Tyagaraja  ( born May 4, 1767 , Tamilnad Madras Presidency [Tamil Nadu], India—died Jan. 6, 1847 , Madras Presidency [Tamil Nadu] )  Indian composer renowned in southern India for his Telugu kīrtanas of Carnatic songs of the genre kirtana, or kriti (devotional songs), and ragas. These songs were mostly in praise of Rāmaof ragas. He is the most prominent person in the history of southern Indian classical music, and he is venerated by contemporary Carnatic musicians. Tyagaraja is said to have composed the music and words of thousands of kriti. In concert life he remains dominant; rarely does a concert of southern Indian music omit his works. Although ethnically Tamil, he spent much of his life at the court of Tanjore (now Thanjavur), where the official language was Telugu; thus, most of his songs have Telugu texts. He is considered the head of a group of three major composers who flourished at Tanjore in the early 19th century, the others being Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri.




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William J. Jackson, Tyagaraja, Life and Lyrics (1991), and Tyagaraja, Musician Saint of South India: The Exploration of a Religious Life and Legacy (1984).