Today's Tyagaraja Kriti Series-- Song aTla palukuduvu rAga aThANA

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SrI

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song aTla palukuduvu

rAga aThANA

In the krti ‘aTla palukuduvu’ – rAga aThANA, SrI tyAgarAja criticizes SrI rAma for adopting double standards – a nindA stuti.

Pallavi

aTla palukadu(v)iTla palukuduv(a)nduk(E)mi sEtu rAma nIv(aTla)

Anupallavi

toTlan(a)rbhakula(n)Utuvu mari mari tOcinaTlu gilluduvu SrI rAma nIv(aTla)

Charanam

jIvula SikSincaga nErtuvu ciranjIvulugA jEya

nErtuvurA bhAvam(e)rigi brOtuvu sad-bhakta

bhAgadhEya SrI tyAgarAja vinuta (aTla)

Gist

O Lord SrI rAma -the fortune of true devotees -praised by this tyAgarAja!

Sometimes you would speak in that manner; sometimes you would speak in this manner; what shall I do for that?

You would rock the cradle of infant(s); again, whenever You feel so, You would pinch the (sleeping) child.

You would know to punish humans and also would know to make them long-lived; You would protect understanding a person’s state of mind.

Word-by-word Meaning

P O Lord SrI rAma! Sometimes you (nIvu) would speak (palukuduvu) in that manner (aTla); sometimes you would speak (palukuduvu) in this manner (iTla) (palukuduviTla); what (Emi) (palukuduvandukEmi) shall I do (sEtu) for that (anduku)?

A O Lord SrI rAma! You would rock (Utuvu) the cradle (toTlanu) of infant(s) (arbhakula); again (mari mari), whenever You feel so (tOcinaTlu), You would pinch (gilluduvu) the (sleeping) child.

O Lord SrI rAma! Sometimes you (nIvu) would speak in that manner; sometimes you would speak in this manner; what shall I do for that?

C You would know (nErtuvu) to punish (SikSincaga) humans (jIvula) and also would know (nErtuvurA) to make (jEya) them long-lived (ciranjIvulugA); You would protect (brOtuvu) understanding (erigi) a person’s state of mind (bhAvamu) (bhAvamerigi); O Lord SrI rAma -the fortune (bhAgadhEya) of true (sad) devotees (bhakta) -praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja! O Lord SrI rAma! Sometimes you would speak in that manner; sometimes you would speak in this manner; what shall I do for that?

Notes –

P and A ‘aTla’, ‘iTla’, ‘tOcinaTlu’ – this is how it is given in th book of TKG. However, in the book of CR and TSV/AKG, these are given as ‘aTTa’, ‘iTTa’ and ‘tOcinaTTu’. The former version has been adopted in view of the rhyme – aTla – toTla.

A toTlanUtuvu – gilluduvu – This is an adage to show one is busy – first make the child sleep by rocking the cradle; when the child starts sleeping, pinch it so that the child would cry and then rock the cradle -the cycle would go on. In tamizh this is called ‘kuzhandaiyaik kiLLi toTTilaiyATTudal’.

A toTlanUtuvu – gilluduvu -the purport of this seems to be the experience of endless cycle of desires/griefs and their fulfilment/relief. The great telugu composer and devotee of Lord venkatESvara – annamayya, in his krti ‘nAnATi batuku’ says -tegadu pApamu tIradu puNyamu – meaning ‘the sins will not abate and the merits would not be exhausted’. Please also refer to Annamayya krti ‘antaryAmi’ wherein he says that all the merits and sins will not go away unless the Lord says ‘no’ (vaddanaka) to them.

 

Additional Comments by Sri V.Sadagopan:

 

In a state of despair and anger, swAmigaL questions the Lord about His double standard: Promising one thing at one time and doing something else totally opposite another time. He asks the Lord to counsel him on how to behave, when he gets these conflicting signals. You rock the cradle for the baby to sleep soundly some times and then wake up the baby by pinching it. How can I account for these contradictory impulses and the motivation behind it? Where is the equity in Your handling of things pertaining to Your bhaktAs and dear ones in these strange ways?

 

swAmigaL chose the aThANA rAgam for this amarsha –rOsha –rOshOkti krti in a mood of anger at the Lord's mysterious ways. AThANA rAgam is chosen by the composers to display vIra rasam, gambhIram (bAla kanaka maya, rA rA devAti devA krtis), dhairyam and kAruNyam (nArada gAna lOlaa), bhakti rasam (sakala grha balamemi krti by purandara dAsar). aThANaa is a bhAshAnga rAgam derived from the 29th meLa rAgam, SankarAbharaNam. Musicologists point out that the rakti svarams like catusrti rishabam, catusrti dhaivatam and anatara ghAndhAram used in the sAhityam of the krtis have the power to invoke moods of happiness, Saantam and utsAham. tyAgarAja swAmigaL has blessed us with many aThANA krtis to appreciate the many moods invoked by this bhAshAnga rAgam.

 

Audio for this krti as rendered by Mambalam sisters can be accessed at:

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/atla_palukudu.mp3

 

dAsan,

Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

 

NOTE: Those who prefer to have a PDF or WORD document copy of this write-up can download either of the format from the following links:

WORD doc: http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/word_docs/atlapalukudevu.doc

PDF: http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/pdf/ atlapalukudevu.pdf