Thanjavur in Focus

Parmesh Shahani escapes for a weekend getaway to a Tamil Nadu temple town, and explores a moving  photography festival in Mumbai

As Karthick Iyer and his band appear at the top of the Pushya Mahal Ghat on the banks of River Kaveri in Thiruvaiyaru, a collective roar goes up from the hundreds of girls who gather to watch them, along with a few good men, such as yours truly. Above us, the ghat steps are decorated with hundreds of earthen lamps and fresh flowers, while the sky overhead explodes with fireworks. I look around and everyone in the audience is smiling.

Now, Thiruvaiyaru is usually a pretty sleepy town, located about 15 kilometres away from Thanjavur (formerly Tanjore). It wakes up twice each year. One is for the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana — a festival that has musicians from all over the world coming together for five days each January to sing and pay homage to their patron saint, the celebrated Carnatic music composer Thyagaraja, who attained samadhi here in 1847.

The second time is during the festival of sacred music that I was attending, during which performers like Karthick and others really amp up the excitement among younger audiences, local bureaucracy and administrators of the different venues — all of whom recognise the immense potential of this event to bring global attention and tourism revenues to the town. The residents of Thiruvaiyaru don’t just at end the concerts, but also participate willingly as volunteers, helping to clean up the river bank and other associated venues. It is a collaborative effort that has yielded rich rewards, both commercially as well as in a renewal of pride for their centuries-old heritage.