*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