pallavi
cakkani rAja mArgamul(u)NDaga
1sandula dUran(E)la O manasA
anupallavi
cikkani 2pAlu mIgaDa(y)uNDaga
3chI(y)anu 4gangA sAgaram(E)lE (cakkani)
caraNam
kaNTiki sundara-taramagu rUpamE
mukkaNTi nOTa celagE nAmamE tyAga-
rAj(i)NTanE 5nelakonn(A)di daivamE-
(y)iTuvaNTi SrI sAkEta rAmuni bhakti(y)anE (cakkani)
pallavi
cakkani rAja mArgamulu-uNDaga
sandula dUranu-Ela O manasA
O My Mind (manasA)! When there are (uNDaga) nice (cakkani) royal (rAja) paths (mArgamulu) (mArgamuluNDaga), why (Ela) enter (dUranu) (dUranEla) bylanes (sandula)?
anupallavi
cikkani pAlu mIgaDa-uNDaga
chI-anu gangA sAgaramu-ElE (cakkani)
When there are (uNDaga) condensed (cikkani) milk (pAlu) and cream (mIgaDa) (mIgaDayuNDaga), why (Ela) this detestable (chIyanu) (literally saying ‘fie’) toddy (gangA sAgaramu) (sAgaramElE)?
O My Mind! When there are nice royal paths, why enter bylanes?
caraNam
kaNTiki sundara-taramagu rUpamE
mukkaNTi nOTa celagE nAmamE tyAga-
rAju-iNTanE nelakonna-Adi daivamE-
iTuvaNTi SrI sAkEta rAmuni bhakti-anE (cakkani)
What a most beautiful (sundara-taramagu) form (rUpamE) as a feast to the eyes (kaNTiki);
what a name (nAmamE) shining (celagE) in the tongue (nOTa) of Lord Siva – the three-eyed (mukkaNTi)! and
what an Ancient (Adi) Lord (daivamE) (OR what a supreme deity (adhi-daivamE) firmly established (nelakonna) (nelakonnAdi) (nelakkonnadhi) in the very house (iNTanE) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAju) (tyAgarAjiNTanE)!
O My Mind! why enter bylanes when there is this nice royal path called (anE) devotion (bhakti) (bhaktiyanE) to such (iTuvaNTi) (daivamEyiTuvaNTi) a Lord SrI rAma (rAmuni) of ayOdhyA (sAkEta)?
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
5 – nelakonnAdi daivamE (nelakonnna + Adi daivamE) – nelakonnadi daivamE’ – which does not seem to be correct. However, if it is 'nelakonnadhi daivamE', then it could be split as 'nelakonna + adhi daivamE', ignoring the error in the sandhi.
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References
4 – gangA sAgaramu – In all the books, this word has been taken as ‘toddy’ – a colloquial usage as stated in the book of TKG. However, no such word is found in any dictionary. In Sanskrit ‘tAla’ and tAlagarbha’ means toddy; in Telugu, ‘ITa’, ‘kaLLu’, ‘tATikaLLu’ and ‘nIrA’ are the words meaning toddy. Though the following explanation may be far-fetched, yet it may not be out of place.
ganga and all other rivers are considered to be wives of sAgara – varuNA. VAruNI is varuNA's female Energy (personified either as his wife or as his daughter, produced at the time of churning of the ocean and regarded as the goddess of spirituous liquor; vAruNI also means ‘a particular kind of spirit’ (prepared from hogweed mixed with the juice of the date or palm and distilled) or ‘any spirituous liquor’. Therefore, instead of using the vAruNI to mean toddy, SrI tyAgarAja might have used ‘gangA sAgara’.
The word vAruNI appears in SrImad-bhAgavataM in many places. It also appears in lalitA sahasranAmaM – ‘vAruNI mada vihvalAyai namaH’ meaning ‘Salutations to Her who is intoxicated with vAruNI (the wine of spiritual bliss)’ (333).
According to a Quote from "Tyagaraja - Life and Lyrics" - William Jackson - Oxford University Press – “The reference is to Gangasagara Bhatt of Tanjore court, a toddy tippler about whom stories were in circulation in Tyagaraja's time. Toddy came to be called 'Ganga Sagara' (Post #23).
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Comments
1 – sandulu – Though SrI tyAgarAja has not specified what these bylanes are, obviously all paths other than bhakti may be taken as bylanes.
2 – pAlu mIgaDa – this may mean milk and cream or cream only.
3 – chI – this is a colloquial expression of disgust when one encounters something detestable.
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