This Tamil keerthana is one of Annamayya’s Sankrit forms that describes the ten avatars or incarnations of Sri Maha Vishnu, as well as other adjectives used to describe Lord Vishnu. Although the first line begins with the seva (swing) sound, he then describes the ten avataras of Lord Vishnu. The structure of each stanza has 2 lines in a stanza. The first line of each stanza describes the incarnations considered as part of the ten main incarnations or “Dasavatara”, while the second line describes the adjectives related to the avataras mentioned or the less significant names of the Lord. The first two characters / strophes mention 4 avatars each, while the last stanza mentions the last two avatars.
Annamayya Keerthana – Dolayam Chala Dolayam Lyrics in Tamil:
டோலாயாம் சல டோலாயாம் ஹரே டோலாயாம் ||
மீனகூர்ம வராஹா ம்றுகபதிஅவதாரா |
தானவாரே குணஶௌரே தரணிதர மருஜனக ||
வாமன ராம ராம வரக்றுஷ்ண அவதாரா |
ஶ்யாமலாம்கா ரம்க ரம்கா ஸாமஜவரத முரஹரண ||
தாருண புத்த கலிகி தஶவிதஅவதாரா |
ஶீரபாணே கோஸமாணே ஶ்ரீ வேம்கடகிரிகூடனிலய || 2 ||
Annamayya Keerthana – Dolaayaanchala Meaning:
Dolayam chala dolayam hare dolayam
Let us rock the cradle/swing (dolayam) with krishna (hare) on it and set it into motion (cala).
Caranam 1
Meena kurma varaaha, mrugapati avathaara, danavaare guna saure, dharani dhara maru janaka, Dolayam chala dolayam hare dolayam
(Let us rock the cradle with krishna), the father (janaka) of manmatha (maru), the one who held up (dhara) the earth (dharani), the repository of moral character (guna) and valor (Saure), and the enemy (are) of the demons (danava), who incarnated (avatara) as a fish (m[na), a tortoise (kurma), a boar (varaha) and the king (pati) of the beasts (mrga), the lion (narasimha).
Caranam 2
Vamana rama rama, vara krushna avathara, syamalanga ranga ranga, samaja varada muraharana, Dolayam chala dolayam hare dolayam
(Let us rock the cradle with krishna), who overpowered (harana) the demon, mura, who granted the boon (varada) of life to the elephant king (samaja), the wonderful ranga with blue-hued (syamala) limbs (anga), who took the form of (avatara) vamana, parasurama, rama, and the excellent (vara) krishna.
Caranam 3
Daaruna buddha kaliki, dasha vidha avathara, sirapane gosamane sri venkata giri kutanilaya,
Dolayam chala dolayam hare dolayam
(Let us rock the cradle with krishna), who lives/resides (nilaya) at the summit (kuta) of the divine (sri) venkata mountain (giri), holds a plough (shira) in his hands (pane), and smells (ane) of myrrh (gosam), who took the form of (avaara) as the superlative (daruna) buddha and kalki (kaliki) to make up the ten (dasa) types (vidha) of incarnations.
Also Read :
Dolayanchala Lyrics in Hindi | English | Bengali | Kannada | Malayalam | Telugu | Tamil