Evari Maata - Tyagaraja Kritis (Eng)

Pallavi

evari māṭa vinnāvō rāvō indu lēvō 1bhaḷi bhaḷi evari māṭa vinnāvō rāvō indu lēvō bhaḷi-bhaḷi

O Lord! I don’t know whose words You listened to. Won’t You come? Or ain’t You here? Well Done!

Anupallavi

avanilōnārṣēya2 3pauruṣēyam- andi 4cōdyameruga lēnayya (evari) avanilōnu-ārṣēya pauruṣēyamu-andi cōdyamu-eruga lēnu-ayya (evari)

In this World, having attained knowledge of Vedas and Sastras etc, I did not learn scepticism.

Charanam

bhakta parādhīnuḍanucu parama bhāgavatula vyakta rūpuḍai palikina muccaṭa yuktamanucunuṇṭi śakti gala mahā-dēvuḍu nīvani santōṣamunanuṇṭi satta cittuḍagu tyāgarāja nuta satya sandhuḍanukoṇṭinilalō (evari) bhakta parādhīnuḍu-anucu parama bhāgavatula vyakta-rūpuḍai palikina muccaṭa yuktamu-anucunu-uṇṭi śakti gala mahā-dēvuḍu nīvu-ani santōṣamunanu-uṇṭi satta cittuḍagu tyāgarāja nuta satya-sandhuḍu-anukoṇṭini-ilalō (evari)

I assumed that the tidings of Your utterance, to Your supreme devotees, by actually manifesting before them, that You are entirely engaged in attending to (the welfare of) Your devotees, to be correct; I remained happy that You are the mighty Lord having prowess; I assumed You to be true to word who is good hearted; O Lord praised by this Thyagaraja! I don’t know whose words You listened to in this World.

References

• ³pauruṣēya – “...revealed texts - we call the same ‘apauruseya’ (not the work of a human author). What men do of their own accord is ‘pauruseya’ and what the paramatman reveals, using man as a mere instrument, is ‘apauruseya’. [Apaurusheya]
• Please visit the site for a discussion on the Kriti – [Discussion of the Kriti]

Commentary

• ¹bhaḷi bhaḷi – Well Done – This is a sarcastic usage.
• ²ārṣēya – derived from Rishis – With reference to the meaning ‘pauruṣēya’ - ārṣēya, would mean the same as ‘apauruṣēya’ – vēdas – revealed texts – derived from Rishis – the mantra draṣṭā – ‘seer’ of mantras.
• ⁴cōdya – ṭhe term also means ‘wonderment’, ‘raising questions’ etc. Keeping in view the statements made by ṣri ṭhyagaraja in the Charana, what he wants to convey is that he had glibly accepted ḷord’s words unhesitatingly as true; but he now finds them to be not so. ḥe wonders whether that is because of somebody’s instigation (evari māta vinnāvō). The same kind of doubt is voiced by the Sri Thyagaraja in the Kriti ‘nagu mōmu gana lēni’ – rāga ābhēri also – whether the people surrounding Him are instigating Him not to have compassion on the him.