Tyagaraja.....contd..

Tyagaraja In Tirupathi

Devotees of the Lord often go on pilgrimages to various holy places, but Tyagaraja was not cast in that mold. There are, however, accounts of his visits to a few places, almost entirely in the South. The northernmost part he visited was Tirupathi, where Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity. There is a story behind Tyagaraja’s visit to Tirupathi. Tyagaraja was actually invited to Chennai (formerly Madras) by a rich patron of music but he refused, naturally. This rich man then went to a noble sannyasi and a great devotee of Rama named Upanishad Brahmam, who lived in Kancheepuram near Madras.

This Upanishad Brahmam was a friend of Tyagaraja’s father and having heard of the talents of the son of his friend, wanted to see him. So he sent an invitation to Tyagaraja, inviting him to Kancheepuram. This formal invitation, known as srimukham, exists to this day along with some of Tyagaraja’s own writings on palm leaf of his compositions, in the Saurashtra Sabha in the temple city Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Tyagaraja then decided that he would go to Tirupathi and stop in Kancheepuram while returning, to see Upanishad Brahmam.
In Tirupathi, Tyagaraja entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple where the idol is installed but it so happened that at that time the curtain was drawn, hiding the idol. It is a tradition in Hindu temples in South India that when the idol is being washed or decorated, the curtain is drawn. And when Tyagaraja saw the curtain, he sang memorable sang, asking: “When will this curtain come down? O Lord, I have come all the way to have Your Darshan and You are behind a curtain! Will You not please make the curtain fall so that I can see You?” It seems that the curtain immediately fell down, allowing Tyagaraja to have the Darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

This is the folk lore. However, scholars say that what Tyagaraja was really praying for was for the curtain of Maya or delusion to come down, so that he could have the vision of the Lord without any Mind-made distortions. Given Tyagaraja’s depth of devotion, this probably is the real significance of this wonderful song.