O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord raghu rAma! O Lotus Eyed! O SrI ranga! O Saviour of our honour! O Ancient One! O Enjoyer of music! O Lord Praised by this tyAgarAja!
Word Division - Word-by-word meaning
pallavi
O ramA ramaNa rAma rAma
nEnu-Orva jAla raghu rAma
O Lord rAma, beloved (ramaNa) of lakshmI (ramA)! O Lord rAma! I (nEnu) cannot (jAla) bear (Orva) (nEnOrva) this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam
caraNam 1
sArasa-aksha manasAra nammitini
cErarA nI-upacAramu-AyegA (O ramA)
O Lotus (sArasa) Eyed (aksha) (sArasAksha)! I trusted (nammitini) You whole heartedly (manasAra);
Deign to come (cErarA); isn’t this indeed (AyegA) Your (nI) service (upacAramu) (nIvupacAramAyegA)?
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 2
angalArpu kani pongagAnu SrI
ranga nI madi karanga lEdurA (O ramA)
O SrI ranga! Even after noticing (kani) my lamentation (angalArpu), Your (nI) mind (madi) has not (lEdurA), over-flowingly (pongagAnu), melted (karanga);
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 3
ninnu nammi nE khinnuDu-aiti
Apannu narulaku-Emi-unnadi-iddharini (O ramA)
Having trusted (nammi) You (ninnu), I (nE) became (aiti) dejected (khinnuDu) (khinnuDaiti); what (other) hope is there (Emunnadi) in this world (iddharini) for hapless (Apannu) people (narulaku) (narulakEmunnadiddharini)?
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 4
cuTTi cuTTi nA guTTunu-angaDina
peTTa jEsi cE paTTaka-uNTivi (O ramA)
Repeatedly (cuTTi cuTTi), having exposed (angaDina peTTa jEsi) (literally display in a shop) my (nA) honour (guTTunu) (guTTunangaDina), You remained (uNTivi) without holding (paTTaka) (paTTakuNTivi) my hand (cE);
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 5
dhIruDu-ancu ninu kOrukunna nI
vAralu-I vyasana vAridhini-IdirA (O ramA)
Did Your (nI) people (vAralu), who besought (kOrukonna) You (ninu) as (ancu) a Hero (dhIruDu) (dhIruDancu), struggle (IdirA) (literally swim) in this (I) (vAralI) Ocean (vAridhini) (vAridhinIdirA) of distress (vyasana)?
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 6
mETiyau paluku bOTi patiki-E
nATi krOdhamO tODi vAralalO (O ramA)
I do not know what prior (E nATi) (literally which earlier day) grouse (krOdhamO) (literally wrath) is there (against me) to that great (mETiyau) brahmA – Consort (patiki) (patikiyE) of sarasvati – Goddess (bOTi) of speech (paluku) – (that my fate is like this) in the midst of my compeers (tODi vAralalO);
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 7
mAna rakshaka purANa sajjana
nidAnuDu-anucu ninu dAnamu-aDigitini (O ramA)
O Saviour (rakshaka) of our honour (mAna)! O Ancient One (purANa)! I begged (aDigitini) alms (dAnamu) (dAnamaDigitini) considering You (ninu) to be (anucu) the patron (nidAnuDu) (literally source) (nidAnuDanucu) of pious people (sajjana);
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 8
gAna nIku sari gAna lOla ika
kAna rAru pedda-Ana peTTudunu (O ramA)
O Enjoyer (lOla) of music (gAna)! One cannot find (kAna rAru) any (ika) (literally further) equal (sari) to You (nIku) in music (gAna); I shall loudly (pedda) swear (Ana peTTudunu) (peddAna);
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
caraNam 9
yOga siddhulaku E gati-anucu
vEga tOcadA tyAgarAja nuta (O ramA)
O Lord Praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja! Will it not occur (tOcadA) to You quickly (vEga) as to (anucu) what else (E) is the scope (gati) (gatiyanucu) for devotees - accomplished (siddhulaku) in devotion (yOga)?
O Lord rAma, beloved of lakshmI! O Lord rAma! I cannot bear this, O Lord raghu rAma!
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
2 – paluku bOTi patiki – paluku bOTiki.
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References
Comments
1 – rAma rAma – Though this has been translated as Lord rAma, this paired occurrence (rAma rAma) may indicate exasperation in colloquial usage.
3 – yOga siddhulaku – accomplished in yOga. Here ‘yOga’ has been taken to mean ‘devotion’ because, the path adopted by tyAgrAja is bhakti (bhakti yOga).
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