The house that preserves idols of Rama and Sita, worshipped by Thyagaraja

Away from the memorial of saint-composer Thyagaraja in Thiruvaiyaru, where his 179th aradhana is marked by five days of uninterrupted concerts, unchavritti and rendering of the Pancharatna kritis, a parallel aradhana is under way in Thanjavur. In the narrow Varagappa Iyer Lane off the bustling South Main Street, devotees queue up at a house named after Thyagaraja. It is here that the idols of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna and Anjaneya, worshipped by Thyagaraja himself, are preserved, along with a portrait of the saint-composer said to have been drawn by his disciples.