Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Lord SrI rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!
O Lord worthy of worship by Lord Siva, indra and brahmA!

Please protect by granting me, abundant devotion to Your Holy Feet.
How trivial for You to destroy my sins?

Having talked to me for some time, if You do not speak now, will I leave You?
Considering all the traditions of Your race (in giving asylum), please protect me too.

I have besought You many a times by singing incessantly.
Why don’t You talk to me, pleasingly, now?

Instead of trusting (worldly) people, I have, so far, seated Your holy feet in my mind.
Then, why do You look at me askance?

Please listen to the appeals of this tyAgarAja.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
SrI rAma rAma rAma sItA hRj-jaladhi sOma

O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon (sOma) of the Heart (hRt)-Ocean (jaladhi) (hRj-jaladhi) of sItA!

caraNam
caraNam 1
nI pAdamula bhakti niNDAraganu-osagi
kApADu nA pApamu-E pATi rAma (SrI)

Please protect (kApADu) by granting (osagi) me abundant (niNDAraganu) (niNDAraganosagi) devotion (bhakti) to Your (nI) Holy Feet (pAdamula).
How trivial (E pATi) for You to destroy my (nA) sins (pApamu) (pApamE), O Lord rAma?
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!

caraNam 2
paliki konnALLu-ipuDu palukaka-uNTE viDutunA
kula dharmamulanu-ella talaci nanu brOva-ayya (SrI)

Having talked (paliki) to me for some time (konnALLu), if You do not speak (palukaka uNTE) (palukakuNTE) now (ipuDu) (konnALLipuDu), will I leave (viDutunA) You?
O Lord (ayya)! Considering (talaci) (literally thinking) all (ella) the traditions (dharmamulanu) (dharmamulanella) (literally duties) of Your race (kula) (in giving asylum), please protect (brOvu) (brOvavayya) me (nanu) too;
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!

caraNam 3
palumAru ninnu pADi pADi vEDukonnAnu
kalakalamani nAtO palukavu-Emi-ayya ipuDu (SrI)

I have besought (vEDukonnAnu) You (ninnu) many a times (palumAru) by singing incessantly (pADi pADi);
O Lord (ayya)! Why (Emi) don’t You talk (palukavu) (palukavEmayya) to me (nAtO), pleasingly (kalakalamani), now (ipuDu)?
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!

caraNam 4
lOkula nera nammukonaka nI pAdamula-
indAka nA madini-unca krI kaNTa jUcedavu-Emi (SrI)

Instead of trusting (nammukonaka) (worldly) people (lOkula), much (nera), though I have, so far (indAka), seated (unca) Your (nI) holy feet (pAdamula) (pAdamulindAka) in my (nA) mind (madini) (madinunca),
why (Emi) do You look (jUcedavu) (jUcedavEmi) at me askance (krI kaNTa) (literally down-cast eyes)?
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!

caraNam 5
rAja SEkhara dEva rAja rAjIva bhava
pUjA-arha SrI tyAgarAjuni moralu-Alakincu (SrI)

O Lord worthy (arha) of worship (pUjA) (pUjArha) by Lord Siva – wearer of digit of moon (rAja) on the head (SEkhara), indra – Lord (rAja) of celestials (dEva) and brahmA – resident (bhava) in Lotus (rAjIva)!
Please listen (Alakincu) to the appeals (moralu) (moralAlakincu) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuni).
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord rAma! O Lord rAma! O Moon of the Heart-Ocean of sItA!

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – SrI rAma rAma rAma sItA – SrI rAma rAma sItA.
² – palukakuNTE – palukakuNDina.
³ – kula dharmamula – kula marmamula. The word ‘marmamu’ does not seem to be appropriate in the context.
⁴ – pAdamulindAka nA – pAdamulanindAkanu.
⁵ – jUcedavEmi – jUDavEmi. As per Telugu dictionary, ‘krI-kannu’ means ‘down-cast eyes’ (rejection) and ‘krE-kannu’ means ‘side-long glances’ (anugraha). In many tyAgarAja kRtis, ‘krI-kannu’ and ‘krE-kannu’ have been used interchangeably. Therefore, if the meaning ‘side glance’ is taken for ‘krI-kaNTa’, then ‘jUDavEmi’ may be correct. In that case, it will be translated as ‘why don’t you look at me with side glances?’ In books, both kinds of meaning have been given.
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⁶ – rAjIva bhava – bhava. ‘bhava’ means ‘Siva’. But as ‘rAja SEkhara’, meaning ‘Siva’ is given earlier, it might not repeat. Therefore, from the context, ‘rAjIva’ seems essential to mean ‘brahmA’.

⁷ – moralAlakincu – moralAlakinci. ‘moralAlakinci’ is not appropriate because there is nothing in the pallavi to link with.
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References

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SrI rAma rAma rAma sItA - rAga sAvEri