Transliteration Scheme

nI pada pankaja - rAga bEgaDa

Tamil Version
Language Version

pallavi
nI 1pada pankajamulanu nE nera namminAnu

anupallavi
2bhU pAlula garvambul(a)Nacu korak(A)
paramESvaru cApamu druncina (nI)

caraNam
caraNam 1
kOpamutO munu tApasi(y)iccina
SApamuna ahalya anu-dinamu
cApa rAti tanu 3tApam(O)rva
lEn(A)penu
kani paritApamu tIrcina (nI)


caraNam 2
vana-ruha tulita nayana sankrandana
tanayuni bAdha sahimpani
4virOcana sutu mati kaligina bhayam(e)gayaga
ghanatama dundubhi 5penu tala tannina (nI)
caraNam 3
jyA-vara nuta jyA-jA vara
6biDauj(A)varaj(A)Srita tyAgarAja
7jyA-var(A)ja rudr(A)vanI sura
bhAvanIya muni jIvan(A)niSamu (nI)


Meaning - Gist
O Lord with eyes resembling Lotus! O Lord praised by best archers! O Consort of sItA! O Lord vAmana! O Lord on whom this tyAgarAja is dependent! O Lord cherished by Lords vishNu, brahmA, Siva and brAhmaNas! O Lord who is the very life of sages!

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
nI pada pankajamulanu nE nera namminAnu

I (nE) have trusted (namminAnu) much (nera) Your (nI) Feet (pada) Lotus (pankajamula).


anupallavi
bhU pAlula garvambula-aNacu koraku-A
paramESvaru cApamu druncina (nI)

I have trusted much Your Feet-Lotus which -
broke (druncina) the bow (cApamu) of that (A) Lord Siva (paramESvaru) for (koraku) (korakA) humbling (aNacu) the pride (garvambulu) (garvambulaNacu) of the Kings – Lords (pAlula) of Earth (bhU).


caraNam
caraNam 1
kOpamutO munu tApasi-iccina
SApamuna ahalya anu-dinamu
cApa rAti tanu tApamu-Orva
lEni-Apenu kani paritApamu tIrcina (nI)

I have trusted much Your Feet-Lotus which –
relieved (tIrcina) the pitiable condition (paritApamu) of ahalya by finding (kani) her (Apenu) who could not bear (Orva lEni) (lEnApenu) the constant (anu dinanu) (literally daily) bodily (tanu) distress (tApamu) (tApamOrva) as a black (cApa) stone (rAti) because of the curse (SApamuna) angrily (kOpamutO) pronounced (iccina) (literally given) on her earlier (munu) by her ascetic (tApasi) (tApasiyiccina) husband - gautama.


caraNam 2
vana-ruha tulita nayana sankrandana
tanayuni bAdha sahimpani
virOcana sutu mati kaligina bhayamu-egayaga
ghanatama dundubhi penu tala tannina (nI)

O Lord with eyes (nayana) resembling (tulita) Lotus (vana-ruha)! I have trusted much Your Feet-Lotus which –
kicked away (tannina) the weighty (ghanatama) and huge (penu) head (tala) of dundubhi, in order to remove (egayaga) (literally fly away) the fear (bhayamu) (bhayamegayaga) caused (kaligina) in the mind (mati) of sugrIva – son (suta) (sutu) of Sun (virOcana) - who could not tolerate (sahimpani) the troubles (bAdha) of his brother vAli – son (tanaya) (tanayuni) of indra (sankrandana).
caraNam 3
jyA-vara nuta jyA-jA vara
biDauja-avaraja-ASrita tyAgarAja
jyA-vara-aja rudra-avanI sura
bhAvanIya muni jIvana-aniSamu (nI)

O Lord praised (nuta) by best (vara) archers (jyA) (literally bow-string)! O Consort (vara) of sItA– born of Earth(jyAjA)!
O Lord vAmana - upEndra – younger brother (avaraja) of indra (biDauja)! O Lord on whom this tyAgarAja is dependent (ASrita) (biDaujAvarajASrita)!
O Lord cherished (bhAvanIya) by Lords vishNu – Consort (vara) of bhUdEvi - Earth (jyA) - brahmA (aja) (varAja), Siva (rudra) and brAhmaNas (avanI sura) (rudrAvanI)! O Lord who is the very life (jIvana) of sages (muni)!
I have always (aniSamu) (jIvanAniSamu) trusted much Your Feet-Lotus.


Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
1pada pankajamulanu – pada pankajamula.
3tApamOrva lEnApenu – tApamOrvaniyApenu.
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References
2 - bhUpAlula garvambulaNacu – The episode pertains to the test of strength in the court of the King janaka for the marriage of sItA. When sage viSvAmitra asks King janaka to show the bow of Siva, the King tells him that “not even the hosts of gods, demons, ogres, gandharvAs, yakshAs, kinnarAs and nAgAs were able to string the bow. How can there be any capacity in human beings”. As the bow was brought in, the sage asks SrI rAma to take a look at the bow “vatsa rAma dhanuH paSya”. Before any could see the total sequence of events, the bow broke when SrI rAma tried to string it.
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4 - virOcana sutu mati galigina bhayamu – At the time making friendship with sugrIva, SrI rAma assures him that he would kill his brother vAli. However, since sugrIva did not know about SrI rAma and his prowess, he keeps on harping on the might of his brother. Whereupon SrI rAma asks sugrIva to tell what feat He should accomplish in order to prove his prowess. sugrIva points to seven gigantic sAl trees which he says vAli would be able denude them by shaking their boughs and he could pierce each one of them with his arrows. He also points to the huge carcass of the dundubhi lying there who was killed by vAli. Then SrI rAma kicks the carcass with his toe and hurls it to a distance of ten yOjanas – eighty miles. As the doubt of sugrIva was still not clear, SrI rAma takes an arrow and aims at the sAl trees; the arrow pierces all the seven trees in one go and returns to His quiver. Thus sugrIva was satisfied that SrI rAma would be able to kill vAli.
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6biDauja biDaujas or viDaujas – name of indra – (7183)

6biDaujAvaraja – Younger brother of indra – upEndra - One of the names of Lord vishNu – the avatAra of vAmana - please refer to vishNu sahasra nAmaM – 151 and 152.
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Comments
5penu tala tannina – this is how it is given in all the books and the meaning derived is ‘kicked the body’. However, there is no word for ‘body’ here. ‘penu’ means ‘great’, ‘big’ etc; ‘tala’ means ‘head’; ‘tannina’ means ‘kicked’; ‘penu tala’ may mean ‘big head’; ‘tala tannina’ means ‘trample’.

In this regard, the following verses in SrImad-vAlmIki rAmAyaNa, kishkindhA kANDa, chapter 11 are relevant –

Evam-uktvA tu sugrIvam sAntvayaMl-lakshmaNAgrajaH |
rAghavO dundubhEH kAyaM pAdAngushThEna lIlayA ||
tOlayitvA mahA-bAhuS-cikshEpa daSa-yOjanaM |
asurasya tanuM SushkAM pAdAngushThEna vIryavAn || 84,85 ||
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“Saying so and lifting, in sport the carcass of dundubhi with his toe, the mighty armed and powerful SrI rAma (a scion of raghu), the eldest (half-) brother of lakshmaNa, for his part hurled the dried up skeleton of the demon to a distance of ten yOjanas (eighty miles), (thereby) reassuring sugrIva.”

However, SrI tyAgarAja seems to follow adhyAtma rAmAyaNa in this regard. As per adhyAtma rAmAyaNa (Tamil translation by Harini), (kishkindA kANDa, Chapter 1), vAli twists off the head of dead dundhubi and flings it away, which falls near the ASrama of sage matanga. Therefore, instead of ‘kAya’ (body) (as mentioned in vAlmIki rAmAyaNa), it has been taken as ‘head’ (tala) of the asura.

7jyAvara bhAvanIya – In some books, this is translated as ‘kings’; however, in my opinion, the context refers to the Trinity; therefore, this has been translated as ‘vishNu’ – consort (vara) of bhUdEvi – Earth (jyA).
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