'Rama', a name that at once inspires both religious fervor and intense nationalism. Generations have been inspired by the maryada purushottama - right from Valmiki to Mahatma Gandhi. No wonder Dikshitar undertook a vibhakti series on Shri Rama.

The general overview is as follows:
1. shrI rAmacandrO - shrI ranjani - pallavi,anupallavi & caraNa
2. rAmacandram bhAvayAmi - vasanta - pallavi,anupallavi & caraNa
3. rAmacandrENa - mAnji - pallavi,anupallavi & caraNa
4. rAmacandrAya - tOdi - pallavi,anupallavi & caraNa
5. rAmacandrAt - dhanyAshi - samaSTi caraNa + citta swara
6. rAmacandrasya - dhAmavati - samaSTi caraNa + citta swara
7. rAmE bharata - jOti - samaSTi caraNa + citta swara
8. rAma rAma - rAma kali - samaSTi caraNa + citta swara

We can at once see the orderly arrangement here - the first 4 vibhaktis being full fledged kritis while the next four, samaSTi caraNa kritis with citta swaras. The famous maNirangu piece 'mAmava pattAbhirAma' can perhaps be taken as the mangala kriti. Since the saying goes 'yatra yatra raghunAtha kirtanam tatra tatra�.mArutim', we can consider 'pavanAtmajAgacca' in nATa as the invocatory piece.

Now let us see each of the kritis at some length.
1. shrI rAmacandrO rakshatu mAm

This kriti is the very essence of the bAlakanda of the rAmayaNa. Praying 'let shrI rAmacandra protect me', Dikshitar launches into a series of epithets of rama - chronologically narrating the entire bAlakAndam. 1. rAkshasAdi hara: The destroyer of rakshasas,asuras etc - suggesting that it is for this purpose that he took this avatara. 2. raghuvara: The best in raghu's line - meaning rAma was born in the raghu vamsha. 3. bharatAgraja: Born before bharata - showing that rama was the eldest to be born (before bharata,the next to be born & others). 4. kaushika yAga rakshaka: Protector of kaushika(vishvAmitra)'s sacrifice. 5. tATakAnta: Vanquisher of tATaka. 6. mithilA nagara pravEsha: He who enterd the city of Mithila. 7. mahEshvara dhanur bhEdaka: He who broke lord shiva's bow. 8. sItA kalyANa mahotsava vaibhavayuta chitra vEshaka: Attired splendidly during the great festivities on the occasion of his marriage with sita. 9. mAdhurya gAnAmRta pAnapriya guruguha vishvAsa: Here 'mAdhurya �.priya' can be taken as the adjective of both rAma as well as guruguha. For rAma,it would refer to the festivities & singing during his marriage. For guruguha,Dikshitar might very well be referring to himself - 'he who likes to drink the sweet ambrosia of music'. 10. mahAdEvI bhakta parashurAma gharvaharOllAsa: He who took joy in destroying the ego of the devi bhakta,parashurama. By calling parashurama - mahadevi bhakta,Dikshitar signifies that devotees of ambal should not be egoistical & that even if they were,Lord would see to it that their ego is destroyed & they follow the right path.

Here is an interesting point. Though all the incidents(10) are narrated in the chronological order, two incidents are interchanged. See the 4th & 5th phrases. 'tATaka vadha' should come before 'kaushika makha rakshaNa'.

Why did Dikshitar change the order? I can think of 2 reasons:
1. Though both the acts contain elements of bith nigraha & anugraha, tATaka vadha is outwardly - nigraha and makha rakshaNa is outwardly - anugraha. Perhaps Dikshitar wanted to tell the anugraha first & then the nigraha.
2. Notwithstanding the fact that tATaka was a demoness who deserved to be killed; she was a woman. So Dikshitar might have unconsciously avoided stating the killing of a woman first by changing the order of the events.

The raga chosen for the kriti is shrI ranjani - which is very apt. 'shrI ranjani' means 'dear to lakshmi' - afterall, Sita Kalyanam is mentioned in this kriti!

2. rAmacandram bhAvayAmi

I am not going for word for word translation here. I will just touch upon some interesting points in the kritis. This particular kriti contains suggestive(dhvani) twin epithets. To illustrate:
1.naravaram & gata mAyikam
2.rAkEnduvadanam bhagavantam & ramaNIya kalyANa guNavantam
3.dhImantam & shrImantam
1.'naravara': Rama was the best among men. This signifies that rAma was a maryAdA purushOttama - the role model for all humans. He acted as a human throughout his avatara. 'gatamAyika' : Beyond mAya. Though rAma was born human & acted as such, he was never deluded by the samsara. All his crying,anger etc were but play-acting. This aspect is stressed in rAmAyaNas like adhyAtma rAmAyaNa & rAmacarita mAnasa.
2.'rAkEnduvadana bhagavAn' : The lord with face like the moon (ie) rAma had a bright & handsome face like the moon.But was it just beauty? No, rAma was : 'ramaNIya kalyANa guNavanta' 'one with attractive good nature/virtues. So rAma had good looks as well as (& more importantly) good character.
3. 'dhImanta & shrImanta' : rAma was endowed with both brains(dhI - intellect) as well as wealth(shrI). The sangama of these 2 is very rare indeed as observed by kAlidAsa: 'paraspara virOdhiyOr Ekasamshraya dhurlabham | sangamam shrI saraswatyOr bhUtayE astu sadA satAm ||' 'Let the union of wealth & knowledge,which is rare & which are often opposed to each other, occur for the good of the virtuous' So for the bhUti of the virtuous, came the rAmAvatAra - rAma with both dhee & shree.

Again, we have a word play in the twin phrase 'nAgEshanutam anantam'. 'nAgEsha' refers to indra-lord of the devas.nAga means both a serpant & deva. The next nama is 'ananta' - meaning one who is without an end. But 'ananta' also refers to the serpant form of the lord called 'anata nAga'. The kriti ends with an enigmatic compound: 'nara guruguha viharantam' - 'he who plays with human(nara) guruguha? Does it refer to Dikshitar himself? Or is it - 'nara guru + guha viharantam' - ' he who resides hidden (guha)in the heart of his human guru vasishTa?

Incidentally, Dikshitar refers to hanuman as 'samrAjya prada' in the kriti.(He calls rAma, 'sAmrAjya prada hanumantam' - 'he who has hanuman,the sAmrAjya prada). This is because : 1.Hanuman was instrumental in the rAjya lAbha of sugreeva and vibhishana. Remember Tulasidasa's hanuman chalisa: 'tumharO mantr vibhIshaN mAnA | lankEshvar bhayE sab jag jAnA ||'.(mantr - advice) 2.sAmrAjya might refer to the moksha samrajya also. Dikshitar incorporates the rAga mudra elegantly in the line 'sAkEta nagarE nivasantam'.