Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti:baNTu rIti Raga:haMsanAdaM

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song baNTu rIti

raaga haMsanAdaM

In the kRti ‘baNTu rIti koluv(u)iyyavayyA’ – rAga – haMsanAdaM – SrI tyAgarAja yearns for the privilege of being a servant (armed guard) in the assembly of SrI rAma.

 

Pallavi:

baNTu rIti koluv(i)yya(v)ayya rAma

Anupallavi:

tuNTa viNTi vAni modalaina

mad(A)dula koTTi nEla kUla jEyu nija (baNTu)

 

CharaNam :

rOmAncam(a)nu ghana kancukamu

rAma bhaktuD(a)nu mudra biLLayu

rAma nAmam(a)nu vara khaDgam(i)vi

rAjillun(a)yya tyAgarAjunikE (baNTu)

 

Gist

O Lord rAma! Give me the privilege of being in Your service as a true servitor – who will make, the six internal enemies - desire, conceit etc. - bite dust by thrashing them. Give the privilege of being in Your service as a servitor to this tyAgarAja on whose person shines these – (a) a strong armour called horripilation, (b) a royal badge called ‘devotee of SrI rAma’, and © the divine sword called the ‘name of rAma’.

 

Word-by-word Meaning

 

P O Lord (ayya) rAma! Give (iyyi) me the privilege of being in Your service (koluvu) (koluviyyavayya) as (rIti) a servitor (baNTu) (literally armed guard).

 

A O Lord rAma! Give me the privilege of being in Your service as a true (nija) servitor- who will make (jEyu) the six internal enemies - desire - originating from (modalaina) cupid (kAma) - sugar cane (tuNTa) archer (viNTi vADu) (viNTi vAni), conceit (mada) etc. (Adula) (madAdula), bite dust (nEla kUla) (literally knock down to earth) by thrashing (koTTi) them.

C1 O Lord (ayya) rAma! give the privilege of being in Your service as a servitor to this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjunikE) on whose person shines (rAjillu) (rAjillunayya) these (ivi) - a strong (ghana) armour (kaJcukamu) called (anu) horripilation (rOmAJcamu) (rOmAJcamanu), a royal (mudra) badge (biLLayu) called (anu) ‘devotee (bhaktuDu) (bhaktuDanu) of SrI rAma’, and the divine (vara) sword (khaDgamu) (khaDgamivi) called (anu) the ‘name (nAmamu) (nAmamanu) of rAma’.

 

Notes -

 

A – tuNTa viNTi vAni modalaina – As per telugu dictionary, ‘tuNTa vilukAdu’ refers to kAma - cupid. Therefore, ‘tuNTa vinTivAni modalaina’ should be taken to mean ‘desire – originating from kAma’ Accordingly the anupallavi would read ‘kAma, madAdula koTTi nEla kUla jEyu nija’. Any suggestions ???

 

A – modalaina – this may be taken to mean ‘beginning with’ also. Accordingly, it will be translated as ‘kAma modalaina madAdula koTTi...’

 

A – madAdula - kAma, krOdha, lObha, mOha, mada, mAtsarya – desire, anger, greed, obsession, conceit, jealousy.

 

A – koTTi – this is how it is given in all the books other than that of TKG, where it is given as ‘paTTi’. As ‘koTTi’ seems to be appropriate, the same has been adopted. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

 

C – the word ending ‘u’ in ‘rOmaJcamanu’, ‘rAma bhaktuDanu’ and ‘rAma nAmamanu’ are as given in the books of CR, ATK and TSV/AKG. However, in the book of TKG, these are given with ending ‘E’

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan:

This is a beautiful kriti laden with bhAvam by Sadhguru, where he seeks a boon to be the liveried servant of the Lord so that he can be near Him always. Swamigal describes His qualifications to serve the Lord as His true servant and DhAsan. He also describes the attire that one should wear as the servant of the Lord. SwamigaL asks the Lord to vouchsafe him such a noble status in His court .

This kriti is about one of the nine modes of Bhakti : Dhaasyam , the pneultimate stage before Aathma-samarpaNam . Lakshmana was a grand role model for Sadhguru SwamigaL and used to sing " mithri BhAgyamu , Soumithree bhAgyamu". . LakshmaNa was blessed with Kaimkarya Lakshmi . He attended on Raama with great tact , sensitivity and in a mode of anticipation for 14 long years in the Forest . With the sheer hint of a look ( Jaadai) from Raama , LakshmaNa will fulfil the wishes of His elder brother with alacrity and reverence . He earned the title of "BhAvajn~an " from His elder brother .

HanumAn was another supreme model of dhAsya Bhakti for Saint ThyaagarAja . HanumAn sat at His Lord's feet day and night and performed "Paadha Sevanam " . ThyagarAja SwamigaL wanted to join the company of these exemplary DhAsya BhaktAs and serve the Lord from dawn to midnight . In the PunnAga VarALi kriti , "Tava DhAsOham " , SwamigaL declares that he is Lord Ramachandra's servant and seeks uninterrupted service to the Lord . Some times , SwamigaL will get worried that the Lord will reject his service because He already had so many DhAsa Janams like His brothers , Wife and HanumAn . In the Bhairavi krti , "UpachAramu cEsEvAru" , he begs the Lord not to reject him because there was no vacancy in the Lord's court . At those times filled with anxiety , SwamigaL will embolden himself to describe his own qualifications to serve the Lord ( Bhantu reeti kolu) . He will state that he is ideally qualified because he had freed himself from Kaama , KrOdha ,madha ,mAtsaryam . He will tell Raama that he will wear a badge with the words " Raama BhaktA " in his uniform as the Lord's servant and carry the sword of "Raama Naama" in his hand . He identifies himself as the head-peon in the durbar of Raama ( dAsa jana agrEsarar) . Like AzhwArs before him , SwamigaL will identfy himself as charamAvati dhAsan ( Brutya brutyan/ dhAsAnu dhAsan) with overflowing sense of dhAsya bhAvam .

This kriti is set in Hamsa Naadham raagam, a Janyam of the 60th MeLam, Neetimati. Its

ArOhaNa/AvarOhaNams are :

S R2 M2 P D3 N3 S

S N3 D3 P M2 R2 S

Sri UnnikrishNan, Smt. Soumya, Smt MSS and Sri Mandolin Srinivas have rendered this kriti movingly.

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/baNTu_rIti.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

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

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/BantureethiMSS.mp4