Thyagaraja Kriti - Chakkani Raja - Raga Kharahara Priya

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

cakkani rAja-kharaharapriya

In the kRti ‘cakkani rAja mArgamu’ – rAga kharaharapriya, SrI tyAgarAja, exhorts his mind to follow the royal path of devotion and not to go for any short cuts.

P cakkani rAja mArgamul(u)NDaga
¹sandula dUran(E)la O manasA

A cikkani ²pAlu mIgaDa(y)uNDaga
³chI(y)anu ⁴gangA sAgaram(E)lE (cakkani)

C kaNTiki sundara-taramagu rUpamE
mukkaNTi nOTa celagE nAmamE tyAga-
rAj(i)NTanE ⁵nelakonn(A)di daivamE-
(y)iTuvaNTi SrI sAkEta rAmuni bhakti(y)anE (cakkani)

Gist
O My Mind!
When there are nice royal paths, why enter bylanes?
When there are condensed milk and cream, why this detestable toddy?
What a most beautiful form as a feast to the eyes! what a name shining in the tongue of Lord Siva – the three-eyed! and what an Ancient Lord (OR what a supreme deity) firmly established in the very house of this tyAgarAja!
Why enter bylanes when there is this nice royal path called devotion to such a Lord SrI rAma of ayOdhyA?

Word-by-word Meaning

P O My Mind (manasA)! When there are (uNDaga) nice (cakkani) royal (rAja) paths (mArgamulu) (mArgamuluNDaga), why (Ela) enter (dUranu) (dUranEla) bylanes (sandula)?

A When there are (uNDaga) condensed (cikkani) milk (pAlu) and cream (mIgaDa) (mIgaDayuNDaga), why (Ela) this detestable (chIyanu) (literally saying ‘fie’) toddy (gangA sAgaramu) (sAgaramElE)?
O My Mind! When there are nice royal paths, why enter bylanes?

C What a most beautiful (sundara-taramagu) form (rUpamE) as a feast to the eyes (kaNTiki);
what a name (nAmamE) shining (celagE) in the tongue (nOTa) of Lord Siva – the three-eyed (mukkaNTi)! and
what an Ancient (Adi) Lord (daivamE) (OR what a supreme deity (adhi-daivamE) firmly established (nelakonna) (nelakonnAdi) (nelakkonnadhi) in the very house (iNTanE) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAju) (tyAgarAjiNTanE)!
O My Mind! why enter bylanes when there is this nice royal path called (anE) devotion (bhakti) (bhaktiyanE) to such (iTuvaNTi) (daivamEyiTuvaNTi) a Lord SrI rAma (rAmuni) of ayOdhyA (sAkEta)?

Notes –
Variations –
⁵ – nelakonnAdi daivamE (nelakonnna + Adi daivamE) – nelakonnadi daivamE’ – which does not seem to be correct. However, if it is 'nelakonnadhi daivamE', then it could be split as 'nelakonna + adhi daivamE', ignoring the error in the sandhi.

References –
⁴ – gangA sAgaramu – In all the books, this word has been taken as ‘toddy’ – a colloquial usage as stated in the book of TKG. However, no such word is found in any dictionary. In Sanskrit ‘tAla’ and tAlagarbha’ means toddy; in Telugu, ‘ITa’, ‘kaLLu’, ‘tATikaLLu’ and ‘nIrA’ are the words meaning toddy. Though the following explanation may be far-fetched, yet it may not be out of place.
ganga and all other rivers are considered to be wives of sAgara – varuNA. VAruNI is varuNA's female Energy (personified either as his wife or as his daughter, produced at the time of churning of the ocean and regarded as the goddess of spirituous liquor; vAruNI also means ‘a particular kind of spirit’ (prepared from hogweed mixed with the juice of the date or palm and distilled) or ‘any spirituous liquor’. Therefore, instead of using the vAruNI to mean toddy, SrI tyAgarAja might have used ‘gangA sAgara’.
The word vAruNI appears in SrImad-bhAgavataM in many places. It also appears in lalitA sahasranAmaM – ‘vAruNI mada vihvalAyai namaH’ meaning ‘Salutations to Her who is intoxicated with vAruNI (the wine of spiritual bliss)’ (333).
According to a Quote from "Tyagaraja - Life and Lyrics" - William Jackson - Oxford University Press – “The reference is to Gangasagara Bhatt of Tanjore court, a toddy tippler about whom stories were in circulation in Tyagaraja's time. Toddy came to be called Gangasagara.” Source -
http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=1887 Post #23

Comments -
¹ – sandulu – Though SrI tyAgarAja has not specified what these bylanes are, obviously all paths other than bhakti may be taken as bylanes.
² – pAlu mIgaDa – this may mean milk and cream or cream only.
³ – chI – this is a colloquial expression of disgust when one encounters something detestable.


Devanagari Version

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. चक्कनि राज मार्गमु(लु)ण्डग
सन्दुल दूर(ने)ल ओ मनसा

अ. चिक्कनि पालु मीगड(यु)ण्डग
छी(य)नु गंगा-सागर(मे)ले (च)

च. कण्टिकि सुन्दर-तरमगु रूपमे
मुक्कण्टि नोट चॆलगे नाममे त्याग-
रा(जि)ण्टने नॆलको(न्ना)दि दैवमे-
(यि)टुवण्टि श्री साकेत रामुनि भक्ति(य)ने (च)


Tamil Version with Meaning


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. சக்கனி ராஜ மார்க3மு(லு)ண்ட3க3
ஸந்து3ல தூ3ர(னே)ல ஓ மனஸா

அ. சிக்கனி பாலு மீக3ட3(யு)ண்ட3க3
சீ2(ய)னு க3ங்கா3-ஸாக3ர(மே)லே (ச)

ச. கண்டிகி ஸுந்த3ர-தரமகு3 ரூபமே
முக்கண்டி நோட செலகே3 நாமமே த்யாக3-
ரா(ஜி)ண்டனே நெலகோன்(னா)தி3 தை3வமே-
(யி)டுவண்டி ஸ்ரீ ஸாகேத ராமுனி ப4க்தி(ய)னே (ச)

மேலான அரச பாட்டைகளிருக்க,
சந்துகளில் நுழைவதேனோ, ஓ மனமே?

கெட்டியான பாலும், ஏடுமிருக்க,
'சீ' யெனும் கள்ளேனோ?
மேலான அரச பாட்டைகளிருக்க,
சந்துகளில் நுழைவதேனோ, ஓ மனமே?

கண்ணுக்கு எழில்மிகு உருவமே!
முக்கண்ணனின் நாவினிலிலங்கும் நாமமே! தியாகராசனின்
இல்லத்திலேயே நிலைபெற்ற முதற்கடவுளே! -
இப்படிப்பட்ட சாகேதராமனின் பத்தியெனும்
மேலான அரச பாட்டையிருக்க,
சந்துகளில் நுழைவதேனோ, ஓ மனமே?

சாகேத - அயோத்தி நகர்

Telugu Version

ప. చక్కని రాజ మార్గములుండగ
సందుల దూరనేల ఓ మనసా

అ. చిక్కని పాలు మీగడయుండగ
ఛీయను గంగా-సాగరమేలే (చ)

చ. కంటికి సుందర-తరమగు రూపమే
ముక్కంటి నోట చెలగే నామమే త్యాగ-
రాజింటనే నెలకోన్నాది దైవమే-
యిటువంటి శ్రీ సాకేత రాముని భక్తియనే (చ)


Kannada Version

ಪ. ಚಕ್ಕನಿ ರಾಜ ಮಾರ್ಗಮುಲುಂಡಗ
ಸಂದುಲ ದೂರನೇಲ ಓ ಮನಸಾ

ಅ. ಚಿಕ್ಕನಿ ಪಾಲು ಮೀಗಡಯುಂಡಗ
ಛೀಯನು ಗಂಗಾ-ಸಾಗರಮೇಲೇ (ಚ)

ಚ. ಕಂಟಿಕಿ ಸುಂದರ-ತರಮಗು ರೂಪಮೇ
ಮುಕ್ಕಂಟಿ ನೋಟ ಚೆಲಗೇ ನಾಮಮೇ ತ್ಯಾಗ-
ರಾಜಿಂಟನೇ ನೆಲಕೋನ್ನಾದಿ ದೈವಮೇ-
ಯಿಟುವಂಟಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಸಾಕೇತ ರಾಮುನಿ ಭಕ್ತಿಯನೇ (ಚ)


Malayalam Version

പ. ചക്കനി രാജ മാര്ഗമുലുണ്ഡഗ
സന്ദുല ദൂരനേല ഓ മനസാ

അ. ചിക്കനി പാലു മീഗഡയുണ്ഡഗ
ഛീയനു ഗങ്ഗാ-സാഗരമേലേ (ച)

ച. കണ്ടികി സുന്ദര-തരമഗു രൂപമേ
മുക്കണ്ടി നോട ചെലഗേ നാമമേ ത്യാഗ-
രാജിണ്ടനേ നെലകോന്നാദി ദൈവമേ-
യിടുവണ്ടി ശ്രീ സാകേത രാമുനി ഭക്തിയനേ (ച)

Updated on 09 Nov 2008