The Music of Hindostan c8.s2.4

c8.s2.4

Of Tyagayyar or Tyagarāja or Thiaga Iyar of Tanjore (early nineteenth century) more is known. He was revered by his contemporaries as a perfectly sincere and selfless man; he was an ascetic in the original sense of the word, one who ‘prepared’ his heart for the reception of truth. In Mudaliar Chinnaswami’s *Oriental Music* sixty of his songs (*Kritis*) are printed in staff notation, accompanied by adequate indications of scale, time, and tempo. There is a list also of eight hundred more, and this is probably not exhaustive. They are all in Telugu, the most musical language of the south, as Bengālī is of the north. They exhibit considerable sense of balance, as may be seen from the structure of the song, Ex. 379. They refrain from abusing the ear with excessive compass, and eschew cheap contrasts, both of which are to be found in the compositions of less able musicians. He signs his songs; that is to say, he ends them with words such as ‘This is the last counsel of Tyagarāja’ or ‘You who are the treasure of Tyagarāja’s heart’.