Saint Thyagaraja

By

Randeep Wadehra

Experts consider Saint Thyagaraja (1767-1847), as the greatest name in Carnatic music. He was one of the so-called Trinity of composers who were born in Thiruvarur, South India, the centre of Carnatic music. He was the son of a Brahmin scholar, Ramabrahmam, and his mother, Santa Devi, was an accomplished musician. He studied vina and singing with Sonti Venkataramanayya. His devotion to Rama was so intense that he had visions. Many of his songs are in praise of Rama, and his name is virtually synonymous with the kriti form, which reached its zenith during this so-called Golden Age and dominates Carnatic music to this day. Although Thyagaraja was born in Tamil Nadu, his mother tongue was Telugu, and he used this language in his songs. He lived an austere life of begging and meditation, turning down invitations to sing in the courts, including even one from the great composer, Maharaja Swathi Thirunal of Travancore.

The following is an account of his life and times.

Today, a concert of Carnatic music will be considered as incomplete without at least one Thyagaraja kriti, and his compositions are generally regarded as nearest to perfection in their balance of raga, tala (time cycles), formal construction, and spiritual import.

Lord Thyagaraja – literally the Lord of Renunciation – one of the myriad names by which Lord Shiva is known, appeared in the dream of Ramabrahmam and told him that a male child prodigy – well versed in poetry, music and literature (Sangita Sahitya Kala Kavidudu) – would be born to his wife, Sitamma. The deity told him to name the child as Thyagaraja. Thus an auspicious omen preceded the birth of the great saint-composer Sri Thyagaraja on 4 May 1767 in Tiruvayur in Thanjavur district. He was a visionary who laid the foundations for the future development of Carnatic Music.

Ramabrahmam was a Telugu Brahmin of the Muriginadu, a.k.a. Mulakanadu, sect. He was a learned man who recited the Ramayana in the court of the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur. Here, it would be pertinent to mention that Thanjavur had become a great cultural centre over a period of time, especially after the fall of the Andhra-based Vijayanagar Empire in 1565. The Vijayanagar rulers had wrested back most of South India from Muslims who had conquered the earlier Hindu rulers belonging to the Chola dynasty. After Vijayanagar Empire’s fall, the Telugu speaking generals, who were governors of Thanjavur and Madurai, became independent rulers. Telugu, arts and culture thrived in Thanjavur thanks to the cultural activities patronized and promoted by the Naiks. In 1684, when Marathas took over Thanjavur, musicians, musicologists, poets and other such creative persons continued to benefit from the royal support.

Thyagaraja was a prodigy gifted with mellifluous voice. His earliest education was under the guidance of his father and later in Tiruvaiyar’s Sanskrit school. He showed early signs of his intellectual brilliance when he began to compose as a school boy. When his father showed some of these to scholars like Ramsesha Sastri and Bhashyam Krishna they were very much impressed. The Divyanama kirthanas in Punnagavarali raga titled ‘Namo Namo Raghavaya’ and ‘Tavadasoaham’ were two of his earliest compositions. Thyagaraja became familiar with a number of Divyanama kirthanas of Vijaya Gopala and other composers sung by his father during bhajanas. Thyagaraja’s mother commanded a large repertoire of the songs of Purandara Dasa (1484-1564) and he learnt a number of them from her. Thus inspired by bhakti cult since his boyhood he wrote songs on his beloved deity Ram.

Music and literature were in Thyagaraja’s genes as he came from a family of renowned literary and musical scholars. He studied Telugu and Sanskrit from his father and attained scholarship in these two languages. He gained profound knowledge of Ramayana as a child when he heard his father expound on the great epic. Early in his life he assimilated all the available works of music. Later on, this expertise in musicology enabled him compose with confidence a number of kritis on the theme of the greatness of music and on the value of the knowledge of Sangeet Sastra. His kritis refer to musical authorities like Vidulaku Mrokheda (Mayamalavagaula

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