A BRIEF NARRATIVE ABOUT THYAGARAJA

V.K.Viswanathan,Los Alamos,NM.

Thyagaraja can justly be considered the greatest figure in Carnatic music.He was born in Tiruvarur,one of the chief centers of Nadaswaram music and moved to Thanjavur the hub of all musical activity.To paraphrase the Late Rangaramanujam Iyengar(the great Thyagaraja Scholar) Thyagaraja's pre-eminence among Composers rests on both musical and non-musical factors. He composed in Telugu(his mother tongue) and Sanskrit. Living in a Tamil Enviornment with a prdilection for Sanskrit his Telugu had a colloquial basis though it lacked neither fluency nor sweetness.

Again following Iyengar "No other Composer known to the world has revealed in his songs so many facets of his personality or dealt with such a variety of themes, rich with material of perennial and absorbing interest from quite a number of angles.They reveal various facets of: The Man,Scholar, Creative genius,Moralist,Satirist, Aesthete,Poet,Nadopasaka,Rama Bhaktha, and the Mystic.

Among the MANY Technical Innovations introduced by Thyagaraja Three Originnal Ideas deserve mention: 1) The artistic device of "Sangathi" which works up the Music step by step to a Climax-Capital Stroke of psychological stimulus-. 2 ) Starting the song before after the first beat-Anagatam,Ateetam and Vishamam- threw open the flood gates of creative activity in Rhythm leading to phenomenal growth in its Dimensions: Pallavi,Swaraprastharas,the solo turn for instruments,etc.- 3) Start of the song in Adi Tala between the little and fourth fingers(six units after the Laghu) is another original rhythmic idea and Rangaramanujam Iyengar says" it is not unlikely that Shyama Sastry-another member of the TRINITY)- owed his mastery of rhythm to Thyagaraja's inspiration".

THE ARADHANA FESTIVAL AT TIRUVAIYARU

This is held during Baghula Panchami annually(between December and March,depends on Calender). In 1914 Thillaisthanam Panchu Bhagavathar-this branch being a major desciple group of Thyagaraja- set up a committee which started the Annual Music Festival.In 1940 Sri Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha was formed to conduct the Annual Music Festival at Thiruvaiyaru and all the musicians voluntarily perform there.

Thyagaraja went around the streets of Thiryvaiyaru every morning dressed in the traditional "Unchavirutti Bhagavathar" style with songs on his lips while Devotees filled bags of rice,fruits,flowers and coins donated by Devotees on the spot.When he returned home he was absorbed in Song,Bhajan,Study,Pooja Worship etc .The food and rest of day's collections were shared with everyone who visited irrespective of their Status or Economic condition.

The Satguru Sri Thyagabrahma Aradhana Mahotsava Kainkarya Samithi,Madras under the leadership of Thanjavur Chellam Ayyar( IN HIS EIGHTIES) has been maintaining the unbroken age old tradition of the Thillaisthanam Sishya Parampara of Thyagaraja.They have been feeding EVERYONE who attends the Festival including the poor(for the entire week) and conducting the Pooja in authentic fashion,honouring Scholars and Women( in memory of Thyagaraja's wife).

There is an attempt to fund these activities on a more PERMANENT BASIS. It currently takes Rupees Two Lakhs to do this in an anuual basis. Please read the APPEAL at the end of this article on how you can contribute to this great effort.The power of the Amighty Greenback is obvious as even a small amount goes a very long way. RARE pictures of this aspect of Thyagaraja Festival at Thiruvaiyaru are presented in both sides of this article.

COMPOSITIONS OF THYAGARAJA

It is not known how many songs were composed by Thyagaraja.We are hoping to provide the entire list of 690 compositions listed in " Kritimanimalai" published by Late Rangaramanujam Iyengar . See Document at end of this article.We also hope to present rendering of as many of these as we can find by maestros of yesteryear on a rotating basis.We also hope to present discourses on Thyagaraja in Harikatha Format by different experts.The actual Pancharatna Kirtanai renderings at Tiruvaiyaru will also be presented.