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Music as Devotion (Nadopasana)
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Thyagaraja, one among the famous Carnatic Music Trinity is yet another
saint composer of Andhra Pradesh who hails from the Kakarla Village of
Kurnool district. Thyagaraja admired Bhakta Ramdas for his staunch
devotion and also adopted him as his role model. This is evident from the various kritis
through which he tends to pay his tribute to Ramdas whom he even refers to as a sage and
himself as the Dasa of Ramadas.
Inspite of his being a devotee of Rama he is known to have made around 800 compositions on
all the Hindu deities most of them written in his mother tongue Telugu but for a few in
Sanskrit. In his compositions Thyagaraja adopted Ramdas’ style of Anubhavam
of Sri Rama. The only thing that appealed to Thyagaraja were Music and devotion,
which remain synonymous to him who held belief in Nadopasana.
The works of the saint, who can be said to
given a direction to Indian Music next to Purandaradasa, can be spoken of only in
superlatives and even they sometimes seem inadequate to convey the exquisite beauty of his
art. His compositions generally are confined to simple Tala (rhythms)
like Adi, Triputa and Rupaka, which add beauty to his style. His command in the literary
pursuit of both Telugu and Sanskrit have also given them a rare felicity and homeliness.
Through his compositions the Saint tends to drive home great truths at ease with extreme
simplicity.
Thyagaraju’s Pancha ratna Keertanas in
ragas of Nata, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and Sri along with his other compositions in slower
tempos with finer nuances of text and music do more than depict his mastery of design and
structure. A beautiful elaboration introduced by him was the "Sangathi"
as a built-in part of his kriti.
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