Thayagaraja Swamy
The South Indian Musical Trinity - Muthuswamy Dikshithar, Thyagaraja and Shyama Sastri
He is the greatest and the most influential lyricist-composers of South India. His name still evokes a feeling of the utmost reverence and awe amongst people of our times. He wrote and sang thousands of songs steeped in Rama Bhakti during his 80-year sojourn on earth. For many he is the celestial sage Narada reborn on earth! His songs, each a unique jewel, are set to some of the most popular scales in carnatic music. The songs have been sung and played on all types of instruments by generations of musicians to eager audiences who lapped up the music as if it were sheer manna from heaven! The creator of these unforgettable melodies lived more than 250 years ago in the erstwhile kingdom of Tanjore (Thanjavur). His name is none other than Thyagaraja, the man who changed south Indian music forever with his innumerable and unsurpassable krithis and keerthan