Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti: centanE sadA Raga: kuntaLavarALi

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Kriti: centanE sadA

Raga: kuntaLavarALi

In the kRti ‘centanE sadA’ – rAga kuntaLvarALi, SrI tyAgarAja pleads with the Lord to keep him always near Him like AnjanEya and bharata.

Pallavi

centanE sadA(y)uJcukO(v)ayya

Anupallavi

mantuk(e)kku SrImantuDau hanumantu rItigA SrI kAnta (centanE)

Charanam

talacina panulanu nE telisi talatO naDaci

santasilludurA palumAru palka pani lEdurA

rAma bharatuni vale tyAgarAja nuta (centanE)

Gist

O Lord rAma!! O Beloved of lakSmI. Please always keep me near You. In the same manner as AnjanEya! O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja! – one who is very rich in wisdom –please always keep me near You. Understanding the tasks thought of by You, I shall exult by executing them by any means; there is no need to tell me again and again; like Bharata, please always keep me near You.

Word-by-word meaning

P O Lord (ayya)! Please always (sadA) keep (uJcukO) (sadAyuJcukOvayya) me near (centanE) You.

A O Beloved (kAnta) of lakSmI (SrI)! In the same manner (rItigA) as AnjanEya (hanumantu) – one who is very (ekku) rich (SrImantuDau) in wisdom (mantuku) (mantukekku) – O Lord! please always keep me near You.

C Understanding (telisi) the tasks (panulanu) thought of (talacina) by You, I (nE) shall exult (santasilludurA) by executing them by any means (talatO naDaci);O Lord rAma! there is no (lEdurA) need (pani) to tell (palka) again and again (palumAru) (literally many a times); O Lord praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja! like (vale) bharata (bharatuni), please always keep me near You.

Notes –

C – talatO naDaci – ‘talato nadici vastunnanu’ – ‘I will come even though I walk on my head’ (Telugu Dictionary).

C – The great Tamil Saint kAraikkAl ammaiyAr is stated to have gone to kailAsa walking on her head because she felt that the place to be too worthy of respect to walk by foot. Source -http://www.thevaaram.org/12/12024006.htm (verse 55).

C – pani lEdurA rAma – this is how it is given in the book of TSV/AKG; in the book of TKG, it is given as ‘pani lEdurA’; in the book of CR, it is given as ‘pani lEdu rAma’. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

Additional Notes by Sri V. Sadagopan:

In this lilting KuntalavarALi kriti, SwamigaL seeks the boon of DhAsyam (being an intimate servant) from Lord Raamachandra like other Raama dhAsAs like AnjanEya and Bharatan. Sadhguru SwamigaL begs the Lord to keep him always near Him just like the other antaranga kaimkaryaparALs like AnajanEya and Bharatan and order him to perform such kaimkaryams. He assures the Lord that he will serve knowing the ingitam of the Lord and lovingly carry out all the wishes of his Lord. He reminds the Lord that he will carry out all the wishes of his Lord with alacrity and does not need any reminders.

DhAsyam is one of the nine kinds of bhakti described by PrahlAdha. LakshmaNa excelled in being the Lord’s servant and dhAsan throughout the exile in the forest for 14 years and is considered the epitome of Kaimakrya Lakshmi. LakshmaNa knew the inner intention of His brother and served Him without being spoken to. He was a Master in Ingitam/Jaadai and from the mere facial expression of the Lord and the glances was able to read what the Lord had in mind and executed the kaimkaryam (reference: lEkanA kriti). Lord Raamachandra honored LakshmaNa for his ingitam and called him bhAvajn~an for that reason. Saint ThyAgarAja vied for that title as a DhAsan of the Lord because of his noble dhAsya bhakti. Some times SwamigaL will be worried whether he will have any opportunity to serve Raama since His Lord was surrounded with so many antaranga Kaimkarya parALs such as HanumAn, Lakshmana, Bharata and at those times of feeling left out, the Sadhguru will declare “Tava DhAsOham,Tava dhAsOham“ and will state his qualifications for aspiring to be a true servant (Bantureeti kolu viyavayya Raama).

In this Kuntala VaraaLi kriti, SwamigaL beseeches the Lord to keep him in the inner circle of KaimkaryaparALs such as HanumAn and Bharatan. KuntalavarALi is janya Raagam of HarikAmbhOji, the 28th MeLam. It is a Vakra Oudava Oudava janya rAgam, where Rishabham and GhAndhAram are omitted in both the AarOhanam and AvarOhaNam. It is an upAnga rAgam with Madhyamam as the jeeva svaram. It is also called a kampa Viheena rAgam. Saint ThyagrAja made this rAgam very popular thru creation of number of kritis in this raagam.

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/centane.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

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