Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Dark haired Mother who is the Consort of Lord Siva!
O Spouse of Lord Siva who is the fortune for devotees!

Whoever has understood Your greatness!

Whoever has understood even a little of the prowess of Mother nIlAyatAkshi!
But, in this Earth, in the sacred town of nAga pura (nAgappaTTinam), I beheld Her prowess.

Wearing pure golden garments,
tying pArijAta flowers around the whole chignon,
holding parrot in the hand, very elegantly, and,
making Siva dance hither and thither -

whoever has understood the nature of Your Sport!

As vishNu and brahmA and others extol You,
as, at that time, the celestial damsels stand charmingly,
as the celestial dancing girls extol You with dance -

whoever has understood the nature of Your compassion of calling (all of) them by showering graciousness while watching all these!

Who is the refuge (to the devotees) other than You?
Whoever has understood You who always likes the statements made by this tyAgarAja!

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
evaru teliya poyyEru nI mahimalu

Whoever (evaru) has understood (teliya poyyEru) Your (nI) greatness (mahimalu)!

anupallavi
bhuvilO varamau nAga puramuna kanugoNTi
lava lESamu-ainanu nIlAyatAkshi sAmarthyamu-(evaru)

Whoever has understood even (ainanu) a little (lava lESamu) lESamainanu) of the prowess (sAmarthyamu) (sAmarthyamevaru) of Mother nIlAyatAkshi (literally who has dark blue (nIla) longish (Ayata) Eyes (akshi))!
But, in this Earth (bhuvilO), in the sacred (varamau) town of nAga pura (nAga puramuna) (nAgappaTTinam), I beheld (kanugoNTi) Her prowess.

caraNam
caraNam 1
karugu bangAru valva kaTTi nirjara taru
virulanu koppu niNDa juTTi sogasu mIra
karamuna cilukanu paTTi adiyu gAka
haruni aTTu-iTTu-ADincina-aTTi nI lIlalanu (evaru)

Whoever has understood the nature (aTTi) of Your (nI) Sport (lIlalanu) of -
wearing (kaTTi) pure (karugu) (literally molten) golden (bangAru) garments (valva),
tying (juTTi) pArijAta – celestial (nirjara) (literally non-ageing) tree (taru) - flowers (virulanu) around the whole (niNDa) chignon (koppu),
holding (paTTi) parrot (cilukanu) in the hand (karamuna) very (mIra) elegantly (sogasu), and (adiyu gAka),
making Siva (haruni) dance (ADincina) hither and thither (aTTu iTTu) (aTTiTTADincinaTTi),

caraNam 2
hari brahmA-Adulu ninnu kolva-A vELa sura
viri bONulu-andamutO nilva-amara vAra
taruNulu nATyamucE kolva-anniyu jUci
karuNA rasamu jilki pilva-aTTi nI dayanu-(evaru)

Whoever has understood the nature (aTTi) of Your (nI) compassion (dayanu) (dayanevaru),
as vishNu (hari) and brahmA and others (Adulu) (brahmAdulu) extol (kolva) You (ninnu),
as, at that time (A vELa) (kolvanA), the celestial (sura) damsels (viri bONulu) stand (nilvanu) charmingly (andamutO) (bONulandamutO),
as the celestial (amara) (nilvanamara) dancing (vAra) girls (taruNulu) extol (kolvanu) You with dance (nATyamucE) -
watching (jUci) all these (anniyu) (kolvananniyu) and calling (pilva) (pilvanaTTi) (all of) them by showering (jilki) graciousness (karuNA rAsamu)!

caraNam 3
nAga bhUshaNuniki rANivaina ninnu
vinA gati-evaru nIla vENi bhaktula pAli
bhAgadhEyamaina SarvANi santatamunu
tyAgarAju palkina vANi priyamaina ninnu-(everu)

Who (evaru) is the refuge (gati) (gatiyevaru) (to the devotees) other than (vinA) You (ninnu), O Dark (nIla) (literally dark blue) haired (vEni) Mother who is the Consort (rANivaina) (literally queen) of Lord Siva – adorned (bhUshaNuniki) with snakes (nAga)?
O Spouse of Lord Siva (SarvANi) who is the fortune (bhAgadhEyamaina) for (pAli) devotees (bhaktula)!
Whoever has understood You (ninnu) (ninnevaru) who always (santatamunu) likes (priyamaina) the statements (vANi) made (palkina) by this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAju)!

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – varamau – vAramu. In the present context, ‘varamau’ seems to be appropriate.

³ – nirjara taru virulanu goppu niNDa juTTi sogasu mIra karamuna cilukanu paTTi – sogasu mIra karamuna cilukanu paTTi nirjara taru virulanu goppu niNDa juTTi.

⁵ – A vELa sura – A vELanu. In the present context ‘sura’ is an appropriate word and has, accordingly, been adopted.

⁶ – amara vAra – amara vara. In view of the ensuing words ‘taruNulu nATyamucE kolva’, ‘vAra’ seems to be appropriate because ‘vAra taruNulu’ means ‘dancing girls’.

⁷ – ninnu vinA gati – ninnu vinAga.

⁸ – bhaktula pAli – bhaktula.

⁹ – priyamaina ninnu – priyamainaTTi. ‘priyamainaTTi’ seems to stand aloof as it cannot be connected to pallavi. Therefore, ‘priyamainaTTi’ may not be appropriate.
Top

References
² – nIlAyAtAkshi – name of pArvatI at nAgapuram (nAgappaTTinaM).

⁴ - haruni aTTiTTADinci – This may refer to competition between Siva and pArvatI on the question of who is greater, Siva or Sakti. Dance of Siva and pArvatI

This may also refer to the period of courtship of Siva and umA (pArvatI) before birth of kArtikEya. In this regard, please refer to SrImad vAlmIki rAmAyaNa – bAla kANDa – Chapter 36 regarding courtship of Lord Siva and umA for 100 divine years equivalent to 36,000 human years.
Top

Comments

evaru teliya - rAga tODi