Thyagaraja Kriti - Muddu Momu - Raga Suryakaantam

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

muddu mOmu-sUryakAntaM

In the kRti ‘muddu mOmu’ – rAga sUryakAntaM (tALa Adi), SrI tyAgarAja extolls the charm of Lord’s face.

pallavi
¹muddu mOmu ElAgu celangenO
²munul(e)Tla kani mOhincirO

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anupallavi
³kadd(a)nucunu cira kAlamu hRdayamu
⁴karagi karagi nilcu vArik(e)duTa rAmuni (muddu)

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caraNam
manasu nirmalamagu ⁵bhU-sura kRtamau
manci pUjA phalamO tolutaTi tapamO
ghana nibha dEhuni janana svabhavamO
⁶dhana pati sakhuDaina tyAgarAj(A)rcituni (muddu)

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Gist

• How the charming face of Lord rAma -
  
  • rain-cloud like bodied,
    
  • worshipped by Siva – friend of kubEra,
  
  
• would have appeared before the ascetics who waited for a long time, melting in their hearts, with the conviction that 'it shall happen' (impending arrival of the Lord)!
  
• How they would have been entranced beholding His face!
  
  
• Was it (charm of Lord’s face) –
  
  • the result of fervent worship undertaken by pure minded brAhmaNas or their earlier penances? Or
    
  • His innate nature?
  
  
  
• How the charming face of Lord rAma would have appeared!
  
• How the ascetics would have become entranced beholding His face!

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Word-by-word Meaning

pallavi
muddu mOmu ElAgu celangenO
munulu-eTla kani mOhincirO

How (ElAgu) the charming (muddu) face (mOmu) (of Lord rAma) would have appeared (celangenO) and
how (eTla) the ascetics (munulu) (munuleTla) would have been entranced (mOhincirO) (literally infatuated) beholding (kani) His face!

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anupallavi
kaddu-anucunu cira kAlamu hRdayamu
karagi karagi nilcu vAriki-eduTa rAmuni (muddu)

How the charming face of Lord rAma (rAmuni) would have appeared before (eduTa) those (vAriki) (vArikeduTa) –
who waited (nilcu) (literally stand) for a long (cira) time (kAlamu), melting (karagi karagi) in their hearts (hRdayamu), with the conviction that (anucunu) 'it shall happen' (impending arrival of the Lord) (kaddu) (kaddanucunu), and
how they would have become entranced beholding His face!

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caraNam
manasu nirmalamagu bhU-sura kRtamau
manci pUjA phalamO tolutaTi tapamO
ghana nibha dEhuni janana svabhavamO
dhana pati sakhuDaina tyAgarAja-arcituni (muddu)

Was it (charm of Lord’s face) the result (phalamO) of fervent (manci) worship (pUjA) undertaken (kRtamau) by pure (nirmalamagu) minded (manasu) brAhmaNas (bhU-sura) or their earlier (tolutaTi) penances (tapamO)? Or
was it the innate (janana) (literally born) nature (svabhAvamO) of Lord rAma – having rain-cloud (ghana) like (nibha) body (dEhuni)?
How the charming face of Lord rAma - worshipped (arcituni) by Siva (tyAgarAja) (tyAgarAjArcituni) – who is friend (sakhuDaina) of kubEra – Lord (pati) of wealth (dhana) – would have appeared and how the ascetics would have become entranced beholding His face!

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Notes –
Variations –
⁵ – bhU-sura kRtamau – bhU-sura kRtamO. ‘kRtamO’ by itself does not convey any meaning – this needs to be joined to 'manci pUjA phalamO'.

References –
² - munuleTla kani mOhincirO – "how the ascetics would have become entranced?" – Ascetics of daNDakAraNya were born as gOpis -

"... 60,000 sages wanted to become united with Vishnu in his incarnation as Rama. Rama tells the sages that he cannot oblige them in his present role, for as Rama he is sworn to monogamy. But he will oblige them in his next incarnation as Krishna; the sages can all be reborn as cowherd women (Gopis) and unite with him in love..."

SrI tyAgarAja brings this out in the 'nauka caritra' kRti – 'perugu pAlu bhujiyinci' – rAga ghaNTA, wherein gOpis lament -

kOTi janmamulu tapamulu jEsi kOrinadellanindukA

"is it for this purpose that we sought (this birth) by performing penances through millions of births?"

⁴ – karagi karagi nilcu vAru – this refers to the ascetics who awaited the arrival of rAma – SrImad-vAlmIki rAmAyaNa, ayOdhyA kANDa, Chapter 116 and AraNya kANDa, Chapter 1 refer.

⁶ – dhanapati sakhuDaina – The story regarding the friendship between kubEra and Lord Siva is given in Shiv Mahapuran - Rudra Samhita - Gunanidhi – The Brahmin’s son.

Comments -
¹ – muddu mOmu – charming face - Also refer to kRti ‘enta muddO’ rAga bindumAlini wherein SrI tyAgarAja pities those who, instead of falling in love with Lord, go about lusting.

³ – kaddu – 'it shall happen' - here it refers to the conviction of ascetics about the impending arrival of the Lord.

⁵ – bhU-sura – this may refer to vaSishTha, viSvAmitra, agastya and other Rshis who play prominent role in rAmAyaNa.

⁶ – dhanapati sakhuDaina tyAgarAja arcita – In the books, ‘tyAgarAja’ has been attributed to Lord Siva (at tiruvArUr).

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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. मुद्दु मोमु एलागु चॆलंगॆनो
मुनु(लॆ)ट्ल कनि मोहिञ्चिरो

अ. क(द्द)नुचुनु चिर कालमु हृदयमु
करगि करगि निल्चु वारि(कॆ)दुट रामुनि (मु)

च. मनसु निर्मलमगु भू-सुर कृतमौ
मञ्चि पूजा फलमो तॊलुतटि तपमो
घन निभ देहुनि जनन स्वभावमो
धन पति सखुडैन त्यागरा(जा)र्चितुनि (मु)

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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. முத்3து3 மோமு ஏலாகு3 செலங்கெ3னோ
முனு(லெ)ட்ல கனி மோஹிஞ்சிரோ

அ. கத்3(த3)னுசுனு சிர காலமு ஹ்ரு2த3யமு
கரகி3 கரகி3 நில்சு வாரி(கெ)து3ட ராமுனி (மு)

ச. மனஸு நிர்மலமகு3 பூ4-ஸுர க்ரு2தமௌ
மஞ்சி பூஜா ப2லமோ தொலுதடி தபமோ
க4ன நிப4 தே3ஹுனி ஜனன ஸ்வபா4வமோ
த4ன பதி ஸகு2டை3ன த்யாக3ரா(ஜா)ர்சிதுனி (மு)

கொஞ்சுமுகம் எவ்விதம் தோன்றியதோ!
முனிவர்கள் எங்ஙனம், கண்டு, மோகித்தனரோ!

நடக்குமென, நெடுநாள் உள்ளம்
உருகியுருகி நிற்போர் முன்பு, இராமனின்
கொஞ்சுமுகம் எவ்விதம் தோன்றியதோ!
முனிவர்கள் எங்ஙனம், கண்டு, மோகித்தனரோ!

உள்ளம் தூய்மையான அந்தணர்கள் செய்
நல் வழிபாட்டின் பயனோ! முந்தையத் தவமோ!
கார்முகில் நிகர் உடலோனின் பிறவி இயல்போ!
குபேரன் நண்பனாம், தியாகராசன் தொழுவோனின்
கொஞ்சுமுகம் எவ்விதம் தோன்றியதோ!
முனிவர்கள் எங்ஙனம், கண்டு, மோகித்தனரோ!

நடக்குமென - இராமன் அவதரித்து, முனிவர்களைக் காத்தல்
அந்தணர்கள் - வசிட்டர் முதலானோர்.
முந்தையத் தவமோ - அந்தணர்களைக் குறிக்கும்
தியாகராசன் - இது திருவாரூர் சிவனைக் குறிக்கும்
குபேரன் நண்பன் - குபேரன் சிவனுக்கு வேண்டியவன் எனப்படும்

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Telugu

ప. ముద్దు మోము ఏలాగు చెలంగెనో
మునులెట్ల కని మోహించిరో

అ. కద్దనుచును చిర కాలము హృదయము
కరగి కరగి నిల్చు వారికెదుట రాముని (ము)

చ. మనసు నిర్మలమగు భూ-సుర కృతమౌ
మంచి పూజా ఫలమో తొలుతటి తపమో
ఘన నిభ దేహుని జనన స్వభావమో
ధన పతి సఖుడైన త్యాగరాజార్చితుని (ము)

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Kannada

ಪ. ಮುದ್ದು ಮೋಮು ಏಲಾಗು ಚೆಲಂಗೆನೋ
ಮುನುಲೆಟ್ಲ ಕನಿ ಮೋಹಿಂಚಿರೋ

ಅ. ಕದ್ದನುಚುನು ಚಿರ ಕಾಲಮು ಹೃದಯಮು
ಕರಗಿ ಕರಗಿ ನಿಲ್ಚು ವಾರಿಕೆದುಟ ರಾಮುನಿ (ಮು)

ಚ. ಮನಸು ನಿರ್ಮಲಮಗು ಭೂ-ಸುರ ಕೃತಮೌ
ಮಂಚಿ ಪೂಜಾ ಫಲಮೋ ತೊಲುತಟಿ ತಪಮೋ
ಘನ ನಿಭ ದೇಹುನಿ ಜನನ ಸ್ವಭಾವಮೋ
ಧನ ಪತಿ ಸಖುಡೈನ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜಾರ್ಚಿತುನಿ (ಮು)

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Malayalam

പ. മുദ്ദു മോമു ഏലാഗു ചെലങ്ഗെനോ
മുനുലെട്ല കനി മോഹിഞ്ചിരോ

അ. കദ്ദനുചുനു ചിര കാലമു ഹൃദയമു
കരഗി കരഗി നില്ചു വാരികെദുട രാമുനി (മു)

ച. മനസു നിര്മലമഗു ഭൂ-സുര കൃതമൌ
മഞ്ചി പൂജാ ഫലമോ തൊലുതടി തപമോ
ഘന നിഭ ദേഹുനി ജനന സ്വഭാവമോ
ധന പതി സഖുഡൈന ത്യാഗരാജാര്ചിതുനി (മു)

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Updated on 09 Feb 2011