bAgayenayya nI

Pallavi

bAgAyenayya nI mAya-lentO; brahmakaina koniyADa taramA

Anupallavi

I gAradamunu yonarincucunu nE gAdanucu balkuTayu

Charanam

alanAdu kauravulan-aNacamana-yalari dOsamanu naruni jUci pApa
phalamu nIku danaku lEdani cakkaga pAlanamu sEya lEdA tyAgarAja nuta

Meaning

Pallavi : O Lord! How grand is Your delusion! Is it possible even for brahmA to fully comprehend and extol You?

Anupallavi : Having uttered this magic formula, You also say ‘I am not the one’ who speaks.

Charanam : That day when You commanded to subdue the kauravas, looking at him - arjuna who said that war is a crime, did You not expound nicely that ‘the results of sins do not accrue either to you or to Me’? O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja!

Notes

Anupallavi : gAruDamu - a spell to remove poision, delusion etc.

Anupallavi : gAruDamunu – The words Lord kRSNa as brought in caraNa are referred here. Therefore, the caraNa should be read first and then the anupallavi – that is the sequence in this kRti.

Charanam : alari – this is how it is given in all the books. However, the word seems to be doubtful. In the book of CR, this has been translated as ‘trembled’; in the book of TSV/AKG, as ‘hesitated’. But, the word ‘alaru’ does not have any such meaning. Purely from rhyme point of view, word beginning with ‘ala’ seems to be correct.

‘alaru’ in Telugu means ‘blossom’, ‘please’, ‘gratify’. The word ‘adaru’ in Telugu means ‘frighten’ etc. However, the Tamil word ‘alaru’ means ‘frighten’. The nearest telugu word ‘allari’ means ‘quarrel’, ‘affray’ etc. It is not clear whether this word has been used in the meaning of ‘war’.

Has zrI tyAgarAja used a Tamil word ‘alari’ here or is the word ‘adari’ or ‘allari’? In any case, it has been translated as ‘war’ by me. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

Charanam : alari dOsamanu - The following verses of SrImad bhagavad gItA are relevant – arjuna said –

dRShTvEmam svajanaM kRShNa yuyutsum samupasthitam |
sIdanti mama gAtrANi mukham ca pariSuShyati ||
ahO bata mahat pApaM kartum vyavasitA vayam |
yadrAjya sukha lObhEna hantum svajanamudyatA: || I. 28, 45 ||

“Seeing, O kRShNa, these my kinsmen gathered here eager for fight, my limbs fail me and my mouth is parched. Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to slay our kinsmen, out of greed for the pleasures for a kingdom.”

Charanam : pApa phalamu nIku tanaku lEdu – The follwing verses from SrImad-bhagavad-gItA are relevant -

Lord kRSNa said –
ya EnaM vEtti hantAram yaScainaM manyatE hataM |
ubhau tau na vijAnItO nAyam hanti na hanyatE || II. 19 ||

“He who takes this Self to be the slayer, and he who takes It to be the slain, neither of these knows. It does not slay, not is it slain.”

Anupallavi : nE gAdanucu – the following verse from SrImad-bhagavad-gItA is also relevant –

Lord kRShNa said -
vRShNInAm vAsudEvO(a)smi pANDavAnAm dhananjaya: |
munInApyaham vyAsa: kavInAmuSanA kavi: || X.37 ||

“Of the vRShNis I am vAsudEva; of the pANDavas, dhananjaya; and also of the munis I am vyAsa; of the sages, uzanas the sage.”(All translations by Swami Swarupananda)

vRShNi is the lineage of kRShNa. The implication is that ‘though apparently, I am kRShNa of the lineage of vRShNi, I am also You, therefore I am not I.’


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