Post by Amritha Varshini on Nov 3, 2013 7:15:48 GMT 5.5
Bantu Reeti Kolu Iyyavayya Raama
Composer : Sri Tyagaraja
Ragam : Hamsa Nadha
Pallavi
bantu reeti kolu iyyavayya raama
Meaning
O Lord Rama please grant me the privilege of being in your service as a servitor.
Anupallavi
tunta vinti vaani modalaina madaa dula kotti nela kula jeyu nija
Meaning
This favour enables me, your servitor, to crush and destroy the six internal enemies of men namely ‘kama’ craving desire, ‘krodha’ anger, ‘lobha’ greed, ‘moha’ obsession, madha ‘conceit’ and matsaryam ‘jealousy’.
Charanam - 1
romanchamanu ghana kanchukamu
raama bhaktudanu mudra billayu
rama naama manu vara khadga mivi
raajillu nayya tyagarajunike
Meaning
O Lord Rama, to carry out your service, let this Tyagaraja be blessed with
‘horripilation’ or ‘ecstasy’ as the Strong Shield
‘rama bhakti’ as the Royal Emblem
‘sacred rama nama’ as the Sword
Foot Note
In this beautiful Bantureethi Kolu Carnatic song, Sri Thyagaraja swamy pleads with Lord Ram to give him the post of a guard for Rama. The symbolic meaning is that he always wants to be in his presence always (Sri Rama's Sannidhi). In the Anupallavi, Sri Thyagaraja Swamy says that, the guard’s post should be such that he is empowered to destroy all the demons which are Arishadvargas (Arishad Vargas are the six passion of mind, they are Kama - lust, craze, desire; Krodha - anger, hatred; Lobha - greed, miserliness, narrow minded; Moha - delusory emotional attachment; Mada or Ahankara - pride, stubborn mindedness; and Matsarya - envy, jealousy, show or vanity, and pride) and since the guard is empowered to do so, he needs such a guard's post. In the Caranam, Thyagaraja says he should be blessed with the emblem of Ramabhakti, given a sword called Rama Naama (the name of Rama) to perform his guard's job.
Here is the link to hear the song - Excellent Singing by Sri T.N. Seshagopalan
