As we await the much anticipated Thyagaraja Festival after Margazhi season, it seemed only apt to pen paeans of the saint in Shri T R Parthasarathy's words. I wanted to share an  excerpt from an article of Shri T R Parthasarathy- 'The poetry of Tyagaraja' which I have tried to condense to fit to the reader’s appetite in the following paragraphs.

(This article is penned by Aparajetha Mohan an adult student of Samskrtasangitam School of Music, an ardent rasika and writer.)

Shri. Tyagaraja is a remarkable figure in music, hailed as an innovator! His works, seen as "poems set to music," showcase his poetic brilliance and charm. The artistry in his kritis is unmatched in South Indian music! This fusion of sahitya and melody highlights his extraordinary talent and emotional depth, cementing his legacy in Indian classical music!

Tyagaraja was, first and foremost, a musical composer and a creator of new expressions and forms in music, the fact that he was a competent poet and a master of felicitous expression has added great charm to his compositions and made them virtually "poems set to music".Tyagaraja's kritis are rightly renowned for their poetic excellence, sublimity of thought and unsurpassed yati and prasa (caesuraand alliteration) beauties not found in the compositions of any other South Indian composer.

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The perfect integration of the sahitya with the music of his pieces was accomplished because of his inherent poetic faculty and impassioned feeling expressed in imaginative verse.And yet this was not so at least until the mid 1940s when songs in praise of Tyagaraja too were heard in Thiruvayyaru. Thus we know that till his passing in 1919, Ramanathapuram PoochiSrinivasa Iyengar invariably sang Sadguru Swamiki Sari, his composition in raga Ritigaula in praise of Tyagaraja, at the Aradhana. Later, his disciple Bangalore Nagarathnammamade it a point to sing the same song, when the ritual waving of camphor was done. She also recited an ashtottara (a set of 108 names) on Tyagaraja, that she composed.

The songs of Tyagaraja are unrivalled for their sweetness, musical beauty and their simple language. Moreover, the sentiments of the songs, philosophical and ethical, and the profundity of his meditation have endowed his kritis with such rare merit that many Telugu scholars read them for the sheer delight of reciting them without any concern for their complicated tunes or intricate talas.Tyagaraja revels equally in gorgeous descriptions of heaven and the celestial beauty of the Lord who resides there as in his pen picture of the village Tiruvaiyaru (of his time) and the river Kaveri which flows nearby. Doraleuna in Bilahari is one of the pieces in which Tyagaraja excels himself in describing in ornate language the abode of his God with angels and liberated souls enjoying the supreme bliss of His presence. The three charanas of this kriti comprise a rapturous outpouring which will dispel all doubts regarding Tyagaraja's mastery over Telugu idiom and the grandeur of his poetic conception. The first of these charanas which gives a description of Heaven and the Lord who resides therein.

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Strangely enough, many of Tyagaraja's longer pieces (except the Pancharatna kritis) are to be found not in praise of Lord Rama,  praise of the different Goddesses worshipped by him during his pilgrimage to various shrines. His kritis in praise of Dharmasamvardhani of Tiruvaiyaru, Pravriddha Srimati of Lalgudi and Tripurasundari of Tiruvottiyur are outpourings with a truly poetic ring about them. In the krit! Sundari Ninu in Arabhi on Goddess Tripurasundari, he revels in poetic fervour in comparing Her face to the moon, Her majesty to the mountain Meru, Her splendour to the lightning and so on.

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A correct assessment of Tyagaraja as a poet can perhaps be made only after a thorough study of his two operas Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam and Nowka Charitram, In these two works we see quite a different facet of the genius of Tyagaraja. It is in these musical plays that he has dispelled all doubts regarding his competence to write verse. A scrutiny of these reveals his easy mastery over all the common metres of Telugu poetry like sisa padyas, kandapadyas, dtvipadas, utpalamala, champakalllala and sardulavikrtditan: and also dams, dandakam and gadya. He also exhibits remarkable skill in working up a climax by means of a long padya, ,culminating in a kriti of chiselled beauty in a raga most appropriate for the situation.

The indelible impact that Saint Tyagaraja has on Carnatic music is exemplified by several doyens and other vaggeyekaras’ works  including Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagvathar, Munambu Chavadi Venkata Subbaya, Tummu Narasimha Dasa , Veena Kuppaiyar and so on.

In 19th and 20th century , we have had doyens like that of Ramnad Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Mysore Vasudevachary, Mutthaiah Bhagvathar and also M D Ramanathan show their enamor of the Saint.

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We have in Tyagaraja a rare combination of a musical genius who could clothe his beautiful creations in art music in equally beautiful language, thus making them a perennial source of inspiration and delight to generations of music lovers.