Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Todays Kriti baDalika tIra Raga rItigauLa

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

 

Title: baDalika tIra

rAgA: rItigauLa

In the kRti 'baDalika tIra' – rAga rItigauLa, SrI tyAgarAja puts Lord to sleep by singing his glories.

Pallavi

baDalika tIra pavvaLincavE

Anupallavi

saDalani duritamulanu tega kOsi

sArvabhauma sAkEta rAma (baDalika)

Charanam

pankaj(A)sanuni paritApamu kani

pankaj(A)pta kula pativai velasi

pankaj(A)kshitO vanamunak(E)gi

jinkanu vadhiyinci

manku rAvaNuni madamunan(a)Naci

niSSankuDagu vibhIshaNuniki bangAru

lankan(o)sagi surula brOcina

niS-kaLanka tyAgarAjuni hRdayamuna (baDalika)

Gist

O Lord SrI rAma of ayOdhyA – the Sovereign Lord of Universe! Please lie down to get over the fatigue. Having rent asunder (my) sins which have not yet fallen off, please lie down to get over the fatigue.

O Blemishless Lord who (1) seeing the misery of Lord brahmA (seated in Lotus), (2) shining as the Lord of the Solar race, (3) having gone to the forest along with sItA, (4) having slayed mArIca, (5) having subdued the arrogance of the vile rAvaNa, (6) having bestowed the golden lankA to the undoubting vibhISaNa, (7) protected the celestials! Please lie down in the heart of this tyAgarAja (and rest) to get over the fatigue.

Word-by-word Meaning

P Please lie down (pavvaLincavE) to get over (tIra) the fatigue (baDalika).

A O Lord SrI rAma of ayOdhyA (sAkEta) – the Sovereign Lord of Universe (sArvabhauma)! Having rent (kOsi) asunder (tega) (my) sins (duritamulanu) which have not yet fallen off (saDalani), please lie down to get over the fatigue.

C O Blemishless (niS-kaLanka) Lord who - seeing (kani) the misery (paritApamu) of Lord brahmA – seated (Asanuni) in Lotus (pankaja) (pankajAsanuni), shining (velasi) as the Lord (pativai) of the Solar – friend (Apta) of Lotus (pankaja) (pankajApta) - race (kula), having gone (Egi) to the forest (vanamunaku) (vanamunakEgi) along with sItA – the Lotus (pankaja) Eyed (akshi) (pankajAkshitO), having slayed (vadhiyinci) mArIca – one in the garb of deer (jinka) (jinkanu), having subdued (aNaci) the arrogance (madamunanu) (madamunanaNaci) of the vile (manku) rAvaNa (rAvaNuni); having bestowed (osagi) the golden (bangAru) lankA (lankanosagi) to the undoubting (niSSankuDagu) vibhIshaNa (vibhIshaNuniki), protected (brOcina) the celestials (surala)! please lie down in the heart (hRdayamuna) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuni) to get over the fatigue.

Notes –

A – duritamulanu – this is how it is given in the book of TKG; in the book of CR, this is given as 'duritamunu'; in the book of TSV/AKG, this is given as 'duritamulu'. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions???

C – niSSankuDagu – the alacrity with which vibhIshaNa sought the refuge of SrI rAma shows that he had no doubts whatsoever in his mind about the greatness of Lord rAma.

C – bangAru lanka – Golden lanka - Please refer to website – http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa092401a.htm

There are many mentions of 'golden lanka' in sundara kANDa of SrImadvAlmIki rAmAyaNa. lankA is called 'serendip' in Persian – a corruption of 'svarna dvIp'. The word 'serendipity' was derived from this word. lanka is considered an 'island of fortune' and described in many Persian Folk Tales, including 'The Three Princes of Serendip' – Source:–

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Princes_of_Serendip

C – tyAgarAjuni hRdayamuna – This is how it is given in the book ofTSV/AKG. However, in the books of TKG and CR, it is given as 'tyAgarAja nuta rAma'. In the book of CR, the meaning derived is 'in the heart of this tyAgarAja'. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions???

General – This kRti brings to mind the kIrtana of aruNAcala kavirAyar – 'En paLLi koNDIrayya'. For short sketch on the life of aruNacala kavirAyar, please visit web site –

http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/kallidaihari/Aarunachalakavi.htm

 

Additional Comments by SrI V.Sadagopan:

Reeti GowLai is the raagam chosen by many composers for their kritis. It is a Raagam filled with KaruNA rasam. VeeNai Kuppaiyer, the prominent sishyar of Saint ThyagarAja was known for his unique rendering of two raagams (Kudumbha sotthu). One of them was Reeti GowLai and the other was NaarAyaNa GowLai, which is not sung much these days due to the eclipse of it by Kedara Gowlai in the concert scene. Reeti Gowlai is an ubhaya vakra rAgam (both in arOhaNam and avarOhaNam). The jeeva svarams for this raagam are SaadhAraNa GaandhAram, mahdyamam and Kaisiki nishAdham.

In this kriti, Sadhguru SwamigaL invites Lord Raamachandra to lie down in the lotus soft bed of his heart after cleansing the sins there thru His karuNA-laden glances. The Saint gives a list of activities that would have fatigued the Lord during His Vibhava avatAram and asks the Lord to refresh Himself from all those strains by taking a welcome rest in his heart lotus. Oh Saarvabhouma SaakEta Raama! You roamed in the harsh daNdakaa Vanam, fought with the RaakshasAs there, chased Maarichan, who appeared as a Maayaa mrugam to attract the attention of SitA PirAtti, laid down on the rough sand at ThiruppullANi on Dharbham to seek the help of Samudra Raajan and engaged in so many other tiring things. You must be very much fatigued from all these exertions. Please rest now in the specially prepared bed of my heart and recover from all these exhausting activities.

The spirit of this kriti is very much like the PeriyAzhwAr Paasurams inviting KrishNa for Thirumanjanam to banish the fatigue and discomfort of chasing after the cattle in BrundhAvanam all day under the scorching Sun. Various Thirumanjana Kattiyam passages recited at the Dhivya desams ask the Lord in an endearing manner about the various causes for His fatigue and invite Him to have a rejuvenating Thirumanjanam to get rid of those fatigue factors. Please refer to pages 90-92 of the 52nd ebook in the Sundara Simham series (http://www.sundarasimham.org) entitled Thirumanjana Kattiyams at Srirangam and ThiruviNNagar for the reasons for the request for the Lord to chase away His fatigue from His many tiring, lOka SamrakshanArtha activities through the Thirumanjanam and a good night’s rest in the heart lotus of Bhakta ThyAgarAja SwamigaL. In his Mohana raaga kriti of “yEn PaLLikoNDeer Iyyaa?â€, AruNAchala Kavi asks the reasons for the Lord lying down in the middle of the two rivers at Srirangam, which is a request for clarification of the reasons for resting. Saint ThyAgarAja is one step ahead invites the Lord to rest in his heart lotus knowing fully well the many fatigue-causing activities the Lord had undertaken.

NamO SrI RaaghavAya satatam,

Raama DhAsan, 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/baDalika_tIra.doc

 

PDF:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/pdf/baDalika_tIra.pdf

 

AUDIO by Sri GNB

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