the fallen! O Ocean of mercy! O Mother who is resident on the banks of river kAvEri! O Mother who is beyond everything! O Mother kAtyAyani! O Sister of Lord SrI rAma!


  • Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

    pallavi
    amma dharmasaMvardhani-AdukO-amma mA-(amma)

    O My (mA) Mother (amma) (mAyamma) dharmasaMvardhani (name of Mother at tiruvaiyAru)! Please support me (AdukO) (dharmasaMvardhaniyAdukOvamma).


    anupallavi
    immahini nI sari-evaru-amma Sivuni komma mA-(amma)

    O Spouse (komma) of Lord Siva (Sivuni)! Who is (evaramma) equal (sari) (sariyevaramma) to you (nI) in this world (im-mahini)?
    O My (mA) Mother dharmasaMvardhani! Please support me.


    caraNam
    caraNam 1
    dhAtri dhara nAyaka priya putri madana kOTi manjuLa
    gAtri aruNa nIraja daLa nEtri nirupama Subha
    gAtri pITha nilayE vara hasta dhRta valayE parama
    pavitri bhakta pAlana dhurandhari vIra Sakti nE namminAnu-(amma)

    O Mother (dhAtri)! O Dearest (priya) daughter (putri) of himavAn - the Lord (nAyaka) of the mountains (dhara)! O Mother who has a beautiful (manjuLa) personality (gAtri) like crore (kOTi) cupids (madana)!
    O Mother who has eyes (nEtri) like the red (aruNa) (literally pre-dawn) lotus (nIraja) petal (daLa)! O Mother who has peerless (nirupama) auspicious (Subha) body (gAtri)!
    O Mother resident (nilayE) in the Holy Seats (pITha)! O Mother who wears (dhRta) bracelets or bangles (valayE) in Her sacred (vara) hands (hasta)!
    O Supremely (parama) sacred (pavitri) One! O Mother who bears the burden (dhurandhari) of protecting (pAlana) the devotees (bhakta)!
    O Mother who is the chief (vIra) of powers (Sakti)! O Mother dharmasaMvardhani! I (nE) have placed faith (namminAnu) in You; please support me.


    caraNam 2
    amba kambu kaNThi cAru kadamba gahana sancAriNi
    bimba-adhara taTit kOTi nibha-Abhari dayA vAri nidhE
    Sambara-ari vairi hRc-cankari kaumAri svara jita
    tumburu nArada sangIta mAdhuryE durita hAriNi mA-(amma)

    O Mother (amba) who is shell (kambu) necked (kanTi), found (sancAriNi) in the charming (cAru) kadamaba thicket (gahana)!
    O Mother with splendour (Abhari) resembling (nibha) crores (kOTi) of lightnings (taTit), having lips (adhara) like the (red) bimba (bimbAdhara) fruit! O Ocean (vAri nidhi) (nidhE) of mercy (dayA)!
    O Mother Sankari (literally wife of Sankara) abiding in the heart (hRt) (hRc-cankari) of Lord Siva - enemy (vairi) of cupid - enemy (ari) of Sambara (SambarAri) asura! O Mother who is Sakti of Lord kumAra (subrahmaNya) (kaumAri)!
    O Mother with sweet (mAdhuryE) voice (svara) which surpasses (jita) the (sweetness of) music (sangIta) of tumburu (chief of celestial musicians) and that of sage nArada!
    O Destroyer (hAriNi) of sins (durita)! O My (mA) Mother dharmasaMvardhani! please support me.
    caraNam 3
    dhanyE tryambakE mUrdhanyE parama yOgi hRdaya
    mAnyE tyAgarAja kula SaraNyE patita pAvani
    kAruNya sAgari sadA aparOkshamu kArAdA sahya
    kanyA tIra vAsini parAtpari kAtyAyani rAma sOdari mA-(amma)

    O Auspicious (dhanyE) Mother! O Three-eyed (tryambakE)! O Pre-eminent One (mUrdhanyE)!
    O Mother who is honoured (mAnyE) in the hearts (hRdaya) of supreme (parama) ascetics (yOgi)!
    O Mother who is the refuge (SaraNyE) of the family (kula) of tyAgarAja! O Mother who sanctifies (pAvani) the fallen (patita)!
    O Ocean (sAgari) of mercy (kAruNya)! can’t You (kArAdA) always (sadA) be perceptible (aparOkshamu) to me?
    O Mother who is resident (vAsini) on the banks (tIra) of river kAvEri - daughter (kanyA) of sahyAdri mountain range (sahya)! O Mother who is beyond everything (parAtpari)!
    O Mother kAtyAyani! O Sister (sOdari) of Lord SrI rAma! O My (mA) Mother dharmasaMvardhani! Please support me.


    Notes

    Variations - (Pathanthara)
    2nIraja daLa – vArija daLa.
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    References
    1dhAtri - dhAtR – vishNu sahasranAmam (43) “Dhaataa- One who is the Substratum for the world of names and forms. And who supports all fields of experiences in all. He who is the screen for the cinema of empirical experiences’ (Visvam)”.

    3pITha nilayE - According to SrI lalitA sahasranAmaM, the Mother has 50 seats ‘pancA-Sat-pITha rUpiNi’ (833). There is a Dikshitar Kriti also on the subject – ‘pancA-Sat-pITha rUpiNi’ – rAga dEvagAndhAra.
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    These 50 Sakti pIThas (1) ; Sakti pIThas (2) are stated to be the places where the limbs of sati fell. However, as per details given in the following website, there are 51 such seats. The 50 seats are also considered to be the 50 basic sounds of our speech.

    5vIra Sakti – It is not clear whether SrI tyAgarAja uses this epithet in its general sense or whether he specifically refers to kaula mArga of Sakti worship. There are many tantrAs which describe these. Sakti and SAkta

    5Sakti - eight Saktis - indrANi, vaishNavi, SAntA, brahmANi, kaumAri, nArasimhi, vArAhi, mAhESvari.
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    7kadamba gahana cAriNi – One of the names of mother tripura sundari – ‘kadamba vana vAsini’. madurai (Tamil Nadu) kshEtra is called ‘kadamba vana’ and ‘kadamba’ tree is the sthala vRksha there.

    9 - Sambara ari vairi - Siva is considered as the enemy of cupid; Cupid reborn as kAmadEva is the enemy of Sambara. The story of pradyumna – also known as kAma dEva – cupid reborn to SrI kRshNa and rukmiNi – appears in SrImad bhAgavataM - Book 10 - Chapter 55.

    10kAumAri – One of the eight Saktis referred above.
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    11tryambakE – Please refer to SrI lalitA sahasranAmaM (477) wherein Mother is called ‘tri-lOcanI’. Lord Siva is called ‘tryambaka’. (Lord narasimha also is called ‘tryambaka’) The tryambakESvara kshEtra is located at Nasik where River Godavari originates.

    12 - kAtyAyani – name of lalitA mahA tripura sundari in lalitA sahasra nAmaM (556) – meaning ‘the sumtotal of the effulgence of all the deities.’ (Refer to lalitA sahasra nAmaM (Translation by Swami Tapasyananda) –Please also refer to dEvi purANa -

    “‘kaM’ means brahma, the head, and sapphire. Since the devI is the basis of these (bears these) or resides in them, She is called 'kAtyAyani'".
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    Comments
    4valayE – tamizh vaLaiyal.

    6kambu kaNThi - having folds in the neck like a spiral shell – three lines or marks in the neck considered indicative of good fortune.

    8taTit – This is how it is given in all the books and the meaning derived ‘lightning’. According to Sanskrit Dictionary, the correct word for ‘lightning’ is ‘taDit’; however, telugu dictionary gives ‘taTit’ as the Sanskrit word for ‘lightning’. Mother is called ‘taTillatA samaruciH’ (107) - ‘One having lustre like that of streak of lightning’.
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