Tyāgarāja

Book excerpt: Tyāgarāa (1767-1847) is undoubtedly South India’s most celebrated singer-saint. This book attempts to deepen our understanding of Tyāgarāa’s life and music with fresh insights. It explores Tyāgarāa’s philosophy of music and provides excellent English translations of a hundred and sixty of his greatest lyrics. For the first time in Tyāgarāa scholarship, the saint’s life and works have been contextualized in a sociohistorical framework. The author provides an exhaustive sociological analysis of Tyāgarāa’s Thanjavur and establishes links between Tyāgarāa’s works and the troubled history of his time. He analyses the making of saints in different religions and draws parallels between legends of saints built over decades.