(1775 - 1835 ce.)
From very olden days till about 13th century AD, according to the evidences provided by scholars there had been a common united musical tradition that flourished in Hindustan. Later this tradition split into two styles. In Northern region it was adopted as hindustani and in Southern region as karnaaTaka sangeeth. The time of the grand doyen Srii purandhara dhaasaa is marked as the genesis of Carnatic music. Roughly about 300 years after his time, three stalwarts contributed to the golden emergence of this grand music tradition in South India. Srii muthuswaami dhiikshitar was one amoung them, Srii thyaagaraajaa and Srii shyaamaa Saasthri being the other two. This article is devoted to the life and greatness of Srii muthuswaami dhiikshitar. (Hereonwards referred to as dhiikshitar)
dhiikshitar's ancestors belonged to virinchipuram next to vellore near chennai. Goddess dEvii advised Srii venkaTESwara dhiikshitar, grandfather of dhiikshitar that the "thoNDai manDalam" in which virinchipuram was located was going to be ruined and that he should migrate to thiruviDaimarudhUr in chOLaa kingdom. That was the time when Sultan's army was on frequent runs of looting and arson in South India. As per the advice Srii venkaTESwara dhiikshitar shifted with his family to gOvindhapuram, a village near thiruviDaimarudhUr in 1742. raamaswaami, son of Srii venkaTESwara dhiikshitar was 7 at that time.
Having undergone a traditional training young raamaswaami took purOhitham (chanting vEdhaa) as his life's order. He also performed kathaa kaalakshEpam in the local temples. At the end of the kaalakshEpam he would render some SlOkaa-s into melodious music and amuse his audience. Once, upon hearing this music, a pundit in the audience was impressed with raamaswaami and took him to one viirabadraiyer a mahaa-sangeetha-vidwaan at that time and introduced raamaswaami and requested the vidwaan to accept him as his disciple. In 3 years, raamaswaami became an expert vidwaan. With great interest to learn the music grammar, he approached Srii venkaTa vaidhyanaatha dhiikshitar - a descendent of venkaTamakhi and became his disciple. raamaswaami analysed chaturdhaNDi prakaashikaa, a music literature, under the guidance of his teacher and mastered music grammar also. raamaswaami also learnt viiNaa and took to music as his profession.
In chidhambaram (thillai-ambalam) raamaswaami met chidhambaranaatha yOgi who was a resident of uttara kaaSi. This yOgi was a great j~naani (realised soul) and a Srii vidyaa upaasaka. raamaswaami got initiated into mahaa shODashaakshari mantra through this yOgi. yOgi advised raamaswaami to go and stay in thiruvaarUr and do service to thyaagESa, the presiding deity of thiruvaarUr. Accordingly raamaswaami moved to thiruvaarUr with his wife. Thus thiruvaarUr became dhiikshitar's ancestral home.
Srii raamaswaami dhiikshitar settled down in thiruvaarUr doing service to thyaagESa. During temple festivals, the deity would be taken on a grand procession through the streets surrounded by devotees and accompanied by traditional musical performances. raamaswaami dhiikshitar set the tradition for this. He trained the instrumentalists and dancers in a way to methodize which instruments should be played at which stage of the procession and what type of music should be played when etc., raamaswaami dhiikshitar also became a vaagEyakaara through his improvisations of "hamsadhwani" raaga.
Even though Srii raamaswaami dhiikshitar gained fame and wealth, he didn't have a child even at the age of 40. So he undertook a vratam (penance) in front of Lord skandha in vaidhiiSwara temple for a maNDalam (45 days). Lord skandhaa appeared in his dream and presented a garland to him. Soon after raamaswaami dhiikshitar's wife conceived and in manmatha year, panguni month, krithika star (March 25th, 1775) gave birth to a beautiful male child. They named him muthuswaami since it was Lord skandha's grace that they could have this child. Later they begot two male children chinnaswaami and baaluswaami and then a female child baalaambaaL.
Like father, like son. Young muthuswaami emulated his father in all respects. He learnt vEdhaa. He mastered the various branches of samskrit namely kaavya, naaTaka, alankaara, vyaakaraNa. He became an expert at playing viiNaa and vocal music. He qualified in all these respects at a very young age itself. He devoted all his activities constantly towards worshipping the Divine Supreme and hence remained unattached to mundane life. Concerned about their son's unattached living, parents got him married at a very young age itself. This didn't bring about any change in muthuswaami's attitude towards life. Seeing this, his parents got him wedded to a second wife. But nothing could convert muthuswaami.
Chinnaiya mudaliyaar, an art connoisseaur of maNali near chennai invited Srii raamaswaami dhiikshitar to come and stay in his place. Accepting this invitation raamaswaami dhiikshitar left thiruvaarUr and went to maNali with his family. Once an arrogant musician from karnaaTaka challenged dhiikshitar brothers attempting to test their music talents. He sang a song and asked the brothers to name the raagaa. The brothers, muthuswaami and chinnaswaami, who were not very learned in music at this stage immediately identified the raagaa as "Dakkaa raagaa" and also sang a song in that raagaa and put the arrogant musician to shame. It's here in maNali that dhiikshitar got acquainted to Western music through listening to Englishmen's band music.
Suddenly one day chidhambaranaatha yOgi came to maNali. He stayed at raamaswaami dhiikshitar's house for a few days. During his stay muthuswaami performed services to the yOgi with utmost care and devotion. yOgi realised that muthuswaami was going to become a mahaan (a great soul). Time came for yOgi to return to kaaSi. Before leaving, the yOgi asked raamaswaami dhiikshitar to send muthuswaami with him to kaaSi. raamaswaami dhiikshitar found himself in a situation similar to that of King dhasaratha when Sage viSwaamithra asked him to send raamaa with him to forest for guarding his ya~jnaa. But raamaswaami dhiikshitar made up his mind and sent muthuswaami along with his two wives realising that it's only for his son's good. muthuswaami dhiikshitar was 24 at that time. Thus began the most important and fruitful part of dhiikshitar's life at kaaSi. dhiikshitar stayed close to 7 years in kaaSi. During this stay, dhiikshitar acquired a wealth of knowledge under yOgi's tutelage. yOgi taught him advaita, adhyaathmika siddhaantha, taantrika, Srii vidhyaa upaasana. dhiikshitar visited holy places like badri, kEdhaarnaath, paSupathinaath during this stay and worshipped the Divine.
At the end of 7 years, one day, yOgi told dhiikshitar that latter had acquired all necessary siddhis and hence he could return to South India. Not willing to leave his beloved teacher, dhiikshitar pleaded as to what is the proof that he had acquired all siddhis. For this the yOgi said "When you take bath tomorrow morning in the ganges if you get what you desired that is proof enough". Next day morning dhiikshitar as usual went to ganges to take bath. He desired to get an exquisite viiNaa. What a surprise! Immediately a viiNaa came out of ganges river and settled on dhiikshitar's hands. The neck of the kuDam of the viiNaa had the sacred mantra "raamaa" inscribed on it. Also the face of the yaaLi was looking upward which is very rare. (To this day this viiNaa is being preserved by dhiikshitar's descendants). Feeling supremely happy at receiving this rare gift, dhiikshitar made heart-felt obeisances to the yOgi.
yOgi now again advised dhiikshitar to return to South. Also he advised dhiikshitar to visit thiruthaNi (thirigiri), one of the six hills where Lord skandhaa is worshipped, and that if he did so, Lord skandhaa will appear before him and bless him. dhiikshitar made preparations for his return. yOgi attained samaadhi before dhiikshitar left. dhiikshitar performed the final rites for yOgi as per the rules laid for yathi-s (sanyaasins) and left kaaSi. (Today one can see chidhambaranaatha yOgi's samaadhi near hanumaan ghat area in kaaSi)
In the mean time raamaswaami dhiikshitar's family had remained in maNali. chiinaswaami dhiikshitar had suffered from illness and had lost eyesight and later regained it by Lord venkaTESwara's grace. Upon seeing muthuswaami dhiikshitar after so many years, the family rejoiced their reunion. raamaswaami dhiikshitar desired to return to thiruvaarUr. Accordingly muthuswaami dhiikshitar made arrangements for his father's return to thiruvaarUr and after sending off him, as per the yOgi's advice made his way to thiruthaNi. There on the hill he sat in meditation when Lord skandha appeared as an old sanyaasi in front of him. The sanyaasi put a piece of sugar in dhiikshitar's mouth and disappeared.
Immediately after receiving the Lord's blessing dhiikshitar started improvising and became a vaagEyakaara. The first group of krithis that dhiikshitar composed were guruguha vibhakti krithis and were composed in this place. On his way back to thiruvaarUr, dhiikshitar stayed for some time with upanishad brahmendra, a great saint of those days. dhiikshitar, during this stay, set to music "raama ashTapadhi" a collection of SlOkaa composed by upanishad brahmendra. In 1809 dhiikshitar returned to thiruvaarUr, his ancestral home.
Three years after dhiikshitar returned to thiruvaarUr, raamaswaami dhiikshitar passed away on a Sivaraathri. Having been away from thiruvaarUr for quite long dhiikshitar's family had lost its popularity amoung the local patrons and music lovers and so it became difficult for dhiikshitar's family to make a living. Not able to pay tax, dhiikshitar gave off all lands for charity. It came to a point when they didn't have anything in the house and no way to make naivEdhyam (daily offering) to God. His disciple and dancer, kamalam offered to help dhiikshitar by selling her golden earlets. dhiikshitar stopped kamalam and said whoever created him will show the way and sang thyaagaraajam bhajarE chiththa taapathrayam tyajarE and on the same day a cart loaded with rice and pulses and vegetables came from somewhere and off-loaded everything at dhiikshitar's house. The man in the cart told that a minister was going to visit the King of thiruvaarUr but didn't make it and hence he was ordered to deliver the things at dhiikshitar's house.
One day dhiikshitar's younger wife desired to wear lots of golden ornaments and asked dhiikshitar to go to a noble for that purpose. dhiikshitar who devoted himself to the Divine Supreme winced at his wife's request to do narastuthi (praising a mortal human). dhiikshitar sang mangaLa dEvadaya and invoked Srii mahaalakshmi. On that night Goddess lakshmi appeared in his wife's dream and adorned her in variety of ornaments so much that she couldn't withstand the weight of the ornaments and she fell down. When she woke up she regretted her foolishness and asked for forgiveness.
Since life was becoming difficult in thiruvaarUr, dhiikshitar brothers moved to thanjaavUr. Here the "thanjai foursome" namely ponnaiyaa, chinnaiyaa, vaDivElu and Sivaanandham met dhiikshitar and became his disciple. The foursome declared themselves as devotees of dhiikshitar. They sang "guruguha swaami nE dhaasaDani". vaDivElu learnt violin from chinnaswaami dhiikshitar. In thanjaavUr dhiikshitar brothers met with shyaamaa Saasthri. There is a varNam composed by all four. dhiikshitar composed lot of samashTi charaNa krithis during his stay here in thanjaavUr. dhiikshitar brothers stayed in thanjAvUr for close to 3 years from 1817 to 1820. A rich patron of arts attracted by the mEdhaa vilaas (intellect) of dhiikshitar brothers, requested dhiikshitar to send chiinaswaami and baaluswaami dhiikshitar with him to paaNDya kingdom. chinnaswaami and baaluswaami dhiikshitar went with the patron. Soon dhiikshitar also left thanjaavUr.
There are a few evidences of dhiikshitar's meeting with thyaagaraaja in thiruvaiyaaru. From thiruvaiyaaru, dhiikshitar went to thiruchi, thiruvarangam (Srii rangam), thiruvaanaikaaval and sang the Gods there. He went to thiruchengODu and sang Lord Siva there. Later he visited guruvaayUr and sang Srii krishNam bhaja. He visited bommanahaLLi in uttarakannaDa district and sang saraswathi thaDavaaLini. Then he visited thiruvanandapuram and sang pannaka Sayanaa padmanaabhaa, Sabarimala, thirunelvEli and returned through kalliDaikurichi, SankarankOil and nellai.
When dhiikshitar reached madurai he learnt that chinnaswaami dhiikshitar had passed away and as a result baaluswaami dhiikshitar broke down and had left eTTaiyapuram without leaving his whereabouts. dhiikshitar, grief-stricken, went in search of his brother baaluswaami. Hearing that somebody had seen baaluswaami in raamESwaram, dhiikshitar went to raamESwaram. But, not finding his brother there fell in deep sorrow. He made his way through thiruchchuzhi and reached saaththUr. A few vaishNavaas there, were talking amoung themselves that a vidwaan by name baaluswaami was going to get married in eTTaiyapuram and that the marriage was arranged by the King himself and that it was going to take place in a very grand fashion very soon. This brought some hope in sight for dhiikshitar. Without wasting time dhiikshitar made his way towards eTTaiyapuram.
On the way, dhiikshitar came across a dry parched land forsaken by rain God for years. Feeling sad at the sight, dhiikshitar invoked amr~thESwari (rain Goddess) and sang aanandhaamr~thakarshiNi and the Goddess aptly answered. It started raining and the land became flooded. dhiikshitar, in order to stop the rain from flooding dangerously, sang the song with the words varshaya varshaya (pour down) changed to sthambaya sthambaya (stop down pour) and the rain stopped immediately. Seeing all these miracles, a local chieftain with the help of four other men carried dhiikshitar on a cot to eTTaiyapuram quickly.
In eTTaiyapuram, dhiikshitar rejoiced, upon knowing that the bridegroom was indeed his brother baaluswaami. The King requested dhiikshitar to stay with him. dhiikshitar accepted his plea and stayed in eTTaiyapuram.
Soon dhiikshitar's both wives passed away. dhiikshitar desired to visit thiruvaarUr once. When time came, he made a visit to his ancestral home and on the way back in madurai, dhiikshitar composed miinaakshi mEy mudam dEhi in front of the Goddess.
On the night before diwaaLi, the eTTaiyapuram court elephant ran amock and stood near a graveyard not letting anybody take control. Hearing this the anxious King came to dhiikshitar and asked him what this meant. dhiikshitar consoled the King that "there is no harm either to you or to your kingdom" and gave him holy ash and sent him off. Next day in the wee hours, dhiikshitar as usual for that time of the year performed parva maNDala pUjaa for dEvii. He asked his disciples to sing "miinaakshi mEy mudam dEhi". When they sang the anupallavi, dhiikshitar asked them to repeat "miinalOchani paaSamOchani" portion of the song. When they did, placing his hand on his head uttered SivE paahi SivE paahi SivE paahi three times and merged with Supreme. This happened on October 18th, 1835. The King and baaluswaami dhiikshitar performed the final rites for Srii muthuswaami dhiikshitar. Today one can see dhiikshitar's samaadhi in eTTaiyapuram.
dhiikshitar throughout his life made pilgrimage to several places and performed saguNOpaasanaa. Through this he gained an unshakeable faith in bhakthi. Complementing this belief he had a strong belief in jn~aana. He has sung that jn~naana can reward mOkshaa. dhiikshitar was a follower of advaitha vEdhaantha. He indeed spread the advaitha philosophy through many songs. girijayaa ajayaa (SankaraabharaNam), saadhu jana (pUrNa panchamam), Srii guruguha mUrthE (udhaya ravichandrikaa) are some of his songs that preach the essence of advaitha. In a pUrvi krithi he sings "I am a slave of guruguha -- no I myself am guruguha" and brings out the essence of advaitha.
Though dhiikshitar had learnt taantrika he used it only for the welfare of the world. He never attained any wealth or fame through it. He asserted through his songs that there is no difference between Srii vidya upaasana and advaitha. He had belief in maantrika too. He has impregnated mantraas in krithis like Srii raaja raajESwari (madhyamaavathi), pavanaatmaja aagaccha (naaTTai). For those who couldn't practise maantrika he sang vaara krithis on navagr~ha dEvathaa-s. He admitted students based on merits without any discrimination based on caste or creed. He lived as an example to the wording "aRRadhu paRRenil uRRadhu viiDuyir" (nammaazhwaar thiruvaaimozhi). He didn't pray for anything for himself except that in one or two songs he prays for granting him kaivalya.
Unlike thyaagaraaja or shyaama shastri, dhiikshitar didn't have a particular deity as ishTa dEvatha.. He believed that brahman alone is reality and that the various deities are images of the one reality. Though majority of dhiikshitar's compositions are in praise of dEvii, he has sung equally devotional songs on various other deities. It's to be noted that dhiikshitar alone has sung in praise of the God chaturmukha Brahma. Nobody else has.
dhiikshitar was not attached to his birth place. He lived in various places wherever he was invited and wherever he wished to perform pilgrimage. He never sang in praise of any kings or patrons. Though he was a jn~aani and a great scholar, he was humble. He describes himself as "kinchith jn~OpyathOham" meaning "I am an alpa jn~naani" in a rudrapriya krithi Srii thyaagaraajasya bhaktO bhavaami. His compassion to fellow-men is proved by his act of bringing rain to a dry village and by his curing the disease of suddha madhdhaLa thambi, a contemporary musician.
dhiikshitar was not only a jn~aani but a great bhaktha too. He dedicated all his actions to the Supreme. This can be witnessed in one of his sAranga krithi in which he sings thyaagaraajE kr~thaakr~thyam arppayaami. Once dhiikshitar came to kEDiliappar temple (akshaya lingam) in kIzhvELUr. The temple priest was closing the door to the sanctum. dhiikshitar pleaded the priest to let him have dharSan. But the priest closed the door and said sarcastically that "the deity won't run away anywhere... you can come tomorrow and worship" and made his way. dhiikshitar having blemishless faith in God didn't want to leave. He stood there and sang with utmost devotion.. When he sang navanItha hr~dhaya vibhaatha the sanctum door opened and God gave dharSan to dhiikshitar.
Though tamizh was his mother tongue, dhiikshitar used samskrit for all his songs except a few maNipravALa krithis. In one of his songs he tells us "I am praising in dEvabhaasha with the vaak Sakthi endowed to me by the Supreme". dhiikshitar used many ancient words and brought them back in use. nyakrOdha (banyan tree), kandavaaha (wind) are some examples. dhiikshitar also created new words. In siddhi vinaayakam anisham he describes Krishna as rauhiNEyaanuja. In all his krithis the bhaasha gauravam teems in full exuberance. dhiikshitar has composed vyaakaraNa niyama vibhakti krithis. thyaagaraaja kamalaamba navaavarNa, abhayaamba, niilOthpalaamba, raama vibhakthi krithis are some examples.
dhiikshitar's krithis exemplify the essence of raaga bhaava. The credit of composing in all mELakartha raagaas goes first to dhiikshitar. Many ancient raagaas like mangaLa kaisiki, sUlini, saamantha, maargadhESi, mOhana naaTTa would have disappeared from tradition if not for dhiikshitar's krithis. He proved that vivaadhi raagaas have lakshaNa and don't have dhOsha. dhiikshitar brought in many hindustaani raagaas into his prolific repertoire.
It will be appropriate to say that dhiikshitar's krithis are paradigms for madhyama kaala jaathi. It is notable that unlike thyaagaraaja and shyaama Saastri, right from the first song dhiikshitar's krithis don't have more than one charaNam. dhiikshitar also composed many samashTi charaNa krithis without anupallavi.
dhiikshitar is well-known for embedding the raaga mudra effortlessly in his krithis at the same time adding a poetic lyrical beauty to the krithi vaakhyaartham. dhiikshitar has composed in sULaadhi seven taaLaas. Except for pallavi gOpaala Iyer's krithi, there are only dhiikshitar's krithis that are set in kaNDa Eka taaLa.
dhiikshitar was a pundit non-pareil. It is indeed exciting and inspiring to know that such a musician lived around 200 years back and was emanating the Divine light of Carnatic Music and continuing to do so through his numerous krithis. In the days when there were no transport facilities or travel conveniences, dhiikshitar undertook pilgrimage to so many kshEtra-s and sang in praise of the deities in those places, without any selfish motives. The music community is enormously indebted to this mahaan, who was indeed a naadhaachala deepam.
