Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!
O Delighter of the mind of sItA!
O Protector of gajEndra!
O Protector of true devotees!
O Lotus petal Eyed!
O Consort of lakshmI!
- Why this delay?
- Why are you showing enmity towards me?
- Why don’t You shed Your tricks?
- I did not ask for Your property;
- I do not have desire (for anything) in this, very bad, universe.
- My love towards You will not abate.
- I have no refuge other than You.
- Who is equal to You in this World?
- I got caught in Your snare.
- I did not know that You are a fraud.
- The fault is with You; otherwise, am I alien to You?
- Is it proper for You to forget me?
- It is indeed my sin; otherwise, will it ever be agreeable to my mind to be separated from You?
Give me Your hand of arms extending up to knees.
Grant emancipation by taking this tyAgarAja across the Ocean of Worldly Existence.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
rAma-abhirAma raghurAma O rAma

O Delightful (abhirAma) Lord rAma (rAmAbhirAma)! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

anupallavi
tAmasamulu-Ela sItA manO-ramaNa (rAma)

O Delighter (ramaNA) of the mind (manas) (manO-ramaNA) of sItA! Why (Ela) this delay (tAmasamulu) (literally delays) (tAmasamulEla)?
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam
caraNam 1
paga sEyuTa-Ela nApAla nIdu
vagalu-Ela viDa jAlavu gaja-indra pAla (rAma)

O Protector (pAla) of gajEndra – King (indra) of elephants (gaja) (gajEndra)!
Why (Ela) are you showing (sEyuTa) (sEyuTEla) enmity (paga) towards me (nApala)? Why (Ela) don’t You shed (viDa jAlavu) Your (nIdu) tricks (vagalu) (vagalEla)?
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 2
nI sommu nEnu-aDuga lEdu niNDu
mOsamau prapancamu-andu-Asa lEdu (rAma)

I (nEnu) did not (lEdu) ask for (aDuga) (nEnaDuga) Your (nI) property (sommu);
I do not have (lEdu) desire (Asa) (for anything) in (andu) this, very (niNDu) bad (mOsamau), universe (prapancamu) (prapancamandAsa);
O delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 3
Asa nIyeDa tanaku pOdu nija
dAsa rakshaka ninu vinA gatiyu lEdu (rAma)

O Protector (rakshaka) of true (nija) devotees (dAsa)! My (tanaku) (literally for me) love (Asa) towards You (nIyeDa) will not abate (pOdu) (literally not leave);
I have no (lEdu) refuge (gatiyu) other than (vinA) You (ninu);
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 4
nI sari samAnamu-evaru-ilalO rAma
nIraja daLa-aksha cikkitirA nI valalO (rAma)

O Lord rAma! O Lotus (nIraja) petal (daLa) Eyed (aksha) (daLAksha)!
Who (evaru) is equal (sari samAnamu) to You (nI) in this World (ilalO) (sAmAnamevarilalO)?
I got caught (cikkitirA) in Your (nI) snare (valalO);
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 5
kallalADu-ani teliya lErA nI
valla nErumu kAni nE nIku vErA (rAma)

I did not (lErA) know (teliya) that (ani) You are a fraud (kallalADu) (kallalADani);
the fault (nEramu) is with You (nI valla); otherwise (kAni), am I (nE) alien (vErA) to You (nIku)?
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 6
SrI pati nanu marava tagunA idi
pApamE kAni eDa-bAya manasu-agunA (rAma)

O Consort (pati) of lakshmI (SrI)!
Is it proper (tagunA) for You to forget (marava) me (nanu)?
It (idi) is indeed my sin (pApamE); otherwise (kAni), will it ever be agreeable (agunA) to my mind (manasu) (manasagunA) to be separated (eDa-bAya) from You?
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

caraNam 7
AjAnu bAhu karamu-IrA SrI
tyAgarAjuni bhava-abdhi dATinci paramu-IrA (rAma)

Give me (IrA) Your hand (karamu) (karamIrA) of arms (bAhu) extending up to knees (AjAnu);
grant (IrA) emancipation (paramu) (paramIrA) by taking this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuni) across (dATinci) the Ocean (abdhi) of Worldly Existence (bhava) (bhavAbdhi);
O Delightful Lord rAma! O Lord raghurAma! O rAma!

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – tAmasamulEla – tAmasamuyEla.
² – paga sEyuTEla nApAla – paga sEyuTella nApAlA. However, the meaning derived in the books is 'why are You showing enmity towards me'. Therefore, the former version has been adopted.

³ – caraNam 5 - This caraNa is found only in one book.
⁶ – SrI tyAgarAjuni – tyAgarAjuni.
⁷ – dATinci – tADinci : Read with 'bavAbdhi' (Ocean of Worldly Existence), ‘dATinci’ (crossing) is the appropriate word. Therefore, the same has been adopted.
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References

Comments
⁴ – kallalADani – In the books, this has been translated as ‘fraudulent’. From the form of the word, this should be split as ‘kallalADu+ani’. However, ‘kallalADu’ does not translate as ‘fraudulent’. The nearest word for ‘cheat’, ‘liar’ etc is ‘kallari’ or 'kallarIDu'. It is not known whether this has been derived from ‘kallala+vADu’.

⁵ - manasagunA - This may be applied to the Lord also. In that case, it will be translated as 'Would it be agreeable to Your mind to be separated from me?'

This kRti forms part of dance-drama 'prahlAda bhakti vijayaM'.
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rAmAbhirAma raghurAma - rAga sAvEri