A Note
on the life of Saint Thyagaraja
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Though the modernization of musical form of Carnatic Music started much before sage Purandara Dasa , who is
called as the grandfather of Carnatic
music , It was he who laid foundation
to the real systematization of how
to teach the Carnatic music to novices.
This was further refined by Venkata Mahi who
enunciated classification of Ragas based on Mela Karthas and over this foundation the three
great composers Saint Thyagaraja,
Muthuswami Deekshithar and Shyama SAstri erected the palace
of Carnatic music. All of them
lived almost at the same time in the
village of Thiruvayyaru . Though
all of them composed music in
either Telugu or Sanskrit , the
greatest composer among them was definitely Saint Thyagaraja.
He is said to have composed about
20 thousand Krithis which included three dance dramas , out of which only 675 Krithis and two dance Dramas are available to us.
The great grand
father of Saint Thyagaraja was
called as Pancha nadha Brahmam. He
belonged to the Kakarla village of the
present day Andhra Pradesh . He belonged to Bharadwaja Gothram. He was a
Vaidiki Brahmin of the Mulakanadu sect. Around
the year 1600AD , he migrated to present
day Tamiul Nadu and took up his residence in Thiruvarur village
.His fifth son was called Sri
Giriraja Kavi and his son was Sri Rama
Brahmam , He got married top Seethamma the daughter of Veena Kalahasthi iyer. Sri Rama Brahmam was an expert in giving lectures on Ramayana. He also regularly worshipped God Rama and celebrated Sri Rama
Navami in a great way. Recognizing his scholarship the king of Tanjore gave
him one house in Thirumanjana
street of Thiruvayyaru . He had three
sons and Thyagaraja was one of them.
Sri Rama Brahmam along with his family
shifted his residence to Thiruvayyaru. Thyagaraja
learnt the Keerthanas of Ramadasa and Padams of Purandara dasa from his father . It seems
when he was a boy he composed
his first Krithi “Namo namo Raghavaya”
set in Desiya Thodi Ragam. So Rama
Brahmam Sent Thyagaraja to learn music
from Sri Sonti Venkatramayya , Who was
the chief musician of The King of Thanjavur and who was also living in their
village. Within a year Thyagaraja had
won great expertise in few musical
instruments as well as music. After
sacred thread ceremony Of
Thyagaraja , Rama Brahmam gave him Upadesha in Rama Manthram., When
Thyagraja was only fourteen both his parents died. After some time Ramakrishnanda Swami of Kanchipuram
taught the Rama Sadakshari manthra and
told him that whosoever chants
that 96 crores times, would be able to see Rama with their own eyes. From that
time Thyagaraja went obn chanting that
Manthra ceaselessly. At the age of
18 , Thyagraja married to a girl called
Parvathi . But she died after living with him for five years.. Then he married her younger
sister Kamalambal. By that time Thyagaraja
had mastered the musical theory by reading several musical books inherited by him from his maternal grand father ., He
eked out his living by Uncha
Vruthi ( accepting alms for food from
Brahmin houses) One day a sage came and met him
with deep desire to hear him singing. Thyagaraja entertained that sage
and said , he should take food
with him. That sage gave him a book for safe keep and went to bath but never returned back. Thyagaraja searched for the guest but could not find him. That night when he was sleeping that sage
appeared in his dream and told him
that he was sage Narada himself and the book given by him was a rare classic called Swararnavam(golden waves)
., He advised Thyagaraja to master that
book and start composing krithis.. Thyagaraja composed one Krithi “Vara Narada , Sri Narada” in honour of that sage ,
By that time he had chanted the Rama Manthra
96 crores times., Rama appeared
before him in the form in which he and Lakshmana were accompanying sage Viswamithra, and he immediately disappeared
. Thyagaraja composed the Krithi “Yela nee Dhaya Radhu”. From then on he
started composing great Krithis
incessantly.Many disciples joined round
him. It was these disciples who
have written down all the
compositions of Thyagaraja.Among his
disciples were Iya Bhagawathar,
Valajapettai Venkatramana Bhagawathar,
Manambu chavadi Venkatasubba iyer, Neikara patti Subba iyer, Umayalpuram Krishna Bhagawathar , Sundara BHagawathar ,
Sojiri Seetharama Iyer, Nangavaram Neelakanda Iyer, Veenai Kuppu
Iyer ,Lalgudi Ganesa Iyer and so
on. It was at this time that the king of Thanjavur sent some very costly
presents , which were refused by Thyagaraja
.At that time he sung the Krithi
“Nithi Chala Sukhama” . It seems the king became angry and immediately he started suffering from a
severe stomach ache ,When no body could
cure it, his scholars advised him to approach
Thyagaraja. Just by sipping the sacred
water sent by Thyagaraja , the
jking was completely cured.
His elder brother who was very jealous of
Thyagaraja once took away the Idol of
Rama which was being worshipped by Thyagaraja and threw
it in the river Cauvery. Thyagaraja
was greatly upset and sang “Ye papamu Jesithiraa
(What sin I have done), Brochevarevarura , Adhya Sri Raghu vara and so on , Lord Rama appeared in his
dream and indicated him , the place in river
Cauvery where he was lying. Thyagaraja ran
there recovered the idol hugged it and
sang , “Kanu kondini(I found out)”. “Ra ra Ma intiki (come , come to my home) .” and
several other Krithis.
Thyagaraja gave in marriage his only daughter to Kuppuswami iyer , who was living near THiruvayyaru .His disciples joined together and conducted the marriage in a very great way.. Valajapettai
Venkatramana Bhagawather presented him a greay painting of Kodandarama , which occupied the pooja room of Thyagaraja. Several great musicians like
Shadkala Govinda Marar from Kerala and
RamaDasa from Benares and heard the
songs of Thyagaraja and were enthralled
by it. It was at this time that Thyagaraja composed the Krithi “Entharo Mahanubhavulu (so many
great persons)“ and realizing that
it was God Rama who sent them , composed
“Dasaratha , nee runamu theerpa
naa tharamaa (Oh son of Dasaratha , would I be able to repay your loan)”
Thyagaraja attained old age and his wife preceded him. Thyagaraja was
greatly upset and requested Rama to give
him salvation.Lord Rama came in his dream and told him that he will attain
Sidhi after ten months. Ten days before his death , it is
believed that Lord Rama came personally and gave him Sanyasa, People believe that
when he died a flame of light left his body
and joined the Rama Idol , he was
worshipping. His Samadhi was built on the banks of river Cauvery in
Thiruvayyaru . Every year on his Samadhi
day , huge crowd of experts in Carnatic music assemble near his Samadhi and
sing the Pancha Rathna Krithis composed by him.
Among the
compositions of of Thyagaraja The Pancha Rathna Keerthanas , Divya Nama
Keerthanas , Prahladha Bhaktha
Vijaya Keerthanas and Nauka
Charithra Keerthanas are more
famous. They are called KOthu(bunch) Keerthanas,
Scholars say
that “Thyagochishtam Sangeetha Jagat Sarvam” meaning Whatever
has been tasted and left by Thyagaraja
is the music of the world.
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