Scores of musicians and instrumentalists rendered ‘pancharatna kritis’ in unison at the samadhi of Sri Thyagaraja on the banks of the Cauvery at Tiruvaiyaru on Tuesday, marking the high point of the 174th aradhana of the saint-composer.

The event commenced with the ‘mangala isai’ by nagaswaram artistes around 8.30 a.m., followed by a brief musical tribute to the ‘Nadhabrahmam’ by flute artistes.

The main event, the rendering of ‘pancharatna kritis’ by vocalists, supported by flute, veena, mridangam, ghatam, ganjira, morsing and violin artistes, went on for about an hour, coinciding with the ‘maha aarti’ at the Adhishtanam when the vocalists were rendering the song ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu’ by the saint-composer.

Earlier, the vocalists recited ‘Jagadanandakaraka’, ‘Dudukugala’, ‘Sadhinchene’ and ‘Kanakanaruchira’, which are the other four ‘kritis’ forming part of the ‘pancharatna kritis’.

Musicians like Sudha Ragunathan, Mahathi and Vishaka Hari participated in the event.

Curtailed event

The aradhana, organised by Sri Thyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha, Tiruvaiyaru, was curtailed to a two-day event this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the absence of several popular musicians, the platform to offer a musical tribute on the day of ‘Bahula panchami’ to the ‘Thyagabrahmam’ this year was grabbed by many young and up-and-coming vocalists.