Transliteration Scheme

SivE pAhi mAM - rAga kalyANi

Tamil Version
Language Version

pallavi
1SivE pAhi mAM ambikE
Srita phala dAyaki

anupallavi
2kavEraj(O)ttara tIra vAsini
kAtyAyani dharma saMvardhani (SivE)

caraNam
caraNam 1
svabhAvamau nI prabhAvamu
mahAnubhAvurAl(ai)na bhAratiki pogaDa
bhAramai(y)uNDa bhAvaj(A)rAti
bhAma nEn(e)nta bhAgya dAyaki (SivE)


caraNam 2
3kal(A)rtham(i)di SaSi 4kalA dhari 5upa-
val(A)ri
mAyA vilAsini
sakal(A)gama nutE 6bhaLAri(y)ana Subha
phalAl(o)sagu parama lAlanammuna (SivE)
caraNam 3
car(A)cara-mayI kar(A)ravindamuna
7rAma cilukanu birAna pUni
parAkuga jUDa rAdu SrI raghu-
var(A)ptuDagu 8tyAgarAja vinutE (SivE)


Meaning - Gist


Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
SivE pAhi mAM ambikE
Srita phala dAyaki

O Mother SivA (SivE)! Please protect (pAhi) me (mAM); O ambikA (ambikE)! O Bestower (dAyaki) of boons (phala) (literally fruits) to those who seek refuge (Srita) in You!


anupallavi
kavEraja-uttara tIra vAsini
kAtyAyani dharma saMvardhani (SivE)

O Mother kAtyAyani! O Mother dharma saMvardhani (name of pArvati at tiruvaiyAru kshEtra) resident (vAsini) (at tiruvaiyAru) on the Northern (uttara) bank (tIra) of river kAvEri – daughter of King kavEra (kavEraja) (kavErajOttara)!
O Mother SivA! please protect me; O ambikA! O Bestower of boons to those who seek refuge in You!


caraNam
caraNam 1
svabhAvamau nI prabhAvamu
mahAnubhAvurAlu-aina bhAratiki pogaDa
bhAramai-uNDa bhAvaja-arAti
bhAma nEnu-enta bhAgya dAyaki (SivE)

O Consort (bhAma) of Lord Siva – enemy (arAti) of cupid (bhAvaja) (bhavajArAti)! O Bestower (dAyaki) of Fortune (bhAgya)!
To extol (pogaDa) Your (nI) natural (svabhAvamau) excellence (prabhAvamu) being (uNDa) hard (bhAramai) (bharamaiyuNDa) (literally heavy) even for the most eminent (mahAnubhAvurAlu aina) (mahAnubhAvurAlaina) sarasvati (bhAratiki) - Goddess of speech, what (enta) am I (nEnu) (nEnenta)?
O Mother SivA! please protect me; O ambikA! O Bestower of boons to those who seek refuge in You!


caraNam 2
3kalA-arthamu-idi SaSi kalA dhari upa-
vala-ari mAyA vilAsini
sakala-Agama nutE bhaLAri-ana Subha
phalAlu-osagu parama lAlanammuna (SivE)

O Wearer (dhari) of digit (kalA) of Moon (SaSi)! O Mother who manifests (vilAsini) as mAyA of Lord vishNu (upa-valAri)! O Mother extolled (nutE) by all (sakala) Agamas (sakalAgama)!
Please deign to bestow (osagu) on me auspicious (Subha) boons (phalAlu) (phalAlosagu) (literally results) very (parama) affectionately (lAlanammuna) such that I could applaud (ana) at least for (arthamu) a moment (kalA) ‘this (idi) is (kalArthamidi) wonderful’ (bhaLAri) (bhaLAriyana);
O Mother SivA! please protect me; O ambikA! O Bestower of boons to those who seek refuge in You!
caraNam 3
cara-acara-mayI kara-aravindamuna
rAma cilukanu birAna pUni
parAkuga jUDa rAdu SrI raghu-
vara-AptuDagu tyAgarAja vinutE (SivE)

O Mother who is of the form (mayI) of animate (cara) and inanimate (acara) (carAcara-mayI)! Holding (pUni) green parrot (rAma cilukanu) in Your hand (kara) Lotus (aravindamuna) (karAravindamuna), it is not appropriate (rAdu) to look (jUDa) at me with apathy (parAkuga);
O Mother praised (vinutE) by this tyAgarAja – who is dear (AptuDagu) to Lord SrI raghuvara (raghuvarAptuDagu)! O Mother SivA! please protect me quickly (birAna); O ambikA! O Bestower of boons to those who seek refuge in You!


Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
6bhaLAri – It is given as ‘bhalAri’ in all the books. The actual telugu word is ‘bhaLA’, ‘bhaLAra’, ‘bhaLAri’ (exclamation of appreciation).

8tyAgarAja – SrI tyAgarAja.
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References
1SivE – In the Sakti form of worship ‘SivA’ is a name of mother lalitA mahA tripura sundari.

2 - kavEraja – River kAvEri is said to be the daughter of King kavEra – please refer to –Origin of kAvEri

3 - kalArthamu (kalA arthamu) – kalA – a fraction of time described as 1.6 minutes (1/900th of a day) or 0.8 minutes (1/1800th of a day) or 2.45 minutes approximately.
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4 - kalA dhari – In the Sakti worship, Mother is said to wear the digit of moon, like Lord Siva.

5 - upavalAri – vala is a demon (brother of vRtra) slayed by indra. Therefore indra is known as enemy (ari) of vala (valAri). ‘upa-valAri’ is ‘upa-indra’ or ‘upEndra’ – vishNu or kRshNa, particularly vAmama. Please refer to lalitA sahasranAmaM – vishNu mAyA vilAsini (339-340) (‘vilAsini’ is taken as a separate epithet).
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Comments
3kalArthamu - (for a moment) – This may either be added to ‘bhaLAriyana’ (to applaud) or to ‘phalAlosagu’ (grant boons). As ‘granting boons for a moment’ seems to be incorrect, it has been added to ‘bhaLAriyana’ (to applaud for a moment).

7rAma ciluka – In some books this has been translated as ‘parrot uttering names of rAma’. In telugu ‘rAma ciluka’ is a species of parrot which is green in colour.

In caraNa 3, SrI tyAgarAja mentions that he is ‘dear to Lord rAghuvara’ (raghuvara AptuDagu); therefore, it is possible that ‘rAma ciluka’ is used as a pun to tell Mother that the parrot in her hand (rAma ciluka) is always uttering ‘rAma rAma’.
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