SrI guruNA pAlitO-asmi

 Here is another masterpice from Muthuswamy Dikshithar. Yet another instance of why critics and connoisseurs call many of Dīkṣitar’s kritis “poetically compact, intellectually dense and musically ripe.”

The use of a relatively rare rāga (Padi), precise tala (Rūpakam), a carefully structured sahitya (pallavi → anupallavi → caraṇam) and embedding of nāda-theory into both words and music show a composer who thought across disciplines: theology, phonetics, musicology and poetic prosody — that multidisciplinary mastery is what scholars call genius.

The kriti unites scholarship, poetry and music: dense Sanskrit compounds conveying Vedāntic content are seamlessly fitted into melodic lines that reveal and exploit raga-bhāva. Dīkṣitar does not write devotional slogans; he composes compact philosophical treatises that are singable, musically idiomatic, and ritually potent.

Rāga: Pāḍi (pADi) — an uncommon / relatively rare janya rāga; many sources describe it as a rāga with a distinctive scalar outline and one that Dīkṣitar used effectively. Dīkṣitar’s setting of this kriti in Padi makes the composition sound meditative yet austere. 

Tāḷa: Rūpakam (Rupaka) — a common tala choice for many of Dīkṣitar’s vibhakti-kritis; its 3/2 feel (in many practice conventions) supports stately delivery and allows the composer time for measured gamaka and elaborate phrases

Dīkṣitar is famed for pouring raga-bhāva into compositional lines — in many kritis he encodes the rāga lakṣaṇa within the sahitya itself or opens by outlining the rāga phrases in measured speeds. In this kriti the rāga’s solemn, devotional colors (shaanta rasa) match the guru-theme. 

The use of nāda-terms (nāda-amṛta, nāda-anta) is not only poetic: it signals the centrality of sound as spiritual means — and Dīkṣitar’s melodic choices (slow, veena-like gamakas, emphasis on sustaining notes) sonically embody that idea.

Compact, layered compounds (samāsa): Dīkṣitar uses densely packed Sanskrit compounds — saccidānanda-nātha, ākhila-viśva-vanditena, tāpatrayātīta — which convey theological/philosophical content in very few syllables. Each compound bears multiple registers (devotional, metaphysical, liturgical). 

Scholarly vocabulary married to accessible images: words like vedānta-artha-vedyena (one whose meaning is Vedānta and who is to be known) sit beside vivid, almost visual phrases such as pāda-ambujena (lotus-feet) and nāda-amṛta (the nectar of sound). This mix gives both intellectual weight and devotional lyricism. 

Word-play and internal echoes: Dīkṣitar frequently uses paronomasia and alliteration — e.g., the repeated na and da sounds in nāda-amṛta … nāda-anta-vihāra create sonic cohesion and a sense of nāda (sound) being both theme and material. The sonic texture imitates the meaning (i.e., talk of nāda is itself rendered in flowing sonorities). 

Rhetorical layering — catalogues of attributes: the caraṇam is a catalogue of epithets (Vedāntic knower, healer of vikalpa, nāda-lord, avatāra, remover of bheda). But each epithet is not merely ornamental — it functions like a stanza of a philosophical argument: the guru is simultaneously soteriological (removes suffering), epistemic (reveals Vedānta), and aesthetic (giver of nāda-nectar).

Economy and symmetry: The pallavi/anupallavi set up a declarative couplet (protection by the guru; scriptural & universal authority) and the caraṇam expands via balanced half-lines and recurring suffixes (-ena, -ena), giving rhythmic/metrical symmetry that suits musical setting. Scholars have noted that Dīkṣitar’s completeness of raga bhāva is matched by completeness in sahitya.

Vedāntic core: the song deploys explicit Vedānta vocabulary (saccidānanda, vedānta-artha-vedyena). The guru is presented not just as a ritual teacher but as the living embodiment and revealer of non-dual truth. That moves the kriti beyond bhakti poetry into soteriology and epistemology (how to know). 

Healing of vikalpa (mental construct): when the lyric calls the guru a vikalpa-roga-vaidya (physician of the disease of imagining/mental constructs), it asserts that liberation requires curing the root cognitive distortion — again a Vedāntic claim about ignorance (avidyā) and its remedy. This is philosophy set in short musical phrases. 

Integration of sound and soteriology: the repeated emphasis on nāda (sound) as amṛta and nāda-anta vihāra places the aesthetic medium (music/nāda) as an ontological tool — sound as both vehicle and nectar of liberation. In Dīkṣitar’s worldview (and in certain Tantric/Vidya strands he engaged with), nāda-sādhanā is a path to realization; the kriti enacts that theory musically. 

Universality + Tradition: by invoking scriptural authority (Āgamas), the universality of worship, and contemporary saints (Tyāgarāja), the song situates philosophical claims within an interlocking matrix of scripture, practice, and living lineage — strengthening the philosophical weight.

पल्लविः

श्री गुरुणा पालितोऽस्मि सच्चिदानन्दनाथेन

अनुपल्लविः

आगमादि सन्नुतेन अखिलविश्ववन्दितेन

त्यागराजविभातेना तापत्रयातीतेन

चरम्

वेदान्तार्थवेद्येन विकल्परोगवैद्येन

नादामृतसुपाद्येन नवनाथेनाद्येन

सादाख्यकलाकारैण सदाशिवावतारेण

नादान्तविहारैण नवचक्राधारेण

पादाम्बुजेन परैणा भेदादिविदारेण

आदिगुरु गुहावरैण कादि मतानुसारेण

pallavi 

SrI guruNA pAlitO-asmi sat-cit-Ananda nAthEna 

anupallavi 

Agama-Adi sannutEna akhila viSva vanditEna 

tyAgarAja vibhAtEna tApa traya-atItEna 

caraNam 

vEdAnta-artha vEdyEna vikalpa rOga vaidyEna 

nAda-amRta su-pAdyEna nava nAthEna-AdyEna 

sAdAkhya kalA karENa sadASiva-avatArENa 

nAda-anta vihArENa nava cakra-AdhArENa 

pAda-ambujEna parENa bhEda-Adi vidArENa 

Adi guru guha varENa  kAdi mata-anusArENa

Pallavi — “I am protected by the revered Guru — the Lord who is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss.”

(Here the singer/student declares being under the protection of the guru who is identified with sat-chit-ānanda natha.) 

Anupallavi — “He who is extolled by the Āgamas and other scriptures and worshipped by the whole universe; He who shines as the glory even of Tyāgarāja and who has transcended the threefold miseries.”

(The lines place the guru as scripturally sanctioned, universally venerated, associated with the great saint Tyāgarāja, and as one beyond the three tāpa — worldly miseries.) 

Caraṇam

“One whose meaning is that of Vedānta and is to be known (vedyā) — the physician who cures the disease of mental imagination (vikalpa).”

“One who gives the nectar of nāda (sound) — the elder among the nine Nātas (navanātha) and primal leader.”

“One who, by the art (kalā) of the Sādākhyas and by the avatāra of Sadāśiva, …”

“One who revels in the end of nāda (nāda-anta vihāra) and is the bearer of the new wheel (nava-cakra-ādhāra).”

“Who by the lotus of His feet (pāda-ambuja) dispels distinctions (bheda-ādi vidāra).”

“The primal guru, the cave (guha) lord, revered from the beginning — conforming to the ancient schools (ādi-mata-anusāra).”

(Overall the caraṇam enumerates metaphysical roles — Vedāntic knower, healer of illusory mental afflictions, lāvic/naada-centre, avatāra aspect and guru-principle who dissolves dualities.)