More than 1,000 musicians rendered pancharathna kritis of Saint Tyagaraja in unison at his samadhi on the banks of the Cauvery at Tiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district on Tuesday as a mark of tribute to the poet on the occasion of his 170th aradhana day.
Many others thronged the spot as mellifluous music in the morning drenched the otherwise dry river bed adjacent to the samadhi.
One of the Carnatic music triumvirate, Tyagaraja passed away on the Pushya Bahula Panchami day in 1847. Every year, the Sri Tyagabrahma Mahotsva Sabha arranges the aradhana for the prolific poet whose soul-stirring songs in Telugu are rendered by musicians on stage.
This year, the aradhana celebrations commenced on January 13. Numerous musicians and instrumentalists have been performing on the stage set up in front of the samadhi on the banks of Cauvery at Tiruvaiyaru over the past five days. The event’s high point on Tuesday was the bhagavathars taking out the traditional ritual unjavritti from his memorial house to the samadhi. A special abhishekam was performed for the idol of Saint Tyagaraja even as the musicians commenced rendering his pancharathna kritis .
The main programme started with the noted flautist Prabhanjam S. Balachandaran setting the tone. Then the vocalists and instrumentalists took over to render the pancharathna kritis of Saint Tyagaraja.
Renowned musicians, including Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Sudha Raghunathan, Charumathy Ramachandran, Aridwaramangalam K. Palanivel, Srimushnam Raja Rao, T.R. Govindarajan, O.S. Arun, Rudrapatnam Brothers R.N. Thyagarajan and R.N. Tharanathan, Carnatica Brothers K. N. Sashikiran and P. Ganesh, Shanmukha Priya and Hari Priya, Papanasam Ashok Ramani, Vijay Siva, Magadhi, ‘Mahanadhi’ Shobhana were among the galaxy of musicians present.
