Tyagaraja....contd...

Lord Rama To The Rescue of Tyagaraja

Sundaresa’s consort in Kovur is Tripurasundari [a name of Parvathi], and Tyagaraja also sang many songs in praise of the Goddess. When finally Tyagaraja took leave of Kovur Sundaresa Mudaliar, the host gave a palanquin for the Saint to travel in. While the party was proceeding south, a gang of robbers attacked them. Tyagaraaj was surprised; why was a robber gang attacking them? They had no money or valuables; why then? When he posed this question to one of his disciples, he was told that unknown to him, Sundaresa Mudaliar had given the disciples a lot of money, saying it was all for Rama’s work.

Hearing this, Tyagaraja is reported to have said, “In that case, it is Rama’s problem. He has to protect what belongs to Him,” and sang a song invoking the protection of the Lord. At that time, there appeared, seemingly from nowhere, some hunters who attacked the brigands and drove them away. And after vanquishing the robbers, the hunters vanished but not before giving Darshan to them as Rama and Lakshmana.

All this was reported to the Saint in great detail, whereupon he saw how lucky were the robbers to get the Darshan of the Lord whereas he, a life-long devotee was aching for the same all the time. That is how the Lord plays sometimes with his devotees; for Tyagaraja, it was one more occasion for a memorable song.