The Hindu : dated January 23, 1954: The Glory of Saint Thyagaraja

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Friday, Jan 23, 2004

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dated January 23, 1954: The Glory of Saint Thyagaraja

Mr. P.V. Rajamannar, Chief Justice and President of the Thyagabrahma Aradhana Mahotsava Sabha, observed at the inauguration of the 107th aradhana festival of Saint Thyagaraja in Tiruvaiyar on the 22nd, "Saint Thyagaraja was a many-sided personality. He was a great Bhakta, scholar, philosopher and poet. Thyagaraja is one of the greatest of composers, if not the greatest, in Carnatic music. It is impossible to think of any South Indian musician who has not in his repertoire kriti-s of Thyagaraja. Even disregarding the sahitya, the language and meaning of which many may not know, no student or exponent of Carnatic music can neglect the wealth of music in his compositions. Even those who play on instruments, resort to the kriti-s of Thyagaraja. His contribution to Carnatic music is immeasurably vast. Of the 72 Melakarta-s according to Venkatamakhi's scheme, Thyagaraja has handled more than 45. He has composed in more than 250 ragas, some known to us only through his kriti-s. This estimate is made from the kritis now extant. May be, we shall be able to discover more kriti-s. Prior to Thyagaraja, musical compositions were, more or less, recitative — like poems set to tunes. Thyagaraja revealed that a musical composition should employ minimum words and maximum music. At the same time, his words were not mere pegs to hang the music on. He gave perfect shape to the musical form which is popularly known as the kriti, a shape which has come to stay with recognizable structure: pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. It was he who developed the use of sangati-s for the elaboration of different aspects of raga. Those who are familiar with his kriti-s composed in Todi, Kharaharapriya, Kamboji, Sankarabharanam and other major ragas, will realise his genius in this regard. Songs like Koluvaiyunnade in Bhairavi and Najivadhara in Bilahari and the pancharatna-s are masterpieces. Thyagaraja is unique because his sahitya is as great as his sangita. The variety of subjects and themes, diversity of treatment and approach, profundity of knowledge and extensive learning displayed by him in his compositions are amazing. In the wide range of emotional content in his kriti-s, Thyagaraja excels all others."

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