E panikO janminchitinani…

In this asAvEri kriti, sathguru Sri thyAgarAja swami wonders about the cause of his birth and implores with the Lord SrIrAma to permit him to narrate the Lord’s story.

pallavi

E panikO janmincitinani nannenca valadu shrI rAma nE

ఏ పనికో జన్మిచితినని ఎంచవలదు శ్రీరామ నే(నే పని)

Oh Lord SrIrAma, what is the purpose of my birth?

anupallavi

SrIpati SrI rAmacandra nI cittamunaku teliyadA nE

శ్రీపతి శ్రీరామచన్ద్ర నీ చిత్తమునకు తెలియదా నే (నే పని)

O Lord of Goddess lakshmi, don’t You know (the purpose of my birth)?

caraNam

vAlmikyAdi munulu narulu ninnu varNincina nA Asa dIrunA
mElmiyaiyuNDu sadbhaktulu meccudurE tyAgarAjanuta nE

వాల్మిక్యాది మునులు వరులు నిన్ను వర్ణించిన నా ఆశ తీరునా మేల్మిఅయివుండు  సద్భక్తులు మెచ్చుదురే త్యాగరాజ నుత నే (నే పని)

If vAlmiki and other greats have described your glory how will my thirst be quenched? Kindly allow me to sing your glory so that the true devotees of Yours will commend the work… Oh Lord SrIrAma, what is the purpose of my birth?

Context in SrIrAmAyaNam

This kriti doesn’t have a direct context in SrIrAmAyaNam, but rather underlines the context the story of Lord SrIrAma has in our lives. The Indian populace resonates with the rAma principle at several levels.

On a physical plane we admire Him for His valour. We believe that with the bow and the arrow which He wields, He vanquishes our problems on the physical plane. While the educated may ward it off as imagination or hallucination, it continues to give us the strength to face life with full faith that with the Hero around we will come out victorious in our good pursuits.

On an emotional plane, we admire the values of satya and dharma that rAma stands for. How can one abdicate with such ease the throne that was promised! Benevolent Brother, sincere Son, delightful Disciple, valorous Husband, fantastic Friend, loving Lord, terrific Tormentor, compassionate King – He showed by behaviour how to be in a given relation…. we are inspired by all these qualities of SrIrAma that are cast in the ideal mould. It is humanity’s eternal aspiration to reach these levels in pursuit of these values and excel.

On a spiritual plane, rAma is One rAma, the only God! This connotation is not about His superiority to all other Gods we worship. But it is the treatment of Him as the Godhead. Nothing happens in our life without His will. This state is that of surrender when His name becomes our life breath.

The name rAma is also extremely simple to utter for the uninitiated as well. It is said to be extremely potent and the repetition of it ceaselessly purifies. It is the life breath of the populace.

Therefore, since eternity there have been endless souls who have led a harmonious and happy life attributing everything they have in their life to SrIrAma and thereby enjoyed bliss and His protection. While devotees of the yore make the lore, about 250 yrs back as of today, the southern part of India witnessed the birth of the saint composer satguru thyAgarAja swAmi. His biography records that He had performed the japam of the name SrIrAma 96Crore times!!! He says in his pUrvikalyANi kriti – jnAnamosaga rAda that his heart has been purified by the name of SrIrAma (nI nAmamutO nA madi nirmalamainadi… jnAnamosagarAda). The sathguru as we shall refer to him throughout resonated with SrIrAma in all planes. He sang mundu venuka iruprakkala tODai in durbAr to seek protection from him, he wondered in durbAr again as endunDi veDalitivO about the unique and sublime qualities of the Lord and then topped it all hailing Him as the Godhead in harikAmbhOji –unDEdi rAmuDokkaDe… He partook the bliss of rAma in many different ways.

A study of sathguru’s kritis also reveals him as an ardent student of SrIrAmAyaNam. Hence he strengthens his case in various kritIs by referring to a particular episode in SrIrAmAyaNam. He uses these episodes as thrilling examples of the Lord’s grace, compassion and love. He is adored by many as a reincarnation of the sage vAlmIki who first gave us the SrIrAmAyaNam.

This blog is an attempt to discover those kritIs which link back to a certain episode in the SrIrAmAyaNam as told by the sage valmIki. It is not meant to be exhaustive. While that is not a disclaimer, the focus will be more on sharing the joy of the small discoveries about the Lord’s story and as with all life, it will evolve over time, one kriti at a time.

Coming to the way the populace resonates with rAma, it is for this reason that everyone is thrilled in retelling the story of the Lord. In fact there have been numerous adaptations of the vAlmIki rAmAyaNam in several Indian languages as well as in English and other foreign languages. The number of adaptations perhaps surpass any other epic or poetic work ever written in the world. This summarizes the aspiration of the humanity to reach the epitome virtue. As a matter of practice since everyone may not be blessed with the vocabulary to re-tell the rAma story it is a wide practice in India to write SrIrAma or SrIrAmajayam as an imposition. I have known many who strive to write His name a crore (10 million) times or more during their lifetime. This practice, like what the sathguru sang as mentioned above is a purifying activity.

Therefore, in this kriti, sathguru wonders about the purpose of his birth. He gently aks the all knowing Lord that He must be aware of the purpose of thyAgarAja‘s birth. Clearly the purpose is to tell rAma’s story. He tactfully backs the need for him to sing His glory by saying if vAlmIki and other greats have told your story how will my thirst be quenched!! Fair point. In the last line, he says the learned will acclaim my work. It appears that the sathguru clearly sees the gap that the Lord’s story while being recited in the language of gods samskrit, in vernacular languages, in dialects, hasn’t been recited in classical carnatic style! So therefore, he says the learned one’s will acclaim this work and hence SrIrAma should permit him to accomplish this and realise the purpose of his birth.

We will now switch to looking for sathguru‘s kritIs in the order of the events that unfolded in SrIrAmAyaNam. May the Force be with us. jAi SrIrAma

We start with the kriti baDalika tIra pavvalincave