Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Lord rAma!
O Lord SrI raghuvara! O Substratum of everything!
O Lord with a splendour of dark-blue cloud!
O Lotus Eyed! O Abode of virtues!
O Lord SrI hari! O Lord having large collection of arrows!
O Moon Faced!

What boon shall I ask of You?

Here, path for singing the glories of Your Holy Feet has become non existent;
Therefore, what boon shall I ask of You?

The privilege of carrying out the tasks desired in Your mind, and
the privilege of holding Your Feet Lotus,
has for ever become that of AnjanEya.

The comfort derived in the fortune of being secretly watched by You,
while reaching out and protecting Your devotees at all times,
has become that of the Youngster Satrughna.

The privilege of being immersed in the heart-melting emotion of Love derived while –
hearing Your greatness,
remembering Your names, and
unfailingly beholding Your Foot prints on the ground trodden by You,
has become that of the great bharata.

The fortune of rendering service to You,
that relieves even hunger and sleep,
while always adhering, unmistakably, to the bent of Your mind,
has become that of lakshmaNa - expert in decoration.

The bliss of being absorbed in You by -
ever beholding You in the heart-abode,
rejecting all the evilsome thirsts and
even forgetting the possessiveness that You are married (to her),
has become that of sItA.

In this birth, I shall not seek -

either the enjoyments obtained in this World or
even the status of indra.

To the mind of this tyAgarAja, it shall always succeed only if it is the Royal path (of devotion to Your Lotus Feet).

Therefore, what boon shall I ask of You?

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
E varamu-aDugudurA rAma ninnu-(E)

O Lord rAma! What (E) boon (varamu) shall I ask (aDugudurA) (varamaDugudurA) of You (ninnu) (ninnE)?

anupallavi
pAvanamagu nI pAda bhajanamu sEyuTakaina
dOva lEbaramu-ainadi dEvara-indu nEnu-(E)

O Lord (dEvara)! Here (indu) (dEvarayindu), path (dOva) for singing the glories (bhajanamu sEyuTakaina) of Your (nI) Holy (pAvanamagu) Feet (pAda) has become (ainadi) non existent (lEbaramu) (literally empty) (lEbaramainadi);
O Lord rAma! Therefore, what boon shall I (nEnu) ask of You?

caraNam
caraNam 1
SrI raghuvara sakala-AdhAra nI manasuna
kOrina panulanu pada sArasamula nA
manasAraga viDavanu-anE sAratara vairAgyamu
sAreku satata gati kumAruni pAlu-ainadi (E)

O Lord SrI raghuvara! O Substratum (AdhAra) of everything (sakala) (sakalAdhAra)!
The excellent (sAratara) resolve (vairAgyamu) that (anE) -
‘I shall not forsake (viDavanu) (viDavananE), of my (nA) own accord (manasAraga) (literally whole heartedly), the privilege of carrying out the tasks (panulanu) desired (kOrina) in Your (nI) mind (manasuna), and
also the privilege of holding Your Feet (pada) Lotus (sArasamula)’,
has for ever (sAreku) become that of (pAlu ainadi) (pAlainadi) AnjanEya – Son (kumAra) (kumAruni) of Wind God – ever (satata) moving (gati);
O Lord rAma! Therefore, what boon shall I ask of You?

(One of the boons I could ask of You is ‘to carry out Your command and to holdYour Holy Feet in my hands’; but, AnjanEya has that privilege.)

caraNam 2
nIla ghana-Abha sadA kAlamu nI bhaktula
jAlamulanu kani paripAlana jEyucu
nIvu-OlikagA jUcE mEluna kala saukhyamu
bAluDagu ripughnuni pAlai-uNDaga ninnu-(E)

O Lord with a splendour (Abha) of dark-blue (nIla) cloud (ghana) (ghanAbha)!
As the comfort (saukhyamu) derived (kala) in the fortune (mElunu) of being secretly (OlikagA) watched (jUcE) by You (nIvu) (nIvOlikagA),
while reaching out (kani) and protecting (paripAlana jEyucu) Your (nI) devotees (bhaktula jAlamulanu) at all times (sadA kAlamu),
has become that of (pAlai uNDaga) (pAlaiyuNDaga) the Youngster (bAluDagu) Satrughna (ripughna) (ripughnuni),
O Lord rAma! what boon shall I ask of You (ninnu)?

(Another boon I could ask of You is ‘to have the comfort of being observed secretly by You while engaged in looking after Your devotees’; but, Satrughna has the privilege.)

caraNam 3
nI mahimala vinagA nAmamunu talacagA
bhUmini pada rEkhalanu-Emarakanu kanagA
tAmarasa nayana guNa dhAma manasu karagE
prEma rasamu bharata svAmi pAlai-uNDaga (E)

As the privilege of being immersed in the heart (manasu) melting (karagE) emotion (rasamu) of Love (prEma) derived while –
hearing (vinagA) Your (nI) greatness (mahimala),
remembering (talacagA) Your names (nAmamunu), and
unfailingly (Emarakanu) beholding (kanagA) Your Foot (pada) prints (rEkhalanu) (rEkhalanEmarakanu) on the ground (bhUmini) trodden by You,
O Lotus (tAmarasa) Eyed (nayana)! O Abode (dhAma) of virtues (guNa)!
has become that of (pAlai uNDaga) (pAlaiyuNDaga) the great (svAmi) bharata,
O Lord rAma! what boon shall I ask of You?

(Another boon I could ask of You is ‘to be immersed in emotion of Love derived in hearing Your greatness, in remembering Your names and in beholding Your Foot Prints on the ground trodden by You’; but the privilege has gone to bharata.)

caraNam 4
vAramu nIdu manasu dArini-anusarincucu
nEramu lEkanu AhAra sushuptulanu
nivAraNamu jEyu paricAraka bhAgyamu-
alankAriyagu sumitra kumAruni pAlu-ainadi (E)

The fortune (bhAgyamu) of rendering service (paricAraka) to You,
that relieves (nivAaraNamu jEyu) even hunger (AhAra) (literally food) and sleep (sushuptulanu),
while always (vAramu) adhering (anusarincucu), unmistakably (nEramu lEkanu), to the bent (dArini) (dArinanusarincucu) of Your (nIdu) mind (manusu),
has become that of (pAlu ainadi) (pAlainadi) lakshmaNa – Son (kumaruni) of sumitrA (sumitra) - expert in decoration (alankAriyagu) (bhAgyamalankAriyagu);
O Lord rAma! therefore, what boon shall I ask of You?

(Another boon I could ask of You is ‘to have the fortune of rendering service to You which relieves even hunger and sleep’; but, that has been taken by lakshmaNa.)

caraNam 5
SrI hari bharita Sara samUha sadA ninu hRd-
gEhamunanu kani dur-dAhamulanu rOsi
vivAhanuDu nIvu-anu mOhambunanu maraci
sOham-anu sukhamu vaidEhi pAlai-uNDaga (E)

O Lord SrI hari! O Lord having large (bharita) collection (samUha) of arrows (Sara)!
As the bliss (sukhamu) (literally happiness) of (anu) being absorbed in You (sOham) (literally ‘I am He’) (sOhamanu) -
by ever (sadA) beholding (kani) You in the heart (hRt) abode (gEhamunanu) (hRd-gEhamunanu),
rejecting (rOsi) all the evilsome thirsts (dur-dAhamulanu) and
even forgetting (maraci) the possessiveness (mOhambunanu) (literally infatuation) that (anu) You (nIvu) (nIvanu) are married (vivAhanuDu) (to her),
has become that of (pAlai uNDaga) (pAlaiyuNDaga) sItA (vaidEhi),
O Lord rAma! what boon shall I ask of You?

(Another boon I could ask of You is ‘to enjoy the bliss of being absorbed in You, by ever beholding You in my heart and overcoming all evilsome thirsts’; but, that privilege has been claimed by sItA).

caraNam 6
I jagatini kala sukha rAjini mari nirjara
rAja padambula nEnu-I janmamuna-aDuganu
rAja vadana SrI tyAgarAjuni madiki-eppuDu
rAja pathamulu-aitE jayamau kAni (E)

O Moon (rAja) Faced (vadana)! In this (I) birth (janmamunu) I (nEnu) (nEnI) shall not seek (aDuganu) (janmamunaDuganu) -
either the enjoyments (sukha rAjini) (literally multitude of enjoyments) obtained (kala) in this (I) World (jagatini) or (mari)
even the status (padambula) of indra – king (rAja) of celestials (nirjara) (literally non-ageing);
to the mind (madiki) of this tyAgarAja (SrI tyAgarAjuni),
it shall always (eppuDu) (madikeppuDu) succeed (jayamau) only (kAni) if (aitE) it is the Royal (rAja) path (pathamulu) (pathamulaitE) (of devotion to Your Lotus Feet);
O Lord rAma! Therefore, what boon shall I ask of You?

(Your nears and dears - AnjanEya, Satrughna, bharata, lakshmaNa, sItA - have been bestowed with boons which I could ask of You. They are not going leave their privileges. These boons indeed are the Royal paths of being devoted to Your holy feet, which this tyAgarAja wants to adhre. Therefore, I am at loss to understand as to what other boons I can ask You. Worldly enjoyments, nay even the position of indra, are of no interest to me. Please do not ask me seek boons.)

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – dOva lEbaramainadi – dOvalE paramainadi - dOva lEparamainadi. The meaning adopted in all the books is that of ‘dOva lEbaramainadi’. Accordingly, ‘dOva lEbaramainadi’ has been adopted.

² – sArasamula – sAramula : From the context, ‘sArasamula’ seems to be appropriate.

³ – OlikagA – pOlikagA : ‘pOlikagA’, in the present context, does not seem to be appropriate.
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⁵ – alankAriyagu – alamu kAryamu : ‘alamu kAryamu’ does not seem to make any sense. On the other hand, the ‘alankAriyagu’, meaning ‘given to decoration’ may seem to be appropriate to lakshmaNa from the way SrI rAma praises him. Please refer to vAlmIki rAmAyaNa – AraNyakANDa, Chapter 15, verses 28 to 31.

The ending words of caraNas ‘pAlaiyuNDaga’, ‘pAlainadi’, ‘ninnu’ are not given uniformly in all the books. The version given in the book ‘Compositions of Tyagaraja by Sri TK Govinda Rao has been adopted.
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References
⁴ – bhUmini pada rEkhalanu Emarakanu kanagA – unfailingly beholding foot-prints on the ground trodden by You – SrI tyAgarAja seems to refer to bharata tracing the location of SrI rAma in the forest by following the route taken by the latter.

⁷ – nirjara rAja padambula - In this regard, please refer to tirumAlai of vaishNava saint toNDaraDippoDi AzhvAr in praise of Lord of SrI rangaM –

paccai mAmalai pOl mEni pavaLavAy kamalac cengaN
accutA! amarar ERE! Ayar tam kozhundE! ennum,
iccuvai tavira yAnpOy indira lOgam ALum,
accuvai peRinum vENDEn arangamA nagar uLAnE! (2)

பச்சை மாமலை போல் மேனி பவளவாய் கமலச் செங்கண்
அச்சுதா! அமரர் ஏறே! ஆயர் தம் கொழுந்தே! என்னும்,
இச்சுவை தவிர யான்போய் இந்திர லோகம் ஆளும்,
அச்சுவை பெறினும் வேண்டேன் அரங்கமா நகர் உளானே! (2)
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“Green great mountain-like body; coral mouth; lotus eyes; O Lord acyutA – the lion of celestials – the tender one of the cow-herds; other than the relish of uttering these words, even if I happen to attain the great joy of ruling the World of celestials, I do not desire it, O Lord abiding in the holy SrI rangam.”

PDF version of tirumAlai in Tamil

⁸ - rAja pathamulu – In the kRti ‘cakkani rAja mArgamu’, SrI tyAgarAja defines ‘Royal path’ (rAja mArgamu) as ‘devotion’ (bhakti anE) and he says that he shall not adopt any short cuts (sandula dUranEla).
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Comments
¹ – dOva lEbaramainadi ( - path is non-existent – there are no paths) – All the possible methods (paths) – as described in caraNas 1 to 5 - have been appropriated by others; therefore, SrI tyAgarAja wonders as to what other boon he can ask – this has been made clear in last caraNa.

⁶ - vivAhanuDu – SrI tyAgarAja states that though sItA is married to SrI rAma, she has rejected even the conjugal rights in order to enjoy the bliss of being One with the Lord (sOhaM) and seeing Him in her inner recess rather than outside. Indeed, she is no longer the spouse of SrI rAma – but a devotee. Therefore, the place that SrI tyAgarAja accords to bhakti is so tall that it diminishes even the role of consort of the Lord.
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E varamaDugudu - rAga kalyANi