Tiruvarur had a very special place in Mudduswami diksitar’s heart, not just for childhood memories, but as the site of his first education in music and temple lore. However the largest set of his songs are composed on deities in the Tiruvarur temple complex, with intricate detail lovingly woven into the lyric, steeped in majestic melody. Mudduswami’s musical career began in Tirutani, at the shrine of Chengalvaraya-Subrahmanya – a centre well known for its dance traditions. Ramaswami bequeathed to him the musical prabandhas and gitas of the Venkatamakhin tradition, while saturating Mudduswami with the high poetry and classical melodies of the Gitagovinda of Jayadeva which he sang every Ekadashi. He observed and assimilated the rich music of the great Nagaswara artistes and the graceful dance of the temple danseuses while his father put him through a rigorous training in the various branches of traditional learning. Mudduswami Dikshitar spent a significant part of his childhood in Tiruvarur, absorbing the sensory feast provided by the Tyagaraja shrine.
References to dance in Mudduswami Dikshitar’s songs It was this multilingual, multicultural (and spiritually charged) milieu that Mudduswami Dikshitar was born in.Ģ. There were innumerable padams and varnams dedicated at shrines of specific deities in the massive Tiruvarur temple complex, composed by a myriad of composers, that formed part of the Devadasis’ repertoire.
The dancers who performed the latter song, claimed descent from the goddess Nilotpalamba, and called theirs the ‘Kondi paramparai’, after the goddess’s Tamil name - Kondi. A troupe of devadAsis was employed to put on performances of two operas from king Shahaji’s time – the Pallaki Seva prabandham and the Tyageshar Kuravanji. There were several groups of women employed by the temple, with distinct sets of duties. The Nagaswara stalwarts of the time came from all over the south, vying with each other to perform at Tyagarajeswara’s various utsavas. The temple reverberated with the sonorous voices of the Oduvars reciting the Tevaram hymns. The daily worship entailed the music of several instruments including the rare Pancamukha vadya and the Suddha maddala. The temple of Tyagarajaswami too, was the nucleus of much cultural activity, with festivals and processions throughout the year that were suffused with colourful music, dance and poetry recital performances. The court of Amarasimha was marked by the presence of poets who versified in half a dozen languages, and musicians from all over the subcontinent.
He patronized several poets and scholars, musicians and dancers. There are said to be more varnas in the ragas ritigauLa, Karnataka kApi, Begada, Suddha sAveri and Saranga, which are part of the Nagaswara and dance repertoire at Tiruvarur.Īmarasimha, the son of Pratapasimha, held court in Tiruvarur at the time. Dikshitar is also said to have compiled and edited the kautvams (kavitvas) and mallaris that were part of the nityotsava and brahmotsava rituals at Tiruvarur. He has composed varnas in a range of talas – Khanda Ata, Aditala and Rupaka, covering both common and uncommon ragas – Shankarabharana, Hindola, Purnacandrika, Sriranjani, and Hindolavasanta all in praise of ‘Viravasanta Tyagaraja’ with a (Kamala)manohari varna on the goddess Kamalamba. Inspired by the deity Tyagarajeswara in a dream, Ramaswami Dikshitar codified the dance and (nagaswaram) music performances that were part of the various ceremonies and festivals conducted at the Tiruvarur temple. The Tanjore Maratha prince Amarasimha (whose name was Ramaswami as well) honoured him and invited the savant to stay at Tiruvarur. Ramaswami Dikshitar (1735-1817 AD) was a scholar respected for his deep knowledge of music as well as temple rituals and the Agama shastras that dictated them. Let us examine his association with dance more closely. This kriti is particularly suited for dance since it comes appended with a chittaswaram that intersperses solkattu syllables with the solfa (swara) passages.ĭoes Mudduswami Dikshitar’s relationship with dance end with this – A few performers using his songs in their dance repertoire? Surely not. It has been choreographed by many masters including the late lamented Vempati Chinna Satyam, as is the grand Kedaram song Ananda-natana-prakasham, for which the redoubtable Adyar Lakshman has composed jati passages inspired by the mallari performed by Nagaswaram artistes.
In the past too, we have witnessed memorable dance performances that used Kritis of Dikshitar – Kanjadalayataksi in (Kamala)Manohari. Recently (September 2013), the Hindu carried an article about a festival that had Bharatanatyam dancers performing compositions of (Mudduswami) Dikshitar. The article was published in the Nadasurabhi Annual Souvenir - 2013.
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