What's in a name?

Evarani

rAga: dEvAmrtavarShiNi

tALa: Adi

pallavi: Evarani nirNayinccirirA ninnETlArAdhincirirA? naravarulu 

anupallavi: shivuDanO mAdhavuDanO? kamalabhavuDanO? parabrahmanO? nI

caraNam: shivamantramunaku mAjIvamu mA-
dhava mantramunaku rAjIvamu yI
vivaramu dElisina ghanulaku mrOkkEda
vitaraNaguNa! tyAgarAjavinuta!

Meaning of words

Evarani – whom
naravarulu – did the most noble of men
nirNayincirira – identify
ninnu – you (to be)
Etlu – how did they
ArAdhincirira – worship
ninnu- you
shivuDanO – as Shiva?
mAdhavuDanO – as Vishnu?
kamalabhavuDanO – as Brahma?
parabrahmamu anO – as the supreme being?
shivamantra munaku – for the Shiva mantra
mA jIvamu – the letter mA is the life
mAdhavamantramunaku – for the mantra of Madhava (Vishnu)
rA jIvamu – the syllable rA is life
gaNulaku – to those
dElisina – who know
I vivaramu – this detail
mrOkkEda – salutations
vitaraNa guNa – the wise
tyAgarAja – Tyagaraja
nuta – worships thee

Meaning:

How did they define you? How did they worship you? The wise men

Was it as Shiva? Was it as Vishnu? Was it as Brahma? Or was it as the supreme being? (How did they define you?)

For the mantra of Shiva (Om nama shivAya) mA is the life giving syllable. For the mantra of nArAyaNa (Om namO nArAyaNAya) rA is the life giving syllable. To those who know of this secret, I offer my salutations! O one who is worshipped by the wise Tyagaraja (how did they define you?)

Notes:

The kriti establishes rAma nAma as the tAraka mantra, that which takes the core from both shaivism and vaiShNavism. Tyagaraja begins by asking a question and arrives at the answer (that Rama is the supreme) in the caraNam.

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Published on ^14th March, 2004