Muthuswami Dikshitar was the youngest one of the
three composers (trinity) of the Carnatic music. He was a brilliant
classical singer and made numerous contributions to the field of music.
The biography given below throws much light on the life history of
Muthuswamy Dikshithar.
Muthuswami Dikshitar was born in the year 1775 to Ramaswami Dikshitar
and Subbamma, in Tiruvarur. It is said that the birth of Muthuswami was
the result of the prayers of his parents for a child, in the temple of
Vaitheeswaran Koil. He was even named after the temple deity,
Muttukumaraswamy. The eldest child of the family, Muthuswami also had
two younger brothers, Baluswami and Chinnaswami, and a younger sister,
Balambal. He received the basic education in music from his father only.
Thereafter, Ramaswami sent Muthuswami with Chidambaranatha Yogi, a
wandering monk, on a pilgrimage. The main aim behind this action was to
make Muthuswami gain musical as well as philosophical knowledge. The
pilgrimage helped him in attaining a broad outlook and also acquainted
him with the realities of life. While they were staying in Kashi
(Varanasi), Chidambaranatha gave Muthuswami a unique Veena. Some time
later, the guru left for the holy abode. Slowly, Dikshitar attained
complete mastery over the instrument.
It is said that Muthuswami Dikshitar had 'darshana' of the God Muruga in
Tiruttani, a temple town near Chennai. It was then that he made his
first composition, "Shri naathaadi guruguho", in the
Maayaamaalavagaula raga. Thereafter, he composed kritis on the Lord in
all the 8 declensions. Muthuswamy Dikshithar then left on a pilgrimage
covering the temples of Kanchi, Arunachalam, Chidambaram, Tirupathi and
Kalahasthi and making numerous compositions on them.
Muthuswamy came back to Tiruvarur after a few years. After returning to
his native place, he started creating compositions on every deity of the
Tiruvarur temple complex. During this time, he composed the popular
'Kamalamba navavarnams', in all the eight vibhakthis. His composition,
'Navagraha krithis', euphemized the nine planets. Yet another one of his
famous compositions was 'Nilotpalamba krithis', which revived dying
ragas like Narayanagowla. Muthuswami Dikshitar passed away on 21st
October 1935, the day of Deepavali.
Compositions
In his entire lifetime, Muthuswamy Dikshitar created more than 450
compositions. Most of the compositions created by him are in the
Sanskrit language and the Krithi form. Muthuswamy made compositions in
all the 72 melakartha ragas, in his asampurna mela scheme. He was also
the only composer who had krithis in all the seven basic talas of the
carnatic scheme. He even made compositions in all the eight vibhakthis
(cases).
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Music of India |
