Narayana Teertha & Tyagaraja

The following is excerpted from an article on Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini written by S. Lakshminarayana Sastri and included in a 1985 souvenir on Narayana Teertha brought out by Saraswathi.

Sangita is subservient to sahitya in Narayana Teertha[while] sahitya and raga bhava are equally important or rather inalienable in Tyagaraja. In fact [in Tyagaraja's songs], the emotional content of the sahitya is richly interpreted by the sangati-s which rise tier above tier, sometimes soaring to a grand sweep in the higher octave. In short, sangita according to Narayana Teertha is an accessory to the realization of the Supreme. But sangita blended with bhakti is itself the Supreme Reality according to Tyagaraja. However, despite this difference with regard to the place of sangita in spiritual evolution, both Narayana Teertha and Tyagaraja do fully recognise the role of sangita as being an indispensable means to spiritual realization . . . . Fully aware of the potency of sangita to elevate man from the level of the sordid to the pedestal of the divine, Narayana Teertha set his compositions in highly evocative rakti raga-s. He may therefore be justly considered as the forerunner of Tyagaraja in whose kriti-s melodic exquisiteness and intense bhakti blend into a perfect bliss . . . . No wonder, then, if Tyagaraja . renders homage to Narayana Teertha in his prelude to Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam. If the tradition that Sonti Venkataramiah, the guru of Tyagaraja, was the son of Sonti Venkatasubbiah who was one of the sishyas of Narayana Teertha is to be given credence, then Narayana Teertha is the Parameshti guru (grand-guru) of Tyagaraja ; and thus Tyagaraja belongs to the sishya parampara of Narayana Teertha.