Thyagaraja Kriti - Nitya Roopa - Raga Kaapi

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

nitya rUpa-kApi

In the kRti ‘nitya rUpa evari’ – rAga kApi, SrI tyAgarAja extols the greatness of SrI rAma – the Supreme Lord.

P nitya rUpa evari pANDityam(E)mi naDucurA

A ¹satyamaina(y)Ajna mIra sAmarthyamu kaladA (nitya)

C bhAnu pagalu ²rEyi ³ratna sAnu juTTaDA
pUni ⁴SEshuD(a)mita bhAra bhUmi mOyaDA
vInul(a)ndu ⁵kASI pati nI nAmamu palkaDA
mAni tyAgarAja vinuta ⁶mahim(A)spadamagu nI mundu (nitya)

Gist
O Lord of Eternal form! O Respectable Lord praised by this tyAgarAja!
Of what avail anyone’s erudition (or skill) in front of You who is the very source of all mights?
Has anyone the competence to transgress Your decree based on eternal Truth?
Would the Sun dare not circle the Mount Meru day and night? would SEsha dare not resolutely bear the very weighty Earth? would Lord Siva dare not utter Your name in the ears of those who die in kASI?

Word-by-word Meaning

P O Lord of Eternal (nitya) form (rUpa)! Of what avail (Emi naDucurA) anyone’s (evari) erudition (or skill) (pANDityamu)?

A Has anyone (kaladA) the competence (sAmarthyamu) to transgress (mIra) Your decree (Ajna) based on eternal Truth (satyamaina) (satyamainayAjna)?
O Lord of Eternal Form! Of what avail anyone’s erudition (or skill)?

C Would the Sun (bhAnu) dare not circle (juTTaDA) the Mount Meru (ratna sAnu) day (pagalu) and night (rEyi)?
would SEsha (SEshuDu) dare not resolutely (pUni) bear (mOyaDA) the very (amita) (SEshuDamita) weighty (bhAra) Earth (bhUmi)?
would Lord Siva – the Lord (pati) of kASI – dare not utter (palkaDA) Your (nI) name (nAmamu) in the (andu) ears (vInula) (vInulandu) of those who die in kASI?
O Respectable (mAni) Lord praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja!
O Lord of Eternal Form! Of what avail anyone’s erudition (or skill) in front (mundu) of You (nI) who is the very source (Aspadamagu) of all mights (mahima) (mahimAspadamagu)?

Notes –
Variations –
² – rEyi – It is given as ‘rEyu’ in all the books. Here, the word means ‘night’. Therefore, ‘rEyi’ is the correct word; ‘rEyu’ has a different meaning. Therefore ‘rEyi’ has been adopted.

References –
³ - ratna sAnu – Mount Meru – The North Pole is considered to be Mount Meru where the Sun never sets for six months. Please refer to a folklore on the subject in the website - Meru Mountain - Folklore and Meru Mountain-2
⁴ – SEsha – Stated to support the seven nether regions (pAtAlAs) with seven upper regions, and therefore, the entire world.
⁵ – kASI pati – “Dying in the sacred Brahmanala in Kashi, he will get the Taraka-mantra and also liberation, without rebirth. On dying anywhere (else) in Kashi, Maheshvara will utter the Taraka-mantra in his right ear.” – Dialogue between SrI rAma and AnjanEya in the muktikA upanishad – Source –
Muktita Upanishad

Comments -
¹ – satyamaina Ajna mIra – The following verse from kaThOpanishad, II.iii. refers –

bhayAdasyAgnistapati bhayAttapati sUryaH
bhayAdindraSca vAyuSca mRtyurdhAvati pancamaH 3

“From fear of Him Fire burns, from fear shines the Sun; from fear run Indra and Air, and Death, the fifth.” (Translation by Swami Gambhirananda)

⁶ – mahimAspadamagu – who is the source of all mights – Please refer to tyAgarAja kRti 'nArada gAna lOla' – rAga aThANA, SrI tyAgarAja states –

nIvu lEkayE tanuvulu niratamugA naDucunu
nIvu lEkayE taruvulu nikkamugA molucunu
nIvu lEkayE vAnalu nityamugA kuriyunu
nIvu lEka tyAgarAju nI guNamulaneTu pADunu

Without You how bodies would ever move about ceaselessly? without You how trees would ever grow resolutely? without You how rains would ever fall unfailingly? or, without You how would this tyAgarAja ever sing your glory?

The bRhadAraNyaka upanishad statement is relevant -

yaH sarvEshu bhUtEshu tishThan sarvEbhyO bhUtebhyO(a)ntaraH
yaM sarvANi bhUtAni na viduH yasya sarvANi bhUtAni SarIraM
yaH sarvANi bhUtAnyantarO yamayati
Esha ta AtmAntaryAmyamRtaH (III.vii.15)

“He who inhabits all beings, but is within them, whom no being knows, whose body is all beings, and who controls all beings from within, is the Internal Ruler, your own immortal Self.” (Translation by Swami Madhavandanda)

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. नित्य रूप ऎवरि पाण्डित्य(मे)मि नडुचुरा

अ. सत्यमैन(या)ज्ञ मीर सामर्थ्यमु कलदा (नि)

च. भानु पगलु रेयि रत्न सानु जुट्टडा
पूनि शेषु(ड)मित भार भूमि मोयडा
वीनु(ल)न्दु काशी पति नी नाममु पल्कडा
मानि त्यागराज विनुत महि(मा)स्पदमगु नी मुन्दु (नि)


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. நித்ய ரூப எவரி பாண்டி3த்ய(மே)மி நடு3சுரா

அ. ஸத்யமைன(யா)ஞ மீர ஸாமர்த்2யமு கலதா3 (நி)

ச. பா4னு பக3லு ரேயி ரத்ன ஸானு ஜுட்டடா3
பூனி ஸே1ஷு(ட3)மித பா4ர பூ4மி மோயடா3
வீனு(ல)ந்து3 காஸீ1 பதி நீ நாமமு பல்கடா3
மானி த்யாக3ராஜ வினுத மஹி(மா)ஸ்பத3மகு3 நீ முந்து3 (நி)

அழிவற்ற உருவே! எவர் புலமையென்ன செல்லுமய்யா?

மெய்யான ஆணையை மீரத் திறமையுண்டா?
அழிவற்ற உருவே! எவர் புலமையென்ன செல்லுமய்யா?

பரிதி, பகலிரவாக மேருவைச் சுற்றானா?
உறுதிபூண்டு, சேடன், மிக்கு பளுவான புவியைத் தாங்கானா?
காதுகளில், காசிபதி, உனது நாமத்தினைப் பகரானா?
தியாகராசனால் போற்றப் பெற்ற மேலோனே!
மகிமைகளின் மூலமான உன்னெதிரில்,
அழிவற்ற உருவே! எவருடைய புலமையென்ன செல்லுமய்யா?

சேடன் - அரி துயிலுமரவு
காசிபதி - சிவன்


Telugu Version

ప. నిత్య రూప ఎవరి పాండిత్యమేమి నడుచురా

అ. సత్యమైనయాజ్ఞ మీర సామర్థ్యము కలదా (ని)

చ. భాను పగలు రేయి రత్న సాను జుట్టడా
పూని శేషుడమిత భార భూమి మోయడా
వీనులందు కాశీ పతి నీ నామము పల్కడా
మాని త్యాగరాజ వినుత మహిమాస్పదమగు నీ ముందు (ని)


Kannada Version

ಪ. ನಿತ್ಯ ರೂಪ ಎವರಿ ಪಾಂಡಿತ್ಯಮೇಮಿ ನಡುಚುರಾ

ಅ. ಸತ್ಯಮೈನಯಾಜ್ಞ ಮೀರ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯಮು ಕಲದಾ (ನಿ)

ಚ. ಭಾನು ಪಗಲು ರೇಯಿ ರತ್ನ ಸಾನು ಜುಟ್ಟಡಾ
ಪೂನಿ ಶೇಷುಡಮಿತ ಭಾರ ಭೂಮಿ ಮೋಯಡಾ
ವೀನುಲಂದು ಕಾಶೀ ಪತಿ ನೀ ನಾಮಮು ಪಲ್ಕಡಾ
ಮಾನಿ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ ವಿನುತ ಮಹಿಮಾಸ್ಪದಮಗು ನೀ ಮುಂದು (ನಿ)


Malayalam Version

പ. നിത്യ രൂപ എവരി പാണ്ഡിത്യമേമി നഡുചുരാ

അ. സത്യമൈനയാജ്ഞ മീര സാമര്ഥ്യമു കലദാ (നി)

ച. ഭാനു പഗലു രേയി രത്ന സാനു ജുട്ടഡാ
പൂനി ശേഷുഡമിത ഭാര ഭൂമി മോയഡാ
വീനുലന്ദു കാശീ പതി നീ നാമമു പല്കഡാ
മാനി ത്യാഗരാജ വിനുത മഹിമാസ്പദമഗു നീ മുന്ദു (നി)

Updated on 22 Dec 2008