Thyagaraja Kriti Series: AaragimpavE Kriti Raga Todi

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

 

Title: AragimpavE

rAgA: tODi

In the kRti 'AragimpavE pAlAragimpavE' - rAga tODi, SrI tyAgarAja makes food offering - naivEdya - to the Lord, sItA and His brothers.

Pallavi

AragimpavE pAl(A)ragimpavE

Anupallavi

raghuvIra janakajA kara

pavitramau venna pAl(Ara)

CaraNam

sAramaina divvy(A)nnamu

shaD-rasa yuta bhakshaNamulu

dAra sOdar(A)dulatO

tyAgarAja vinuta pAl(Ara)

Gist

O Lord raghuvIra! O Lord well-praised by this tyAgarAja! Deign to partake, along with Your spouse, brothers and others, the tasty and sacred rice and eatables consisting of six different tastes, milk and butter which have been sanctified by the touch of sItA.

Word-by-word Meaning

P Deign to partake (AragimpavE) the milk (pAlu) (pAlAragimpavE).

A O Lord raghuvIra! Deign to partake the milk and butter (venna) which have been sanctified (pavitramau) by the touch (kara) (literally hand) of sItA – daughter of King janaka (janakajA).

C O Lord well-praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja! deign to partake – along with Your spouse (dAra), brothers (sOdaru) and others (AdulatO) (sOdarAdulatO), the tasty (sAramaina) and sacered (divya) rice (annamu) (divyAnnamu) and eatables (bhakshaNamulu) consisting of (yuta) six (shaD) different tastes (rasa) along with milk.

Notes –

A – raghuvIra – In all the books the word 'raghu' is given in brackets, the significance of which is not clear. Any suggestions??? The inclusion of Raghu in brackets hints at which Veeran is being referred to. Swamy Desikan composed a famous gadhyam named “Sri Raguveera gadhyam†to celebrate the valour of Sri Raghu Kula Tilakam …V.Sadagopan

C - shaDrasa – tamizh aRusuvai – sweet (madhura – inippu), sour (amla - puLippu), salt (lavaNa - uvarppu), bitter (kaTu - kasappu), pungent (tIkSNa - kAraM), astringent (kaSAya - tuvarppu); 'kaTu' also means pungent.

C – tyAgarAja vinuta – this is how it is given in all the books other than that of TKG, wherein it is given as 'tyAgarAja nuta'. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions???

Additional Coments by V.Sadagopan:

 

This kriti is an upachAra Kriti, where naivEdhyam is offered with great tenderness during the daily AarAdhanam of Saint Thyagraja for Lord Ramachandra ( for the Raghu Veeran/Vijaya Raaghavan). The affection (prEmai) with which Saint Thyagaraja invites the Lord to partake the milk and other prasAdhams prepared for the Mahaa Veeran and His family members is most touching. The bhavam behind the offering is of a true bhaktan. “Oh Raama! please drink this milk. I have made it special in more than one way. First, I have heated the milk to the right temperature, neither too hot or too cold. I have added kumkuma poo, jeenaa kalkaNDu to enhance its flavor. Second, I have sanctified the offering through the touch of Your dear consort, SitA PirAtti. Her sacred hasta sparsam (JanakajA kara pavitreekrutam) of the Milk, butter, different kinds of annams and BakshaNams has made these offerings parama bhOgyam for You and adiyEn is offering a grand feast with preparations representing six different kinds of tastes. Oh Raghu Veera! You might be tired and hungry from the hunting down of the asurAs in DaNDakA Vanam. You might be fatigued from chasing the golden deer. Please rest at my house now and leisurely partake the chitrAnnams with SitA pirAtti and Your brothers and bless adiyEn.â€

 

The prEma sahita upachAram reminds us of another bhakthA , whose kaimakryam was to offer milk at night to Lord VaradarAjA at Kaanchipuram . He was from NadAthur agrahAram originally . He was giving kaalakshEpams during the day to his sishyAs on Sri BhAshyam inside the temple . He had such a concern that the milk that he offered was at a temperature that was neither too cold or too hot . To achieve this goal ,he will exchange the hot milk from one vessel to the other untill it was at the right temperature and then only offer the milk to the Lord . VaradarAja PerumAl was so moved by the concern of His bhaktA for His welfare that He asked NadAthUr AchAryan whether he was His Mother(Ammaa) . From then on NadAthUr AchAryan was recognized as the Mother of the Lord from NadAthUr( NadAthUr AmmAL ). Saint ThyAgarAjA's upachArAms will be like that of a parent concerned for the total comfort of the Lord .

In a similar vein, SwamigaL will ask Lord Ramachandra to accept PaansupAri from him as if they are from the hands of SitA PirAtti in the KaraharapriyA kriti, “ViDamu sEyavE nannu biDanADakavEâ€. These bhAvam-laden requests of SwamigaL during shOdasOpachArams to His ishta dhaivam are very special.

This Kriti is set in the 8th MeLa Raagam , Hanuma Thodi .

Raama DhAsan, 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/Aragimpave.doc

 

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

 

AUDIO by Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy

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