The Adi Sankara I Loved - Ibiblio

SrI:
SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH
Kriti: cEtulAra
Raga: kharaharapriya
In the kRti ‘cEtulAra SRMgAramu’ – rAga kharaharapriya – bhairavi, SrI tyAgarAja
describes how he adorns the Lord.
Pallavi
cEtulAra SRGgAramu jEsi jUtunu SrI rAma
Anupallavi
sEtu bandhana sura pati sarasIruha
bhav(A)dulu pogaDa nA (cEtulAra)
Charanam 1
merugu baGgAr(a)ndelu peTTi
mETiyau sariga valvalu kaTTi
sura taru sumamula siga niNDa juTTi
sundaramagu mOmuna muddu peTTi
Charanam 2
molanu kundanapu gajjelu gUrci
mudduga nuduTanu tilakamu
dIrci alakalapai rAvi-rEkayu jArci
andamaina ninn(u)ramuna jErci (cEtulAra)
Charanam 3
Ani-mutyAla koNDe vEsi

hausuga parimaLa gandhamu pUsi
vANi suraTicE visaraga vAsi vAsi
(y)anucu tyAgarAja nuta(y)anni rOsi (cEtulAra)
Gist
O Lord SrI rAma! O Lord who built cause-way on the Ocean! O Lord praised by this
tyAgarAja! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands to the praise of indra and
brahmA and others. Adorning You with glittering golden armlets (or anklets),
donning You with excellent gold-threaded garments, knotting flowers of pArijAta
(the celestial tree) fully on Your tuft, and kissing Your charming face, I shall try to
bedeck You by my own hands. Tying pure golden tinkles on Your waist, applying
charmingly auspicious mark on Your forehead, hanging the fore-head jewel on the
curls (hanging on Your face), and embracing You -the beautiful One, I shall try to
bedeck You by my own hands. Making the forelock with faultless (spherical) pearls,
applying fragrant sandal paste elegantly, and as sarasvatI fans You with a fan,
appreciating the decoration and leaving aside everything else, I shall try to bedeck
You by my own hands.
Word-by-word Meaning
P O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try (jUtunu) to bedeck (SRGgAramu cEsi) You by my
own hands (cEtulAra).
A O Lord who built (bandhana) cause-way (sEtu) on the Ocean! O Lord SrI rAma! I
shall try to bedeck You by my (nA) own hands to the praise (pogaDa) of indra –
Lord (pati) of celestials (sura) and brahmA – seated (bhava) in Lotus (sarasIruha)
and others (Adulu) (bhavAdulu).
C1 Adorning (peTTi) You with glittering (merugu) golden (baGgAru) armlets (or
anklets) (andelu) (baGgArandelu), donning (kaTTi) (literally tying) You with
excellent (mETiyau) gold-threaded (sariga) garments (valvalu), knotting (juTTi)
flowers (sumamula) of pArijAta – the celestial (sura) tree (taru) fully (niNDu) on
Your tuft (siga), and kissing (muddu peTTi) Your charming (sundaramagu) face
(mOmuna); O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.
C2 Tying (gUrci) (literally assembling) pure golden (kundanapu) tinkles (gajjelu) on
Your waist (molanu), applying (dIrci) charmingly (mudduga) auspicious mark

(tilakamu) on Your forehead (nuduTanu), hanging (jArci) the fore-head jewel (rAvirEkayu)
on the curls (alakalapai) (hanging on Your face), and embracing (uramuna
jErci) You (ninnu) -the beautiful One (andamaina), O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to
bedeck You by my own hands.
C3 Making (vEsi) the forelock (koNDe) with faultless (spherical) pearls (ANimutyAla),
applying (pUsi) fragrant (parimaLa) sandal paste (gandhamu) elegantly
(hausuga), and as sarasvatI (vANI) fans (visaraga) You with a fan (suraTicE),
appreciating (vAsi vAsiyanucu) (literally say ‘comfort comfort’) the decoration and
leaving aside (rOsi) everything else (anni), O Lord praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja!
O Lord SrI rAma! I shall try to bedeck You by my own hands.
Notes –
General – This kRti is in vAtsalya bhAva as if kausalya is singing it.
C2 – rAvi-rEka – jewel worn by children and women on the forehead.
C3 – hausugA – As per Telugu Dictionary, this word is derived from arabic word,
‘hawas’ meaning ‘lust’ and similar meanings. The derived meaning in telugu is ‘beauty’,
‘SRGgAra’ etc.
C3 – vAsi vAsiyanucu – The feeling of comfort and happiness.
C3 – anni rOsi – This is how it is given in the book of TSV/AKG; in the book of TKG,
this is given as an alternative. In the book of CR, this is given as ‘Ani rOsi’ and the
meaning derived is ‘cut asunder all my bondages’ – probably this refers to ‘rOsi’
which means ‘abandoning’. Therefore, ‘anni’ seems to be appropriate. This needs to
be checked. Any suggestions ???
Additional Notes by Sri V. Sadagopan:
There is a tradition in Tamil literature called PiLLai Tamizh Prabhandhams, where
an adoring Mother enjoys her child singing to it lullaby, bathing it, combing its hair,
adorning the freshly combed hair with different colored flowers, decorating it,
inviting it to partake special items of food and embracing it. PeriyAzhwAr is a
Master of such PiLLai Tamizh, where he relates to baby KrishNa as Mother
YasOdha. ThyAgaraja SwamigaL takes on the role of Kousalyaa Devi, who
decorated Her precious child Raamachandran with all kinds of AabharaNams
containing precious gems, pearl and gold. ThyAgarAja SwamigaL is overwhelmed by

the beauty of Raamachandra adorning the many aabharaNams and hugs the archaa
Moorthy just as the affectionate Mother Kousalya would. As Kousalya devi and
ThyAgaraja SwamigaL decorated their divine child and bedecked it with flowers
and AabahraNams, the gods assembled and watched that beautiful sight and
enjoyed the blissful anubhavam. Mother Kousalya hugged and played with baby
Raamchandra, decked Him with beautiful clothes, flowers and Jewelry and reached
the limit of bliss. ThyagarAja had a similar experience. The Yogis thru their ardous
Tapas and strenuous Bhakti Yogam see the Lord in their heart lotus (chidh
AakAsam). There they enjoy Him and reach the highest plateau of bliss (RamantE
Yoginonante BrahmANDE chidhAtmani).
In the SwarNa mantapam of Sri Matam, where Malolan sits on a Dolai, Srimath
Prakrutam (Current) Azhagiya Singar has a wonderful way of decorating Lord
Lakshmi Nrisimhan with multi-colored flower garlands and different resplendent
AabharaNams. Srimath Azhagiya Singar will take a few steps back and see how
everything fits and then come closer and readjust the garlands to enhance the
beauty of the Lord even further. This is the anubhavam of the MalOla Dhivya
PaadhukA sevakar every day (kai aara Malolanai singAricchu), when He performs
the daily IjyArAdhanam.
The song cEtulaara in Raagam Karahara Priyaa is played on the VeNu (Flute) before
the Archanai at the AarAdhanam at ThiruvayyARu starts On the Suddha BhaguLa
Panchami day and the assembled musicians initiate thereafter their musical
tributes at the BrundhAvanam on the banks of Cauvery. Pancha ratna keertanam
rendering begins thereafter. ChetulAra is also sung sometimes in Bharaivi or Nata
Bhairavi. Paladam Sanjeevi Rao started the playing in Bhairavi tradition. Sangeetha
Kalanidhis Semmangudi SrinivAsa Iyer and Vedavalli render it in original Karahara
Priyaa. Sri Sarabha Sastri, Palaldam Sanjeevi Rao, T.R. Mali, N.Raani, Sikkil Sisters
are the famous Flute VidhvAns, who took part in the AarAdhanais in the past years
and for playing CetulAra. Regarding the variations in playing Cetulaara kriti in
Karaharapriya or Bhairavi or Natabhairavi, we have to appreciate that the
AarOhaNam of Bhairavi is that of Karahara Priyaa and the avarOhaNam of Bhairavi
is that of Natabhairavi. Bhairavi is a Janya Raagam of the 20 th MeLam,
Natabhairavi. Bhairavi is also classified by some as a Janya Raagam of karahara
Priyaa. Now we can see all the overlaps and the ease of switching.
This Kriti has also been played in MeLa Raagam of NaTa Bhairavi instead of
Bhairavi. There is however difficulty in playing Suddha Dhaivatam in the

AarOhaNam by Naataswara VidhvAns (Thirumaruhal NatEsan, His nephew
T.N.Rajaratnam PiLLai) and hence they shifted to Bhairavi. Sanjeevi Rao has
blessed this tradition with his seniority and artists like MLV followed this Bhairavi
rendering tradition of CetulAra at the AarAdhanams.
Raama DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan