Trinity of Carnatic Music

The Trinity of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of Carnatic music, refer to the outstanding trio of composers-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Prolific in composition, the Trinity of Carnatic music are known for creating a new era in the history of Carnatic music by bringing about a noticeable change in what was the existing Carnatic music tradition. Compositions of the Trinity of Carnatic music are recognized as being distinct in style, and original in handling ragas. All three composers were born in Thiruvarur, formerly part of Thanjavur District in Tamilnadu.

Name	Years	Most Compositions	Mudra	Known For
Shyama Shastri	1762–1827	Telugu, Sanskrit, Goddess Kamakshi	Śyāma Krishna	Complex Talas, Swarajati
Tyagaraja	1767–1847	Telugu, Lord Rama	Tyagaraja	Pancharatna Kritis
Muthuswami Dikshitar	1775–1835	Sanskrit, Manipravalam ( Tamil and Sanskrit ) Chowka Kala	Guruguha	Nottuswara, Neavagraha Kritis

The above Trio paved the way for Carnatic music especially in Tamilnadu in India. I would like to give more detailed description of their life history of each composers as below....

Shyama Shastri :

Early life and career :

Shyama Shastri was born on 26 April 1762 in a Brahmin family in Tiruvarur in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu. He received his instruction in the vedas, astrology, and other traditional subjects early on and learned music from his maternal uncle. He was later trained in music by Adiappayya, a noted durbar musician of Thanjavur.

Although Śyāma Śastri did not compose as so many kritis as his two prolific contemporaries, his compositions are still well known due to the literary, melodic and rhythmic proficiency observed in them. It is said that he composed about three hundred pieces in all.

He did not have many disciples to propagate his compositions, nor was the printing press widely accessible during his time. More importantly, the scholarly nature of his compositions made them more appealing to the learned than to the lay. His compositions are far fewer in number than Tyagaraja or Dikshita. Additionally, they feature a more formal form of Telugu which borrows heavily from Sanskrit. In contrast, Tyagaraja composes in this form of Telugu but also resorts to a more colloquial dialect to which Shyama Shastri does not.

There are also a number of krithis in Tamil attributed to him. Most of his compositions propitiate the goddess Kamakshi.

He composed kritis, varṇa(s) and svarajati(s) with the ankita or mudra (signature) Śyāma Krishna. He was probably the first to compose in a new form of the svarajati musical genre, where the compositions could be rendered solely in a singing or instrumental manner. Prior to this, the svarajati was primarily a dance form, and was close in structure to the dance Varṇaṃ (padavarṇaṃ).

His set of three famous svarajati(s) are intended to be sung in concert rather than danced, and are sometimes referred to as "Ratnatrayam" (Three jewels). They are Kāmākṣhī Anudinamu, Kāmākṣhī Padayugamē, and Rāvē himagiri kumāri, composed in the ragas Bhairavi, Yadukula kambhoji and Todi respectively. The former two are set to Miśra Cāpu Tāḷa, while the third is set to Ādi Tāḷa.

He was known for his ability to compose in the most complex of tāḷas. He was also widely revered for his voice and singing ability during his time.

Death and legacy

Shyama Shastri died in Thanjavur in 1827. He had two sons, Panju Shastri and Subbaraya Shastri. Panju was a devoted worshipper of the deity, Bangaru Kamakshi. Subbaraya was trained in music by his father and became a gifted composer as well as a noted player of the veena. At his father's behest, he was also trained by Tyagaraja, Shyama Shastri's renowned contemporary. Shyama Shastri's adopted grandson, Annasvami Shastri (1827–1900), was also a fine composer.

Shastri had a number of disciples who excelled at the art. Alasur Krishna Iyer became a musician at the royal durbar in Mysore. Porambur Krishna Iyer popularised many of his guru's works. Another disciple, Talagambadi Panchanada Iyer also made his mark as a composer. Another disciple named Dasari gained fame as a noted nāgaswaram player.

Thyagaraja

Personal life and background

Tyāgarāja was born Kakarla Tyagabrahmam in 1767 to a Telugu Vaidiki Mulakanadu Brahmin family in Tiruvarur in present-day Tiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu. There is a school of thought led by musicologist B. M. Sundaram that contests this and proposes Tiruvaiyaru as his birthplace. He is a famous musician and his family name 'Kakarla' indicates that they were originally migrants from the village of the same name in the Cumbum taluk of Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. His family belonged to the Smarta tradition and Bharadvaja gotra. Tyagaraja was the third son of his parents, and Panchanada Brahmam and Panchapakesha Brahmam are his elder brothers. He was named Tyagabrahmam/Tyagaraja after Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of the temple at Thiruvarur, the place of his birth. Tyagaraja's paternal grandfather was Giriraja Kavi. Giriraja Kavi was a poet and musician. Giriraja was born in Kakarla village, Cumbum taluk in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. He is believed to have belonged to the Mulakanadu sect. Tyagaraja's maternal grandfather was named Kalahastayya, but was frequently addressed as Veena Kalahastayya as he was a noted veena player. Tyagaraja learned to play the veena in his childhood from Kalahastayya. After Kalahastayya's death Tyagaraja found Naradeeyam, a book related to music. Tyagaraja hero-worshipped the celestial sage Narada; a reference to this is Tyagaraja's krithi Vara Nārada (rāga Vijayaśrī, Ādi tāḷam). Legend has it that a hermit taught him a mantra invoking Narada, and Tyagaraja, meditating on this mantra, received a vision of Narada and was blessed with the book Svarārnavam by the sage. During his last days, Tyagaraja took vows of Sannyasa.

Tyagaraja died on a Pushya Bahula Panchami day, 6 January 1847, at the age of 79. His last composition before his death was Giripai Nelakonna (rāga Sahāna, Ādi tāḷam). He was buried at the banks of the Kaveri river at Thiruvaiyaru.

Musical career

Tyāgarāja began his musical training at an early age under Sonti Venkata Ramanayya, a music scholar, after the latter heard his singing and was impressed by the child prodigy. Tyagaraja regarded music as a way to experience God's love. His compositions focused on expression, rather than on the technicalities of classical music. He also showed a flair for composing music and, in his teens, composed his first song, "Namo Namo Raghavayya", in the Desika Todi ragam and inscribed it on the walls of the house. His compositions are mainly of a devotional (bhakti) or philosophical nature. His songs feature himself usually either in an appeal to his deity of worship (primarily the Avatar Rama), in musings, in narratives, or giving a message to the public. He has also composed krithis in praise of Krishna, Shiva, Shakti, Ganesha, Muruga, Saraswati, and Hanuman.

Sonti Venkataramanayya informed the king of Thanjavur of Tyagaraja's genius. The king sent an invitation, along with many rich gifts, inviting Tyagaraja to attend the royal court. Tyagaraja, however, was not inclined towards a career at the court, and rejected the invitation outright. He was said to have composed the krithi Nidhi Chala Sukhama (నిధి చాల సుఖమా) (English: "Does wealth bring happiness?") on this ccasion. He spent most of his time in Tiruvaiyaru, though there are records of his pilgrimages to Tirumala and Kanchipuram. When he was in Kanchipuram, he met Upanishad Brahmayogin at the Brahmendral Mutt at Kanchipuram.

The songs he composed in pure Telugu were widespread in their popularity because of the ease with which they could be sung in those days. Musical experts such as Kancheepuram Nayana Pillai, Simizhi Sundaram Iyer and Veenai Dhanammal saw the infinite possibilities for imaginative music inherent in his compositions and they systematically notated the songs available to them. Subsequently, researchers like K. V. Srinivasa Iyengar and Rangaramanuja Iyengar made an enormous effort to contact various teachers and families who possessed the palm leaves. K. V. Srinivasa Iyengar brought out Adi Sangita Ratnavali and Adi Tyagaraja Hridhayam in three volumes. Rangaramanuja Iyengar published Kriti Mani Malai in two volumes. He also composed songs in Sanskrit.Tyagaraja, who was immersed in his devotion to Rama and led a spartan way of life, did not take any steps to systematically codify his vast musical output. Rangaramanuja Iyengar, a leading researcher on Carnatic music, in his work Kriti Manimalai, has described the situation prevailing at the time of the death of Tyagaraja. It is said that a major portion of his incomparable musical work was lost to the world due to natural and man-made calamities. Usually, Tyagaraja used to sing his compositions sitting before deity manifestations of Lord Rama, and his disciples noted down the details of his compositions on palm leaves. After his death, these were in the hands of his disciples, then families descending from the disciples. There was not a definitive edition of Tyagaraja's songs.

Furthermore, Musiri Subramania Iyer, the doyen of Bhava Sangitam, had a vast collection of books in his library. T. K. Govinda Rao, his disciple, brought out a volume of Tyagaraja's songs in English and Devanagari script. T. S. Parthasarathy, a leading scholar on Tyagaraja, published the text and meaning of Tyagaraja's songs. There are also many less comprehensive publications in Telugu.

About 700 songs remain of the 24,000 songs said to have been composed by him; however, scholars are skeptical about numbers like these, as there is no biographical evidence to support such claims. In addition to nearly 700 compositions (kritis), Tyagaraja composed two musical plays in Telugu, the Prahalada Bhakti Vijayam and the Nauka Charitam. Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam is in five acts with 45 kritis set in 28 ragas and 138 verses, in different metres in Telugu. Nauka Charitam is a shorter play in one act with 21 kritis set in 13 ragas and 43 verses. The latter is the most popular of Tyagaraja's operas, and is a creation of the composer's own imagination and has no basis in the Bhagavata Purana. Tyagaraja also composed a number of simple devotional pieces appropriate for choral singing.

The 20th-century Indian music critic K. V. Ramachandran wrote: "Tyagaraja is an indefatigable interpreter of the past... but if with one eye he looks backward, with the other he looks forward as well. Like Prajapati, he creates his own media and adores his Rama not alone with jewel-words newly fashioned, but also with jewel-[like]-music newly created. It is this facet of Tyagaraja that distinguishes him from his illustrious contemporaries. In other words, while Tyagaraja's contemporaries were primarily concerned with bringing to audiences the music of the past, Tyagaraja also pioneered new musical concepts at the same time.

Remembrance

Tyagaraja Aradhana, the commemorative music festival is held every year at Thiruvaiyaru in the months of January to February in Tyagaraja's honor. This is a week-long festival of music where various Carnatic musicians from all over the world converge at his resting place. On the Pushya Bahula Panchami, thousands of people and hundreds of Carnatic musicians sing the five Pancharatna Kritis in unison, with the accompaniment of a large bank of accompanists on veenas, violins, flutes, nadasvarams, mridangams and ghatams.

A sports complex in New Delhi, Thyagaraj Sports Complex, was named after him. A crater on the planet Mercury was named after Tyagaraja in 1976.

Muthuswami Dikshitar

Early life

Muthuswami Dikshitar was born on 24 March 1775 in Tiruvarur near Thanjavur in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India. He was the eldest son of the composer, Ramaswami Dikshitar who instructed in a number of subjects including the vedas, poetry, music, and astrology. Muthuswami had two brothers, Chinnaswami (Cinnasvāmi) and Balaswami (Bālāsvāmi), and a sister, Balāmba.

Muthuswami moved to the town of Manali, near Madras (now Chennai) at the behest of Venkatakrishna Mudaliar, a local zamindar. The Dikshitar brothers accompanied the zamindar to Fort St. George nearby where they were introduced to Western orchestral music and the violin. An ascetic named Chidambaranatha Yogi then took Muthuswami under his wing and away to the city of Benares (now Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh). There he was instructed in music, esoterics, philosophy, and yoga. He was also exposed to Hindustani classical music, particularly the Dhrupad style, which, according to some scholars, would influence his later compositions.

Upon the death of Chidamabaranatha Yogi, Dikshitar returned South from Benares and moved to the town of Tiruttani near Tirupati.

Career

According to legend, Murugan, the deity of the temple at Tirutani, placed a piece of sugar candy in Dikshitar's mouth and commanded him to sing. This marked the beginning of his career in music and also led to him adopting the mudra, Guruguha, one of the many names of Murugan. His first composition was Śrināthādi guruguho jayati jayati in the raga Maya Malavagaula and Adi tala.

This song addressed the Lord (and/or the guru) in the first declension (Vibhakthi) in Sanskrit. Dikshitar later composed kritis in all the eight declensions on the Lord. These are mostly with epithets glorifying Muruga in the ascetic/preceptor form and have very few references to specifically the deity in the saguna form, as at Thiruthani.

He then went on a pilgrimage visiting and composing at the temples at Kanchi, Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram, Tirupathi and Kalahasthi, Srirangam, before returning to Tiruvarur.

Muthuswami Dikshitar attained mastery over the veena, and the influence of veena playing is evident in his compositions, particularly the gamakas. In his kriti Balagopala, he introduces himself as a vainika ga¯yaka, "a player of the veena".^[7] He experimented with the violin, and among his disciples, Vadivelu of the Thanjavur Quartet, and his brother Balaswami Dikshitar pioneered the use of violin in Carnatic music, now an integral part of most Carnatic ensembles.

On his return to Tiruvarur, he composed on every deity in the Tiruvarur temple complex including Tyagaraja (an amsham of Lord Shiva), the presiding deity, Nilotpalambal, his consort, and the Goddess Kamalambal an independent deity of high tantric significance in the same temple complex. This is when he composed the famous Kamalamba Navavarna kritis, filled with exemplary sahityas on the deities of the Sri Chakra which proved to be the showcase of his compositions. These navavaranams were in all the eight declensions of the Sanskrit language and are sung as a highlight of Guruguha Jayanti celebrated every year. He continued to display his prowess by composing the Navagraha Kritis in praise of the nine planets. The sahitya of the songs reflect a profound knowledge of the Mantra and Jyotisha sastras. The Nilotpalamba Kritis is another classic set of compositions which revived dying ragas like Narayanagaula, Purvagaula, and Chayagaula.

Death and legacy

Muthuswami Dikshitar died on 21 October 1835 at Ettayapuram. He had no children. A samadhi was erected at Ettayapuram in his memory and attracts musicians and admirers of his art.

Muthuswami Dikshitar's brothers Chinnaswami (1778–c. 1823) and Balaswami Dikshitar (1786–1858) were also noted musicians. Chinnaswami composed some kritis while Balaswami adapted and pioneered the use of the Western violin in Carnatic music. The two of them were primarily vocalists and performed together as a duo singing Muthuswami's compositions. Balaswami's grandson was the composer and scholar, Subbarama Dikshitar (1839–1906). In his Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini (IAST: Saṅgīta sampradāya pradarśini), Subbarama records 229 of Muthuswami Dikshitar's kritis.

Dikshitar's disciples included a number of renowned artists who carried forward his tradition. They included the Tanjore quartet brothers, Ponnayya Pillai, Vadivelu, Chinnayya and Sivanandam, the mridangam player Tambiyappa, the veena player Venkatarama Ayyar of Avudayarkoil, Tiruvarur Kamalam, Vallalarkoil Ammani, Kornad Ramaswamy, Tirukkadeyur Bharati, Thevvoor Subrahmania Ayyar, and the son of his Shyama Shastri, Subbaraya Shastri.

With the creativity and spiritual value embedded in his compositions, Dikshitar is considered one of the Trinity of Carnatic music alongside his two contemporaries from Tiruvarur, Tyagaraja and Shyama Shastri.