Sri Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar Cultural Trust

The annual Tyagaraja aradhana was celebrated by Sri Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar Cultural Trust on 12 February 2022 at Mylapore in Chennai; it was organised by S. Rajaraman, the Managing Trustee. A host of eminent vidwans and vidushis – including several vocalists, violinists, mridangists, flautist, and vainika—participated in the celebration and diligently rendered the pancharatna kritis. This was followed by the Anjaneya utsavam.

The musical offering commenced with the kriti Chetulara rendered by vidwan Prapancham Balachandran, followed by all the musicians presenting Sree Ganapatini, Gurulekha and the pancharatna kritis – a total of eight compositions in all. It may be noted that at Tiruvaiyaru, every year, the aradhana commences with the playing of Chetulara on the flute—a custom started by Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, years ago. This year, Sri Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavatar Cultural Trust followed the same tradition. The aradhana concluded with the kriti Geetarthamu dedicated to Lord Anjaneya. The sahasranama archana designed by Sambasiva Bhagavatar, based on Jagadananda, was performed to the portraits of sadguru Tyagaraja and Sambasiva Bhagavatar. The event came to a close with S. Rajaraman thanking the vidwans, vidushis and rasikas who participated in the function.

M.A. Sundareswaran briefly spoke about the origin of the Tyagaraja aradhana and described how years ago, the doyens of Carnatic music used to individually sing the pancharatna kritis at Tiruvaiyaru. Later, after discussing among themselves, all the musicians started singing the kritis in chorus as a homage to Tyagaraja. It has been resolved by Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam in Chennai to sing all the eight kritis (mentioned above) during the aradhana festival next year. 

Sundareswaran opined that Chetulara could be sung or played by all the musicians and there is no restriction that flautists alone should play the song. According to him, the aradhana should comprise the eight kritis and three more— Lekana, Pahi Rama doota and Geetarthamu should be included if Sri Anjaneya Utsavam is celebrated. He requested the music fraternity throughout the world to follow this tradition. The aradhana should conclude after singing the mangalam Pavamaana—with a mangala harati.

Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam

Earlier, the 175th annual Tyagaraja Homage to Tyagaraja in Mylapore aradhana was observed at the Samajam premises on 22 January 2022 which was attended by about 250 people. The programmes started with ‘Veda gosham’ followed by unchavritti. Under the auspices of veteran vidwan T.V. Gopalakrishnan, president of the Samajam, leading musicians – both vocalists and instrumentalists, rendered the ghana raga pancharatna kritis. Special abhishekam with pooja was performed to the idol of saint Tyagaraja inside the temple premises, followed by the Anjaneya utsavam and mangala harati. The celebrations concluded with prasadam being served to all the devotees. T.V. Gopalakrishnan and the musicians at the aradhana

A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT