Tyagaraja Kriti 10: Amma rAvammA; Raga Kalyani

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Krti 10

Song amma rAvamma

raaga KalyANi

In the kRti ‘amma rAvamma’ – rAga kalyANi, srI tyAgarAja sings praises of Mother tuLasi.

 

Pallavi:

amma rAv(a)mma tuLas(a)mma nanu pAlimpa(v)-

amma satatamu padamulE namminAn(a)mma

 

Anupallavi:

nemmadini nIv(i)ha parammul(o)saguduv(a)nucu

kamma viltuni taNDri kalanaina bAyaD(a)Ta (amma)

 

CharaNam :

nI mRdu tanuvunu kani nI

parimaLamunu kani

nI mahatvamunu kani

nIraj(A)kSi tAmarasa daLa nEtru

tyAgarAjuni mitru

prEmatO ziramunanu peTTukonnAD(a)Ta (amma)

 

Gist

O Mother tuLasi! O Lotus Eyed! Deign to come to my home; deign to protect me; I ever placed faith in Your Holy Feet only. It is said that, because You grant comfort in this World and in the future World, Lord viSNu would not leave You even in His dreams. It is said that, beholding Your soft body, perceiving Your sweet fragrance and knowing Your greatness, Lord viSNu - the benefactor of this tyAgarAja –adorns You on his head with Love.

 

Word-by-word Meaning

P O Mother (amma) tuLasi (tuLsamma)! Deign to come (rA) (rAvamma) to my home; deign to protect (pAlimpu) (pAlimpavamma) me (nanu); I ever (satatamu) placed faith (namminAnu) (namminAnamma) in Your Holy Feet only (padamulE).

 

A It is said (aTa) that, because (anucu) You (nIvu) grant (osaguduvu) comfort (nemmadini) in this World (iha) (nIviha) and in the future World (parammula) (parammulosaguduvanucu), Lord viSNu – father (taNDri) of cupid – the Flower (kamma) (literally fragrance) archer (viltuDu) (kamma viltuni) – would not leave (bAyaDu) (bAyaDaTa) You even in His dreams (kalanaina); O Mother tuLasi! deign to come to my home; deign to protect me; I ever placed faith in Your Holy Feet only.

 

C It is said (aTa) that, beholding (kani) Your (nI) soft (mRdu) body (tanuvunu), perceiving (kani) Your (nI) sweet fragrance (parimaLamunu) and knowing (kani) Your (nI) greatness (mahatvamunu), O Lotus (nIraja) Eyed (akSi) (nIrajAkSi)! Lord viSNu – the Lotus (tAmarasa) petal (daLa) Eyed (nEtru) and the benefactor (mitru) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjuni) – adorns (peTTukonnADu) (literally keep) (peTTukonnADaTa) You on his head (ziramunanu) with Love (prEmatO); O Mother tuLasi! Deign to come to my home; deign to protect me; I ever placed faith in Your Holy Feet only.

 

Notes:

C- siramunanu peTTukonnADaTa – In this regard, this following verse from tuLasi upAkhyAnaM, (dEvi bhAgavataM, 9th Canto, Chapter 25) is relevant

 

varaM viSNOrdadau tasyai sarvapUjyA bhavEriti |

zirOdhAryA ca sarvESAM vandyA mAnyA mamEti ca || 29 ||

 

“viSNu bestowed boon to tuLasi – You will be worshipped by everyone;You will be worn on everybody’s head; You will be worthy of my worship and respect.†(Translation by AnnA – in Tamil) (retranslated to English)

 

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan :

This Kriti set in the 65th MeLa Raagam of (MEcha KalyANi) is one of the six songs on Mother TuLasi. Saint ThyAgarAja had a TuLasi garden in his house and gathered TuLasi in the SaastrOkta manner for His daily AarAdhanam of the Lord (Yeka Peeta SitA Sameta Raamachandran). Being aware of the sanctity of TuLasi dEvi, Saint ThyAgarAja composed six different songs on the MahAtmyam of TuLasi, whom the Lord likes to adorn even over His crown. These songs are:

 

KedAra GouLa Raaga Kriti made famous by both Flute Prodigy T.R.Mahaalingam and Sri Bala MuraLI KrishNa : TuLasee Bilva mallikAdhi –jalaja suma poojala- gaikOnavai

MaayAmALava GouLai kriti : Tulasee-dhalamulachE santOshamugaa poojimtu

Another MaayaamALava GouLai kriti: Dhaivi! SrI TuLasammA! BrOchuDa kidhE samayamammaa; Mayamma! DevagaandhAri Raaga Kriti: SrI TuLasamma! MaayimDa nelakOnavamma yee mahini nee samana-mevarammA? BangAruBhommA! This KalyANi Kriti : Amma Raavamma, TuLasamma nanu pAlimpumamma! Satatamu padhamulE namminAnamma! links to Audio of this kriti sung by Sri O.S. Thyagarajan is included in this posting.

SaavEree Raaga Kriti : TuLasee Jagajjanaani! dhuritApahAriNee!

AzhwArs have saluted TuLasi leaves and flowers and garlands made of them as the most dear samarpaNams for the Lord and the AzhwArs have enjoyed the Lord adorning them. TuLasi is a key saamagriyai associated with archanai for the Lord. TuLasi is considered as one of the consorts of the Lord and She is married to Sriman narAyaNan on the 11th bright day of the Month of Krittikaa in an elaborate vivaaham function in many households.

ThiruviNNagaram’s other name is TuLasi Vanam. It is here on the banks of AhOrathra PushKaraNi that Sage MaarkaNDEya was performing penance. One day, the sage saw a beautiful girl baby under one of the TuLasi plants in his tapOvanam and raised that child as his own. Few years later, Sriman NarAyaNan took the form of an old man and sought the hand of the young girl raised by Sage MaarkaNDEya with the name of BhUmi PirAtti. The sage was reluctant at first to accede to the request of the old man and realized few minutes later that it was Sriman NarAyaNan, who is visiting the TuLasi Vanam to wed his dear daughter. He gladly performed the KannikA dhAnam and stays even today with his daughter and his son in law at this TuLasi Vanam celebrated as Oppiliappan Koil today. The Lord’s name is TannoppAril-appan (one who has no equal).

At another Tulasi Vanam in SrivilliputthUr, ANDAL was born under a TuLasi plant in a TuLasi and flower garden maintained by VishNu Chittar (PeriyAzhwAr) and She is our GodhA PirAtti, an amsam of BhUmi PirAtti. She was raised by PeriyAzhwAr and became Soodikkoduttha NaacchiyAr. Lord RanganAtha came all the way from Srirangam to wed Her. In Her NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi, Andal celebrates the greatness of TuLasi associated with the Lord’s ThirumEni and seeks it to relieve her viraha tApam. Such is the sacredness of TuLasi in Sri VaishNava SampradhAyam. Sri ThyAga Brahmam was a parama VaishNavar and atyanta bhaktaa of Lord Raamachandra and as such was deeply involved in archanai of the Lord’s sacred feet with TuLasi and adorned the Lord’s shoulders with comely TuLasi garlands and considered TuLasi Devi as a Bhaagavatai and dear consort of the Lord and performed SaraNAgati to Her and sought her refuge and protection.

 

 

 

 

There are two kinds of Tulasi : Laskhmi TuLasi and KrishNa(ShyAma) Tulasi. Lakshmi TuLasi is light green in color and the KrishNa TuLasi is dark green in hue. Both are equally sacred and are used in VishNu AarAdhanam .

 

Audio is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/8ammaravamma.mp3

 

DAsan,

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/kriti8_ammarAvamma.doc

PDF:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/pdf/kriti8_ammarAvamma.pdf