*iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA *harana jaDeyinda hariya aDiyinda Rushiya toDeyinda nusuLi bA *dEvadEvaranu taNisi bA | digdigantadali hanisi bA | charAcharagaLige uNisi bA *iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA *ninage poDamaDuve ninnanuDukoDuve Eke eDetaDeve suridu bA *swarga toredu bA | bayala jaredu bA | neladi haridu bA *bAre bA tAyi iLidu bA | iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA nanna taleyoLage nanna bembaLige nanna oLakeLage nuggi bA kaNNa kaNtoLisi usira eLe eLasi nuDiya sosi moLesi higgi bA edeya neleyalli nilisi bA | jIva jaladalli chalisi bA | mUla holadalli nelesi bA kanchu minchAgi teraLi bA | nIru nIrAgi uruLi bA | mAte hoDamaraLi bA iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA *dayeyirada dIna hareyaLida hIna nIrirada mIna karekareva bA *karu kanDa karuLe mana unDa maruLe uddanDa aruLe suLi suLidu bA *shiva shubhra karuNe ati kinchadaruNe vAtsalya varaNe iLi iLidu bA iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA koLeya toLevavaru illa bA | bEre shaktigaLu holla bA | hEge mADidaru alla bA nADi nADiyanu tutta bA | namma nADanne sutta bA | satta janarannu etta bA iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA *sura swapnavidda pratibimba bidda udbuddha shuddha nIre *echchettu edda AkAshadudda dharegiLiyalidda dhIre *sirivArijAta varapArijAta tArA kusumadinde *vRundAra vandye mandAra gandhe nInE tAyi tande *rasapUrajanye nInalla anye sachchidAnanda kanye *bandAre bAre ondAre sAre kaNdhAre taDevarEne *avatAravende endAre tAye I adhaHpAtavanne *harake sandante mamate mindante tumbi bandante *dam dam endante duDuki bA | ninna kandanna huDuki bA | huDuki bA tAye duDuki bA *harana hosatAgi hoLedu bA | bALu beLakAgi beLedu bA | ky toLedu bA my toLedu bA iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA | iLegiLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA *shambhu shivaharana chitte bA | datta narahariya mutte bA | ambikAtanayanatte bA *iLidu bA tAyi iLidu bA
First of all, this poem is and is NOT about river Ganga. (IMHO) Like all great poetry, it has/works in multiple levels. But before getting into explaining what I mean, I want to answer the question about Rishiya toDeyinda nusuLi bA" Dr. Sumatheendra Nadig has written a criticism on this poem in his doctoral (if I remember right) thesis. According to him (I am trusting my memory here), there is no story about this. The story is about Ganga flowing out of Juhnu Rishi's ears. This is a mistake by the poet in his inspired mood. However, this small mistake is overwhelmed by the beauty, flow, energy, imagery and feeling of the poem as a whole. Dr. Nadig's book is available in bookstores in India (I don't remember the title), you may want to check it some time. I had a few minutes opportunity to glance through it couple years ago.
Any way, this poem is actually about kAvyaganga - the inspiring spirit of poetry, that spirit which fills a common man/woman, elevates him/her to and enables him/her to write great poetry. Without that spirit he/she is 'nIrirada mIna', fish without water. Given the association of Ganga with Shiva and that of kAvya with Shiva, and other similarities which I will touch later, there is a parallel between Ganga and kAvyaganga, the spirit of poetry. (Shiva is the mUla (=root) of all art) Yet this poem is not just about the spirit of poetry. It is also aout jIvaganga, the spirit of life itself. The spirit that elevates men/women to achieve great heights. That is why the invocation 'namma nAdanne suththa bA, saththa janaranne eththa bA'. Without that spirit, men are same as 'life'less. Therefore, 'jIvajaladali chalisi bA' Bendre uses the story of GangAvatharaNa, which is an ancient story describing how great and noble Ganga lifted the spirit (=soul) of the ancestors of BhagIratha, at at the expense of her own 'avatharaNa' (=descent, coming down, avathara/avatharaNa may be good from the perspective of humans but it is a degradation from the gods' perspective), as a background for his prayer to kAvyaganga and jIvaganga. I believe this should put in perspective what the poet is talking about. There may be more interpretations and more strata to this poem. May be someone will shed more light.
Now to the job of
translation of the lines did not understand.
digdiganthadali hanisi bA:
dig=dikku=direction, digantha=horizon, literally where the dikku
ends, dig + antha so roughly, come by filling every direction
and horizon
charAcharagaLige unisi bA: chara=movable ~ animals,
achara=immovable~trees and plants so roughly, come by feeding both movable
and immovable
ninage poDamaDuve : poDamaDu=namaskAra mADu
bayala jaredu bA: bayalu=space~sky. so roughly, come by discarding
the skies (which ofcourse is painful to any Ganga)
nuDiya sosi, moLesi higgi bA:
nuDi=speech, sosu=shodhisu=purify,cleanse, moLesi=bring to
life (familiar derived work is moLake, nascent born plant) so roughly, come
by purifying my speech, giving life to my speech (~thus making it poetry) Now
obviously, the poet is talking about kAvyaganga.
edeya neleyalli nilisi bA:
ede=heart, you know the association between heart and emotions
and poetry. Not all emotional outburst is poetry, the utterance
of the heart, which is affected by emotion, but has not lost
its 'nele' (~stability) is poetry. so roughly, come by
stabilizing my heart
jIvajaladalli chalisi bA: jIvajala=sap of life so
roughly, come by moving through my sap of life, thereby galvanizing it
mAthe
hodamarali bA: hodamarali = motion (in the opposite direction) after a
rebound, like a rubber ball hitting a wall and coming back at
you. This word is used in North Karnataka kannada, but not in
South Karnataka. Bendre is from Dharwad and he makes
excellent use of the natural beauty of the North Karnataka
dialect. so roughly, mAte(=kAvyagange) come back to me Obviously, the poet is
devastated that kAvyagange has left him and makes an appeal to her to come
back.
uddanDa aruLe: ? don't know, but I will take a guess. In this line starting
with 'kAru kanda karuLe', the poet is describing his state,
the sentiment continuing from the previous line 'dayeyirada dIna'.
mana unda maruLe is a fool/halfwit, so I guess given the
association arulu-marulu, he is talking about weak state of body
(can somebody tell me what is the exact meaning of aruLu?)
nADi
nADiyanu thutta bA: nADi=pulse, thuditha=pulsation i.e., the movement of
pulse due to blood circulation. thuDi bA becomes thutta
bA in poetic language so roughly, come! make pulses pulsate siri vArijAtha,
sirivArijAta vara pArijAtha, thAra kusumadinde:
siri vArijAtha=Sri kamala flower(???),
vara pArijAtha=the shreshta
pArijAtha flower, a flower of swarga
thAra kusuma=the stars which look
like flowers I think the poet is putting together words that bring to mind
beauty and sky, through association
vrundAra vandye, mandAra gandhe, ...:
vrunda=group (~group of sages, gods, people)
vandye= yAru vandisalpaduvaLo avaLu,
mandAra = mandAra flower gandha=scent
so roughly, one who is worshipped by groups, one who smells like mandAra
flower
rasapUra janye, neenalla anye, sachchidAnanda kanye:
rasa=juice/sap,
rasapUra/rasapUri=full of juice (as in rasapUri mAvina haNNu)
anye : alien, sachchidAnanda kanye=Shiva's bride so
extremely roughly, oh! one who can fill one with juice/sap of life, you are
not an alien, Shiva's bride, please come
avathAravende endAre thAye,
adhahpathanavanne! : avathAra=descent for a noble purpose where as
adhahpathana=downfall Here the poet is talking about his state. He
is in a state of downfall now, because, he has been deserted by kAvyaganga.
So he exclaims, 'can you call this downfall a avathAra!'
harake sandanthe, ...: In this line and the next, the poet is using the
imagery of worship of mother goddess, (such as mAri). He
asks the kAvyagange to come fill him, like he has offered a
'harake'. Notice the use of words 'thumbi bandanthe'
(compare with 'mAramma my thumbiddAle') and 'dam dam
endanthe' (doesn't it remind you of the droning drum used
with worship of mAri?)
And finally, there is definitely no 'aththe' here. As somebody rightly pointed out, even if you trace a relationship, it will be of a 'chikkamma'. Like some one else pointed out, 'AmbikAthanayadaththa'= ambika thanaya, daththa as in an introduction, 'this is son of ambika, name daththa' So, 'ambikAthanayanaththe bA' means come towards ambikathanaya, aththe being a poetic 'corruption' of aththa.
Manjunatha Kubasada