‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu Andariki Vandanamu’ - these words are familiar even to a common man. If today a composer’s name rings a bell for the global audience of Carnatic music and Westerners, one could realise what huge impact Tyagaraja and his compositions have made on the people.
In 1767, Tiruvarur, a small village near Thanjavur, saw the birth of this genius to Kakarla Ramabrahmam and Sitamma. The world of Carnatic music owes a lot to Saint Tyagaraja for the treasure that he has left behind.
Thanks to this great man, Tyagaraja, the Raja of Carnatic music!
The 165th aradhana festival is being celebrated this year at Tiruvaiyaru, the place where his mortal remains were buried on the Cauvery river bank in 1847.
After that, the memorial was forgotten and it was only around 1903 that Tyagaraja’s last surviving disciples, Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagavatar and Sundara Bhagavatar, returned to Tiruvaiyaru, identified the place and renovated it.
However, it was Bangalore Nagarathnammal, who brought about a change. A rich temple dancer and a staunch devotee of Tyagaraja, residing in Madras then, she dedicated herself and her wealth to perpetuating his memory.
She renovated and maintained the samadhi and constructed a temple over it. She also had a Tyagaraja idol installed. Nagarathnammal eventually succeeded in conducting the aradhana, also letting women musicians and nagaswara vidwans participate, unlike earlier.
To iconise Tyagaraja merely as a saint-composer is to belittle his musical stature. Tyagaraja had philosophical and spiritual values. He was a very modern composer, a revolutionary of his times.
His compositions are ideally paced for people at all levels. If one tries singing any of his moderately paced compositions with a metronome, one can observe it follows the pulse rate of a human being!
He has composed many kritis in madhyama kala (standard middle tempo) which can be approximated to 72-80 beats per cycle. For a normal, healthy person, compositions like Manasa Etulorthune, Lavanya Rama, Kalaharana are suited rhythmically. For the stressed, he has composed songs in a faster tempo, averaging 120 or 125 beats per cycle.
As sung today, kritis like Marugelara, Vararagalaya, Nenarunchinanu can boost energy levels. For those suffering from hypertension, he has composed kritis in slower tempos - Mokshamu Galada, Swararagasudha.
He has predominantly worked with the 22nd, 28th and 29th Melakartha ragams and their janyas, or these scales’ subsets.
He also used several new scales like Chenchukambodi, Malavi, Malavasri, Vivardani, Kokiladhwant, Vijayasri, etc., which have not been explored as yet by any other composer.
The blend between lyrics, melody and tala is sublime in his compositions.
He has composed on devotion to the lord, greatness of music, voice culture, guru bhakti and what have you!
Besides the stand alone compositions, there are also group kritis — Kovur Pancharatnam, Lalgudi Pancharatnam, Sriranga Pancharatnam.
His operatic works include Prahlada Bhakthi Vijayam, Nauka Charithram, etc. In Divyanama kritis, he followed the traditional namasankeerthanam.
However, the Pancharatnam was grouped by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bagavathar who structured those five kritis and named them ‘Pancharatna kritis’ to enable group rendering.
It was Tyagaraja who set the structure or format for a kriti which composers followed and adopted. He introduced the concept of a pallavi, anupallavi followed by a charanam.
The Tiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja aradhana is the only festival where musicians run the entire event. The aura of so many artistes and rasikas singing the Pancharatnam kritis creates such positive vibes that one has to see it live, listen and participate to believe how blissful the experience could be.
Come, join the rest of the musical world in paying tribute to the genius of Tyagaraja, the Raja of Carnatic music!
K.N. Shashikiran is a Carnatic vocalist, teacher and founder of Carnatica.
