Muthuswamy Dikshitar(1776-1835)
Muthuswami Dikshitar,belonging to the famous Trinity of Karnatic Music was born in Tiruvrur of Tamilnadu. He attained proficiency in Sanskrit,Vedas and playing Veena even in his early life. He wrote his first composition on Guru Guha at Tiruttani. He had a penchant for Sanskrit language and composed his first song in first declension(Vibhakti) followed by Krutis in all the eight Vibhaktis. At Tiruvarur he composed Kamalamba Navavarnas. He also composed Navagraha Krutis in praise of nine planets in scholarly Sanskrit. He has the unique credit of composing in all seven basic Talas. Dance Gurus from Tanjavur learnt intricacies of music from him and they paid tribute to him by composing Navaratnamala. He also authored some Krutis in Manipravalam a mixture of Sanskrit,Tamil and Telugu.
Dikshitar had the opportunity of listening to Western Music at St.George Fort,Madras which made him introduce Violin in Karnatic music. He and his brother Balaswamy used to play duet on Veena and Violin. On the request of Col.Brown the author of Telugu-English Dictionary, he composed a number of songs in Sanskrit with western tunes.(Eg.God Save the King, santatam pahimam, sangita syamale etc.).
Chidambaranatha Yogi their family Guru took him to Kasi where he was very well exposed to spiritualism. Due to his Guru's spirituality Goddess Ganga presented a divine Veena to Dikshitar. He also got familiarised with Hindusthani style of music there. It is evident in his Brundavani Sarang compositions etc. Dikshitar enriched Karnatic music with hundreds of Krutis in praise of several deities at different holy places. Singing his Krutis well, is definitely a challenge to even stalwarts in music.
Dikshitar spent even the last hours of his life engrossing himself in the sublime music. He asked his disciples to sing 'Meenakshi mudam dehi'. He breathed his last while listening to the words 'Meena lochani pasa mochani'.
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