The Trinity of South Indian Music: 5.1 Do You Know Anecdote
The Trinity of South Indian Music: 5.1 Do You Know Anecdote
The Trinity of South Indian Music: 5.1 Do You Know Anecdote
Anecdote
[Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24710366/Sri-Muthuswamy-Deekshitar#scribd]
“Tambiappan [one of the prime disciples of Dikshita] once suffered from severe stomach ailment. Medical
treatment did not relieve his acute suffering. He therefore sought the advice of his guru. Muthuswami
Dikshitar perused Tambiappan's horoscope and discovered that he was running a very bad period then and
that the planet Jupiter was afflicted in the horoscope. The great composer spent sometime in deep
reflection. Medicines had failed to cure Tambiappan's disease. The alternative was to perform elaborate
navagraha shanti. As one endowed with rare insights, an extraordinary idea occurred to Dikshitar. He
decided to compose a kriti praising Jupiter. Such was the intuitive genius of that great man, that in keeping
with the highly beneficent and expansive nature of Jupiter, its nobility and grandeur, a raga that possessed
all these qualities sprang from his innermost depths. The raga devata of athana stood before Dikshitar,
ready to perform his command. She gave her all, revealed her majestic splendour, elegantly caressing the
superb poetry. The result, “brihaspate”, was a grand, consummate work that was the harbinger of a new
form of prayer which the devout and the musically minded could utilise in order to cure themselves of ills
that visited them on account of the bad placement of planets. It also gave rise to the creation of six more
compositions in praise of the other members of the solar system. Dikshitar bid Tambiappan sing the kriti on
Jupiter. Needless to say, he got completely cured of his stomach ailment within a few weeks. The efficacy
and practical utility of Dikshitar kritis is proved by this incident”.
5.2 Glossary
Staring Related
Term Definition
Character Term
A Antya Prasa repetition of a set of syllables at the end of each line
in a composition
Anuprasa repetition of a set of syllables frequently in a given
line of a song
P Prasa the concordance of the second syllable between the
pallavi and the anupallavi of a composition
S Svara sahitya The set of svara-s that are found after anupallavi
and a corresponding text for the svara-s after the
carana
Web links
http://www.indian-heritage.org/music/dikshtar.htm
http://guru-guha.blogspot.in/2009/04/dikshitar-kritis-alphabetical-list.html
http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=carnatic;id=20;url=http%3A%2F%2Fmusicinfoguide%2Eblogspot%2E
in%2F2007%2F08%2Fmuthuswami-dikshitar-1775-1835%2Ehtml
http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/kallidaihari/shyama_profile.HTML
http://www.medieval.org/music/world/carnatic/lyrics/navagraha.html
http://syamasastri.blogspot.in/
http://www.thyagaraja.org/
http://www.indian-heritage.org/music/thyagar.htm
5.4 Bibliography
“Tyagaraja”, by P Sambamurthy, National Book Trust India, New Delhi, 1967
“Muthuswami Dikshitar”, By Dr.V.Raghavan, National Centre for The Performing Arts, Bombay, 1975
“The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja”, by Ramanujacarya C. & Dr.V. Raghavan, Sri Ramakrishna Math
Mylapore Madras, 1966
“Tyagarajar”, by V Raghavan, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 2000
“Great Composers - book -2 Tyagaraja” by P Sambamurthy, The India Music Publishing House, Chennai,
1970