Tyagaraja

Tyagaraja

Tyagaraja was one of the greatest composers of the Carnatic music tradition. He was an inexhaustible writer, with thousands of devotional compositions in his name. Most of these were written in glorification of Lord Ram. Five of his compositions are particularly popular even today and are called Panchartna Kritis (five gems). He is considered one of the trinity in the Carnatic school of music, the others being Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri.

EARLY YEARS

Tyagaraja was born in 1759 in Tiruvayur (Tanjavur district of modern day Tamil Nadu), in a Telugu brahmin household. Tyagaraja was named after Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding Deity of his town. His maternal grandfather was a poet composer in the court of the king of Tanjavur. Tyagaraja was married at a young age but lost his wife and remarried later in life.

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