Trinity of Carnatic music
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Sri Thyagaraja, Sri Shyama Shastri and Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar are especially notable and are considered the Trinity of Carnatic Music
Tyagaraja was born to Kakarla Ramabrahmam and his wife Seethamma in the small town of Thiruvarur in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu on May 4, 1767.
He was named Tyagaraja, after Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of the temple at Thiruvarur. His maternal grandfather, Giriraja Kavi, at whose house in Tiruvarur Tyagaraja was born, was a poet-composer in the court of the king of Thanjavur. The family was a pious Telugu-speaking smartha brahmin family of the Mulukanadu subsect. It is assumed that they must have migrated from Vijayanagara Samrajyam then, in present day Andhra Pradesh, and had settled in Thiruvaiyaru.
Tyagaraja was married at a young age to a lady named Parvatamma, who died shortly afterwards. Tyagaraja then married Kamalamba and they had a daughter named Seethalakshmi. Tyagaraja attained samadhi on January 6, 1847.
Tyagaraja started his musical training under Sonti Venkataramanayya, a noted scholar of music, at an early age. Tyagaraja regarded music as a way to experience the love of God. His objective while performing music was purely devotional rather than to display his mastery over technicalities of music. When he was eight years old, Tyagaraja composed Namo Namo Raghavaya Anisham in raga Desikathodi.
A few years later Sonti Venkataramanayya, invited Tyagaraja to perform at his house in Thanjavur. On that occasion, Tyagaraja sang Endaro Mahaanubhavulu, the fifth of the Pancharatna Krithis. Pleased with Tyagaraja's song, Sonti Venkataramanayya told the king of Thanajavur about the genius of Tyagaraja. The king sent an invitation, accompanied with many rich gifts, inviting Tyagaraja to attend the royal court. Tyagaraja, however was not inclined for a career at the court. He rejected the invitation outright, composing another gem of a kriti, Nidhi Chala Sukhama (does wealth bring happiness?) on this occasion. Angered at his rejection of the royal offer, Tyagaraja's brother threw the statues of Rama Tyagaraja used in his prayers into the nearby river Kavery. Tyagaraja, unable to bear the separation with his Lord, went on pilgrimages to all the major temples in south India and composed many songs in praise of the deities of those temples.
In addition to nearly 600 songs (kritis), Tyagaraja composed two musical plays dramas in Telugu, the Prahalada Bhakti Vijayam and the Nauca Charitam. Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam is in five acts with 45 kritis set in 28 ragas and 138 verses, in different metres in Telugu. Nauca Charitam is a shorter play in one act with 21 kritis set in 13 ragas and 43 verses.It is the most popular of Tyagaraja's operas, and is a creation of the composer's own imagination and has no basis in the Bhagavatam.
Muthuswami Dikshitar Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835) is the youngest of the Carnatic music composer trinity. He was born in 1775 to Ramaswami Dikshitar and Subbamma, as the eldest son, in Tiruvarur (near present day Thanjavur). Muttuswami is said to have born to the couple after they prayed for a child in the temple of Vaitheeswaran Koil. According to the account of Subbarama Dikshitar, Muttuswami Dikshitar was born in the manmatha year, in the month of Panguni under the asterism Krittikaa. He was named after the temple deity, Muttukumaraswamy. He also had two younger brothers Baluswami, Chinnaswami and a sister Balambal. Muttuswami learnt the Vedas, Sanskrit and other important religious texts. He also obtained his preliminary musical education from his father. While he was still in his teens, his father sent him on a pilgrimage with a wandering monk named Chidambaranatha Yogi, to gain musical and philosophical knowledge. Over the course of this pilgrimage, he visited many places in North India, and acquired a broad outlook that is reflected in many of his compositions. During their stay in Kashi (Varanasi), his guru Chidambarantha Yogi, presented him with a unique Veena, and died shortly thereafter. The Samadhi of Chidambaranatha Yogi can still be seen in the Hanuman Ghat area in Varanasi.
Muttuswami Dikshitar attained mastery over the Veena, and the influence of Veena playing is evident in his compositions. As per his guru's orders, he went to tiruttani(a temple town near chennai).There while he was immersed deep in meditation, an old man appeared and asked him to open his mouth. He dropped sugar candy into his mouth and disappeared. As he opened his mouth, he had the darshana of the God Muruga and the composer burst forth into his first composition "Shri naathaadi guruguho" in the raga Maayaamaalavagaula. This song addressed the Lord ( and /or the Guru) in the first declension in sanskrit. He composed kritis in all the 8 declensions on the Lord. These kritis are mostly with epithets glorifying the guru and have very few references to Lord Muruga or specifically to the God in the saguna form or to the form at Tiruttani.He then went on a pilgrimage visiting and composing on temples at Kanchi, Arunachalam , Chidambaram,Tirupathi and Kalahasthi.He then returned back to Tiruvarur. His total compositions are about 450 to 500, most of which are very widely sung by musicians today in Carnatic music concerts. Most of his compositions are in Sanskrit and in the Krithi form i.e. poetry set to music. Muttuswami Dikshitar traveled to many holy shrines throughout his life, and composed krithis on the deities and temples he visited.
Each of his compositions is unique and brilliantly crafted. The compositions are known for the depth and soulfulness of the melody - his visions of some of the ragas are still the final word on their structure. His Sanskrit lyrics are in praise of the temple deity, but Muttuswami introduces the advaitin thought seamlessly into his songs, resolving the inherent relationship between Advaita philosophy and polytheistic worship. His songs also contain much information about the history of the temple, and its background, thus preserving many customs followed in these old shrines.
Muttuswami also undertook the project of composing in all the 72 melakartha ragas, (in his asampurna mela scheme) thereby providing a musical example for many rare and lost ragas. Dikshitar was a master of talas and is the only composer to have krithis in all the seven basic talas of the carnatic scheme. Dikshitar shows his prowess in sanskrit by composing in all the eight vibhakthis(cases).
For richness of Raga Bhava,sublimity of their philosophic contents and for the grandeur of the Sahithya, the songs of Dikshitar stand unsurpassed.
Shyama Shastri
Shyama Shastri was born to Venkatakrishna, in Tiruvarur (of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu) on April 26, 1762, into the scholarly and priestly Telugu Brahmin family of Viswanatha Iyer; a family not particularly interested in music. Though Shyama Shastri attained scholarship in Telugu and Sanskrit at a young age, he got no further than the elementary stages in music education, in spite of his melodious voice. When he was eighteen years old, his family moved to Tanjore. Around then, his family got a chance to host a sanyasi (monk), sangitaswami, a master of dance and music, who was spending some four months in Tanjore. The sanyasi was quick to discover Shyama Shastri's keen intellect, melodious voice and musical talent and foresaw greatness in him. He obtained the father's consent to tutor the son in music and taught Shyama Shastri all aspects of raga, tala and swara prasthara-s. The teacher found that the student could absorb even the intricate details very quickly, all in a matter of four months or less. Sangitaswami presented Shyama Shastri with a few rare treatises on music and certified that the student had gained full knowledge on the theoretical aspects of music. He advised his student to seek the friendship of and listen to the music (but not learn anything from) one Pacchimiriam Adiyappa, a composer of the famous bhairavi ata tala varnam, viriboni, and a court musician in Tanjore. Shyama Shastri duly did as he was advised.
Over the years, Shyama Shastri became a well-known and respected musician, scholar and a composer. He was quite admired and respected by Tyagaraja and it appears that the two of them often held scholarly and lengthy discussions on their latest compositions. Shyama Shastri, like his father was the archaka (priest) in the Bangaru Kamakshi Temple in Tanjore. He was a very pious and genuine devotee of Goddess Kamakshi. He is believed to have lost consciousness of the outside world on several occasions as he prayed to the Goddess. On such occasions, he would sing his kriti-s extemporaneously. His father had the patronage of the Tanjore king. Hence, the family was financially comfortable. } Shyama Shastri had two sons, Panju Shastri and Subbaraya Shastri. The former became a priest and the latter was a versatile musician (and a disciple of Tyagaraja). Through Panju Shastri, the family tree grew and produced quite a few scholars. Shyama Shastri's great grandson was alive till the age of 94 and died only in 1950. Hence, many incidents of Shyama Shastri's life are known. He was reportedly a tall and a rather stout person with a fondness for betel leaves! Shyama Shastri, like Tyagaraja and Dikshitar, was well-versed in astrology. Like his great contemporaries, he too correctly predicted the time of his passing. He died on February 6, 1827, six days after, his devoted wife.
Although he did not compose as many kriti-s as his two prolific contemporaries, Shyama Shastri's compositions are equally well known. It is said that he has composed about three hundred pieces in all. He did not have too many disciples to propagate his compositions, nor was the printing press an easy convenience during his time! More importantly, the scholarly nature of his compositions was not appealing to the layperson; they needed to be studied to be savoured. He composed in Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil and mostly on Goddess Devi. He has composed kriti-s in, varnam-s and swarajati-s with the ankita/mudra (signature) 'Shyama Krishna'. He is said to be the architect of the swarajati musical form. His set of three famous swarajati-s is referred to as ratna trayam. These are in Bhairavi, Yadukulakambodhi and Todi.
Shyama Shastri's compositionsare usually in common raga-s, except for a few in raga-s such as Manji, Chintamani, Kalagada and Karnataka Kapi. His favourite ragas seem to have been Saveri and Anandabhairavi, judging from the number of kriti-s composed in these raga-s. Anandabhairavi, an old raga that was frequently used in folk music, seemed to acquire a new stature after he composed masterpieces such as mariveregati, himachala tanaya, o jagadamba, pahi sri giriraja and even a couple of varnam-s in it. His rare originality was in swara sahitya compositions and the use of swarakshara. In other words, swara and sahitya having identical sounding syllables such as 'padasarara' corresponding to the swara-s pa da sa in the kriti, devi ni in Kambodhi. Though most of his compositions are on Goddess Kamakshi, he is said to have composed his navaratnamalika on Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai at the request of a person unknown to him. These include kriti-s such as saroja dala netri in Shankarabharanam, mayamma in Ahiri, meena lochana brova in Dhanyasi , etc. His Krithis usually have the pen-name ShyamaKrishna in the charanam of the song.
