Gandharvas are celestial musicians, who would spend their time by singing, dancing and praising the glories of Lord Indra. Gandharvas are considered as superiors only next to the Devas in the Indra Loka, and they used to live in big palaces which would be constructed in big mountains, and also they would live in the Gandharva Loka, which is situated at the bottom of the Indra Loka. Whenever we hear any good music in Music concerts, we would describe it as the auspicious Gandharva Music.
Tumburu is a Gandharva and he is a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu, who is very famous in rendering good Gandharva Gana, and we can see his small idol nearby the Tumburu Theertham in Tirumala, and this Theertham is considered to be very auspicious, and devotees are allowed to visit this sacred Theertham only once in a year, that is during the auspicious festival day of Chitra Pournami.
Sri Purandaradasa, who was considered to be an incarnation of Rishi Narada, would perform Gandharva Gana in the court of the then Vijayanagar King, Sri Krishnadevaraya, and while listening to his divine music, the listeners would get a divine experience, and most of them would be joyfully fainted during the time of completion of the Gandharva Gana. Similar to Purandaradasa, his guru Sri Vyasaraja was also an expert in performing Gandharva Gana, since in his past birth, he was born as Prahalada, and Sri Prahalada used to listen to the Gandharva Gana of the Gandharvas at his palace.
Gandharvas are heavenly people, and they contain more powers than ordinary humans. They are capable to fly in the skies, and their life time also would be more than that of humans. It is believed that the great Gandharva Tumburu still visits various temples in the earth, and due to the blessings of Lord Vishnu, he has attained the state of an “IMMORTAL”. Tumburu contains the head of a horse, and Lord Shiva has granted the horse head as a boon to him, as per his request, since with his horse head, he could sing loudly.
Let us worship the great Gandharva, Tumburu Bhagavan, and let us be blessed.
“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR