The Complete Kritis of Sri Thyagaraja

The inspiration to add one more book of Sri Thyagaraja's compositions arose in the mind of the compiler, when he attended Thyagaraja Aradhana festival some time back. The inspired singing of the great vidwans and the enthusiastic response of the truly international audience sparked the idea in the compiler's mind, that the saint-composer's goal and the heart-felt enjoyment and enlightenment of the audience would be even better served if the text was available in English script and the original Telugu, with the full meaning in English. When he mooted the idea with late Dr. G. Venkatadri and his uncle Dr. R. Venkataraman, they welcomed and backed it. In brief, the idea is to present in the composer's original medium all the songs of Thyagaraja available to date, from the labors of previous compilers like Dr.Manchala Jagannatha Rao (published by TTD) and Sri T.S. Parthasarathy, with an occasional reference to the monumental work of Sri.Govinda Rao, when necessary. This book serves the multiple objectives, such as: to provide for the lovers of Carnatic music, -- and particularly Thyagarajs's-who do not know Telugu, a version in English script notation. The saint-composer conceived of 'Svara, raga sudharasayuta BHAKT' as heavenly. Indeed, in the next line of the song he proclaimed that those who stop with enjoying the great music alone are like herons and frogs sitting on a red lotus, missing the honey within. The heart melted by the music, is meant to receive the Bhava, the Bhakti. The vast circle of ardent lovers of Thyagayya's music in India and abroad needed to be furnished with accurate and complete meaning of every line of his compositions. Perhaps there is no book in Telugu giving all the songs of Sri Thyagaraja with their meanings. It was inaugurated at the 2008 annual celebration of the Thyagaraja Aradhana Samiti at Cleveland USA.