THANJAVUR: The musicians from all over the country on Wednesday paid homage to Saint Thyagaraja, one of the trinities of Carnatic music, at Tiruvaiyaru by rendering the Pancharatna Kritis, the five gems of Thyagarajar's compositions, as an ensemble.
The main function of the 173rd annual Aradhana festival, "Aradhanai", the death anniversary of the Saint commenced with the "Unchavriti" Bhajan from Tirumanjana Veedhi where the saint composer lived. The musicians carried the decorated idol of Thyagarajar to the Ashramam complex of Thyagarajar where the Aradhanai held. Special ablutions were held for the idol of Thyagaraja at the Samadhi. At the same time the rendering of Pancharatna Kritis by the musicians commenced.
Flautists led by Prabanjam S Balachandran rendered the "Sethulara" keerthanai (song) of Thyagaraja as a prelude to the singing of Gana raga pancharatna Kritis. Followed by the flute rendition, the musicians rendered the panchartna kritis, "Jagadha Nandha Karaga", "Duduku Kala Nanne Thora", "Sathinsene O Manasa", "KanaKana Rusira Kanakavasana ninnu", "Entharo Mahanubavulu, Anthariki Vanthanamulu" set in "Naattai", "Gowla", "Arabi", "Varaali" and "Sri Raagam" respectively.
The musicians including Bombay Jayashree, O S Arun, Sudha Raghunathan, Mahathi, Sandeep Narayanan, Cuddalore Janani, Mahamadhi Shobana, Vaduvur Krishnamurthy, Tiruppampuram T K S Meenakshisundaram and Aridhawaramangalam A K Palanivel (Thavil), Sri Mushnam V Raja Rao, Binny Krishnakumar rendered the Pancharatna Kritis as an ensemble.
In the evening the Thyagarajar idol was taken out in procession in the streets of Tiruvaiyaru with "mallari" music. The five days festival ended with Anjaneya Utsavam on Wednesday night.