Tyagaraja - a brief

Birth and Family of Tyagaraja

Tyagaraja was born in a small town called Tiruvarur on 4th May, 1747 in a Telugu Brahmin family, descended from immigrants from Andhra who went South towards the end of the 16 th century. Till that time, the Vijayanagaram Empire dominated Andhra, besides controlling the feudal kings of the South. In 1565, the Muslims destroyed the Vijayanagaram Empire, following which many Telugu speaking people, especially Brahmins, migrated to the South, seeking patronage of kings there.
Thus it was that Tyagaraja’s ancestors who lived in Karkala village in what is now Kurnool District of the State of Andhra Pradesh, moved to Tanjore [now Tanjavoor] seeking the patronage of a Maratha ruler there.
Tyagaraja was the third son of Ramabrahmam and Sitamma. Ramabrahmam was patronized by the then King of Tanjavoor, and engaged himself in spiritual activities in the royal court. When Tyagaraja was born, Ramabrahmam was living in the temple town Tiruvaroor where Siva is the presiding deity and is known as Tyagrajaswami, the King of Sacrifice. The little baby was named after the local deity.
Soon after Tyagaraja was born, Ramabrahmam shifted to Tiruvaiyaru village on the banks of the sacred Kaveri river where the King gave him a house to live in and also some land.
At the age of eighteen, Tyagaraja was married to a girl named Parvati who died issueless. Thereupon Tyagaraja remarried, taking as his second wife, Kanakamba the younger sister of Parvathi.
They had a daughter Sitamma, who was given in marriage to one Kuppuswami. To this couple was born a boy but this boy, Tyagaraja’s grandson, died without any children. Thus the lineage of Tyagaraja came to an end.
If one goes through the story of Tyagaraja’s life, one cannot escape the impression that he was born for music; not just to create music that enthrals but to show without a trace of doubt that music is unquestionably one of the best ways of attaining God, if not the best.
As Swami often tells us, God is Ganapriyudu, a Lover of Music; not merely that; Swami also reminds us that one of the names of God is NADABRAHMAM – that is to say, [good devotional] music IS God. It is said that as a small baby, Tyagaraja would stop drinking milk, when he heard music.

Several instalments will follow on this topic.

Please listen to some of my Tyagaraja Kritis.