gAravimpa rAdA
Sahityam
Pallavi
gAravimpa rAdA garuDa gamana vAdA¹ nanu
Show Word Meanings
O Lord who proceeds on Garuda! Can’t You be kind to me? is there any dispute?
Anupallavi
zrI ramA manOhara² zrita hRdaya vihAra²
cEra rAvadEmirA zrI raghuvara dhIra² (gAra)
Show Word Meanings
cEra rAvadEmirA zrI raghuvara dhIra² (gAra)
O Beloved of Lakshmi! O Lord who abides in the hearts of those dependent on You! why wouldn’t You come to be united with me, O Brave Lord Raghuvara?
Charanams Combined
pErukaina lEdA pilicitE³ rA rAdA sari-
vAralADa lEdA vini varada karuNa rAdA
mAru palka vAdA mummAru⁴ namma lEdA (gAra)
Show Word Meanings
vAralADa lEdA vini varada karuNa rAdA
mAru palka vAdA mummAru⁴ namma lEdA (gAra)
Won’t You (come) atleast for formality? won’t You come even if I call You? aren’t my peers ridiculing me? O Lord who Bestows boons! won’t You have mercy even after hearing (the ridicule)? is there any dispute about responding to me? don’t You believe me definitely?
tanayuDADu mATa talli taNDrulakadiyATa kAdA\t
ninu⁵ pADina pATa vini nI muddu nOTa-
yEmana⁶ valadiccOTa mAdhavayiGka⁷ tera cATA⁸ (gAra)
Show Word Meanings
ninu⁵ pADina pATa vini nI muddu nOTa-
yEmana⁶ valadiccOTa mAdhavayiGka⁷ tera cATA⁸ (gAra)
Aren’t those words uttered by a child a fun for the parents? having heard the song sung by me about You, please do not say anything here with Your charming mouth; O Lord Madhava! why are You still behind a screen?
rUkalosagi⁹ konna sati rUpameTlunnA¹⁰
zrI kara guNamunna celi celimi vIDaranna
parAku nIku minna[11] tyAgarAja vinutAbhinna[12]13 (gAra)
Show Word Meanings
zrI kara guNamunna celi celimi vIDaranna
parAku nIku minna[11] tyAgarAja vinutAbhinna[12]13 (gAra)
No matter how the look of a wife, gotten (in marriage) by paying fee – Sthree Dhana, is, O Lord who causes auspiciousness! O My father! if she is virtuous, one would not leave the companionship of that woman; is it noble for You to show unconcern? O Wholesome Lord praised by this Thyagaraja!
Variations
- 1 vAdA – rAma
- 2 manOhara – vihAra – dhIra : manOharA – vihArA – dhIrA
- 3 pilicitE – pilicina
- 6 Emana valadiccOTa – Emana valaniccOTa - Emana valadEyiccOTa
- 7 iGka tera cATA – ika tera cATA
- 10 rUpameTlunna – rUpamuleTlunna . In either case, the ending vowel (unna ) needs to be elongated (unnA ) in keeping with the context to bring out ‘even if’.
- 11 minna – munna : munna - does not make sense.
- 12 vinutAbhinna - (vinuta + abhinna) – vinuta bhinna : vinuta bhinna - is not appropriate.
References
- 9 rUkalosagi – In olden days the bride groom used to pay money to the bride which was known as ‘kanyA dhanaM ’ or ‘kanyA zulkaM ’ – ie a girl’s property. The practice of vara dakSiNa – dowry – money given from the bride’s side to bridegroom, it seems, is a practice brought about very recently. A research article on the Hindu (Brahmin) marriage and the functions thereof, are given in the website – [[http://www.keralaiyers.com/iyer_wdng1.html Hindu Marriage]]
Commentary
- 4 mummAru – when a word is uttered thrice it is taken as final.
- 5 ninu pADina pATa vini Emana valadu – This is sort of running dialogue between Sri Thyagaraja and the Lord. It seems Sri Thyagaraja is asking the Lord not to comment on his song. Or it could mean something different also. As this involves a ‘bhAva ’ – state of mind, it is not possible to render a correct translation unless one is gifted to have insight into the mind of the bard. If the translation is wrong, kindly excuse me. Translation of this portion is made even more difficult because of variations in the wordings as brought out in the next note.
- 8 tera cATu – This might refer to the Grand Illusion (Maya) of the Lord also.
- 9 rUkalosagi – In some books, this has been translated ‘a wife purchased for money, however, beautiful, cannot have such a lasting relationship with the husband as one who has been chosen for her virtues’. The wordings of the kriti does not bring out such a message, if we keep in mind that in olden days ‘kanyA zulkaM ’ was in vogue wherein the bride-groom used to pay for the bride. Therefore, ‘rUkalosagi ’ would mean ‘kanyA zulkaM ’ and not ‘purchased’. Please refer to the previous notes on the same subject.
- 13
abhinna
– same as ‘pUrNa
’ - the term is indefinable. However, the following Upanishad Sloka is relevant –
- “OM. That (Brahman) is infinite, and This (universe) is infinite. This infinite proceeds from That infinite. Taking the infinitude of This inifinte (universe) That infinite remains same (Brahman) alone.”