Every year on Pushya Bahula Panchami day every Carnatic music lover pays his musical tribute to the legendary music Saint Tyagaraja. Tyagaraja, the devotee of Rama literally sang his way into the Heart of God. His love for the Lord gave the beautiful Carnatic version of Ramayana in the form of Kritis. His worship of Lord is so profound that he defied the orders of the Maratha King Tuljaji to write in the praise of him instead of Rama.
No Carnatic music concert is complete without the rendition o atleast one of his Kritis. Carnatic musicians from all over the world descend and pay homage to the saint. The aradhana is observed on Pushya Bahula Panchami day when the saint attained samadhi. The venue of the festival is near the samadhi of Tyagaraja on the banks of River Cauvery. It is said that, Once, sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan attended Tyagaraja’s anniversary celebrations in Tiruvaiyaru village. Seeing Carnatic musicians young and old, coming at their own expense, finding their own accommodation, just for the privilege of singing Tyagaraja’s songs at the poet’s samadhi, he exclaimed, “I wonder how many Hindustani musicians will come to a Tansen festival on their own!”
Tyagaraja Aradhana
Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district is the place where the great saint and music composer Thyagaraja lived and attained samadhi. Here a music festival, Thyagaraja Aradhana is held every year on Pushya Bahula Panchami. The festival will culminate with the rendition of the Pancharatna kritis near his samadhi on the banks of river Cauvery, 13kms from Thanjavur. This Carnatic Music festival attracts music lovers from all corners of the country. Besides the music concerts, religious rituals (pujas) are conducted by Sadguru Sri Tyagabrahma Aradhana Kainkarya Trust at the samadhi during the two days.
In fact, until 1907, there were no music concerts but only religious rituals, during the aradhana. In 1908, it was Narasimha Bhagavatar and his younger brother Panchu Bhagavatar, disciples of Thillaisthanam Rama Iyengar (‘antharanga sishya’ of saint Thyagaraja) who held a five-day aradhana festival that included harikathas and concerts. The music concerts are now presided over by Sri Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha based in Thiruvaiyaru. The religious part of the Vaidika aradhana celebrations that began during the time of Thillaisthanam Rama Iyengar is continued even today by a Trust called ‘Sadguru Tyagabrahma Aradhana Kainkarya Trust, Madras,’ formed in 1984 by Chellam Iyer, S. Parthasarathy and a few others of the Thillaisthanam tradition. Thiruvaiyaru is situated 13kms from Thanjavur (Tanjore) in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Who is Saint Tyagaraja?
Saint Purandaradasa is acknowledged as the Father of Carnatic Music. Purandara Dasa whose story has been enacted a few times before Swami, started off as a pawnbroker, and a pretty miserly one at that. But there came a turning point, when he realised with a start that there is a Lord who really pulls the strings.
Thereafter, Purandaradasa became transformed into a musical saint. Although, Purandara Dasa gave Carnatic Music a start, it was the musical trinity of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshatar, and Syama Sastry, all contemporaries and all belonging to what is now Tanjavoor District of the State of Tamil Nadu. These really helped to bring structure to Carnatic Music, besides raising it to truly exalted levels.
Birth and Family of Tyagaraja
Tyagaraja was born in a small town called Tiruvarur on 4th May, 1747 in a Telugu Brahmin family, descended from immigrants from Andhra who went South towards the end of the 16 th century. Till that time, the Vijayanagaram Empire dominated Andhra, besides controlling the feudal kings of the South. In 1565, the Muslims destroyed the Vijayanagaram Empire, following which many Telugu speaking people, especially Brahmins, migrated to the South, seeking patronage of kings there.
Thus it was that Tyagaraja’s ancestors who lived in Karkala village in what is now Kurnool District of the State of Andhra Pradesh, moved to Tanjore [now Tanjavoor] seeking the patronage of a Maratha ruler there.
Tyagaraja was the third son of Ramabrahmam and Sitamma. Ramabrahmam was patronized by the then King of Tanjavoor, and engaged himself in spiritual activities in the royal court. When Tyagaraja was born, Ramabrahmam was living in the temple town Tiruvaroor where Siva is the presiding deity and is known as Tyagrajaswami, the King of Sacrifice. The little baby was named after the local deity. Soon after Tyagaraja was born, Ramabrahmam shifted to Tiruvaiyaru village on the banks of the sacred Kaveri river where the King gave him a house to live in and also some land.
At the age of eighteen, Tyagaraja was married to a girl named Parvati who died issueless. Thereupon Tyagaraja remarried, taking as his second wife, Kanakamba the younger sister of Parvathi. They had a daughter Sitamma, who was given in marriage to one Kuppuswami. To this couple was born a boy but this boy, Tyagaraja’s grandson, died without any children. Thus the lineage of Tyagaraja came to an end.
Tyagaraja’s Devotion To Lord Rama
Though Tygaraja took musical lessons he did not follow the classical path for him, music was a vehicle for communing directly with God. However, that path opened up in a very special way. Tyagaraja’s father Ramabrahmam had been initiated into the chant of the powerful Rama Mantra. Unfortunately for Ramabrahmam, his first two sons were not up to the mark spiritually. Tyagaraja the third son seemed to be different. So the father promptly taught his son to worship of Rama daily.
Like his father, Tyagaraja too was initiated into the chant of the name of Rama, and this, it appears, was done by one Ramakrishnananda Swami. Tyagaraja kept chanting the name almost non-stop, and when he crossed the ten million mark [one crore], it seems that Rama appeared momentarily and gave Darshan. An ecstatic Tyagaraja burst into song, and from then on there was no looking back. Thus Tyagaraja was doubly blessed; he received the treasure of musical knowledge directly from Sage Narada and he had also been blessed by Lord Rama Himself.
Once the King of Tanjore invited Tygraja for a concert in the Royal court, but Tyagaraja rejcted the offer saying he would prefer singing and worshipping the Lord Rama instead of being in the Court for fame. Tyagaraja’s brother Japesan, with anger and frustration with his younger brother’s foolishness, throws away the idols of Rama Sita and Lakshmana into the Kaveri river. Thus came a testing time for the devotee – a period of unbearable separation from the Lord. The songs that Tyagaraja composed during this period of “separation” reflect, understandably, intense grief, sorry and agony. When the flood receded and the water level came down, Tyagaraja went into the river to look for His Lord, and by His Grace, found the lost idols. He burst into a song, this time full of joy and ecstasy, marking the end of the separation period. After that, Tyagaraja welcomed Rama back into the house with yet another memorable and sweet song.
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