Spotlight
Tyagaraja Aradhana What Should We Salute?

Tyagaraja's aradhana is observed all over the world, except
perhaps in Antartica, as suggested in the famous cartoon published more than
once in Sruti. And it is observed in different ways. Tyagaraja himself is
worshipped as a divinity, even though he was a man, a mahatma, and not god; and
although he himself frowned on nara stuti, or the praising of man. But this is
not unusual in the Hindu tradition.
The singing of Tyagaraja's songs is also part of aradhana
observances and an important part at
that. This is as it should be, because Tyagaraja lives in our memory precisely
because he was a great musical genius and a superb vaggeyakara. I daresay that,
150+ years after his passing, we remember him not because he was a pious soul
and a savant, inasmuch as there were other comparable savants in his time or
even later who have remained outside our consciousness.
In Tiruvaiyaru, the tradition has been that the singing of Tyagaraja's songs is a devotional offering and that therefore the offering should be restricted to the rendering of the pre-composed song without alapana. niraval and swaraprastara. In other words, the performer should eschew the manodharma aspects and even shed his ego. This is still the tradition, though deviations are being allowed; this tradition is followed in observances in some other places too. But it is commonplace today, in many observances, for musicians to sing Tyagaraja's compositions as they would in a concert, adding raga alapana, niraval or swaraprastara as the Muse inspires them to do. Another tradition is the 'akhandam', which is a non-stop session lasting 24 hours or even longer during which several musicians sing/play compositions of Tyagaraja without repeating any one song. The purpose of the akhandam is to bring to the attention of musicians and the listening public the numerous compositions of Tyagaraja which have not yet entered the concert repertoire or which are not in vogue.
I believe that the
akhandam has an important role in propagating the savant's compositions. As
additional compositions enter the concert repertoire, they would likely be seen
for what they are mostly vehicles for art music and be taken up as the skeletal
embodiments of raga-s to be fleshed out with the manodharma aspects, taking the
sahitya bhava of the composition as clue.
As for the practice of singing Tyagaraja's songs without the
manodharma aspects added, this seems alright when a number of amateur musicians
are given the chance to pay anjali or tribute to the savant, even if sometimes
paying anjali seems merely a ruse to get on the stage and perform before an
audience.
What I am most in
favour of is the full-fledged presentation of Tyagaraja's kriti-s as art music
even during aradhana observances. The purpose of such presentations should be
to induce artistic or aesthetic relish among the listeners. In my view, this is
the approach which would constitute true homage to the savant in his avatar as
a great musical genius. Let me summarise:
• I have no objection for Tyagaraja being deified and
worshipped as a divinity, so long as we don't forget or ignore or downsize the
musical legacy he has left behind, which is why we remember him today.
• Akhandam-s play an important role in enlarging that part
of the musical corpus of Tyagaraja which is within the practical knowledge of
musicians and music enthusiasts. Possibly there is no harm done except
sometimes to Tyagaraja's music itself— when amateur enthusiasts are given
opportunities to present the savant's compositions.
• But what I consider
most appropriate and most important for the proper musical appreciation of
Tyagaraja's kriti-s (as distinct from his purely devotional keertana-s) is the
presentation, even in aradhana observances, or rather especially in such
observances, of such compositions by competent musicians as raga or kriti
suites, as art music complete with the manodharma element.
The akhandam has been most effectively utilised by the Sri
Sadguru Samajam of Purasawalkam in Chennai. (See separate article on the
Samajam which highlights this practice and the results it has yielded over the
years).
I believe that, in other respects, Tyagaraja aradhana as
observed year after year by the Tyagaraja Aradhana Society in Kozhikode has
been exemplary. The aradhana is observed here with true devotion to the savant,
with pooja-s, unchavritti, etc.; but, in the ultimate analysis, the emphasis is
on the musical heritage of Tyagaraja. Here, besides a number of musical
aspirants, senior as well as up and-coming musicians are invited to present
proper music recitals, with accompaniments, although the time allotted to them
is limited. Interestingly, the Society has arranged for all the evening
recitals to be broadcast by All India Radio.
Having said this, I
must also emphasise that even more attention requires to be paid to the art
aspect of art music, in other words to musical aesthetics. When such attention
is given, the aradhana observances would really serve to propagate Tyagaraja's
kriti-s as the creations of a musical genius whose contribution to the
development of art music in Carnatica is not sufficiently understood or
appreciated today because of the preoccupation with bhakti, the source of his
musical inspiration. And when this kind of emphasis is given to the music
offered in aradhana observances, which today usually attract larger number of
listeners than sabha performances, the chances are that the appreciation of
Tyagaraja's music as art music capable of yielding aesthetic relish or even spiritual
upliftment would gain and bring more people into recital halls.
Another aspect that requires urgent attention to improve the
quality of music, or rather to eliminate unmusical elements, is the choral
singing of the Pancharatna kriti-s, which has become a feature of virtually all
aradhana observances. In many cases, especially in Tiruvaiyaru, the 'social
aspects' have gained more importance, making a mockery of the practice. (See
box). There may be several ways of removing the unmusical elements. One of them
was on view at an aradhana observance organised by a ladies club in Chennai
this year. (See Pancharatna With A Difference, below.)
N. PATTABHI RAMAN
A
Remarkable Samajam
Sri Sadguru Sangeeta Samajam, in Purasawalkam, Chennai, came
into being in 1955, as a result of the merger of three other institutions.
The moving spirits behind this great achievement were violin
vidwan T.R. Ratnavelu, M.V. Doreswamy Iyengar, P.B. Chittibabu, Prof. P.
Sambamoorthy, Sangeeta Bhushanam R.T. Srinivasa, P.P. Govindan and some others.
These men were motivated by their desire to conduct the aradhana of Tyagaraja
every year in a meaningful manner. This the Samajam has been doing ever since
its inception; only the venue has changed from the Anjaneya Temple to the
Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Vellala district in Purasawalkam.
Through his untiring efforts, 4nd Doreswamy Iyengar (who, alas, is no more) could muster the support of a galaxy of vidwans like Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, K.V. Narayanaswamy, N. Ramani, T.K. Govinda Rao, Therazhandur V. Srinivasachari, Srirangam V.S. Krishnamurthy Rao, G.N. Dandapani, B.V. Raman & B.V. Laksmanan, P.S. Narayanaswamy, Calcutta Krishnamurti, A Sundaresan, S. Nataraja Iyer, M.N. Krishnaswamy, P.K. Madurai, Ramnad A. Eswaran, Palghat V.A. Sundaram, Sangottai M. Sundararajan, Kalpakam Swaminathan, J. Ganapathy, D. Damodaran, Nanganallur V. Ramanathan, M.V. Vidya Shankar, T.N. Sriraman, D. Govindarajan, B. Karthikeyan, S. Venkataraman, and R. Krishnamurthy; they all took very active part at various periods as office-bearers of the Samajam which is run solely by the sangeeta vidwans themselves.
Of course, the redoubtable Prof. P. Sambamoorthy, who was
the Samajam's first President, also played an important role in building it up.
Too, another stalwart, Dr. R. Krishnaswami enduringly known as Dr. R.K. an
ardent Tyagaraja devotee, brought into play his enormous energy and influence
to bear on the steady growth of the Samajam over the years, with admirable
dedication and religious fervour.
As part of its annual observance of the aradhana, the
Samajam conducts an akhandam a 24- hour, non-stop programme at which different
musicians sing different compositions of Tyagaraja, without repeating any and
restricting themselves to the kalpita or precomposed aspect. In 1980,
celebrating its silver jubilee as well, it also presented, over the 25 days
between 6 February and 2 March, a series of music recitals in different parts
of Chennai.
The Samaja celebrated its golden jubilee with an extended
akhandam of 50 hours, between 28 February and 2 March, 1986, in Purasawalkam.
The participating musicians rendered about 497 kriti-s of the savant.
The Samaja followed the tradition in 1991, its diamond jubilee
year, The akhandam, spanning 60 hours, was conducted under the guidance of a
special committee consisting of Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer as President, T.K.
Govinda Rao as Secretary and R. Yagnaraman of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha as
convenor. It covered 533 songs of Tyagaraja, rendered by 5 5 vidwans and
vidushi-s without the manodharma aspects of raga alapana, niraval and
swaraprastara. (The total number of published Tyagaraja compositions is about
700). Each one of the participating musicians sang at least one or two rare
compositions thus helping achieve the main purpose of the akhandam-s, which is
to make better known more and more of the not-so-well-known compositions of the
savant. Notably. members of the Ramakrishna Bhajana Mandali brought out 20 compositions.
Likewise the singers sent by Sadguru Samajam of Tiruchi presented, in two long
sessions of four hours each and that too in the wee hours of the night, about
80 songs in all, drawn from the divyanama keertana-s and the two opera-s,
namely, Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam and Nauka Charitram.
Some musicians scheduled to take part in the akhandam did
not turn up. At very short notice, a few
others, including M.V. Doreswamy Iyengar, completed the songs allotted to the
absentees, which included some rare kriti-s. The rare compositions of Tyagaraja
rendered during the akhandam included those taught by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
(10), T.M. Thiagarajan (50), and Lalgudi Jayaraman (20), to their disciples and
others eager to learn. Besides observing the annual aradhana of Tyagaraja in
Purasawalkam since its inception in 1955, and conducting akhanda gana sessions
in Chennai, the Samaja has also been engaged in various other musically
constructive activities.
• It has been
organising akhandam-s in Tiruvaiyaru and Tiruvarur every year.
• It has been arranging groupsinging of Tyagaraja's
compositions on every Panchami day in Purasawalkam. Whenever a Bahula Panchami
falls on a holiday, the singing session is conducted as far as possible in one
or another of the places of pilgrimages visited by the savant, such as Kovoor,
Tiruvotriyur, Kanchipuram, Tirupati and Srirangam. On such occasions, the
participating musicians render the kshetra kriti-s sung by Tyagaraja in praise
of the presiding deity.
• The Samajam has
provided funds for the repair, renovation, mahasamprokshanam and
kumbhabhishekam of Tyagaraja's samadhi in Tiruvaiyaru, and for monthly
observance of aradhana in that town.
• The Samajam has
further put up marble-stone slabs inscribed with the texts of the relevant
compositions of Tyagaraja, not only in Tiruvaiyaru but also at the other
kshetra-s he visited. The selfless dedication of the late Srirangam Sundaram
Iyer, a retired mail sorter, in this regard can never be forgotten.
All this would not have been possible without the
unflinching support, enthusiasm and encouragement of the numerous musicians
associated with the Samajam as well as of music-lovers and munificent donors.
It has been an enviable cooperative endeavour of wide dimensions not seen
anywhere else.
• The Samajam has also brought out a dozen and more
publications covering the Srirangam, Lalgudi, Kovoor, Tiruvotriyur and
Tiruvaiyaru kshetra kriti-s, and the Tirupati and Kanchipuram kshetra kriti-s,
as well as the Ghana Raga Pancharatna kriti-s, with notations by Semmangudi
Srinivasa Iyer, Lalgudi layaraman and T.K. Govinda Rao who, incidentally,
accounts for more than a moiety of these kriti-s. Apart from the Samajam, the
financiers of these publications were N. Ramaswami Iyengar of Swadesamitran, Dr.
R. Krishnaswamy, Bombay Sisters C. Saroja and C. Lalitha, R. Suryanarayanan and
the disciples of mridanga maestro Palani Subramania Pillai. Interestingly
enough, these publications were released at the respective kshetra-s by
distinguished personalities during Tyagaraja aradhana observances.
The Samajam has also distributed attractive and authentic
pictures of Tyagaraja for daily worship by his devotees. The crowning glory of
the Samajam is the publication in a single volume, in Tamil, of 675 Tyagaraja
compositions with lyrics, meanings and an index of proper pronunciations, which
has proved to be an invaluable guide to the vast majority of Tamil-speaking
professional and amateur musicians, students and rasika-s not much conversant
with Telugu, the bard's own tongue.
This book, titled Sree Tyagarajaswami Keertanaigal, was
released by V.V. Giri, then President of India, at Tyagaraja's samadhi in
Tiruvaiyaru during the aradhana festival in 1967. The cost of producing the
book was borne by that generous couple: M.S. Subbulakshmi and her husband T.S.
Sadasivam.
The labour of love
bestowed by the indefatigable T.S. Parthasarathy is writ large on every page of
the volume between its two covers. It was the veteran Dr. R. Krishnaswamy's
single-minded dedication to Tyagaraja that enabled the Samajam to add to its
credit this remarkable achievement.
Looking to the future, Sri Sadguru Sangeeta Samajam has a
very ambitious project: to build a tape library of all available compositions
of Tyagaraja. Another project to be taken up subsequently is aimed at
establishing an Institute of Tyagaraja Studies.
K.J. IYENGAR