Muthuswami Dikshitar

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776 to 1835) was a South Indian poet, singer, veena player and composer of classical Indian music. He was born in Tiruvarur near Thanjavur, in present-day Tamil Nadu, into a Tamil Brahmin family. He had two brothers, Chinnaswami and Balaswami, and a sister, Balamba. He was the youngest member of the Trinity of Carnatic music, alongside Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri.

Music and breakthrough

Dikshitar wrote about five hundred compositions. They are known for their extensive poetic descriptions of Hindu gods and detailed imagery of temples. In all his compositions he used the signature Guruguha, in the form of a mudra. Unlike Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri, who wrote mainly in Telugu, he wrote mostly in Sanskrit. A few kritis he made in Manipravalam, a literary style that combines Sanskrit and Tamil.

Influence

His music captures the essence of a raga in the style of the veena, in which gamakas, the bends and ornaments of a note, are central. His pieces are mostly in a slow tempo, the chowka kala, with occasional verses at medium tempo. They are still widely performed in Carnatic concerts. He shows how in the South Indian tradition music, poetry and religion flow into one another, and how a composer can still be heard in the concert hall almost two centuries after his death.

Listening