Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti:chetulara Raga: kharaharapriya

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SrI:

 

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Kriti: cEtulAra

Raga: kharaharapriya

In the kRti ‘cEtulAra SRMgAramu’ – rAga kharaharapriya – bhairavi, SrI tyAgarAja describes how he adorns the Lord.

Pallavi

cEtulAra SRGgAramu jEsi jUtunu SrI rAma

Anupallavi

sEtu bandhana sura pati sarasIruha

bhav(A)dulu pogaDa nA (cEtulAra)

Charanam 1

merugu baGgAr(a)ndelu peTTi

mETiyau sariga valvalu kaTTi

sura taru sumamula siga niNDa juTTi

sundaramagu mOmuna muddu peTTi

Charanam 2

molanu kundanapu gajjelu gUrci

mudduga nuduTanu tilakamu

dIrci alakalapai rAvi-rEkayu jArci

andamaina ninn(u)ramuna jErci (cEtulAra)

Charanam 3

Ani-mutyAla koNDe vEsi

hausuga parimaLa gandhamu pUsi

vANi suraTicE visaraga vAsi vAsi­

(y)anucu tyAgarAja nuta(y)anni rOsi (cEtulAra)

Gist

O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord who built cause-way on the Ocean! O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands to the praise of indra and brahmA and others. Adorning You with glittering golden armlets (or anklets), donning You with excellent gold-threaded garments, knotting flowers of pArijAta (the celestial tree) fully on Your tuft, and kissing Your charming face, I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands. Tying pure golden tinkles on Your waist, applying charmingly auspicious mark on Your forehead, hanging the fore-head jewel on the curls (hanging on Your face), and embracing You -the beautiful One, I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands. Making the forelock with faultless (spherical) pearls, applying fragrant sandal paste elegantly, and as sarasvatI fans You with a fan, appreciating the decoration and leaving aside everything else, I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.

Word-by-word Meaning

P O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try (jUtunu) to bedeck (SRGgAramu cEsi) You by my own hands (cEtulAra).

A O Lord who built (bandhana) cause-way (sEtu) on the Ocean! O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my (nA) own hands to the praise (pogaDa) of indra – Lord (pati) of celestials (sura) and brahmA – seated (bhava) in Lotus (sarasIruha) and others (Adulu) (bhavAdulu).

C1 Adorning (peTTi) You with glittering (merugu) golden (baGgAru) armlets (or anklets) (andelu) (baGgArandelu), donning (kaTTi) (literally tying) You with excellent (mETiyau) gold-threaded (sariga) garments (valvalu), knotting (juTTi) flowers (sumamula) of pArijAta – the celestial (sura) tree (taru) fully (niNDu) on Your tuft (siga), and kissing (muddu peTTi) Your charming (sundaramagu) face (mOmuna); O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.

C2 Tying (gUrci) (literally assembling) pure golden (kundanapu) tinkles (gajjelu) on Your waist (molanu), applying (dIrci) charmingly (mudduga) auspicious mark (tilakamu) on Your forehead (nuduTanu), hanging (jArci) the fore-head jewel (rAvi-rEkayu) on the curls (alakalapai) (hanging on Your face), and embracing (uramuna jErci) You (ninnu) -the beautiful One (andamaina), O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.

C3 Making (vEsi) the forelock (koNDe) with faultless (spherical) pearls (ANi-mutyAla), applying (pUsi) fragrant (parimaLa) sandal paste (gandhamu) elegantly (hausuga), and as sarasvatI (vANI) fans (visaraga) You with a fan (suraTicE), appreciating (vAsi vAsiyanucu) (literally say ‘comfort comfort’) the decoration and leaving aside (rOsi) everything else (anni), O Lord praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja! O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.

Notes –

General – This kRti is in vAtsalya bhAva as if kausalya is singing it.

C2 – rAvi-rEka – jewel worn by children and women on the forehead.

C3 – hausugA – As per Telugu Dictionary, this word is derived from arabic word, ‘hawas’ meaning ‘lust’ and similar meanings. The derived meaning in telugu is ‘beauty’, ‘SRngAra’ etc.

C3 – vAsi vAsiyanucu – The feeling of comfort and happiness.

C3 – anni rOsi – This is how it is given in the book of TSV/AKG; in the book of TKG, this is given as an alternative. In the book of CR, this is given as ‘Ani rOsi’ and the meaning derived is ‘cut asunder all my bondages’ – probably this refers to ‘rOsi’ which means ‘abandoning’. Therefore, ‘anni’ seems to be appropriate. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

Additional Notes by Sri V. Sadagopan:

There is a tradition in Tamil literature called PiLLai Tamizh Prabhandhams, where an adoring Mother enjoys her child singing to it lullaby, bathing it, combing its hair, adorning the freshly combed hair with different colored flowers, decorating it, inviting it to partake special items of food and embracing it. PeriyAzhwAr is a Master of such PiLLai Tamizh, where he relates to baby KrishNa as Mother YasOdha. ThyAgaraja SwamigaL takes on the role of Kousalyaa Devi, who decorated Her precious child Raamachandran with all kinds of AabharaNams containing precious gems, pearl and gold. ThyAgarAja SwamigaL is overwhelmed by the beauty of Raamachandra adorning the many aabharaNams and hugs the archaa Moorthy just as the affectionate Mother Kousalya would. As Kousalya devi and ThyAgaraja SwamigaL decorated their divine child and bedecked it with flowers and AabahraNams, the gods assembled and watched that beautiful sight and enjoyed the blissful anubhavam. Mother Kousalya hugged and played with baby Raamchandra, decked Him with beautiful clothes, flowers and Jewelry and reached the limit of bliss. ThyagarAja had a similar experience. The Yogis thru their ardous Tapas and strenuous Bhakti Yogam see the Lord in their heart lotus (chidh AakAsam). There they enjoy Him and reach the highest plateau of bliss (RamantE Yoginonante BrahmANDE chidhAtmani).

In the SwarNa mantapam of Sri Matam, where Malolan sits on a Dolai, Srimath Prakrutam (Current) Azhagiya Singar has a wonderful way of decorating Lord Lakshmi Nrisimhan with multi-colored flower garlands and different resplendent AabharaNams. Srimath Azhagiya Singar will take a few steps back and see how everything fits and then come closer and readjust the garlands to enhance the beauty of the Lord even further. This is the anubhavam of the MalOla Dhivya PaadhukA sevakar every day (kai aara Malolanai singAricchu), when He performs the daily IjyArAdhanam.

The song cEtulaara in Raagam Karahara Priyaa is played on the VeNu (Flute) before the Archanai at the AarAdhanam at ThiruvayyARu starts On the Suddha BhaguLa Panchami day and the assembled musicians initiate thereafter their musical tributes at the BrundhAvanam on the banks of Cauvery. Pancha ratna keertanam rendering begins thereafter. ChetulAra is also sung sometimes in Bharaivi or Nata Bhairavi. Paladam Sanjeevi Rao started the playing in Bhairavi tradition. Sangeetha Kalanidhis Semmangudi SrinivAsa Iyer and Vedavalli render it in original Karahara Priyaa. Sri Sarabha Sastri, Palaldam Sanjeevi Rao, T.R. Mali, N.Raani, Sikkil Sisters are the famous Flute VidhvAns, who took part in the AarAdhanais in the past years and for playing CetulAra. Regarding the variations in playing Cetulaara kriti in Karaharapriya or Bhairavi or Natabhairavi, we have to appreciate that the AarOhaNam of Bhairavi is that of Karahara Priyaa and the avarOhaNam of Bhairavi is that of Natabhairavi. Bhairavi is a Janya Raagam of the 20th MeLam, Natabhairavi. Bhairavi is also classified by some as a Janya Raagam of karahara Priyaa. Now we can see all the overlaps and the ease of switching.

This Kriti has also been played in MeLa Raagam of NaTa Bhairavi instead of Bhairavi. There is however difficulty in playing Suddha Dhaivatam in the AarOhaNam by Naataswara VidhvAns (Thirumaruhal NatEsan, His nephew T.N.Rajaratnam PiLLai) and hence they shifted to Bhairavi. Sanjeevi Rao has blessed this tradition with his seniority and artists like MLV followed this Bhairavi rendering tradition of CetulAra at the AarAdhanams.

Raama DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri 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/cEtulAra.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

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

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