rAma rAma rAmacandra

ghaNTa khaNDa cApu tyAgarAja telugu kRti

Sahityam

rAma rAma rAmacandra zrI
rAma rAma guNa sAndra

O Lord Rama! O Lord Rama! O Ramachandra! O Lord Sri Rama! O Lord Rama who is full of virtues!

ghallu ghallu nI karamu paTTi krI¹
kannula kaNTEmunnadi taramu (rAma)

After I having held Your hand openly or tumultuously, what match is it if You just look at me with only side-long glance?

nA jUpu nI jUpu sarigA jEsitE jEyu-
nA sukhamu evariki eruka (rAma)\t

Who would have the understanding of that comfort which is derived if You look at me straight – make straight my sight and Your sight?

idi buddhiyanucu Anatiyya vErE
vElpulETiki tanaku rAmayya \t(rAma)

O Lord Ramayya! Why any other Gods for me to command (me) that ‘this is wise’?

ceTTa paTTani nA bhIti rAma
boTTu² kaTTani kanyaka rIti (rAma)

O Lord Rama! My fear, of Your not holding my hand, is like that of unmarried – not tied with Mangala Sutra - maiden.

evariki tagunE bAga rA
jUpu vale rAma tyAgarAja paripAla (rAma)

O Lord Rama – the nourisher of this Thyagaraja! To whom else such a royal look is nicely befitting (like You)?

¹ krI kannula kaNTEmunnadi taramu – this has been translated in some books as ‘I do not need anything other than your kaTAkSa – krI kannulu ’. However the wordings ‘Emunnadi taramu ’ makes it clear, that Sri Thyagaraja is not at all satisfied with kaTAkSa – krI kannulu . This Kriti is in the Nayika Bhava. He desires an eye-to-eye look. This is amplified in second caraNa ‘look at me straight’ (nA jUpu nI jUpu sari jEsitE ).
² boTTu – Mangala Sutra - Tali – Tamizh
² boTTu kaTTani kanyaka - A girl, having loved a person, if there is uncertainty about marriage with her lover, the girl would naturally be afraid of her fate.