Tyagaraja.....(contd..)

“Praise God, Not Man”

Tyagaraja in Chennai From Tirupathi, Tyagaraja turned back and on his way stopped in Madras (now Chennai). We are here talking of a period around the year 1800 when Madras was far from the huge metropolis it now is. There was of course the main town, scattered around which were many villages, all of which have now been swallowed by the megapolis the city has since become. Though Madras had not yet become a big city then, there were in the vicinity of the city many patrons of Carnatic Music. One of them was Kovur Sundaresa Mudaliar, who warmly extended his hospitality to the Saint. Patrons in those days, wanted poets and musicians to sing their praise in return for the patronage conferred. It is said that Sundaresa Mudaliar dropped hints that he would like Tyagaraja to sing a few songs in his praise. Obviously Tyagaraja could not and would not do that. So how did he handle this delicate situation? Literally by following Swami’s dictum: “If you cannot oblige, speak obligingly!” What Tyagaraja did was to go to the local temple where the deity was Sundaresa [this is one of the names by which Siva is known]. And there before Lord Sundaresa, Tyagaraja sang five glorious songs in praise of Sundaresa [the Lord and not the host!]. This set of five songs are known as Kovur Pancharatnams [the five gems of Kovur].

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