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Tyāgarāja | |
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| Born | Kākarla Tyāgabraḥmaṁ (1767-05-04)4 May 1767 |
| Died | 6 January 1847(1847-01-06) (aged 79) |
| Resting place | Thiruvaiyaru,Thanjavur District,Tamil Nadu,India |
| Occupation | Carnatic composer |
| Website | thiruvaiyaruthyagarajaaradhana |
Sadguru Sri Tyāgarāja Swāmi (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known asTyāgayya, and in full asKākarla Tyāgabraḥmaṁ, was a composer ofCarnatic Music, a form ofIndian Classical Music. Tyāgarāja and his contemporaries,Śyāma Śāstri andMuthuswāmi Dikshitar, are regarded as theTrinity of Carnatic Music. Tyāgarāja composed hundreds of devotionalkṛti (transl. compositions), mostly inTelugu and in praise ofRāma. Many of them remain popular to this day. Of special mention are five of his compositions called thePañcaratna Kṛti (transl. five gems), which are often sung in programs held in his honor. Tyāgarāja composed manyUtsava Sāmpradāya Kṛti (transl. festive ritual compositions), meant to be sung in temple rituals/festivities andDivya Nāma Saṅkīrtana (transl. divine compositions on the Lord's various names), sung as a part of concerts and daily life.
Tyāgarāja lived through the reigns of four kings of theThanjavur Maratha rule –Thuljaji (1763–1787),Amarasimha (1787–1798),Serfoji II (1798–1832) andShivaji II (1832–1855),[3] although he served none of them.
Tyāgarāja was born Kākarla Tyāgabraḥmaṁ in 1767[Note 1] to aTelugu VaidikiMulakanādu Brahmin family[4] inThiruvarur, present-dayThiruvarur District ofTamil Nadu. There is a school of thought led by the musicologist B.M.Sundaram that contests this and proposesThiruvaiyaru, also inThiruvarur District ofTamil Nadu, as his birth place, though there is little evidence for this. His family nameKākarla indicates that his family had their roots in the village of the same name inKambham,Mārkapuraṁ division ofPrakasam district,Andhra Pradesh (called the Kurnool region of Prakasam district) and migrated to present-dayTamil Nadu after the fall of theVijayanagara Empire. His family belonged to theSmārta tradition andBharadwājagotra. Tyāgarāja was the third son of his parents, Kākarla Rāmabraḥmaṁ and Sītamma.[5] Pañchanada Braḥmaṁ and Pañchāpakeśa Braḥmaṁ were his two older brothers. He was named Tyāgabraḥmaṁ afterLord Tyāgarāja, the presiding deity of the temple at Thiruvarur, the place of his birth. He was fondly called Tyāgarāja and the name stuck.
Tyāgarāja's paternal grandfather was Kākarla Girirāja Braḥmaṁ/Girirāja Kavi (not the name-sakeGiriraja Kavi).[6][7]Girirāja Braḥmaṁ was a poet, scholar and a musician. He was born in Kākarla village,Kambham mandal,Mārkapuraṁ division ofPrakasam District, in present-day Andhra Pradesh.[8] Tyāgarāja's maternal grandfather was Kāḷahastayya, popularly addressed as Vīṇa Kāḷahastayya as he was a notedVīṇa player. Tyāgarāja was said to have learnt to play the vīṇa in his childhood from Kāḷahastayya. After Kāḷahastayya's death, Tyāgarāja was said to have foundNāradīyam, a book on music.[9][10] Tyāgarāja masteredSanskrit,Telugu,Bhāgavataṁ, andRāmāyaṇa at an early age and often accompanied his father to the Thanjavur royal court, where his father sermoned on the Hindu scriptures.
Tyāgarāja spent most of his life in Thiruvaiyaru in the single room house (No. 31, Thirumanjana Veedhi) that was donated to his father Rāmabraḥmaṁ byThuljaji, in whose court Rāmabraḥmaṁ worked.[11] This house has since been renovated and opened to music lovers after years of neglect.[12] There are records of his pilgrimage toSri Raṅgaṁ,Tirumala andKāñcipuraṁ. On his Kāñcipuraṁ pilgirmage, records mention him meeting the seerUpanishad Brahmayogin at the Braḥmendraḷ Maṭha[13][14]
Tyāgarāja took siddhi (transl. attained liberation) on Puṣya Bahuḷa Pañcami - 6 January 1847, at the age of 79, a day after he took the vow ofsanyāsa and was initiated into the order ofAdvāitaDaśanāmi Saṁpradāya of sainthood.[15] His last composition wasGiripai Nelakonna (గిరిపై నెలకొన్న) inRāgaSahānā, set toĀdiTāḷa.[16] He was interred on the banks of the riverKāveri river atThiruvaiyaru the very next day.[17]
Tyagaraja began his musical training at an early age under Sonthi Venkata Ramanayya, the chief vidwan in the court of Thanjavur rulerThuljaji, where Tyagaraja's father Ramabrahmam also worked.[18] Tyagaraja hero-worshipped the celestial sageNarada; a reference to this is Tyagaraja's krithiVara Nārada (rāga Vijayaśrī, Ādi tāḷam). Legend has it that a hermit taught him a mantra invoking Narada, and Tyagaraja, meditating on this mantra, received a vision of Narada and was blessed with the bookSvarārnavam by the sage. Tyagaraja was said to have mastered the nuances of music from this book. Tyagaraja regarded music as a way to experience divinity. His compositions focused not only on the technicalities of classical music, but also on the expression (bhāva). He composed his first kriti, "Namo Namo Raghavaaya" in Sanskrit, in the Desika Todiraga and inscribed it on the walls of his house. His compositions are mainly of a devotional (bhakti) and philosophical nature. His songs feature himself usually either in an appeal to his deity of worship (primarilyRama), in musings, in narratives, giving a message to the public. He introduced the concept of saṇgati into the sāhityaṃ of a krithi, that was seen as a paradigm shift in Carnatic Classical Music. He is also known for composing kritis that depict ninda stuti (lovingly/flatteringly scolding the divine (also seen in compositions ofBhadrachala Ramadasu). He has also composed krithis in praise of Krishna, Shiva, Devi, Ganesha, Muruga, Saraswati, and Hanuman.[19]
Tyagaraja's musical genius spread all across Thanjavur and its principalities (of which Thiruvarur and Thiruvaiyaru were also a part of) until it reached the king of Thanjavur,Serfoji II (also called Sarabhoji II). The king sent an invitation, along with many gifts, inviting Tyagaraja to attend the royal court. Tyagaraja, however, was not inclined towards a career at the court, as he felt it would chain his creativity and also his pursuit of the divine and rejected the invitation outright. He was said to have composed the krithiNidhi Chala Sukhama (నిధి చాల సుఖమా) (transl. "Does wealth bring happiness?") on this occasion.[20][21][22]
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Tyagaraja was always immersed in his devotion to Rama and led a spartan way of life. Tyagaraja willingly taught music to anyone who approached him, thus earning him many disciples across various stages of his life. Prominent ones among them includeVenkataramana Bhagavathar and Krishnaswamy Bhagavathar (the father-son duo ofWalajapet), Thanjavur S Ramarao (who also happened to be his cousin; not to be confused with the namesake,T. Rama Rao (administrator)),Veena Kuppayyar,Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar,Subbaraya Sastri (son ofShyama Sastri). Some of these disciples carefully codified his compositions on palm leaves and copper plates. Most of Tyagaraja's kritis are in vernacular language and thus gained immense popularity because of the ease with which they could be learnt and sung. Tyagaraja also composed many kritis in Sanskrit.[23]
The codification, documentation and preservation of Tyagaraja's compositions by his disciples during his lifetime was not streamlined due to many reasons. The primary reason being, certain groups of Tyagaraja’s disciples studied under him only during specific periods of his life, limiting their exposure to compositions created outside their own tutelage years. Consequently, the entirety of his compositions was not compiled into a unified corpus, and his compositions kept changing hands as the disciples/groups were scattered geographically. One of the earliest compilations of Tyagaraja's kritis was done by A. M. Chinnaswami Mudaliar, who, in 1893, published a volume titled, Oriental Music In European Notation.[24] Mudaliar lavished rich praise on Tyagaraja's profound musical legacy in his work. It was only in the early 20th century that serious efforts were made to compile the compositions into a single collection. T. S. Parthasarathy, a leading scholar and critic on Carnatic Classical Music, published a text containing Tyagaraja's kritis and their meaning, after carefully reviewing the original manuscripts that were in possession of the families of Tyagaraja's disciples. These manuscripts are now preserved in theSaraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur.[25] Also, musicologists like K. V. Srinivasa Iyengar and Rangaramanuja Iyengar made enormous efforts to compile Tyagaraja's compositions into volumes by contacting the families and descendents of Tyagaraja's disciples who possessed the palm leaves. K. V. Srinivasa Iyengar brought outAdi Sangita Ratnavali andAdi Tyagaraja Hridhayam in three volumes. Rangaramanuja Iyengar publishedKriti Mani Malai in two volumes. Furthermore, Musiri Subramania Iyer, the doyen of Bhava Sangitam, had a vast collection of books in his library. T. K. Govinda Rao, his disciple, brought out a volume of Tyagaraja's compositions in English andDevanagari script. In Telugu,veena vidwan Manchala Jagannadha Rao compiled Tyagaraja's kritis in Telugu script and published it with the help ofTirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in seven volumes.[26]
There are about 720 compositions available today, though there are claims that Tyagaraja composed 24,000 pieces. However, scholars are skeptical about these numbers, as there is no biographical evidence to support such claims.[27]In addition to nearly 720 compositions (kritis), Tyagaraja composed two musical plays in Telugu, thePrahalada Bhakti Vijayam and theNauka Charitam.Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam is in five acts with 45kritis set in 28ragas and 138 verses, in different metres in Telugu.Nauka Charitam is a shorter play in one act with 21kritis set in 13ragas and 43 verses. The latter is the most popular of Tyagaraja's operas, and is a creation of the composer's own imagination and has no basis in theBhagavata Purana. Tyagaraja also composed a number of simple devotional pieces appropriate for choral singing.[28][29]
The 20th-century Indian music criticK. V. Ramachandran wrote: "Tyagaraja is an indefatigable interpreter of the past... but if with one eye he looks backward, with the other he looks forward as well. LikePrajapati, he creates his own media and adores his Rama not alone with jewel-words newly fashioned, but also with jewel-[like]-music newly created. It is this facet of Tyagaraja that distinguishes him from his illustrious contemporaries."[citation needed] In other words, while Tyagaraja's contemporaries were primarily concerned with bringing to audiences the music of the past, Tyagaraja also pioneered new musical concepts at the same time.[citation needed][30]
Tyagaraja Aradhana, the commemorative music festival is held every year inThiruvaiyaru inThanjavur district ofTamil Nadu, during the months of January to February in Tyagaraja's honor. This is a week-long festival of music where various Carnatic musicians from all over the world converge at his resting place. On the Pushya Bahula Panchami,[Note 2] thousands of people and hundreds of Carnatic musicians sing the five Pancharatna Kritis in unison, with the accompaniment of a large bank of accompanists onveenas, violins,flutes,nadasvarams,mridangams andghatams.[31]
A sports complex inNew Delhi,Thyagaraj Sports Complex, was named after him. Acrater on the planetMercury was named afterTyagaraja in 1976.[32]
Apart from references to his works, using thekirtanas as songs, two films were made on his life.V. Nagayya made a biographical epic on Tyagaraja titledTyagayya in 1946 which is still treated as a masterpiece ofTelugu cinema. In 1981, Bapu–Ramana madeTyagayya withJ. V. Somayajulu in the lead role. Another attempt is being made bySingeetam Srinivasa Rao to picturise Tyagaraja's life. Apart from these,Bombay Gnanam made a short film known asEndaro Mahanubavulu on Tyagaraja. The short film was released on 27 February 2021, on the 174th Tyagaraja Aradhana festival.[33]
Carnatic kriti 'Sri Ramachandram Bhajami' inRaga 'Sri Tyagaraja' created and composed byMahesh Mahadev [kn] named after Saint Tyagaraja[34] sung byPriyadarshini[35] was released on 10 January 2023 at Sri Tyagaraja Samadhi during 176thTyagaraja Aradhana festival[36][37]
The name of Tyagaraja's compositions, thePancharatnas, means "five gems" in Sanskrit. All of the Pancharatnas are set to theadi talam. A stable text has been handed down from the earlier musicians to the present day. All the compositions of Tyagaraja show the way for the systematic development of the respective ragas. In the Pancharatnas, Tyagaraja offers parameters as to how to systematically and scientifically develop a raga. The two fundamental conditions that must be satisfied for the systematic development of a raga are the arrangement of the svaras in the natural order ofarohanam, and theavarohanam of the ragas so as to satisfy the sound principles of harmony and continuity. Pancharatnas satisfy these scientific principles. The Pancharatnas are composed in perfect sarvalaghu svaras.[38]
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