Trinity of Carnatic Music

The Three Jewels of Carnatic music referred to trio composers – being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri also known as Trinity of Carnatic music. What distinguished the Trinity from other composers of Carnatic music was not only the number of compositions they composed but the messages that their songs contained. Indian music and Carnatic music in particular, was both an emotional and an intellectual phenomenon. While the songs and the music projected an image of religion and devotion, it was much more than these attributes; it was also a spiritual exercise that took the ordinary mortal from the everyday living to a higher state of philosophy and liberation. Saint Thyagaraja, in particular, showed us that Nadopasana or the practice of music is the path towards moksha or liberation. Therefore, collectively, the contributions of the Carnatic music Trinities to Indian philosophy and spirituality is unparalleled.

All three of the Trinities lived and composed music in Thanjavur, Tamilnadu. Thanjavur has been the capital of Carnatic Music, not only because the Trinities lived there but also because the place has nurtured Carnatic music since long time. The Kings from Thanjavur – the Cholas, Nayaks, and the Marathas – have consistently supported Carnatic music and the artists, and contributed to its current day greatness and preservation. Let’s read about Trinity in detail as mentioned below.

Venkata Subramanian (Syama Sastry) (1762-1827 AD): Syama Sastri was born in 1762 to Visvanatha Iyer and Vengalakshmi. The name given to him at birth was Venkata Subrahmanya. He was proficient in both Sanksrit and Telugu. Even at a young age, he was highly proficient in music. Although he had an initial music training from his cousins, later he came under the tutelage of a great sanyasi from Benares, Sangitha Swami and then from Pachimiriyam Adiyappayya. The Ratnathrayam is the name given to a set of three unparalleled Swarajatis by Shastri. Another famous work by him was the nine Kritis known as the Navaratnamalika (the garland of nine gems) in praise of Goddess Meenakshi of Madhura. Syama Sastry composed most of his songs in Telugu and mostly in praise of Goddess Parvathi or Ambal. Syama Sastri’s greatest contribution was the swarajathi. He converted these from their dance form to the musical form. Some of Syama Sastri’s Swarajatis include: Kamakshi Anudinamu (Bharivai), Kamakshi Ni Padayugame (Yadukula Kambhoji), and Rave Himagiri Kumari (Todi). Syama Sastri has composed songs not only in popular ragas such as Todi, Kalyani, and Sankarabharanam but also in rare ragas such as Manji, Chintamani. Another noteworthy contribution of Syama Sasti to Carnatic music is related to the layam or thalam aspects. He illustrated and and highlighted Viloma style of Chapu thalam. Another thala contribution of Syama Sastri worthy of mention is the kriti “Sankari Samkaru (Saveri)”. This kriti can be sung either in Rupaka Talam or Adi Talam (Tisra Gati). The most outstanding feature of his work was his expertise in rhythm to create magic in his music. Many a time, he has made use of five-syllabic words like sarasamukhi, varamosagu and so on that correspond to a rhythmic musical phrase. He was specialized in the Misra Chapu tala, where he not only used the normal pattern (3+4), but also the reverse (4+3), called the Viloma Chapu. In the use of swarakshara, that is when both the notes and the words have identical syllables, he was an absolute genius .

Muthuswamy Dikshitar (Guruguha) (1776-1835): Dikshitar was the youngest of the trinities. He was born in 1776 to Sri Ramaswamy Dikshitar and Mrs. Subbulakshmi Ammal. Dikshitar also learnt music from Sanyasi lived in Benares, Chidambaranatha Yogi. One of the distinguishing feature of Dikshitar was that, he was not only proficient in Carnatic music but also in Hindustani music (the Dhrupad style). He was noted for the integration of Hindustani themes, for his gamakas – ornamentation of the ragas, his group Kritis or group compositions on the planets and on the goddess, his preferred deity, and his 40 songs on Western tunes. Dikshitar’s first composition was rendered in Tiruttani, about sixty miles from Madras city. In the Tiruttani Lord Muruga’s temple, Dikshitar composed his first song, Srinathadi Guruguho Jayati Jayati (Mayamalavagowla). Like Thyagaraja, Dikshitar has composed several ‘Sthala’ kritis or compositions in praise of the God or Goddess of a holy town. For example, Dikshitar has composed kritis in parise of Ekambaranathar in Kancheepuram, Shiva of Vaitheeswaran Koil, Meenakshi of Madurai. He had also composed group of kritis in praise of Lord Shiva and the five elements that he represented. These include: Prithvi Chintaya (Bhairavi) in Kancheepuram representing the element Earth, Jambupathe Mampahi (Yamunakalyani) in Thirunavaikkaval representing the element, Water; Arunachala (Saranga) in Thiruvannamalai representing the element Fire, Sri Kalahastisa (Huseini) in Kalahasti (near Thirupathi) representing the element Air; and Ananda Natana (Kedaram) in Chidambaram representing the Ether or atmosphere. Dikshitar also composed Kritis representing each day of the week called Vara Kritis. Actually, these consist of nine kritis, seven to represent the seven days of the week and the last represent two other grahams or planets. Dikshitar created more than 450 compositions, mostly on the Goddess and mostly in Sanskrit and in the kriti format, where poetry is set to music. He was the only composer who had kritis in all the seven basic Talas of the Carnatic scheme. He also composed in all the 72 melakartha ragas, in his asampurna mela scheme. His famous group compositions are the Navagraha Kirtanas and the Navavarna kirtanas. The Tanjore Quartet, revered as the prime composers of music for the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, was taught music by Dikshitar.

Kakarla Tyagabrahmam (Saint Thyagaraja) (1767-1847): Sri Thyagaraja Swami, as he was popularly known, was the greatest composer of all times and the most well-known of the Trinities. He was born to Ramabrahmam and Seetamma and learnt music from Sonti Venkataramana. His outstanding contribution was the introduction of the Sangati – a set of variations on a theme – in the Kriti format. Kritis are usually poems set to music. Tyagaraja composed about 24,000 songs, most of them written in his mother tongue, Telugu; but a few in Sanskrit, including the masterpiece Jagadanandakaraka that describes Lord Rama with 108 names. His great contributions also extended to develop and streamline the Kriti form transition from Kirtana and in the Thalas, for introducing the Anagata Eduppu or compositions starting after the first beat such as ¼ , ½ , ¾ and 1½ beats after the Sama. His compositions were mainly in the Telugu language and he has used multitude of ragas, both popular (Todi, Kalyani aarabhi) and rare ragas such as Kalavathi, Manoranajani. He also composed two dance dramas (Nowka Charitham and Prahlada Baktha Vijayam) and several group Kritis used for special occasions such as the Divyanama Kritis and Utsava Sampradaya Kritis. His Pancharathanas are the most well-known (five gems in the ragas Nattai, Gowlai, aarabhi, Varali and Sri). Thyagaraja Swami was the first composer whose compositions dealt with human beings – their problems, society’s ills and the consequent belief in wrong values. Though he was a scholar well-versed in Sanskrit, an extraordinary lyricist and a matchless composer, he looked upon music only as a means and a path to become one with God. In the early stages of his career, he even declined an invitation by his king to become the court singer.