Muthuswami Dikshitar

Muthuswami Dikshitar (IAST: muttusvāmi dīkṣitar, 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously known as Dikshitar, was a South Indian poet, singer, veena player, and prolific composer of Indian classical music. He was the youngest member of the Trinity of Carnatic music, alongside Tyagaraja and Shyama Sastri. Dikshitar was born on 24 March 1776 in Thiruvarur near Thanjavur, in Tamil Nadu. His family traditionally traced its lineage to Virinchipuram in the northern part of the state. Dikshitar is credited with around 500 compositions, renowned for their elaborate, poetic descriptions of Hindu deities, and detailed architectural depictions of temples. His music is notable for capturing the essence of ragas in the vainika (veena) style, which highlights the use of gamakas. His works are usually composed in a slower tempo (chowka kala), often incorporating using middle tempo stanzas (madhyama kala sahitya). Dikshitar used the signature name Guruguha (as a mudra) in all his compositions. They continue to be widely performed in Carnatic music concerts. The musical trinity consists of Dikshitar, Tyagaraja (1767–1847), and Syama Sastri (1762–1827). Unlike the predominantly Telugu compositions of Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri, Dikshitar's works are mostly in Sanskrit. He also composed a few kritis in Manipravalam, a literary style combining Sanskrit and Tamil. There are two schools of thought regarding the pronunciation of his name. It is generally pronounced Muthuswami Dikshitar. Muthu means "pearl" in Tamil, cognate to Mutya in Sanskrit. It may also be linked to Selvamuthukumaraswamy, a deity of the Vaideeswaran temple in Mayiladuthurai. However, T. K. Govinda Rao explains in Compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar that "Muddayya" is an epithet of Kumaraswami or Guha. In the 1904 Telugu publication of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, Sri Subbarama Dikshitar refers to him as Muthuswami. In his composition Bhajare re Chitha in raga Kalyani, the mudra appears as "Guruguha Roopa Muddu Kumara Jananeem".

Genre: indian-classical, carnatic

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