One of Tyagaraja’s many masterpieces, where the great composer exclaims about having found the way to HER, the universal mother goddess Tripura Sundari. That he weaves a neat pun in the words (Tripura Sundari merging with the first dAri) is just cream on top.
This Kriti has been a concert mainstay for generations, with several beautiful sangatis adorning the Pallavi. Therein lies a “controversy”. Purists (I prefer to think of them as cynics, but that’s just me!) carp that these many sangatis were not sung by Tyagaraja, and hence latter day musicians have somehow “contaminated” the saint’s vision by interpolating their own musical tastes into it. This song (among a few others of the saint like nA jIvadhArA in Bilahari and mari mari ninnE in kAmbhoji) are held up as examples of pathantara bhedam (variations in versions) creeping in because of additional sangatis.
