MUTHUSWAMI DIKSHITA
Dr. B. RAJANI KANTA RAO
The unique feature of
the 18th century of Christian Era is in the fact that in this century were
born, within a span of thirteen years, three great composers of South India,
namely Syama Sastri, Tyagaraju and Muthuswami (born
respectively in the years 1762, 1767 and 1775) in the same village Tiruvarur, on the banks of the river Kaveri
in the Tanjavur District of the present State of
Tamil Nadu. They belong to the cotery
of Indian music composers, technically called by musicologists (Lakshanakartas)
of ancient
One who has been
initiated into a systematic worship of Devi, the
mother goddess according to what is called Srividya Upasana, is called a Dikshita. Muthuswami’s father Ramaswami,
and all his sons are called Dikshitar, the ultimate
‘r’ being the honorific plural suffix, indicating that sometime or other every
member in the family should undergo through the “Diksha”
– initiation into Srividya.
Born on the 14th Lunar day preceding the Dipavali
New Moon, as a result of prayers to Muthu Kumara deity
of Vaidyanathakshetra and named after the deity, Muthuswami was initiated in the traditional methods of
Sanskrit learning under the guidance of his father, Ramaswami
Dikshita. Ramaswami was
himself an erudite scholar and a composer of great eminence, having to his
credit the creation of the Raga Hamsadhwani, which is
the most popular Raga very frequently patronised both
in the northern and the southern concerts. Muthuswami
became accomplished in the Vedas. Sanskrit Grammar, Prosody, Astrology and Upanishadic philosophy, Aesthetics, Mantra Sastra and Yoga Sastra even
before he passed his teens. After getting married, he was chosen by one Chidambaranatha Yogi as his disciple and initiated into the
“Maha Mantra”. He accompanied his Guru to Varanasi
and after a five year slay and penance, he is said to have attained the eight
great Siddhis, and after attaining a mature knowledge
in the Upanishadic philosophy, he returned home and
performed Antar-Bahir Yagas.
When he was meditating
in Tiruttani in the precincts of the temple of Subrahmanya, the Lord is said to have given him audience in
the guise of a great saintly person and thrown sugar into his mouth, whereby
the muse of poetry blessed him and he started composing. His first lyric came
out in praise of Lord Subrahmanya. He composed eight
lyrics in praise of the deity observing in each the Sanskrit case-endings (Vibhakti pratyaya)
as stipulated in the tradition of Udaharana Prabandha. His first song “Srinatha
guruguho jayati” came out
in the Raga Malavagaula–which is the same as Bhairav of Hindustani tradition. And thereafter, “Guruguha” synonym for Lord Subrahmanya
became an inevitable dedicatory symbol of Muthuswami’s
lyrics, may it be in praise of any deity in the Indian Pantheon. He travelled throughout India, visited every temple–whether
the presiding deity was Siva or Vishnu or Vinayaka,
Kumara, or Sakti, and composed songs on all the
deities in Sanskrit, each lyric having been dedicated to Guruguha, his primary worthy of worship.
There are certain groups
of Kritis of Muthuswati,
each depicting the praise of a particular deity. The group of Kritis in praise of sixteen various shrines situated in
different places in India and dedicated to Vinayaka
is called the Shodasa Ganapati
Varga. The most famous Kriti
among these is the one in the Raga Hamsadhwani – with
the words “Vaataapi Ganapatim
Bhaje-a-ham”. The same musical structure as that of
the first line of this lyric is frequently heard in “Drut”,
even in the Hindustan concerts of famous musicians like the late Amirkhan. “Uchchishta Ganapati” in the Raga Kasi Ramakriya, “Ganesa kumara” in Janjhooti, “Gananayakam” in Rudrapriya, “Panchamatangamukha”
in Malahari, “Sri Gananatham
Bhajare” in Esa Manchari and “Sri Mahaganapati”
in Gaula are some of the Kritis
in this group.
Nava-aavarana Kritis
is another group of nine Kritis, one such set having
been composed in praise of Kamalambika, prominent
mother deity of Tiruvarur, and another set in praise
or Abhayambika. These temples have each nine Praakaaras encircling the sanctum sanctorum, and
singing a Kriti in each Praakaara
the devotee is expected to perform circumambulation and passing through all the
nine compounds, having rendered each of the nine Kritis
in a different Raga, he reaches the sanctum sanctorum to worship the
deity.
Another group pertains
to the Panchalinga Sthala Kritis. There are five famous Saivite
shrines in South India, each called after each one of the five elements – Prithvilinga, Aapolinga, Tejolinga, Vaayulinga and Aakaashalinga. Yet another group of Kritis
is in praise of Lord Siva (of Tiruvarur), better
known as Tyagaraja and Panchanadiswara.
His Kritis in praise of Siva include among other–Anandeswara, Siddheswara, Achaleswara, Hatakeswara, Valmikeswara, Matrubhuteswara,
etc.
There are as many Kritis of Muthuswami Dikshita dedicated to Devi as
there are Devimurtis spread all over India throughout
the length and breadth, like Jalandhara Pitha Sthitha tthe
Devimurti presiding at Jullunder
in Punjab), Kaamaakshi of Kanchi,
Visaalaakshi of Kasi, Meenaakshi of Madurai, Brihannaayaki, Mahalakshmi, Marakatavalli, Varalakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Nilotpala Nayika, etc.
The last but not the
least to mention among these group Kritis is the
group of Navagraha Kritis–in
praise of the nine planets viz., Surya, Chandra, Angaraka, Budha, Brihaspati, Sukra, Sani, Rahu and Ketu, in the Ragas, Sourashtra, Asaveri, Surati Natakuranji, Athana, Farsj, Erukula Kambhoji, Ramakriya and Chamaram, respectively.
The lyric plus its music
was termed as Dhruva Pada
or the Prabandha, by the ancient Lakshanakartas.
Bharata described various types of songs in his Dhruvadhyaya,
Chando Vidhana, and Chando Vritta Vidhana.
Pada and Prabandha and Kirtana were synonymous to indicate a song in the early
ages, but later in the evolution of Karnataka music, the erotic song retained
the title of Pada and the devotional song came to be
called Kirtana or Samkirtana.
Kirtanas and Samkirtanas
have always God and the devotee’s appeal to his Lord or his praise of the Lord,
for their theme. The musical structure of the Kirtana
was more emotionally conceived and simple in its texture. But the credit for
evolving the ‘Kriti’ form of song goes to the trinity
of Karnataka music – Tyagaraju, Syama
Sastri and Muthuswami Dikshita.
While the music was
subservient to the lyric in Kirtanas, musical
structure gained importance in the Kriti form and the
lyric became sub-servient to the musical structure
This has certainly enhanced the prestige of the musician among the musical
intellectuals–since the Kriti tended to be an
intellectual expansion of the Ragabhava, relegating
emotional appeal to Kirtana and Padam.
A scholar has said that Tyagaraju, Muthuswami and Syama Sastri did the amplest
justice to Bhava, Raga and Tala,
each of these elements dominating in the work of each composer respectively.
There is more subjectivity in the compositions of Tyagaraju
and Syama Sastri, while
most of Muthuswami’s work is objective description of
the deity concerned. In all his Kritis, there is an
inbred thread of Advaitic philosophy, as propagated
in the Upanishads. Glimpses of his knowledge in Astrology, his mastery of
Mantra Sastra, and iconography can be gauged through
his Kritis on various deities. His composition in the
Raga Amritavarshini is said to have caused rain,
when he sang in a drought-stricken village near Ettayapuram.
He praises every deity according to the tenets of Sagunopasana
(worshipping the concrete form) describing every detail in the form. The mental
attitude of the composer is neutral in case of Dikshita,
as far as emotional involvement is concerned, while in case of Tyagaraju it is an out and out subjective experience in
which the composer is fully involved. Dikshita’s
compositions exude a feeling of “Soharn Brahma”, that
is, “I am the Creator.” As
such, his Kritis are praises made with a detached
mind. Everywhere can be noticed in his Kritis his
control over the Sanskrit diction, in creating beautiful, long compounds
blending malleably with the Ragabhava, and his
mastery over the prosodical intricacies.
He composed Kritis in all the 72 Melakarta
Ragas according to Venkatamakhi’s system, showing
utmost facility in the “Prayoga” of such intricate
Ragas consisting of Swaras having the so-called “Vivadi” relationship. I don’t like to call it Vivadidosha unlike some of the purist pandits,
since great composers have purified those Ragas with their compositions and Prayogas. We come across at least 200 Ragas (both of Janaka and Janya variety put
together) utilised by Muthuswami
Dikshita in his compositions, with the difference
that they carry the nomenclature as stipulated by the Venkatamakhi
school of Chaturdandi Prakasika,
(Kanakambari, etc.) while those used by Tyagaraju, Syama Sastri and other composers carry the other more prevalent
nomenclature (Kanakaangi, etc.) as stipulated by Givinda school (of Samgraha choodamani).
He resuscitated the Prayogas in the Gita, Thaya and Prabandhas of his
preceding age and incorporated most of them in his compositions, thereby
establishing continuity of flow in the tradition of practical music. He could
create living Raga forms of excellent appeal out of dry combinations of very meagre set of notes. To quote the late Sri T V. Subba Rao, his “Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charana have each
a different Dhatu. His songs are fashioned somewhat
on the archaic type like Gita and Prabandha
with varied Khandas and Angas.
Rhythmic variety is provided by quicker tempo in parts of the song. The Niyama of Yati and Praasa, however, as in the case of the typical Kirtana is scrupulously observed. His compositions are
endowed with such excellences as “solkattu” Swaras (consonantal combinations indicating drummer’s
rhythmic patterns) and with that musical and literary figure of speech known as
“srotwana” and “gopuchchayati”
where the Swaras and syllables are arranged in
increasing or diminishing quantities.
His style of music is characterised by power. It is the Vainika’s
style–manly and vigorous. Most of Muthuswami Dikshita’s compositions like the northern Khyals and the Southern Padas,
and unlike the compositions of most other composers of the south, must be
rendered in Vilambita Laya.
In Vilambita Laya he
employs slide and the continuous transition from note to note simultaneously so
that the characteristic of the Karnataka style is admirably maintained. In the
same Kriti “the mitras”,
where the lyrical passages are to be rendered in double speed coming back to
the Vilambit Pallavi,
provide immense aesthetic pleasure.
The unique distinction
that the trinity of Karnataka music was provided with unlike most of their
counterparts of previous generations was a very efficient batch of disciples
and their successors, each one of them being able to see the bulk of the
compositions in authentic musical notations of the composer preserved and
passed on to posterity intact. Thus out of hundreds of Kritis
of Muthuswami Dikshita, we
have the fortune of listening to the authentic versions of at least 400
preserved and propagated through the successive generations of his disciples.
We find his lyrics not only exemplifying each one of the 72 Melakartas
but many Ragas of Vakrasanchara, and those of meagre sets of note combinations of the Shadava
and the Audava variety.
The compositions of Muthuswami Dikshita are melodic
tone poems presenting rich and gorgeously chiselled
patterns of aesthetically the most balanced imagery of traditional
architectural forms of the south.