TYAAGARAAJA THE FRAGRANT GOLD OF CARNATIC MUSIC

TYAAGARAAJA THE FRAGRANT GOLD OF CARNATIC MUSIC

Tyaagaraaja - Among the most famous of Carnatic composers and considered the greatest of the Carnatic music trinity, he was the third son born to Ramabrahmam and Sitamma in 1767. His grandfather was Giriraja Kavi, a great Sanskrit poet. He began his musical training in 1782 under Sonti Venkataramanayya and learned a number of songs from his mother. He lost his first wife but married Kamalamba in 1790. In 1802, he was invited to perform at his teacher's house before a select group of musicians - he sang bilahari and then the kriti "Dorukuna ituvanti." At another time, he sang at the request of his guru, beginning at 8 p.m. and finishing only at 4 a.m.

Serfoji Maharaja heared of his performance and invited him to visit the temple to be rewarded, but TyagarAja rejected the offer, singing "Nidhi chala sukhama?" in kalyani, which means Does abundance of wealth bring happiness? The king realized his mistake and visited the saint-composer, who cured him of a stomachache.

In 1805 TyagarAja lost an idol of Rama, thrown into the river Cauvery by his brother, but got it back after 3 months. When he lost the idol, he sang sadly "Endu dagi nado," Where has He gone and hidden Himself?

Tyagaraja usually went from street to street singing and begging for rice. Once a sage named Haridas asked him to recite the name of Rama 960 million times. After doing so, Tyagaraja went to offer his prayer when he heard a knock on his door. Rama, Sita, and Hanuman were entering his prayer room and he was blessed to see the coronation of Rama. Moved with wonder and devotion, he sang "Balakanagamaya" (the anupallavi of the kritis "Ela ni dayarAdhu" and "Bhavanuta").

In 1810 his daughter was married, and his disciple Walajapettai Vekataramana Bhagavatar brought a picture of RAma, walking all the way from WalajapeTTai to TiruvaiyAr. TyagarAja sang "Nannu pAlimpa," overwhelmed by this act. Once he visited Tirupati, but when he went to the temple, it was closed. In sadness, he sang "Teratiyagarada" and the temple officials gathered round in admiration when they saw the door opening by itself and the screen falling aside. He sang "Venkatesha ninu sevimpa" in his happiness at seeing the Lord.

Tyagaraja's compositions include the Ghana RAga Pancaratnam (5 gems) in ragams nattai, gowla, Arabi, shriragam, and varali, his most famous and scholarly contributions to Carnatic music, and he delighted in singing them.. His numerous kritis include beautiful ragam, bhavam and talam, with lovely lyrics, music, and devotion. 690 kritis (and a few dubious ones!) in 160 rAgams are available today. In 1847 Tyagaraja became a hermit, and the next day, on January 6, he died in the presence of his disciples at the age of 80 at his home town.