Thyagaraja Kriti - Kattu Jesinaavu - Raga Athana

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

kaTTu jEsinAvu-aThANA

In the kRti ‘kaTTu jEsinAvu’ – rAga aThANA (tALa Adi), SrI tyAgarAja states that SrI rAma has bound him inextricably to Himself.

pallavi
¹kaTTu jEsinAvu ²rAma bandu

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anupallavi
maTTu mitamu lEn(a)TTi ³dEvatA
matamulalO ⁴jorabaDudAm(a)NTE (kaTTu)

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caraNam
mA ⁵matamulanu lalATamuna
pitAmahuDu vrAya lEd(a)nucunu mari mari
⁶kAma madamulaku hitav(a)nucu
⁷nishkAma tyAgarAjuku ⁸tOcE (kaTTu)

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Gist

O Lord SrI rAma!

• You have bound me as the ‘slave of rAma’.


• Even if I wanted to venture into (any of the) innumerable paths of (other) Gods, (I could not do so because) You have bound me as the ‘slave of rAma’.


• As brahmA (at the time of birth) has not ordained (that such and such to be) my path, again and again, it occurs to this desire-less tyAgarAja that You have bound me as the ‘slave of rAma’, because those (other) paths are conducive to (harmful tendencies like) desire, arrogance etc.

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Word-by-word Meaning

pallavi
kaTTu jEsinAvu rAma bandu

O Lord SrI rAma (Implied addressing)! You have bound (kaTTu jEsinAvu) me as the ‘slave (bandu) of rAma’.

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anupallavi
maTTu mitamu lEni-aTTi dEvatA
matamulalO jorabaDudAmu-aNTE (kaTTu)

Even if I wanted to (aNTE) venture (jorabaDudAmu) (jorabaDudAmaNTE) into (any of the) innumerable (maTTu mitamu lEni aTTi) (lEnaTTi) paths (matamulalO) of (other) Gods (dEvatA), (I could not do so because) You have bound me as the ‘slave of rAma’.

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caraNam
mA matamulanu lalATamuna
pitAmahuDu vrAya lEdu-anucunu mari mari
kAma madamulaku hitavu-anucu
nishkAma tyAgarAjuku tOcE (kaTTu)

As (anucunu) brahmA (pitAmahuDu) (at the time of birth) has not ordained (lalATamuna vrAya lEdu) (literally not written on the forehead) (lEdanucunu) (that such and such to be) my (mA) path (matamulanu) (literally set of opinions),
again and again (mari mari), it occurs (tOcE) to this desire-less (nish-kAma) tyAgarAja that You have bound me as the ‘slave of rAma’,
because (anucu) those (other) paths are conducive to (hitavu) (hitavanucu) (harmful tendencies like) desire (kAma), arrogance etc (madamulaku).

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Notes-
Variations –
⁴ – jorabaDudAmaNTE – jorabaDudAmanna.

⁸ – tOcE– tOcu.

References –
⁶ – kAma madamulaku – the six internal enemies - kAma, krOdha, lObha, mOha, mada, mAtsarya.

Comments -
¹ – kaTTu jEsinAvu - In books ‘kaTTu’ seems to have been translated as ‘spell’, ‘magic spell’.

² – rAma bandu – The word ‘bandu’ may be translated as ‘prison’, ‘prisoner’, ‘restraint’. However, in my opinion, SrI tyAgarAja seems to imply ‘slave’ of ‘bonded labour system’ which was prevalent in many parts of India. The person so bonded and their descendants become slaves of the creditor. Bonded Labour (Abolition).

³ – dEvatA matamulu – the six modes of worship - Saiva, Vaishnava etc.

⁵ - matamulanu lalATamuna pitAmahuDu vrAya lEdu – brahmA has not ordained one’s religion. This is socially more relevant today when religions have become a source of disharmony.

⁶ – kAma madamulaku hitavanucu – The path of devotion (bhakti) is common for all the six modes of worship. SrI tyAgaraja has, in many kritis, criticised those who differentiate between forms of worship. Therefore, it would not be correct to say that all modes of worship, other than that of vishNu (SrI rAma), is conducive to development of desire etc. It seems that SrI tyAgarAja implies methods other than 'bhakti' like 'sacrificial oblations etc performed for the sake enjoyment' and other (esoteric) forms of worship like ‘kaula mArga’. It is actually the motive which matters. In this regard, SrImad-bhagavad-gIta, Chapter 3 is relevant –

yajnArthAt-karmaNO(a)nyatra lOkO(a)yaM karma bandhanaH
tad-arthaM karma kauntEya mukta sangaH samAcara 9

“The world is bound by actions other than those performed for the sake of yajna; do thou, therefore, O son of kuntI, perform action for yajna alone, devoid of attachment.” (Translation by Swami Swarupananda)

⁷ – nishkAma – it is also possible to translate this as an epithet of Lord. However, traditionally, as given in the books, this word has been taken to refer to tyAgarAja. Therefore, the same has been retained.

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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. कट्टु जेसिनावु राम बन्दु

अ. मट्टु मितमु ले(न)ट्टि देवता
मतमुललो जॊरबडुदा(म)ण्टे (क)

च. मा मतमुलनु ललाटमुन
पितामहुडु व्राय ले(द)नुचुनु मरि मरि
काम मदमुलकु हित(व)नुचु
निष्काम त्यागराजुकु तोचे (क)

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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. கட்டு ஜேஸினாவு ராம ப3ந்து3

அ. மட்டு மிதமு லே(ன)ட்டி தே3வதா
மதமுலலோ ஜொரப3டு3தா3(ம)ண்டே (க)

ச. மா மதமுலனு லலாடமுன
பிதாமஹுடு3 வ்ராய லே(த3)னுசுனு மரி மரி
காம மத3முலகு ஹித(வ)னுசு
நிஷ்காம த்யாக3ராஜுகு தோசே (க)

(என்னைக்) கட்டியுள்ளாய், 'இராமனின் அடிமை' யென

எண்ணிறந்தது போலும் கடவுளரின்
மதங்களில் நுழைவோமென்றால்,
(என்னைக்) கட்டியுள்ளாய், 'இராமனின் அடிமை' யென.

எமது மதத்தினை நெற்றியில்
தாதை எழுதவில்லையாதலால், (மற்ற மதங்கள்)
ஆசை, செருக்கு ஆகியவற்றிற்கு உகந்தவையென,
பற்றற்ற, தியாகராசனுக்கு, திரும்பத்திரும்பத் தோன்றுகின்றது,
(என்னைக்) கட்டியுள்ளாய் 'இராமனின் அடிமை' யென.

மதங்கள் - ஆறு மதங்கள் - சைவம், வைணவம் ஆகியவை
தாதை - பிரமன்

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Telugu

ప. కట్టు జేసినావు రామ బందు

అ. మట్టు మితము లేనట్టి దేవతా
మతములలో జొరబడుదామంటే (క)

చ. మా మతములను లలాటమున
పితామహుడు వ్రాయ లేదనుచును మరి మరి
కామ మదములకు హితవనుచు
నిష్కామ త్యాగరాజుకు తోచే (క)

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Kannada

ಪ. ಕಟ್ಟು ಜೇಸಿನಾವು ರಾಮ ಬಂದು

ಅ. ಮಟ್ಟು ಮಿತಮು ಲೇನಟ್ಟಿ ದೇವತಾ
ಮತಮುಲಲೋ ಜೊರಬಡುದಾಮಂಟೇ (ಕ)

ಚ. ಮಾ ಮತಮುಲನು ಲಲಾಟಮುನ
ಪಿತಾಮಹುಡು ವ್ರಾಯ ಲೇದನುಚುನು ಮರಿ ಮರಿ
ಕಾಮ ಮದಮುಲಕು ಹಿತವನುಚು
ನಿಷ್ಕಾಮ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜುಕು ತೋಚೇ (ಕ)

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Malayalam

പ. കട്ടു ജേസിനാവു രാമ ബന്ദു

അ. മട്ടു മിതമു ലേനട്ടി ദേവതാ
മതമുലലോ ജൊരബഡുദാമണ്ടേ (ക)

ച. മാ മതമുലനു ലലാടമുന
പിതാമഹുഡു വ്രായ ലേദനുചുനു മരി മരി
കാമ മദമുലകു ഹിതവനുചു
നിഷ്കാമ ത്യാഗരാജുകു തോചേ (ക)

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Updated on 15 Nov 2009