According to B.M. Sundaram, the well known scholar, Tiruvarur in its heyday had as many as 48 families of devadasi-s. All of them had been given 100 acres of land in a place called Melakkara Pathi and were enjoined to serve the temple (source: B.M. Sundaram's Marabu Tanda Maanikkangal released by the Dr. V. Raghavan Research Centre, Chennai). He further states that there was a classification among the dasi-s and some were attached to the Kamalambal shrine alone, while others belonged to Tyagesa. Thilagam and her ancestors fell into the latter category. Who or what is a Kondi? According to Thilagam, the word denotes a woman who is obsessed with something and will never let go. In the Kondi Paramparai of which Thilagam is the last, it is love (or should we say all consuming passion?) for Siva-Tyagesa of Tiruvarur. Goddess Neelotpalambal, the 'bhogini' (or wife) of Tyagesa as opposed to the 'yogini' (the one in penance), Kamalambal, is said to be the first of the Kondi-s. Under the flowers and the gold plate that hide the body of Tyagesa and His consort, She is said to be holding His hand with Her little finger and eternally gazing at Him and none other.

According to Thilagam, Appar talks of Kondi in one of his songs on Tyagesa. Paravai and Manikkam were two Kondi-s of a later period. Paravai was married off to Sundaramoorti Nayanar after Tyagesa Himself served as a go between and furthered the romance. He earmarked Manikkam for Himself and came one day in the guise of an old man and demanded that she unite with Him. Manikkam knowing full well who the old man was, agreed and informed her family members of her decision and stated that neither she nor the old man would be alive the next morning and so it came to pass. The two bodies were cremated together. Since then it has been customary that when a Kondi passes, her body is first brought to the entrance of the Tiruvarur temple where a Kondi parivattam is placed on it and it is also sprinkled with water from the stream from which Tyagesa gets His daily ration of neelotpala flowers. Having taken leave of Tyagesa the body is then taken for cremation. A temple for Manikkam stands even now on North Car Street, Tiruvarur. Yet another remarkable member of this lineage was Kunjammal who, according to Thilagam, dedicated herself to Tyagesa to such an extent that she wore only white and bedecked herself in rudraksha beads. Incidentally, once again as per Thilagam, this was the dress that was worn by all members of the Kondi paramparai when they performed during kumbha haarati during the deeparadhana at the Tyagesa shrine, till the performance was banned by law following the Devadasi Act of 1947. Kunjammal is said to have lived during the reign of the legendary Manuneeti Chola.

One year, the chariot of Tyagesa, the famed Azhi ter of Tiruvarur came to a halt at a particular location and did not move despite the efforts of those handling the ropes. Tyagesa appeared as a Brahmin boy and prophesied that unless the Kondi came and touched the chariot, it would not move. As no one knew who was the Kondi, the child also pointed her out and vanished. The king then went to fhe Kondi and requested her to do the needful. She, while agreeing to do so, in turn prophesied that her life would depart the moment the chariot moved and asked the king for a favour. This was that her body be cremated at Mayuram.

This was no idle whim. The Kondi had long desired to die at Kasi and Mayuram was said to be its southern equivalent, especially as the Ganges herself was said to mix with the Cauvery during the month of Tula, leading to the famed Tula Snaanam event. The king agreed. The Kondi then touched the chariot wheels which moved even as she fell dead. In those days, the moving of a corpse from one town to another was prohibited and Manuneeti Cholan had to distribute gold coins to the needy at every step the bier took as an act of expiation for this. The Kondi was cremated at Mayuram as per her wish at a place which became known as Kondi Thoppu. Further, in order to enable future Kondi-s have a darsan of Goddess Visalakshi of Kasi at Tiruvarur itself, a shrine was built for the Goddess just opposite the ancestral house. This temple still survives. Somewhere during the reign of King Shahaji (r. 1684-1712) the Tyagesa Kuravanji came into the Kondi family and it was performed by them at the temple ever after. Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776-1835), the great Trinitarian, was a close observer of the traditions of the Tiruvarur temple. He refers to the Kondi paramparai by their Sanskrit name— 'Rudra Ganika' and their tradition of dancing before the deity in the line "vimala rudra ganikaa nartana vinoda bheda modakarasya" in the song Sree Tyagarajasya bhakto in the raga Rudrapriya.

The term "yogini gana" in the song Tyagarajo virajate in raga Athana could also be a reference to their tradition. One of the Kondi paramparai, Kamalani was a disciple of Muthuswami Dikshitar and it is said that he composed the varnam Roopamu joochi for her to dance. Some sources however attributed this varnam to Ramaswami Dikshitar. Kamalam was very close to the Muthuswami Dikshitar family and once, on coming to know that her guru and his family was in dire straits financially, offered to pawn her gold bangles in order to help. Dikshitar is said to have been overwhelmed by her gesture but did not take up the offer. The last of the Kondi-s, namely Thilagam, however knows very few Dikshitar songs and surprisingly for one who is so close to the Tiruvarur tradition, knows just one of the Kamalamba Navavaranam— Kamalaambaam hhajare in Kalyani. She however does know a few of the Tyagaraja vibhakti kriti-s in praise of the deity to whom her family is dedicated. Lz Thilagam's great grandmother Kutti Animal, was so passionate about the Tyagesa Kuravanji that she even went to court successfully to defend her right to perform it when a rival dancer challenged it.

In the process, she did not hesitate to pledge her own house to meet the legal expenses. Her daughter Kamalam, Thilagam's grandmother, appears to have been yet another illustrious member of this line. In her youth, she had been honoured with a kanakabhishekam by one V.A. Naidu, for having performed the difficult Simhanandanam. This involved sketching out a lion using footwork alone, while dancing on a patch of wet mud over which a cloth had been spread. There is a photograph of this Kamalam which shows a petite figure, extremely pretty with hair streaked with premature grey. And then one notices the eyes. There is a steely glitter in them that marks her out to be a true Kondi. Other than the dance during worship, the Kondi-s had an important function at the temple. On the day of the chariot festival, Tyagaraja is brought from the sanctum to the Thilagam with the parivattam chariot, on a wooden platform supported by poles that are carried by the bearers. During this journey to the chariot, the deity performs the 'ajapa natanam' which is of great mystic significance and is associated with Siva as Tyagaraja. Many of Dikshitar's songs on the deity refer to this dance. The Kondi has to present herself at this juncture and offer flowers to the deity and also fan Him with peacock feathers. Then, as the deity mounts the chariot, she offers Him marundu (medicine), which is prepared by her family in great secrecy. This marundu, called 'idiccha puli' is offered to the Lord to help him recover from the strain he underwent during His dance.

For this the Kondi is presented with a headgear called the Kondi Parivattam and also a portion of the food offered to the deity, which is called Kondi Naivedyam. The marundu is distri buted among the devotees as a panacea for many ills. This right to the Kondi Parivattam was interpreted by Kamalam, the grandmother, to be beyond the purview of the Devadasi Act, as it was given to her family by virtue of their being devotees of Tyagesa. This right has since been upheld by the temple and Kamalam and her descendants continued to perform this ritual. Interestingly, somewhere along the line it came to include the males in the family as well and so today, the right alternates between Thilagam and her nephew (see photo) year after year.