Transliteration Scheme

vinAyakuni - rAga madhyamAvati

Tamil Version
Language Version

pallavi
vinAyakuni valenu brOvavE ninu
vinA vElpul(e)varammA

anupallavi
anAtha rakshaki SrI kAmAkshi
su-jan(A)gha mOcani SaMkari janani (vinAyakuni)

caraNam
caraNam 1
1nar(A)dhamulakunu varAl(o)sagan-
2(u)NDramulai bhU-sur(A)di dEvatalu
3rAyiDini jenda rAdu daya
jUDa rAdA kAncI pur4(A)di nAyaki (vinAyakuni)


caraNam 2
5pitAmahuDu jana hit(A)rthamai
ninnu tA teliya vEDa tALimi gala
avatAram(e)tti(y)ikanu tAmasamu
sEya tALa jAlamu nat(A)rti hAriNi (vinAyakuni)
caraNam 3
purAna dayacE 6girAlu mUkuniki
rA jEsi
brOcu rAja dhari
tyAgarAjuni hRdaya 7sarOjam(E)lina
rAma sOdari 8parA Sakti nanu (vinAyakuni)


Meaning - Gist


Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
vinAyakuni valenu brOvavE ninu
vinA vElpul(e)varammA

Please protect (brOvavE) me like (valenu) Your son vinAyaka (vinAyakuni); O Mother (ammA)! which (evaru) (literally who) God(s) (vElpulu) (vElpulevarammA) is/are there for us other than (vinA) You (ninu)?


anupallavi
anAtha rakshaki SrI kAmAkshi
su-jan(A)gha mOcani SaMkari janani (vinAyakuni)

O Mother SrI kAmAkshi – the Protector (rakshaki) of destitutes (anAtha)! O Reliever (mOcani) of the sins (agha) of pious people (su-jana) (sujanAgha)! O Mother (janani) who causes (kari) Auspiciousness (SaM) (SaMkari)!
Please protect me like Your son vinAyaka; O Mother! which God is there for us other than You?


caraNam
caraNam 1
1nar(A)dhamulakunu varAl(o)sagan-
2(u)NDramulai bhU-sur(A)di dEvatalu
3rAyiDini jenda rAdu daya
jUDa rAdA kAncI pur4(A)di nAyaki (vinAyakuni)

Because You bestowed (osaganu) boons (varAlu) to base (adhamulakunu) people (nara) (narAdhamulakunu),
it is not appropriate (rAdu) that brAhmaNas (bhU-sura), celestials (dEvatalu) and others (Adi) (bhU-surAdi) should be troubled (rAyiDini jenda) by being tormented (uNDramulai) (literally being steamed like a rice ball) (varAlosaganuNDramulai);
won't You deign (rAdA) to show (juDa) mercy (daya) on us, O Mother who is the Presiding (Adi) (literally first or ancient) Deity (nAyaki) of the town (pura) (purAdi) of kAnci?
Please protect me like Your son vinAyaka; O Mother! which God is there for us other than You?


caraNam 2
5pitAmahuDu jana hit(A)rthamai
ninnu tA teliya vEDa tALimi gala
avatAram(e)tti(y)ikanu tAmasamu
sEya tALa jAlamu nat(A)rti hAriNi (vinAyakuni)

Because brahmA (pitAmahuDu), for the sake (arthamai) of welfare (hita) (hitArthamai) of the people (jana), prayed (vEDa) to You (ninnu) so that he (tA) could know (teliya) You (ninnu),
having taken (etti) a peaceful (tALimi gala) (literally having patience) form (avatAramu), if You still (ikanu) (avatAramettiyikanu) delay (tAmasamu sEya) (to show mercy), we will not be able (jAlamu) to withstand (tALa);
O Reliever (hAriNi) of the distress (Arti) of those who worship (nata) (natArti) You!
Please protect me like Your son vinAyaka; O Mother! which God is there for us other than You?

caraNam 3
purAna dayacE 6girAlu mUkuniki
rA jEsi brOcu rAja dhari
tyAgarAjuni hRdaya 7sarOjam(E)lina
rAma sOdari 8parA Sakti nanu (vinAyakuni)

O Wearer (dhari) of (digit of) the Moon (rAja) who, earlier (purAna), mercifully (dayacE) protected (brOcu) by restoring (rA jEsi) speech (girAlu) to a dumb (mUkuniki)!
O Mother parA Sakti - Sister (sOdari) of Lord SrI rAma - who rules (Elina) the Lotus (sarOjamu) (sarOjamElina) of the heart (hRdaya) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuni)!
Please protect me (nanu) like Your son vinAyaka; O Mother! which other God is there for us other than You?


Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
2uNDramulai – In all the books, it is given as 'uNDarAmulai'. However, there seems to be no such word ‘uNDarAmu’ in telugu. The nearest word is ‘uNDramu’ or ‘uNDrAyi’ which means a ‘a ball of rice flour boiled in steam’ – a cake offered to Lord vinAyaka – in tamizh, it is called ‘kozhukkaTTai’ . Therefore, the word seems to have been corrupted. This should be ‘uNDramulai’. SrI tyAgarAja seems to pun on the word ‘uNDramu’ because this dish is favourite of Lord vinAyaka whom he is referring to in the kRti.

3rAyiDini – rAyaDini’. The correct telugu word is ‘rAyiDi’ and the same has been adopted.

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6girAlu mUkuniki rA jEsi – In all the books it is given as ‘girAlu mAkuniki rA jEsi’.

‘mAku’ in telugu means ‘tree’; ‘girAlu rA jEsi’ means ‘restoring speech’; restoring speech is possible only for a dumb and not to tree. Therefore from the wordings of the caraNa it is very clear that the Mother granted speech to a dumb person. The saMskRta and telugu word for ‘dumb’ is ‘mUka’ and therefore ‘mUkuniki’ is the appropriate word here; the classical work ‘mUka panca SAti’ is a very famous composition in praise of Mother kAmAkshi.

Please also visit the website to get more details about mUka kavi as explained by kAnci mahAsvAmi candraSEkharEndra sarasvati

In the Dikshitar kRti ‘SrI kamalAmbikayA kaTAkshitOhaM’ – rAga SankarAbharaNa, he states ‘mUka mukhya vAkpradayA’ – ‘She endowed speech to the dumb’.

In saundarya lahari, SlOka 98, it is stated ‘mUkAnAmapi kavitA kAraNatayA’ – ‘because it enables even a dumb to become a poet’. kALidAsa, by birth is stated to be a dumb whose speech was restored by kALi.

7 - sarOja mElina – sarOjamElaina : sarOjamElina - is the appropriate word because ‘sarOjamElaina’ does not convey any meaning.
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References
8parA Sakti – “This is the general name of Mother in lalitA sahasranAmaM, meaning ‘The Supreme Power’. However, ‘parA’ is also a name of Mother – meaning 'The transcendent Word’. This also means ‘above the other lower stages of speech known as paSyanti, madhyamA and vaikharI – these three ‘paSyanti’ (speech in the inaudible stage), ‘madhyamA’ (speech in the middle stage of its expression) and ‘vaikharI’ (uttered audible speech) are also other names of the mother.” (lalitA sahasranAmam – translation by Swami Tapasyananda)

For a discourse of Kanchi Paramacharya Chandrasekharendra Saraswati on ‘parA’
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Comments
1narAdhamulakunu varAlosaga – Because you bestowed boons to base people ... - The exact context of this statement is not known.

4Adi nAyaki – this is how it is given in all the books. However, in my humble opinion this should be ‘adhi nAyaki’ – ‘the presiding deity’ because kAmAkshi is considered as the presiding deity of kAncIpuram. In the absence of any confirming version, it has been translated as ‘Adi nAyaki’.

5pitAmahuDu – The exact location of this episode where brahmA prays to kAmAkshi to attain peaceful form is to be traced. There is an interesting article in the website which states that brahmA worshipped kAmAkshi at kAncIpuram

Another story that Adi SankarAcArya was the one who made the Mother assume SAnta svarUpa by establishing SrI cakra

There is yet another story that Adi SankarAcArya pacified the kAli – situated near kAmAkshi
kAmAkshi-1
kAmAkshi-2
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