Entertainment and the Arts: Music: A Devotional Odyssey

Unlike most other memorial festivals, the Tyagaraja Aradhana near Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu is marked by the spirit of true bhakti.

The first thing that strikes the senses is the picturesque beauty of the land. Criss-crossed by rivers and dotted with ponds of blooming lotus, the district of Thanjavur is verdant with paddy fields, coconut groves and banana plantations. Certainly the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, it was also the seat of Tamil culture for centuries with its lofty temples, its music, its dance. By some divine coincidence this was home to the three most revered composers of Carnatic music tradition -- Tyagaraja, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar.

In the first week of January, as you near the tiny hamlet of Tiruvaiyaru -- some 15 km from the town of Thanjavur -- you can hear the piping of the nadaswaram wafting across the gently flowing waters of the Cauvery. In tempos, in buses, in cars and in tractors, hundreds of musicians and music lovers are heading towards the village, which is commemorating the 152nd anniversary of Tyagaraja, universally considered the tallest member of the Carnatic trinity.

There are several music festivals in the country dedicated to the memories of saints or musicians or both. The Swami Haridas festival in Brindavan, the Tansen festival in Gwalior, the Harballabh festival in Jalandhar, the Allauddin Khan festival in Maihar are all events of this nature. But none of these can compare in scale and bhakti to the Tyagaraja Aradhana Mahotsavam.

There is much that distinguishes the Aradhana from other festivals. The foremost is the fact that unlike the others no musician here is paid a penny to perform. No hotel accommodation is provided and even the transport costs are not borne by the organisers. Nor are celebrity egos pandered to -- everybody is allotted a mere 20 minutes and he or she may only sing songs drawn from Tyagaraja's opus. Under these exacting conditions it can only be sheer faith in the divinity of Tyagabrahman (as the saint musician is referred to) that brings top professionals and ambitious amateurs in their hundreds to visit this sacred spot year after year from far and wide. A.K. Palanivel, one of the organising secretaries of the festival committee and an ace Tavil player, puts it candidly: "It is like a thanksgiving. After all we earn our keep and our fame by selling saint Tyagaraja's art through the rest of the year, don't we?"

This year too this sense of indebtedness brought over 500 musicians, including some very famous ones like K.J. Yesudas, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Unnikrishnan, Bombay Sisters, Aruna Sairam, E. Gayatri, Shashank, B. Rajam Iyer, T. Viswanathan, U. Srinivas, Sanjay Subramaniam, Ravi Kiran and Kadrigopalnath, to participate in this six-day musical marathon. Not all the maestros listed in the brochure turned up and there are several luminaries who have stopped coming due to reasons of age or politics. But even so, the turnout is impressive. The high point of the festival is on the sixth day when senior musicians walk the streets of the village barefoot singing Tyagaraja's devotional songs just as he did over two centuries ago to collect alms every day of his life. Then everybody from the masters to anyone who wishes to joins in a choral singing of Tyagaraja's Pancharatna Kritis which are considered to be his masterpieces.

B NAGARATNAMMAL
A DASI TO THE CORE

For all the Brahminical rituals Tyagaraja still inspires, it took a far-sighted devadasi to give concrete shape and form to his memorial. Legend has it that Bangalore Nagaratnammal, a rich and talented devadasi had a vision in which Tyagaraja stopped her from drinking a glass of poisoned milk. Following this miracle she went to his samadhi in Tiruvaiyaru in 1921 and found it in a state of utter neglect.

Moved by the sight, Nagaratnammal invested all her wealth in acquiring the land around the samadhi and within five years had built a temple with a marble icon of Tyagaraja installed within.

When she was 70 in 1949, Nagaratnammal bequeathed all her assets to a trust, which was to ensure that the annual aradhana was conducted according to her detailed instructions. She also declared that permission for the aradhana would be withdrawn if women or devadasis were ever barred from participation. Sensitive to the idyllic charm of the place, she willed that no permanent structure was to be built on the land of the samadhi and the view of the Cauvery was not to be marred. Nagaratnammal died in May 1952 and her samadhi faces that of Tyagaraja.

A huge canvas tent has been erected on the banks of the Cauvery in front of the samadhi of this humble Telugu Brahmin who has over time been invested with divinity. As this is the only cultural activity of its kind in this area thousands of local residents -- farmers, clerks, bureaucrats, politicians, policemen, shopkeepers -- come together for the festivities and a vast colourful mela (fair) springs up annually around the site. Apart from the numerous stalls selling music cassettes, CDs and books on music, you can buy local handicrafts like Tanjore paintings and textiles as well. Of course there are dosa, idli and coffee stalls galore, but there are also two free kitchens (pandals) where full vegetarian meals are provided to anyone who walks in. "We have never seen anything like this," exclaims Martin Friedman, a visiting Austrian music lover, adding "My wife and I have been to many music festivals around the globe including the Mozart festival in Salzburg but the atmosphere here is something else. Perhaps it is because of the bhakti that is still an important part of life here." Indeed, besides the music there are elaborate yagnas and ritual bathing in the Cauvery that mark the festival.

It is not as if the festival has remained free of controversies or unchanged in character over the decades. Vocalist Aruna Sairam recalls that as a child when she used to come here the arrangements were less elaborate but the quality of music was far deeper. Great masters like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, T. Brinda, Ariyakudi Ramanujan Iyengar and M.S. Subbulakshmi would come and stay for all the six days -- offer their comments, get into impromptu discussions and join the group chorus on the final day. "Today most stars tend to come only for the day when they are scheduled to sing or play, the community feeling has lessened," she says.

Then there are a few who in the name of Tamil pride want to do away with the festival altogether because Tyagaraja was a Telugu Brahmin and composed only in his native tongue. These are the Dravidian fanatics who for the last two years have been trying to disrupt the proceedings but have been prevented from doing so by a vigilant district administration. This year too they courted arrest in Thanjavur town as they were not allowed near the venue. But this should not be taken to mean that the event is only an upper-caste affair. In fact many non-Brahmins like Tamil Maanila Congress chief G.K. Moopanar and tavil player Palanivel hold top positions in the Mahotsava Sabha and are enthusiastic organisers of the event. The other secretary of the sabha, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, is a leading violinist. His ambition for the future is to build a huge 72-room (one for each musical scale of the Melakarta system) centre "which will house a music library, meditation halls and guest rooms for visiting musicians and scholars. Although it will cost over a crore of rupees, we have already started the building and with God's grace will finish it soon," he says pointing to an adjacent site where the free kitchen is serving food to the public.

Given the devotion that Tyagaraja enjoys among south Indians all over the world, his dream is bound to come true.