Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons!
O Lord of brahmA!
O Virtuous, dark-blue hued!
O My Lord!
O Lord reclining in the Ocean of Milk! O Lotus Eyed! O Protector of this tyAgarAja! O Lord of virtues who fords people from the Ocean of Worldly Existence!

Please protect me compassionately.

Enough of Your deceptions.
I cannot bear if You delay.

Having associated with ordinary people and desiring women in my mind, I failed to speak of devotion - Your path.
Having nurtured my body depending on the rich, and beholding women, I prattle gossip.

I do not have skills.
Coming near, please relieve my grief by sanctifying me.

You are everything to me; but, You wouldn’t come to me ever.
I have no pride.
Please protect me quickly.

I desired You.
Why still this obstinacy?
I cannot bear any longer.

Please protect me compassionately.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
daSaratha nandana dAnava mardana
dayayA mAM pAhi

O Son (nandana) of King daSaratha! O Slayer (mardana) of demons (dAnava)! Please protect (pAhi) me (mAM) compassionately (dayayA).

caraNam
caraNam 1
cAlunu mAyA jAlamu sEya
jAlanu tOyaja-Alaya rAya (daSaratha)

Enough (cAlunu) of Your deceptions (mAyA); I cannot bear (jAlanu) if You delay (jAlamu sEya), O Lord (rAya) of brahmA – abiding (Alaya) in Lotus (tOyaja) (tOyajAlaya)!
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 2
manasuna nArI-maNulanu kOri
janulatO jEri jeppa nI dAri (daSaratha)

Having associated (jEri) with ordinary people (janulatO) and desiring (kOri) women (nArI-maNulanu) in my mind (manasuna), I failed to speak (jeppa) of devotion - Your (nI) path (dAri);
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 3
dhanikuni-enci tanuvunu penci
vanitala kAnci vadarudu ponci (daSaratha)

Having nurtured (penci) my body (tanuvunu) depending on (enci) (literally considering) the rich (dhanikuni) (dhanikuninenci) and beholding (kAnci) women (vanitala), I prattle (vadarudu) gossip (ponci) (literally eavesdrop);
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 4
nE para-dESi nErpuna gAsi
bApavE DAsi pAvanu jEsi (daSaratha)

I (nE) do not have (para dESi) (literally alien) skills (nErpuna);
coming near (DAsi) (literally approach), please relieve (bApavE) my grief (gAsi) by sanctifying me (pAvanu jEsi);
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 5
sarvamu nIvu sAreku rAvu
garvamu lEvu grakkuna brOvu (daSaratha)

You (nIvu) are everything (sarvamu) to me; but, You wouldn’t come (rAvu) to me ever (sAreku); I have no (lEvu) pride (garvamu); please protect (brOvu) me quickly (grakkuna);
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 6
valaciti nIla varNa su-SIla
calamu-ikanu-Ela svAmi nE tALa (daSaratha)

I desired (valaciti) You, O Virtuous (su-SIla) dark-blue (nIla) hued (varNa)! Why (Ela) still (ikanu) this obstinacy (calamu) (calamikanEla)? O My Lord (svAmi), I (nE) cannot bear (tALa) any longer;
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

caraNam 7
sAgara Sayana sArasa nayana
tyAgarAj(A)vana tAraka su-guNa (daSaratha)

O Lord reclining (Sayana) in the Ocean (sAgara) of Milk! O Lotus (sArasa) Eyed (nayana)! O Protector (avana) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjAvana)! O Lord of virtues (suguNa) who fords (tAraka) people from the Ocean of Worldly Existence!
O Son of King daSaratha! O Slayer of demons! Please protect me compassionately.

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
³ – ponci – ponki. However, from the rhyme point of view, ‘ponci’ seems to fit. The word ‘poncu’ means ‘lie in wait’, ‘crouch’ etc. ‘ponciyuNDi vinu’ means ‘eavesdrop’. But the previous word ‘vadarudu’ does not seem to blend with this word. Therefore, the meaning taken here is ‘gossip’.

⁴ – garvamu – garvamulu.
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References

Comments
¹ – cAlunu mAyA jAlamu sEya jAlanu – this can be split as ‘cAlunu’+’mAyA jAlamu sEya jAlanu’ or ‘cAlunu mAyA’+’jAlamu sEya jAlanu’ or ‘cAlunu mAyA jAlamu’+’sEya jAlanu’. Of these, the last mentioned is not appropriate because ‘sEya jAlanu’ is incomplete in meaning. In the books, the meaning derived is ‘enough of Your tricks; I cannot bear any longer’ or words to that effect. Therefore, as ‘mAyA jAlamu’ has been attributed to the Lord, the first method of splitting may not be appropriate. Therefore, the second method ‘cAlunu mAyA’+’jAlamu sEya jAlanu’ has been accepted.

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² – janulatO jEri jeppa nI dAri – Here ‘jeppa’ is in negative form – ‘I failed to speak’. However, there is a problem with the words ‘janulatO jEri’. This could be joined with previous statement (line 1) and interpreted as ‘having associated with ignorant people, I failed to speak of devotion – Your path’. Alternatively, giving meaning ‘virtuous people’ for ‘janulatO’, it could be interpreted as ‘I failed to adhere (speak) to devotion – Your path – by joining virtuous people’. As it is difficult to give the meaning ‘virtuous people’ to ‘janulu’, the first version has been adopted.
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daSaratha nandana - rAga asAvEri