Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti: callarE ramacandrunipai Raga:Ahiri

[Guest guest]



 

- Kala Lakshminarayanan

V. Sadagopan ; V. Sadagopan ; Jayashree Muralidharan

Saturday, November 07, 2009 12:15 PM

Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti: callarE ramacandrunipai Raga:Ahiri

 

 

SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song callarE ramacandrunipai

raaga Ahiri

In the kRti ‘callarE rAmacandrunipai’ – rAga Ahiri, srI tyAgarAja depicts how prahlAda worships the Lord.

Pallavi:

callarE rAmacandrunipai pUla

CaraNam 1:

sompaina manasutOn(i)mpaina baGgAru

gampalatO maJci campakamulanu (callarE)

CaraNam 2:

pAmaramula mAni nEmamutOnu

ramA manO-haruni paini tAmara pUla (callarE)

CaraNam 3:

I jagatini dEva pUj(A)rhamau pUla

rAjilO mElaina jAji sumamula (callarE)

CaraNam 4:

amita parAkrama dyu-maNi kul(A)rnava

vimala candrunipai hRt-kumuda sumamulu (callarE)

CaraNam 5:

dhAta vinutuDaina sItA pati paini

cEtulatO pArijAta sumamula (callarE)

CaraNam 6:

enna rAni janana maraNamulu lEk(u)NDa

manasAra tyAgarAja nutuni paini pUla (callarE)

Gist

(1) Let us shower flowers on Lord srI rAmacandra.

(2) Let us shower fragrant campaka flowers from beautiful golden baskets with a happy mind on Lord srI rAmacandra.

(3) By desisting from wickedness and observing self control, let us shower lotus flowers on Lord srI rAmacandra.

(4) Let us shower jasmine flowers - considered to be superior in the range of flowers worthy for worshipping the Gods – on Lord srI rAmacandra.

(5) Let us shower the flower of the lotus of our hearts on the Lord srI rAmacandra – the infinitely mighty – the spotless moon born in the ocean of the Solar dynasty.

(6) Let us shower by our hands the pArijAta flowers on the Lord srI rAmacandra - Consort of sItA- praised by brahmA.

(7) Come what may, in order to ensure that we do not have (repeated) births and deaths, let us shower flowers with our whole heart on the Lord srI rAmacandra – praised by this tyAgarAja.

 

Word-by-word Meaning

P Let us shower (callarE) flowers (pUla) on Lord srI rAmacandra (rAmacandrunipai).

C 1 Let us shower fragrant (manci) (literally good) campaka flowers (campakamulanu) from beautiful (impaina) golden (bangAru) baskets

(gampalatO) with a happy (sompaina) mind (manasutOnu) on Lord srI rAmacandra.

C 2 By desisting (mAni) from wickedness (pAmaramula) and observing self control (nEmamutO), let us shower lotus (tAmara) flowers (pUla) on (paini) Lord srI rAmacandra - the Beloved (manO-hara) (manO-haruni)(literally one who has stolen the heart) of lakSmi (ramA).

C 3 Let us shower jasmine (jAji) flowers (sumamula) - considered to be superior (mElaina) in the range (rAjilO) of flowers (pUla) worthy (arhamau) for worshipping (pUja) (pUjArhamau) the Gods (dEva) – on Lord srI rAmacandra.

C 4 Let us shower the flower (sumamulu) of the lotus (kumuda) (literally white lily) of our hearts (s) on the Lord srI rAmacandra –the infinitely (amita) mighty (parAkrama) – the spotless (vimala) moon (candra) (candrunipai) born in the ocean (arNava) of the Solar –Sun - jewel (maNi) of the sky (dyu) – dynasty (kula) (kulArNava).

C 5 Let us shower by our hands (cEtulatO) the pArijAta flowers (sumamula) on (paini) the Lord srI rAmacandra - Consort (pati) of sItA – praised (vinutuDaina) by brahmA (dhAta).

C 6 Come what may (enna rAni), in order to ensure that we do not (lEka) have (uNDa) (lEkuNDa) (repeated) births (janana) and deaths (maraNamulu), let us shower flowers (pUla) with our whole heart (manasAra) on (paini) the Lord srI rAmacandra – praised (nuta) (nutuni) by this tyAgarAja.

Notes –

P – rAmacandruni pai – this is how it is given in the book of TKG; however, in the book of TSV/AKG, it is given as ‘rAmacandruni paini’. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions???

C1 - campaka flower – SeNbagaM in tamizh.

C3 – rAjilO – this is how it is given in the book of TKG. However, it is given as ‘rAjillu’; in view of the ensuing word ‘mElaina’, the word ‘rAjilO’ seems to be appropriate; accordingly, it has been adopted. Any suggestions???

C3 - jAji – jAdi malli in tamizh.

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan:

This is a kriti from the Geya Naatakam of PrahlAdha Bhakta Vijayam. This deals with the archana for the Lord. Archanam is one of the nine bhakti prakArams described by Bhakta PrahlAdhA. We can also consider this kriti as a Pushpa Yaagam, where huge amounts of multicolored and fragrant flowers are showered on the Lord from His sacred feet to His Siras. Saint Thyagaraja performed his own sankeertana Pushpa Yaagam in this kriti in the style of Annamayya’s Pushpa- Yaagam related Kriti for Malayappa Swamy.

At the sacred temple of Thirumala, the Utsava Moorthys and the Ubhaya NaacchimArs are showered with 26 different kinds of flowers. The Lord and His devis are propitiated to bless the world with prosperity and a bountiful harvest. Jasmine, Rose, CheNbakam, KanakAmbharam, Jaaji, Scented Jaaji, Nandi vardhanam, ManOranjitam, Mogili, Panneer, Lilies, Maruvam, dhavanam, TuLasi et al are showered on the Lord during the Pushpa Yaagam. The flowers used in Pushpa Yaagam at Thirumala are a delight to see. Tons of flowers are donated and used in the Pushpa Yaagam.

http://www.tirumala-tirupati.com/ph_9.php

http://www.tirumala.org/pg_pushpa.htm

It is interesting to observe that Saint Thyagaraja performs the Pushpa Yaagam for Lord Raamachandra (his ishta dhaivam) in a gEya nAtakam dedicated to the celebration of Lord Narasimha by PrahlAdha. The intensity of ThyAgarAja SwamigaL’s Raama Bhakti was such that he saw the worlds as Raama mayam. Therefore, instead of singing “challarE Nrismhuinipai Poolaâ€, SwamigaL sang: “challarE Raamachandrunipai poolaâ€. It is similar to his experience in composing the Aarabhi pancharatnam, “SaadhinchanE Oh Manasaaâ€. Upto the 6th charaNam of this kriti, SwamigaL sang about the Baala kreedais of Lord KrishNa and as he reached the 7th charaNam, his intense bhakti for his ishta dhaivam propelled him to the smaraNam of Lord Raamachandra and he used the rest of the CharaNams for archanam of his upaasana Moorthy (http://www.sadagopan.org/nk/nkmain.htm)

The depth of Raama bhakti of Sadhguru SwamigaL displayed in this kriti is profound. He invites us to shower the flowers on the Lord with a happy heart. He encourages us to have a heart filled with bhakti bhAvam while engaged in this Pushpa yAgam. He asks us to assemble the best of flowers and store them in golden vessels for the Pushpa yAgam. He invites us to have the most austere attitude in the Pushpa yaaga Kaimkaryam and wants us to rise above our mundane activities during the archanam. He asks us to shower the flowers in abundant heaps using both of our palms. Swamigal singles out Jaaji flowers as the best among the pushpams that is worthy of Lord’s Pushpa yAgam. SwamigaL invites us at the end of the kriti to shower the lilies of our hearts on the Lord to seek an end to the countless cycles of births and deaths. The Sookshmam of Sankeertana KusumAnjali and Pushpa Yaagam are brought out beautifully in this Ahiri kriti of ThyAga Brahmam.

Raama DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil VradAchAri 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/callarE_rAma.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

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