The Pancharathna Kritis of Thyagaraja
Thyagaraja was the greatest among the music composers of South India and one of the Musical prodigies of all time. Thyagaraja’s works are of delicate spirituality, full of melodic beauty,…
Divya Nama Kirtanas – A Bhajana Tradition
“I dwell not in Vaikunta, norin the hearts of great Yogis; Of the Nava Vidha Bhakthis or the Nine Paths of Devotion to Godhead, perhaps the best understood, widely practiced,…
KSHETRA KIRTANAS
P. Sreenivasan Kshetra kirtanas refer to compositions in praise of the deity of a specific town or place. Usually, great composers, when they visit a temple town, compose songs in…
The Music of Hindostan
By Fox Strangways THYAGAYYAR OR THYAGARAJA OF TANJORE Thyagayyar or Thyagaraja of Tanjore (early 19th century), more is known. He was revered by his contemporaries as a perfectly sincere and…
Music and Morality
By Ram S. Sriram I hope our past discussions on music, dance, and other arts have been exciting and fascinating to you. This month I want to share two stories…
NADOPASANA FOR SALVATION
By Dr. R. Krishnaswami Nadopasana is bhakthi, worship, and devotion through music. As the article on Thyagaraja’s musical plays points to, Sri Thyagaraja Swami used his compositions to energize our…
Nava Rasas and Proverbs in his compositions
Emotions: To justify his being hailed as one of the foremost poets of his time, Thyagaraja Swami has brilliantly captured all rasas in his compositions. Many people think that studying…
On Knowledge
About knowledge, Thyagaraja Swami says that it is not worth acquiring knowledge which does not improve the quality of man. A very well-read man who has not benefited from his…
On Prayer
Aldous Huxley classified prayer into petition, intercession, meditation, and contemplation. Of these, petition, he said, was the lowest form of prayer; intercession the next best; mediation still higher and contemplation,…
Rituals and Religion
Frequently one hears the largely justified accusation that religion has failed to make man, moral or compassionate and that, it has divided man from man. All religions give us some…