Mumbai: The 179th Aradhana festival of Saint Thyagaraja was held this week at the Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts Sangeetha Sabha’s Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi auditorium here. This annual musical event honours the saint and composer Thyagaraja.
The festival features Carnatic music performances, including the singing of Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna Kritis, also known as the “five gems,” which are performed in the ragas Nattai, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali, and Sri. Music lovers from all over Mumbai come together to sing these pieces in unison. The five songs include ‘Jagadanandakaraka’ (Nata), ‘Dudukugala’ (Gowla), ‘Sadhinchene’ (Arabhi), ‘Kanakanaruchira’ (Varali), and ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu’ (Sri), all set to Adi tala.
Thyagaraja was born in 1767 in Thiruvarur, located in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, and he passed away in 1847. This year marks his 258th birth anniversary. He is regarded as one of the musical geniuses who laid the foundation for Carnatic music in India and is often considered an avatar of Saint Valmiki. Thyagaraja’s compositions are celebrated for their rich devotional and philosophical content, superior structure, and the excellent handling of raga lakshanas, with careful choices of raga and lyrics.
Musicians refer to this occasion as Aradhana Day, the day when Thyagaraja attained Samadhi. Along with Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, he is considered one of the holy trinity of Carnatic music. Sri Thyagaraja was devoted to Lord Sri Ram, and out of the 22,400 songs he is said to have composed—allegedly equal to the number of slokas in Valmiki’s Ramayana—only about 725 kritis have been recorded, primarily in his mother tongue, Telugu. A few compositions are in Sanskrit, including the masterpiece ‘Jagadanandakaraka,’ which narrates the 108 names of Lord Ram. Remarkably, Thyagaraja composed his first song dedicated to the deity, ‘Namo Namo Raghavaya,’ when he was just 13 years old.
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