Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

Who could be that rAma whom I trusted?
With what flowers would I have worshipped?

Isn’t that SrI rAma who quells the arrogance of those who are always enemies of His eminent true devotees?

Isn’t that King of ayOdhyA who -

while sItA, in privacy, enduring (injury caused by crow) demon, sang lullaby (to put to sleep rAma lying in her lap),
not tolerating the harassment caused by crow demon (kAkAsura),
heartlessly, rendered him one-eyed, by discharging brahmAstra?

Isn’t that SrI rAma who slayed tArA’s husband, vAli who -

by banishing sugrIva,
made him reach the mountains,
without allowing his wife and children to join him?

Isn’t that Faultless Nourisher of this tyAgarAja who -

when vibhIshaNa, hearing the abusive words spoken angrily by his elder brother, sought refuge, declaring loudly,
dried up the arrogance of sinful rAvaNa?

Who could be that rAma whom I trusted?
With what flowers would I have worshipped?

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
E rAmuni nammitinO
nEnu-(E) pUla pUja jEsitinO

Who could be (E) that rAma (rAmuni) whom I trusted (nammitinO)? With what (E) flowers (pUla) would I (nEnu) (nEnE) have worshipped (pUja jEsitinO)?

anupallavi
vAramu nija dAsa varulaku ripulaina
vAri madamu-aNacE SrI rAmuDu kAdO (E)

Isn’t (kAdO) that SrI rAma (rAmuDu) who quells (aNacE) the arrogance (madamu) (madamaNacE) of those (vAri) who are always (vAramu) enemies (ripulaina) of His eminent (varulaku) true (nija) devotees (dAsa) (literally servant)?
Who could be that rAma whom I trusted? With what flowers would I have worshipped?

caraNam
caraNam 1
EkAntamuna sIta sOku-Orci jO-goTTa
kAka-asuruDu cEyu cIkAku sairincukOka
madini daya lEka bANamu vEsi
Eka-akshuni jEsina sAkEta pati kAdO (E)

Isn’t that (kAdO) King (pati) of ayOdhyA (sAkEta) who,
while sItA (sIta), in privacy (EkAntamuna), enduring (Orci) (injury caused by crow) demon (sOku) (sOkOrci), sang lullaby (jO-goTTa) (to put to sleep rAma lying on her lap),
not tolerating (sairincukOka) the harassment (cIkAku) caused (cEyu) by the crow (kAka) demon (asuruDu) (kAkAsuruDu),
heartlessly (madini daya lEka) (literally without pity in the mind),
rendered (jEsina) him (the demon) one-eyed (Eka-akshuni) (EkAkshuni) by discharging (vEsi) brahmAstra (bANamu)?
Who could be that rAma whom I trusted? With what flowers would I have worshipped?

caraNam 2
dAra putrula vadda cEranu-Ika ravi
kumAruni velapaTa pAra-dOli giri
jEra jEsina-aTTi tArA nAyakuni
samhAramu jEsina SrI rAmuDu kAdO (E)

Isn’t that (kAdO) SrI rAma (rAmuDu) who slayed (samhAramu jEsina) that (aTTi) (literally such) tArA’s husband (nAyakuni) - vAli, who,
by banishing (velapaTa pAra-dOli) (literally driving away outside) sugrIva – the son (kumAruni) of Sun (ravi)
made (jEsina) (jEsinaTTi) him reach (jEra) the mountains (giri),
without allowing (Ika) his wife (dAra) and children (putrula) to join (vadda cEranu) (cEranIka) him?
Who could be that rAma whom I trusted? With what flowers would I have worshipped?

caraNam 3
rOshamuna-ADu dur-bhAshalanu vini
vibhIshaNuDu-A vELa ghOshinci SaraNu-ana
dOsha rAvaNu mada SOshakuDaina nir-
dOsha tyAgarAja pOshakuDu kAdO (E)

Isn’t that (kAdO) Faultless (nirdOsha) Nourisher (pOshakuDu) of this tyAgarAja who -
when (A vELa) (literally that time) vibhIshaNa (vibhIshuNuDu) (vibhIshaNuDA), hearing (vini) the abusive words (dur-bhAshalanu) spoken (ADu) angrily (rOshamuna) (rOshamunADu) (by his brother), sought (ana) refuge (SaraNu) (SaraNana) declaring loudly (ghOshinci),
dried up (SOshakuDaina) the arrogance (mada) of sinful (dOsha) rAvaNa (rAvaNu)?
Who could be that rAma whom I trusted? With what flowers would I have worshipped?

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – madamaNacE – madamaNacu.

³ – EkAkshuni jEsina – EkAkshuni jEyu. In view of similar words ‘samhAramu jEsina’ in caraNa 2, ‘EkAkshuNi jEsina’ has been adolpted.
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References
² – madini daya lEka – heartlessly. In the kRti ‘pAhi ramA ramaNa’ – rAga varALi, SrI tyAgarAja makes a similar indirect statement - ciluka kUna brahmAstramunaku tagunA? Would a parrot chick deserve brahmAstra? In this kRti, he compares Mother sItA’s patience in singing lullaby enduring the pain of the injury caused by kAkAsura, against rAma discharging brahmAstra heartlessly. Episode of kAkAsua.

⁴ – giri – RshyamUka mountain where sugrIva retired.
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Comments
⁵ – nirdOsha – this epithet may apply to the Lord or to tyAgarAja.
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E rAmuni nammitinO - rAga vakuLAbharaNaM