Monday, April 23, 2007

Thyagaraja Kriti - Enta Muddo - Raga Bindu Maalini

Transliteration–Telugu
Transliteration as per Modified Harvard-Kyoto (HK) Convention
(including Telugu letters – Short e, Short o) -

a A i I u U
R RR lR lRR
e E ai o O au M (H or :)

(e – short E – Long o – short O – Long)

k kh g gh n/G
c ch j jh n/J (jn – as in jnAna)
T Th D Dh N
t th d dh n
p ph b bh m
y r l L v
S sh s h

enta muddO-bindumAlini

In the kRti ‘enta muddo’ – rAga bindumAlini (tALa Adi), SrI tyAgarAja pities people who fall for lust without knowing the beauty of the Lord.

pallavi
enta muddO enta sogasO
evari valla varNimpa tagunE


anupallavi
enta vAral(ai)na kAni 1kAma
cint(A)krAntul(ai)nAru (enta)


caraNam
2atta mIda kanul(A)saku dAsulai
satta bhagavata vEsulairi
3dutta pAla ruci teliyu sAmyamE
dhurINuDau tyAgarAja nutuDu (enta)


Gist

  • How charming and how elegant is He!
  • Whoever is capable of describing!

    • No matter how great people are, they became besieged by thoughts of lust.
    • Being slaves to lust, they fear their mothers-in-law;
    • yet, they pretend as true devotees of the Lord.

    • Much like jug knowing the taste of milk!


  • How charming and how elegant is He - praised by this tyAgarAja – who bears burden of the Universe!
  • Whoever is capable of describing!



Word-by-word Meaning

pallavi
enta muddO enta sogasO
evari valla varNimpa tagunE

How (enta) charming (muddO) and how (enta) elegant (sogasO) is He! Whoever (evari valla) is capable (tagunE) of describing (varNimpa)!


anupallavi
enta vAralu-aina kAni kAma
cinta-AkrAntulu-ainAru (enta)

No matter (aina kAni) how great (enta) people (vAralu) (vAralaina) are, they became (ainAru) besieged (AkrAntulu) by thoughts (cinta) (cintAkrAntulainAru) of lust (kAma).
How charming and how elegant is He! Whoever is capable of describing!


caraNam
atta mIda kanulu-Asaku dAsulai
satta bhagavata vEsulairi
dutta pAla ruci teliyu sAmyamE
dhurINuDau tyAgarAja nutuDu (enta)

Being slaves (dAsulai) to lust (Asaku), they fear their mothers-in-law (atta mIda kanulu) (kanulAsaku);
yet, they pretend (vEsulairi) as true (satta) devotees of the Lord (bhagavata).
Much like (sAmyamE) jug (dutta) knowing (teliyu) the taste (ruci) of milk (pAla)!
How charming and how elegant is He - praised (nutuDu) by this tyAgarAja – who bears burden of the Universe (dhurINuDau)! Whoever is capable of describing!


Notes –
Variations -
1 - kAma – kAnta.

Comments -
2 – atta mIda kanulu – being slave to lust, and thence to the wife, one does not dare transgress orders of mother-in-law. Therefore, whatever they do, they watch whether it has the approval of their mothers-in-law (atta mIda kanulu).

3 – dutta pAla ruci teliyu sAmyamE – much like jug knowing the taste of milk. Tamil siddhar ‘siva vAkkiyar’ has stated same as under -

"சுட்ட சட்டி சட்டுவம் கறிச்சுவை யறியுமோ?"

'suTTa saTTi saTTuvam kaRic-cuvai-yaRiyumO’ – will (fired) clay-pot and ladle know the taste of curry?

When read in conjunction with Anupallavi wordings – ‘minds besieged by lust’ (kAma cintAkrAntulu), this would mean that those whose minds are besieged by lust – but pretend to be true devotees - cannot know the beauty of indwelling Lord. Similar sentiment is expressed in the kRti ‘rAma nIyeDa’ – rAga kharaharapriya –

kAmini vEsha dhAriki sAdhvI naDatalEmaina telusunA

“Can a person playing the role of a woman know anything about the conduct of a chaste woman?”



Devanagari

ऎ,कॆ,चॆ.. - e,ke,ce..(short);
ए,के,चे.. - E,kE,cE..(long);
ऐ,कै,चै.. - ai,kai,cai..;
ऒ,कॊ,चॊ.. - o,ko,co..(short);
ओ,को,चो.. - O,kO,cO..(long);
औ,कौ,चौ.. -au,kau,cau..;

प. ऎन्त मुद्दो ऎन्त सॊगसो
ऎवरि वल्ल वर्णिम्प तगुने

अ. ऎन्त वारलैन कानि काम
चि(न्ता)क्रान्तु(लै)नारु (ऎ)

च. अत्त मीद कनु(ला)सकु दासुलै
सत्त भागवत वेसु(लै)रि
दुत्त पाल रुचि तॆलियु साम्यमे
धुरीणुडौ त्यागराज नुतुडु (ऎ)


Tamil


க,ச,ட,த,ப - 2-ख छ ठ थ फ; 3-ग ड द ब; 4-घ झ ढ ध भ
(ச3 - ஜ)
ஸ1 श - शिव - சிவன்
ரு2 ऋ - कृप - கிருபை

ப. எந்த முத்3தோ3 எந்த ஸொக3ஸோ
எவரி வல்ல வர்ணிம்ப தகு3னே

அ. எந்த வாரலைன கானி காம
சிந்(தா)க்ராந்து(லை)னாரு (எ)

ச. அத்த மீத3 கனு(லா)ஸகு தா3ஸுலை
ஸத்த பா4க3வத வேஸு(லை)ரி
து3த்த பால ருசி தெலியு ஸாம்யமே
து4ரீணுடௌ3 த்யாக3ராஜ நுதுடு3 (எ)

எவ்வளவு கவர்ச்சியோ, எவ்வளவு ஒயிலோ!
எவரால் வருணிக்க இயலுமோ!

எப்படிப்பட்டவராயினும், காம
எண்ணங்களால் பீடிக்கப் பட்டோராயினர்;
எவ்வளவு கவர்ச்சியோ, எவ்வளவு ஒயிலோ!
எவரால் வருணிக்க இயலுமோ!

அத்தை மீது கண்கள், ஆசைக்கடிமைகளாகி;
(ஆயின்) தூய பாகவதர் வேடமணிந்தனர்;
பாண்டம், பாலின் சுவையறிதல் போன்றதே;
பாரஞ் சுமப்போனாம், தியாகராசன் போற்றுவோன்
எவ்வளவு கவர்ச்சியோ, எவ்வளவு ஒயிலோ!
எவரால் வருணிக்க இயலுமோ!

அத்தை - மாமியார்
அத்தை மீது கண்கள் - அத்தையின் சொல்லை மீற இயலாது என
பாரஞ் சுமப்போன் - உலக பாரஞ் சுமக்கும் இறைவன்


Telugu

ప. ఎంత ముద్దో ఎంత సొగసో
ఎవరి వల్ల వర్ణింప తగునే

అ. ఎంత వారలైన కాని కామ
చింతాక్రాంతులైనారు (ఎ)

చ. అత్త మీద కనులాసకు దాసులై
సత్త భాగవత వేసులైరి
దుత్త పాల రుచి తెలియు సామ్యమే
ధురీణుడౌ త్యాగరాజ నుతుడు (ఎ)


Kannada

ಪ. ಎಂತ ಮುದ್ದೋ ಎಂತ ಸೊಗಸೋ
ಎವರಿ ವಲ್ಲ ವರ್ಣಿಂಪ ತಗುನೇ

ಅ. ಎಂತ ವಾರಲೈನ ಕಾನಿ ಕಾಮ
ಚಿಂತಾಕ್ರಾಂತುಲೈನಾರು (ಎ)

ಚ. ಅತ್ತ ಮೀದ ಕನುಲಾಸಕು ದಾಸುಲೈ
ಸತ್ತ ಭಾಗವತ ವೇಸುಲೈರಿ
ದುತ್ತ ಪಾಲ ರುಚಿ ತೆಲಿಯು ಸಾಮ್ಯಮೇ
ಧುರೀಣುಡೌ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ ನುತುಡು (ಎ)


Malayalam


പ. എന്ത മുദ്ദോ എന്ത സൊഗസോ
എവരി വല്ല വര്ണിമ്പ തഗുനേ

അ. എന്ത വാരലൈന കാനി കാമ
ചിന്താക്രാന്തുലൈനാരു (എ)

ച. അത്ത മീദ കനുലാസകു ദാസുലൈ
സത്ത ഭാഗവത വേസുലൈരി
ദുത്ത പാല രുചി തെലിയു സാമ്യമേ
ധുരീണുഡൌ ത്യാഗരാജ നുതുഡു (എ)


Updated on 06 Feb 2011

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Sri Govindan
Re : enta muddO
During the last 20 years nathaswaram vidwans have been playing this song during ‘gRahapravEsam’ ceremony in brahmin marriages. They pobably assume that the first line is applicable to the beauty and grace of the bride.
Regarding ‘atta mIda kanulu’ you gave the meaning as below.
“People fearing their mother-in-law (atta mIda kanulu), becoming slaves (dAsulai) to lust (Asaku) (kanulAsaku),

I felt that you have avoided the direct meaning which was, according to you, harsh and sarcastic by doing some window dressing and going round about cicuitously. You also admit that tyAgarAja “in many kRtis, is very sarcastic to the point of being rude”. If so why should we try to cover these up. Hence I wrote to you as “Does not charaNam give the straight forward meaning ‘Asaku dAsulai atta mIda kannu’”.

I notice that in the revised version you have not touched upon our exchange. Is it not desirable to give the verbatim meaning and let the interested people draw their own conclusions?
Regards
Govindaswamy

V Govindan said...

Dear Sri Govindaswamy,
It is true that Sri Tyagaraja, often uses harsh words in his Krtis. However, I am not inclined to believe that Sri Tyagaraja had intended any vulgarity in using these words.
Before we impute any such vulgarity to these words, we should get rid of all colourings of our minds; then only we will be able appreciate the kRti in totality and not by tearing words apart.
This kRti, I believe, to be one of the inspired and most beautiful piece bringing out in full force his music and bhakti.

Regards,
V Govindan

Anonymous said...

Excellent writeup and explanation. This deeper philosophical introspection contained in SRI Tyagaraja's lyrics makes one realize what a great mind composed this song.

Regarding the word "kAma", it is probably correct given that the same sentiment is expressed in the caranam. "kAnta" may perhaps have been a later interpretation or alteration. I see no vulgarity in the use of kAma...are we so ashamed to admit that SRI tyagaraja is correct that we must alter his original meaning? I have found that Shri TKG's books contain a number of inconsistencies, errors and changes compared to original, more authoritative treatises.

Anonymous said...

Could Someone Link to a site where i can find the swaram?

V Govindan said...

Please post your query in www.rasikas.org

V Govindan

G Twins Tees said...

Great effort sir , can only appreciate than taking mistakes of our understanding ..... loved your way of expression .... this kruti has slot of sense and the raaga used is so perfect that people like me believe that god himself made tyagaraja to render it for people like us .

VaibhavPai said...

Now I wish I also knew Telugu..

The great saint used to listen to his mother sing Purandara Dasa's devarnamas. Having listened to his songs, wish I could understand Tyagaraja better.

Ramakotaiah said...

As one finding happiness right from my childhood in listening to these muscal compositions of Thyagaraja, I was many a time at a loss of the actual wording and meaning of some of them. As a senior citizen, I now understand the mind and soul of the great saint. Thank you for all the effort that went in to build this great site.

Unknown said...

Atta meeda. Kanula aasaku daasulai
Satta bhaagavata maatrulairi
No body is explaining. " సత్త భాగవత మాత్రులైరి" meaning became bhagavata s in form. Here. Atta means saraswati's mother=in=law lakshmi. Kanulaasa means desire for her kataaksham her look which gives wealth for that people are becoming bhaktas. According to bhagavadgeeta आर्तो जिज्ञासु रार्थार्थी ज्ञानी च bhakti can be with a view on wealth. But that bhakti is not superior when compared to जिज्ञासु भक्ति & ज्ञानि भक्ति।। the meaning of kama must be told as desire third purushaartha not as lust. You can take the meaning of teliyaledu rama bhakti maargamunu also to know. I am authentic telugu person who was perhaps neighbour of sri tyagaraja. Bhagavata in bodyform corroborates to vessel with milk

V Govindan said...

Sir,
There are many Tyagaraja kRtis which are sarcastic. This is one of them. kAmA AkrAnta - these words do not indicate simple desire (kAma) but the most intense form of desire - lust. In order to give a 'better' meaning to 'kAma' here, one need not beat around the bush. Let's accept that tyAgarAja is very sarcastic many a time.
With Regards,
V Govindan

Unknown said...

There is no second opinion on tyagaraja's sarcastic orientation in this song. But the vulgar thought in "atta meeda kanila asalu daadulu" must be avoided. With slavery to mother-in-law (for the reason of lust on wife), why they should follow hari by taking form of bhagavata. corroboration is that by sticking milk firmly, vessel need not know the taste of milk. One can take the form of bhagavata for artha&kama but cannot experience the taste of bhakti. In "teliyaledu raama bhakti maargamu nu" they rise early, they dip in river, they put vibhooti on face after that they give importance to earn money. There also tyagaraja distinguishes jignaasu and gaani bhakti from arata bhakti&arthaarthi bhakti.

Kanagasundarrajan said...

This is experience his life.not harsh word from swami Tyagaraja

Anonymous said...

Shree thyagaraja Swami kritis has inner and adhyatmik meaning. Kama, here it means desires.
How great person may be he is, but the thoughts of desires disturbs him...