Sunday, January 11, 2009

Tyagaraja Kriti - Teliyaleru Rama - Raga Dhenuka

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

teliya lEru rAma-dhEnuka

In the kRti ‘teliya lEru rAma bhakti mArgamu’ – rAga dhEnuka (tALa Adi) SrI tyAgarAja takes pity on those who go about their daily routine without understanding the true path ie., devotion.

pallavi
teliya lEru rAma bhakti mArgamunu


anupallavi
ilan(a)ntaTa tirugucunu
1kaluvarincEru kAni (teliya)


caraNam
vEga lEci nITa munigi bhUti pUsi
2vELLan(e)nci 3veliki SlAghanIyulai
bAga paikam(A)rjana lOlul(ai)rE
kAni tyAgarAja vinuta (teliya)


Gist

O SrI rAma! O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja!

  • People are not aware of the path of bhakti.

    • Roaming all over the Earth, they babble as if in a dream.

    • Getting up early in the morning,
    • taking bath,
    • smearing sacred ash on the body,
    • (performing japa by) counting fingers,
    • posing as praise-worthy,
    • they became totally committed to earning money; but,

  • they are not aware of the path of bhakti.



Word-by-word Meaning

pallavi
teliya lEru rAma bhakti mArgamunu

O SrI rAma! People are not aware (teliya lEru) of the path (mArgamunu) of bhakti.


anupallavi
ilanu-antaTa tirugucunu
kaluvarincEru kAni (teliya)

Roaming (tirugucunu) all over (antaTa) the Earth (ilanu) (ilanantaTa), they babble as if in a dream (kaluvarincEru);
but (kAni), O Lord SrI rAma! they are not aware of the path of bhakti.


caraNam
vEga lEci nITa munigi bhUti pUsi
vELLanu-enci veliki SlAghanIyulai
bAga paikam(u-)jana lOlulu-airE
kAni tyAgarAja vinuta (teliya)

Getting up (lEci) early in the morning (vEga), taking bath (nITa munigi) (literally taking dip in water), smearing (pUsi) sacred ash (bhUti) on the body,
(performing japa by) counting (enci) fingers (vELLanu) (veLLanenci), and posing (veliki) (literally ostensibly) as praise-worthy (SlAghanIyulai),
they became (airE) totally (bAga) (literally very) committed (lOlulu) (literally dedicated) (lOlulairE) to earning (Arjana) money (paikamu) (paikamArjana), but (kAni)
O Lord praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja! they are not aware of the path of bhakti.


Notes –
Variations -
1 – kaluvarincEru – kaluvarincedaru.

Comments -
2 – vELLanenci – counting fingers (instead of rosary). Performing japa in a mechanical manner is meant.

3 – veliki – in telugu, there are two words ‘veliki’ (external) and ‘veligi’ (shining). In the present context, the word ‘veliki’ (external) is the appropriate word; therefore, the constant ‘ki’ should not be softened as ‘gi’.



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. तॆलिय लेरु राम भक्ति मार्गमुनु

अ. इल(न)न्तट तिरुगुचुनु
कलुवरिञ्चेरु कानि (तॆ)

च. वेग लेचि नीट मुनिगि भूति पूसि
वेळ्ळ(नॆ)ञ्चि वॆलिकि श्लाघनीयुलै
बाग पैक(मा)र्जन लोलु(लै)रे
कानि त्यागराज विनुत (तॆ)


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. தெலிய லேரு ராம ப4க்தி மார்க3முனு

அ. இல(ன)ந்தட திருகு3சுனு
கலுவரிஞ்சேரு கானி (தெ)

ச. வேக3 லேசி நீட முனிகி3 பூ4தி பூஸி
வேள்ள(னெ)ஞ்சி வெலிகி ஸ்1லாக4னீயுலை
பா3க3 பைக(மா)ர்ஜன லோலு(லை)ரே
கானி த்யாக3ராஜ வினுத (தெ)

தெரிந்திலரே, இராமா, பக்தி நெறியினை

புவியெங்கும் திரிந்துகொண்டு,
பிதற்றினரேயன்றி,
தெரிந்திலரே, இராமா, பக்தி நெறியினை

விடியற்காலை யெழுந்து, நீரில் மூழ்கி (யெழுந்து), நீறு பூசி,
விரல்களை யெண்ணி, வெளிப் பார்வைக்கு, போற்றத் தக்கோராகி,
நன்றாக பணம் ஈட்டும் ஆசைகொண்டவராகினரே
அன்றி, தியாகராசனால் போற்றப் பெற்றோனே,
தெரிந்திலரே, இராமா, பக்தி நெறியினை

விரல்களினையெண்ணி - ஜபம் செய்தல்


Telugu

ప. తెలియ లేరు రామ భక్తి మార్గమును

అ. ఇలనంతట తిరుగుచును
కలువరించేరు కాని (తె)

చ. వేగ లేచి నీట మునిగి భూతి పూసి
వేళ్ళనెంచి వెలికి శ్లాఘనీయులై
బాగ పైకమార్జన లోలులైరే
కాని త్యాగరాజ వినుత (తె)


Kannada

ಪ. ತೆಲಿಯ ಲೇರು ರಾಮ ಭಕ್ತಿ ಮಾರ್ಗಮುನು

ಅ. ಇಲನಂತಟ ತಿರುಗುಚುನು
ಕಲುವರಿಂಚೇರು ಕಾನಿ (ತೆ)

ಚ. ವೇಗ ಲೇಚಿ ನೀಟ ಮುನಿಗಿ ಭೂತಿ ಪೂಸಿ
ವೇಳ್ಳನೆಂಚಿ ವೆಲಿಕಿ ಶ್ಲಾಘನೀಯುಲೈ
ಬಾಗ ಪೈಕಮಾರ್ಜನ ಲೋಲುಲೈರೇ
ಕಾನಿ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ ವಿನುತ (ತೆ)


Malayalam


പ. തെലിയ ലേരു രാമ ഭക്തി മാര്ഗമുനു

അ. ഇലനന്തട തിരുഗുചുനു
കലുവരിഞ്ചേരു കാനി (തെ)

ച. വേഗ ലേചി നീട മുനിഗി ഭൂതി പൂസി
വേള്ളനെഞ്ചി വെലികി ശ്ലാഘനീയുലൈ
ബാഗ പൈകമാര്ജന ലോലുലൈരേ
കാനി ത്യാഗരാജ വിനുത (തെ)


Updated on 09 Nov 2010

7 comments:

Unknown said...

What a beautiful song!! I was moved, listening to Sanjay Subramanian's soulful rendering of this song and I felt I needed to understand it wordy for word. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.

Varadan said...

Indeed ! Marvelous and deeply significant. For me, one of the most endearing songs of Sri. Tyagaraaja. Thank you for sharing the essence of the song in plain language.

Sumi said...

Thank you for all the trouble you must have gone through to provide this much care and detail in so many languages to explain this simple but wonderfully apt song. Tyagaraja must have been really disgusted by the hypocrisy of this world, ha ha!

sri said...

this website and your work is awesome !! what a great effort !!

R Vimala's Blog said...

One of the most beautiful and soulful compositions of Tyagaraja, thank you for explaining the meaning

Unknown said...

Really you have done wonderful effort in providing lyrics in all major South Indian language with meaning.. Thank you very much

Unknown said...

Entire meaning of this song is misinterpreted I think. In my personal opinion I think the Legend Tyagaraja is expressing himself as a person who is quite unsure which way is the the true path for attaining the moksha. He asks..there are so many persons who wander the whole world by chanting the Lords name. Is this the true way to attain the Lord? Or like the Aghori way who became embodiment? Lord please enchant me with the knowledge and help me to achieve my goal.
Since the Legend as we know is avery humble and I think he wont stand up to comment negetively against the old customs of worship.
THIS IS MY PERSONAL COMMENT SINCE I HAVE READ SO MANY KEERTHANAS BY HIM!