Download The name Tyagaraja has become a synonym for Karnatic music

The name Tyagaraja has become a synonym for Karnatic
music. Though bracketed with other two luminaries of the music
Trinity, Tyagaraja enjoys a special popularity perhaps because his
creations appealed more readily not only for the classes but for the
masses too. Of the three only Tyagaraja seems to have had an eye
for mass appeal too, while his compeers would seem to have been
totally obsessed with values of high classism and religiosity. For
instance, songs with Eduppu at half of the little finger were an effort
to enable even totally illiterate listeners to clap in unison though
without any knowledge of tala. These songs went well with
mediocre level listeners also. These songs had an immediate appeal
with the masses which did not attract the attention of Dikshitar and
Syama Sastri.
The lyrics of Tyagaraja also were of immediate appeal to the
commoner while the language and lyrics of other two Trinitarians
was bhakti oriented, often above the normal reach of the
commoner. Soolamangalam Vaidhyanatha Bhagavatar, a great
devotee of Tyagaraja, has mentioned in his book of biographies that
‘Tyagaraja did not encourage his eligible disciples to spend time on
Raga alapana but concentrate all the time in singing Tyagaraja
kritis’. In the kriti “Dasarati ni runamu deerpa” (Todi), Tyagaraja
himself has admitted in the words “Aasateera doora desa” in
anupallavi that his mind has a desire that his compositions should
be widely sung. This is a very natural desire of any composer and
even Tyagaraja was not free from it. It is such a trace of desire for
popularity and according ways of life of Tyagaraja though he was a
confirmed Rama bhakta that made Tyagaraja kritis to be widely and
readily accepted among common folk.
Tyagaraja achieved the miracle of Telugu songs reigning
supreme in a non Telugu land, Tamil Nadu, where Tamil songs were
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classed as neo-classical or even unclassical. Tamil fundamentalists
had to take serious steps to rise Tamil to a top place in Karnatic
music world and the Tamil Isai Sangam was an offshoot. In this
task of restoring the glory of Tamil, the services of Papanasam
Sivan can be likened only to what Tyagaraja did for Telugu songs.
Papanasam Sivan’s career had its start itself with the cine field
where he not only composed songs and music but also acted along
with his family members also. Publicity is the lifeline of everything
connected to films and Papanasam Sivan grew in the cine pattern.
He was a great admirer of Tyagaraja no doubt and while Tyagaraja
was a Rama bhakti, Papanasam Sivan used the mudra ‘Rama
dasa’. His admiration for Tyagaraja was such that he composed film
songs in tunes of famous Tyagaraja kritis. The song “Enna seiven”
in the raga ‘Sriranjani’ is a classic example of faithful following of
the tune of the famous Tyagaraja kriti “Marubalka” and the
additional publicity was that the song was sung by the melody
queen M.S.Subbulakshmi. It is not an exaggeration to say that,
what Tyagaraja did for Telugu language was attained by Papanasam
Sivan for Tamil language, in the flow of music and language
Papanasam Sivan followed the footsteps of Tyagaraja and did not
mind occasional mixture of sister language. It is therefore not an
exaggeration to call Papanasam Sivan as “Tamil Tyagaraja” and
any amount of study of the fact is worthwhile for researcher.
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