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Muthuswami Dikshitar

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A mudra ( IAST : Mudrā ; Sanskrit for sign or symbol) is a term woven into compositions in Indian classical music , particularly Carnatic music , that indicates the identity of the composer, a patron, the raga , tala , or style. A composer might use his own name or a pseudonym. Not all composers have mudras, and they do not necessarily relate to the composer's name.

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42-540: Muthuswami Dikshitar (Mudduswamy Dikshitar) ( IAST : muttusvāmi dīkṣitar , 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously Dikshitar , was a South Indian poet, singer and veena player, and a composer of Indian classical music, who is considered one of the musical trinity of Carnatic music . Muthuswami Dikshitar was born on 24 March 1776 in Tiruvarur near Thanjavur, in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India, to

84-538: A vainika ga¯yaka , "a player of the veena". He experimented with the violin , and among his disciples, Vadivelu of the Thanjavur Quartet , and his brother Balaswami Dikshitar pioneered the use of violin in Carnatic music, now an integral part of most Carnatic ensembles. On his return to Tiruvarur, he composed on every deity in the Tiruvarur temple complex including Tyagaraja (an amsham of Lord Shiva),

126-640: A Brahmin family on 24 March, 1776, in Tiruvarur near Thanjavur in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India. He was the eldest son of the composer, Ramaswami Dikshitar who instructed in a number of subjects including the vedas , poetry, music, and astronomy. Muthuswami had two brothers, Chinnaswami ( Cinnasvāmi ) and Balaswami ( Bālāsvāmi ), and a sister, Balāmba . Muthuswami's father, Ramaswami Dikshitar, born circa 1735, from an Auttara Vadama family in Virinchipuram, had moved South due to

168-568: A macron ). Vocalic (syllabic) consonants, retroflexes and ṣ ( / ʂ ~ ɕ ~ʃ/ ) have an underdot . One letter has an overdot: ṅ ( /ŋ/ ). One has an acute accent : ś ( /ʃ/ ). One letter has a line below: ḻ ( / ɭ / ) (Vedic). Unlike ASCII -only romanisations such as ITRANS or Harvard-Kyoto , the diacritics used for IAST allow capitalisation of proper names. The capital variants of letters never occurring word-initially ( Ṇ Ṅ Ñ Ṝ Ḹ ) are useful only when writing in all-caps and in Pāṇini contexts for which

210-509: A century of scholarly usage in books and journals on classical Indian studies. By contrast, the ISO 15919 standard for transliterating Indic scripts emerged in 2001 from the standards and library worlds. For the most part, ISO 15919 follows the IAST scheme, departing from it only in minor ways (e.g., ṃ/ṁ and ṛ/r̥)—see comparison below. The Indian National Library at Kolkata romanization , intended for

252-512: A duo singing Muthuswami's compositions. Balaswami's grandson was the composer and scholar, Subbarama Dikshitar (1839–1906). In his Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini ( IAST : Saṅgīta sampradāya pradarśini ), Subbarama records 229 of Muthuswami Dikshitar's kritis. Dikshitar's disciples included a number of artists who carried forward his tradition. They included the Tanjore quartet brothers, Ponnayya Pillai, Vadivelu, Chinnayya and Sivanandam,

294-439: A family that is traditionally traced back to Virinichipuram in the northern boundaries of the state. His compositions, of which around 500 are known and are noted for their elaborate, poetic descriptions of Hindu gods / temples and for capturing the essence of the raga forms through the vainika (veena) style that emphasises gamakas. They are in a slower speed (chowka kala). He is also known by his signature name of Guruguha which

336-433: A font, etc. It can be enabled in the input menu in the menu bar under System Preferences → International → Input Menu (or System Preferences → Language and Text → Input Sources) or can be viewed under Edit → Emoji & Symbols in many programs. Equivalent tools – such as gucharmap ( GNOME ) or kcharselect ( KDE ) – exist on most Linux desktop environments. Users of SCIM on Linux based platforms can also have

378-616: A highlight of Guruguha Jayanti celebrated every year. He continued to display his prowess by composing the Navagraha Kritis in praise of the nine planets. The sahitya of the songs reflect a profound knowledge of the Mantra and Jyotisha sastras . The Nilotpalamba Kritis is another classic set of compositions which revived dying ragas like Narayanagaula , Purvagaula , and Chayagaula . Muthuswami Dikshitar died on 21 October 1835 at Ettayapuram . He had no children. A samadhi

420-511: A local zamindar . The Dikshitar brothers accompanied the zamindar to Fort St. George nearby where they were introduced to Western orchestral music and the violin. An ascetic named Chidambaranatha Yogi then took Muthuswami under his wing and away to the city of Benares (now Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh). There he was instructed in music, esoterics , philosophy, and yoga . He was also exposed to Hindustani classical music , particularly

462-577: A number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's name may be known only to the publisher, or may come to be common knowledge. All most every time, the penname is inserted in the wordings of the composition or poem in a artistically meaningful way. Qawwal Bacche || 18th-century dhrupadiya in Rangile's Court. Sheikh Mazhar Sikandrabad Qawwal Bacche || Descendant of Tansen , dhrupadiya in Rangile's Court. This article related to Carnatic music

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504-564: A song in his honour in the raga Sucharitra , 'Cintayāmi Satatam Śrī Mudduswāmi Dīkṣitam'. His total compositions are about 450 to 500, most of which are sung by musicians today in Carnatic music concerts. Most of his compositions are in Sanskrit and in the Krithi form, i.e., poetry set to music. Muthuswami Dikshitar travelled to many holy shrines throughout his life, and composed krithis on

546-416: Is a pen name , nom de plume , or pseudonym adopted by a musician to serve as their sign of authorship in a musical composition. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise their gender, to distance an author from some or all of their previous works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to combine more than one author into a single author, or for any of

588-649: Is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during the 19th century from suggestions by Charles Trevelyan , William Jones , Monier Monier-Williams and other scholars, and formalised by the Transliteration Committee of the Geneva Oriental Congress , in September 1894. IAST makes it possible for

630-586: Is also his mudra (and can be found in each of his songs). His compositions are sung and played in classical concerts of Carnatic music. The musical trinity consists of Dikshitar, Tyagaraja (1767–1847), and Syama Sastri (1762–1827). However, unlike the Telugu compositions of the others, his compositions are predominantly in Sanskrit . He also composed some of his kritis in Manipravalam (a combination of

672-400: Is an epithet of Kumaraswami or Guha. Further, in the original Telugu publication of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (1904) Sri Subbarama Dikshitar mentions his name as Mudduswamy. Also, in the known composition of Dikshitar, "Bhajare re Chitha" in raga Kalyani, the "mudra" or signature of the composer appears in the text as "Guruguha Roopa Muddu Kumara Jananeem". Muthuswami Dikshitar was born in

714-782: Is by setting up an alternative keyboard layout . This allows one to hold a modifier key to type letters with diacritical marks. For example, alt + a = ā. How this is set up varies by operating system. Linux/Unix and BSD desktop environments allow one to set up custom keyboard layouts and switch them by clicking a flag icon in the menu bar. macOS One can use the pre-installed US International keyboard, or install Toshiya Unebe's Easy Unicode keyboard layout. Microsoft Windows Windows also allows one to change keyboard layouts and set up additional custom keyboard mappings for IAST. This Pali keyboard installer made by Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) supports IAST (works on Microsoft Windows up to at least version 10, can use Alt button on

756-487: Is considered to be a song set in the rare raga. He is also said to have composed a Rama Ashtapathi along with Upanishad Brahmendral at Kanchipuram. This work has been lost. At a young age, Dikshitar was also exposed to the music of the Western bands at Fort St. George. At a later stage, Dikshitar composed some forty songs to several (mostly western folk) tunes loosely adopted to ragas such as Shankarabharanam . This corpus

798-595: Is now known as nottusvara sahitya (etym. nottusvara = "notes" swara). The influence of Celtic and Baroque styles in these compositions is evident (e.g., Sakthi Sahitha Ganapatim , to the tune of voulez-vous dancer , Varashiva Balam ). There is an erroneous belief that these were composed at the behest of CP Brown, the Collector of Cuddappah. This is not possible as the two could have never met. Muthuswami Diskhitar had left Madras by 1799. Brown came to Madras only in 1817, learned Telugu in 1820 and moved to Cuddappah

840-475: The Advaita thought into his songs, resolving the inherent relationship between Advaita philosophy and polytheistic worship. His songs also contain information about the history of the temple, and its background, thus preserving many customs followed in these old shrines. Another feature in his compositions are the proficient rhyming of lines in the lyrics. Muthuswami also undertook the project of composing in all

882-568: The Dhrupad style, which, according to some scholars, would influence his later compositions. Upon the death of Chidamabaranatha Yogi, Dikshitar returned South from Benares and moved to the town of Tiruttani near Tirupati . According to legend, Murugan , the deity of the temple at Tirutani, placed a piece of sugar candy in Dikshitar's mouth and commanded him to sing. This marked the beginning of his career in music and also led to him adopting

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924-694: The Sanskrit and Tamil languages). There are two schools of thought regarding the pronunciation of his name. The name is pronounced as 'Muthuswamy Dikshitar'. Muthuswami is a common Tamil name (Mutu translates to pearl in Tamil, cognate to Mutya in Sanskrit) and is derived from Selvamuthukumaraswamy, a deity of the famed Vaideeswaran temple in Myladuthurai. However, T K Govinda Rao explains in Compositions of Mudduswamy Dikshitar that "the word Muddayya

966-585: The mridangam player Tambiyappa, the veena player Venkatarama Ayyar of Avudayarkoil , Tiruvarur Kamalam, Vallalarkoil Ammani, Kornad Ramaswamy, Tirukkadeyur Bharati, Thevvoor Subrahmania Ayyar, and the son of his Shyama Shastri , Subbaraya Shastri . With the creativity and spiritual value embedded in his compositions, Dikshitar is considered one of the Trinity of Carnatic music alongside his two contemporaries from Tiruvarur, Tyagaraja and Shyama Shastri. The Carnatic musician M Balamuralikrishna had composed

1008-499: The mudra , Guruguha , one of the many names of Murugan. His first composition was Śrināthādi guruguho jayati jayati in the raga Maya Malavagaula and Adi tala . The song addressed the Lord (and/or the guru ) in the first declension (Vibhakthi) in Sanskrit. Dikshitar later composed kritis in all the eight declensions on the Lord. These are with epithets glorifying Muruga in the ascetic/preceptor form and have few references to

1050-401: The 72 Melakartha ragas , (in his Asampurna Mela scheme) thereby providing a musical example for many rare and lost ragas. Also, he was the pioneer in composing samashti charanam krithis (songs in which the main stanza or pallavi is followed by only one stanza, unlike the conventional two). Dikshitar was a master of tala and is the only composer to have kritis in all the seven basic talas of

1092-526: The Carnatic scheme. Dikshitar shows his skill in Sanskrit by composing in all the eight declensions. Muthuswami Dikshitar composed many kritis in groups. Vatapi Ganapatim is regarded his best-known work. Muthuswami Dikshitar composed one song (Shri Kantimatim Shankara Yuvatim Shri Guruguhajananim Vandeham. Samashti Charanam Hrîmkâra Bîjâkâra vadanâm Hiranya manimaya Shôbhâ Sadanâm) on the Nellaiappar Temple goddess Kanthimathi Amman. This song

1134-1575: The Dikshitar gives the words “bhupurAdi navAvaranasya” in the very first Cakra kriti in rAga purvi to this important deity of tiruttani kSEtra The Cakra names are given (note there are 2 separate ways the Cakras are named, each of the 2 sets is shown) 1.     Sri guruguhasya dAsOham  – Cakra 1 purvi trailOkya mOhana - bhu-purA 2.     Sri nAthAdi guruguhO -Cakra 2 mAyAmAlavagaula sarvAshA paripura- SOdaSadala 3.     mAnasa guruguha - Cakra 3 Anandabhairavi  sarva-samkSObhana-aSta dala padma 4.     guruguhAya bhaktAnugrahAya – Cakra 4  sAma  sarva-saubhAgya dAyaka-CaturdaSa 5.     Sri guruguha murttE – Cakra 5 udaya-raviCandrika  sarva-Artha sAdhaka- bahir-daSa 6.     gurumurtE bahukirtE – Cakra 6 SankarAbharanam    sarva-rakSAkara -  antara-daSa 7.     Sri gurunA pAlitOsmi – Cakra 7 pAdi sarva-rOga harana-   aStara 8.     Sri guruguha swAmini  - Cakra 8 bhAnumati  sarva-siddhi pradAya -  trikOna 9.     guruguhAdanyam – Cakra 9 balahamsa  sarva-Anandamaya -   bindu dhyAna kriti Saravana bhava guruguham – rEvagupti mangala kriti Sri guruguha tArayASumAm – dEvakriya The bAlAmbikA navAvarana at vaidyanAtha kSEtra = vaithiSwaran kOvil 1. bAlAmbikayA katAkSitOham Cakra 1 SrIranjani 2. gIticakrarathasthitAyai Cakra 2 kannada IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration ( IAST )

1176-537: The area of Sanskrit studies make use of free OpenType fonts such as FreeSerif or Gentium , both of which have complete support for the full repertoire of conjoined diacritics in the IAST character set. Released under the GNU FreeFont or SIL Open Font License , respectively, such fonts may be freely shared and do not require the person reading or editing a document to purchase proprietary software to make use of its associated fonts. Mudra (music) A mudra

1218-536: The consumer edition since XP. This is limited to characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Characters are searchable by Unicode character name, and the table can be limited to a particular code block. More advanced third-party tools of the same type are also available (a notable freeware example is BabelMap ). macOS provides a "character palette" with much the same functionality, along with searching by related characters, glyph tables in

1260-631: The convention is to typeset the IT sounds as capital letters. For the most part, IAST is a subset of ISO 15919 that merges the retroflex (underdotted) liquids with the vocalic ones ( ringed below ) and the short close-mid vowels with the long ones. The following seven exceptions are from the ISO standard accommodating an extended repertoire of symbols to allow transliteration of Devanāgarī and other Indic scripts , as used for languages other than Sanskrit. The most convenient method of inputting romanized Sanskrit

1302-400: The deities and temples he visited. Dikshitar is considered to have composed on the wide range of deities for any composer. Each of his compositions are well crafted. The compositions are known for the depth and soulfulness of the melody — his visions of some of the ragas are still the final word on their structure. His Sanskrit lyrics are in praise of the temple deity, but Muthuswami introduces

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1344-449: The deity in the saguna form, as at Thiruthani . He then went on a pilgrimage visiting and composing at the temples at Kanchi , Tiruvannamalai , Chidambaram , Tirupathi and Kalahasthi , Srirangam , before returning to Tiruvarur . Muthuswami Dikshitar attained proficiency over the veena, and the influence of veena playing is evident in his compositions, particularly the gamakas . In his kriti Balagopala , he introduces himself as

1386-700: The opportunity to install and use the sa-itrans-iast input handler which provides complete support for the ISO 15919 standard for the romanization of Indic languages as part of the m17n library. Or user can use some Unicode characters in Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A, Latin Extended Additional and Combining Diarcritical Marks block to write IAST. Only certain fonts support all the Latin Unicode characters essential for

1428-557: The politically troubled environment around Kanchipuram and Virinchipuram at that time. Ramaswamy Dikshithar trained in the veena under Venkata Vaidyanatha Dikshitar, who belonged to the lineage of Govinda Dikshitar and Venkatamakhin and this is evident in Muthuswami's works which follow the Venkatamakhin raga system. Muthuswami moved to the town of Manali , near Madras (now Chennai ) at the behest of Venkatakrishna Mudaliar,

1470-564: The presiding deity, Nilotpalambal, his consort, and the Goddess Kamalambal an independent deity of high tantric significance in the same temple complex. This is when he composed the famous Kamalamba Navavarna kritis , filled with exemplary sahityas on the deities of the Sri Chakra which proved to be the showcase of his compositions. These navavaranams were in all the eight declensions of the Sanskrit language and are sung as

1512-543: The reader to read the Indic text unambiguously, exactly as if it were in the original Indic script. It is this faithfulness to the original scripts that accounts for its continuing popularity amongst scholars. Scholars commonly use IAST in publications that cite textual material in Sanskrit, Pāḷi and other classical Indian languages. IAST is also used for major e-text repositories such as SARIT, Muktabodha, GRETIL, and sanskritdocuments.org. The IAST scheme represents more than

1554-564: The references for the navAvarana sets listed/linked below. In fact, the rAgas chosen are related by their word names to the Cakra and the rAga/Cakra mudra is embedded in direct or indirect form which is another mark of the Dikshitar. In all cases, the complete set of 9 kritis form the composite navAvarana. dhyAna and mangala kritis exist for some of the navAvarana sets such as tiruttani guruguha and kamalAmbA. The tiruttani guruguha navAvarana (with dhyAna and mangala kritis) Most importantly,

1596-471: The right side of the keyboard instead of Ctrl+Alt combination). Many systems provide a way to select Unicode characters visually. ISO/IEC 14755 refers to this as a screen-selection entry method . Microsoft Windows has provided a Unicode version of the Character Map program (find it by hitting ⊞ Win + R then type charmap then hit ↵ Enter ) since version NT 4.0 – appearing in

1638-486: The romanisation of all Indic scripts , is an extension of IAST. The IAST letters are listed with their Devanagari equivalents and phonetic values in IPA , valid for Sanskrit , Hindi and other modern languages that use Devanagari script, but some phonological changes have occurred: * H is actually glottal , not velar . Some letters are modified with diacritics : Long vowels are marked with an overline (often called

1680-416: The same year. The Dikshitars Sri-vidyA upAsana and his many navAvaranas No discussion of the Dikshitar can ignore his Sri-vidyA upAsana and his navAvarana pujA. Indeed, the navAvarana structure is NOT confined to the kamalAmbA dEvi. The Sri-vidyA upAsana is also not limited by grammar/vibhakti sets. It has been found that the navAvarana structure exists for multiple other deities. See details in

1722-487: The transliteration of Indic scripts according to the IAST and ISO 15919 standards. For example, the Arial , Tahoma and Times New Roman font packages that come with Microsoft Office 2007 and later versions also support precomposed Unicode characters like ī . Many other text fonts commonly used for book production may be lacking in support for one or more characters from this block. Accordingly, many academics working in

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1764-415: Was erected at Ettayapuram in his memory and attracts musicians and admirers of his art. Muthuswami Dikshitar's brothers Chinnaswami (1778– c.  1823 ) and Balaswami Dikshitar (1786–1858) were also noted musicians. Chinnaswami composed some kritis while Balaswami adapted and pioneered the use of the Western violin in Carnatic music. The two of them were primarily vocalists and performed together as

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