MONUMENTAL  COMPOSITIONS OF

rAmasvAmi dIkSitar

P. P. Narayanaswami

RAGAM HAMSADHVANI, the most auspicious opening rAgam  in any kaRNATik music concert (rendered usually after singing a varNam) is the creation of the musical genius,   rAmasvAmi  dIkSitar, the illustrious father of the legendary muttusvAmi dIkSitar.  rAmasvAmi dIkSitar lived during 1735 - 1817 A.D. He was born to ve.nkatEshvara dIkSitar and bhAgIrathi ammAL, in the village of viri~ncipuram.  His father was a vEdic scholar, so naturally he groomed the son to be an expert in vEdas; but observing his keen interest in music, he got him trained in music as well.   MerattUr vIrabhadrayyA was his guru on the aspect of  lakSya (singing and composing), while TiruvidaimarUdur ve.nkaTa vaidyanAtha dIkSitar (a descendent of ve.nkaTamakhin, the grammarian of  kaRNATik music system) was his musical mentor on the lakSana side.  RAmasvAmi dIkSitar was married to subbammAL, and they had  three sons, muttusvAmi dIkSitar (1775‑1835), cinnasvAmi dIkSitar (1778‑1823), bAlusvAmi dIkSitar (1786‑1858) and a  daughter, bAlAmbAL. 

rAmasvAmi dIkSitar soon became very proficient in kaRNATik music, gaining competence, both as a singer (gAyaka) and a composer (vAggeyakAra). On the theoretical side, he strengthened the mELakartA scheme propounded by ve.nkaTamakhin. On the practical side, he became a prolific composer and singer. The concept of rAgamAlika, started by his teacher vIrabhadrayyA was given a more complete form in the numerous lengthy rAgamAlikas  he composed.  It was again rAmasvAmi dIkSitar who introduced pada varNams to kaRNATik music, and started using the ciTTa svarams  in his compositions . He composed many scholarly tAna varNams, pada  varNams and some k.rtis. But, he will always be remembered for the many lengthy rAgamAlikas in which he excelled as a composer.  One such  rAgamAika   is on Lord   ve.nkaTeshvara in 48  rAgams, beginning with the words  “manasA vErutarula”, another,  “shivamOhanashakti”, on Goddess mInakSi of Madurai in 44 rAgams, yet another one, “sAmajagamana ninnu” in 20 rAgams;  above all, the longest composition in the entire  kaRNATic music (nay, in all music!), is his  mammoth aSTottarashata rAga  tALa mAlika, commencing with the phrase “nATakAdi” in 108 rAgams and 108 tALams

Due to political situation, his parents migrated from viri~ncipuram to a more secure place in cOLa region, near kA~ncIpuram.  They sojourned first  to gOvindapuram, a well-known centre for bhajana sampradAya, then to mAyavaram, and finally settled own in the temple town of tiruvArUr.  King amarasimhan, the marAhTTa ruler of ta~njAvUr, impressed with the talents of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar,  made him the AsthAna vidvAn, and entrusted  him with the responsibilities for the temple rituals and organization of the nAdasvaram music at the great temple of ta~njAvUr.

MaNali muttuk.rSNa mudaliyAr, and later his son maNali ve.nkaTak.rSNa mudaliyAr, a zamindAr, happened to visit the temple at tiruvArUr.  Natuarally, they came in contact with the  dIkSitar family. Impressed with their talents, they took rAmasvAmi dIkSitar to maNali, where he enjoyed their rich patronage.  It seems the latter was so overjoyed with the aSTOttara shata rAga tALa mAlika  (which rAmasvAmi dIkSitar composed in his praise) that he poured kanaka abhiSekam on rAmasvAmi dIkSitar on that occasion.  Muttuk.rSNa mudaliyAr was a dubhAS (translator) with East India company and Governor Pigot (1755-63 and 1775-1777). Later his son ve.nkaTakrSNa (alias cinnayyA) succeeded him to this  job. This enabled him to take the dIkSitar family to the Fort St. George frequently, where they came into contact with Western Band Music.  This is how his son muttusvAmi dIkSitar got interested in western tunes and composed the famous noTTu svara melodies patterned after western tunes; also bAlusvAmi, impressed with the western violin, introduced the instrument to kaRNATik music. RAmasvAmi dIkSitar was initiated to the shrI vidyA tantra by one cidambaranAtha yogi, who later  took muttusvAmi dIkSitar to kAshi much to the reluctance of his father.

Unlike his son muttuswami dIkSitar, who was not interested in composing songs in praise of patrons (c.f. “hiraNmayIM lakSmIM sadA bhajAmi, hIna mAnavAshryaM tyajAmi” in  rAgam lalita),  rAmasvAmi dIkSitar composed many of his monumental work in praise of his patron,  ve.nkTak.rSNa mudaliyAr of maNali.    The vAggEyakAraka  mudra (signature of the composer) “ve.nkaTak.rSNa'' is used in all his compositions.

To cure an eye disease of his last son cinnasvAmi,  rAmasvAmi dIkSitar offered prayers at Tirupati, and composed the k.rti “i.nka dayA’ in rAgam vEegavAhini, on Lord ve.nkaTEshvara . There is historical reference to this in the  rAgamAlika “manasA vEritarula”  as well.,  It seems that Lord was  pleased with the song, and cinnasvAmi regained his eyesight. On another occasion, a musician from the ve.nkaTamakhin tradition teased them to identify a rare rAgam. Since the dIkSitars were followers of the same tradition, it was a trivial job for them.  RAmasvAmi dIkSitar responded by singing a  padam  in the same rAgam (tanukIrti), beginning with  the phrase   (referring to this test) “nandu parikSincanelA” appears. SubbarAma dIkSitar  (in Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini volume 1, page 34, tamil edition) mentions in a small footnote that this padam was composed by  cinnayyA mudaliyAr.  

aSTottarashata raga tAla mAlika

The crowning jewel among the achievement of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar is undoubtedly, the aSTOttara shata rAga tALa mAlika.  Even though  this  magnum opus is  supposed to contain 108 rAgams, and 108  tALams,  the original text is unfortunately not available in complete, and only 13 caraNam lines (coverng 61  rAgams and 57  tALams out of 108) have come down to us. The text that is presently available can be found in Subbarama Diksitar's encyclopedic treatise,  Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini, (which contains other rAgamAlikas of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar).

The text of the rAga tALa mAlika is in chaste telugu,  the theme erotic (shr.ngAra rasa), and is in praise of his patron ve.nkaTakrSNa mudaliyAr . The  sAhityam (lyric) is beautiful, and technically rich for the employment of rare rAgams and rare  tALams.  The name of each  rAgam and each tALam employed is skillfully woven into the telugu text through the art of shleSa (double meaning). It should be pointed out that some of the telugu words in the original composition might have been altered or mutilated through passage of time and generations 

Click below for the text of the rAga tALa mAlika in Sanskrit, English or Telugu font.  In the English version, all the rAga and tAla names occurring in the text are italicized and underlined for easy identification.

• Sanskrit

• English diacritical

• Telugu

The rAga tALa mAlika employs all the  ghana rAgams,  nATTa, gauLa, varALi, shrI and Arabhi. Also, all important mELa rAgams appear, namely, tODi, mAayamAlavagauLa,. sha.nkarAbharaNam, kalyANi, pantuvarALi, and  gamakakriya.  Many  upA.nga and  bhASA.nga  rAgams are employed (e.g. sAma, mOhanam, maNira.ngu, bilahari, sAvEri, punnAgavarALi, kura~nji, suraTii, bEgaDa and dEvagAndhAri). The prati madhyama rAgams used are  rAmakriya, kalyANi, sAra.nga, yaman and gamakakriya.  While most of the taLams used are either well-known , or precisely defined in musical literature, no clue is available for the  a.ngams of the  tALams with the names  lali, lakSaNa, shrImatkIrti, akSara and  kala that appear in the text.

Here is a breakdown of the various rAgams and tALams that are employed in each line of the lengthy composition:

rAga name  -  mELam - tALa name

pallavi

nATa -  36 -  dhruvam

anupallavi

gauLa -  15  - maTyam

varALi -  39  - rUpakam

First caraNam 

bauLi -  15  - jhampa

sara.nganaTa - 15 - tripuTa

shrI -  22 - aTa

Arabhi  - 29 - Ekam

lalita -  17  - lalita 

Second caraNam 

                rAmakriya - 51  - lakSaNa

sAma - 29  - ratilIla

sha.nkarAbharaNam - 29 - jaya

manira.ngu  - 22 -  darpaNa

                mALavashri  - 22 -  rAajacUDAmaNi

Third caraNam

pADi  - 15 - madana

tODi -    8  - rati -

kalyANi -  65  - rAja

sauraSTram  - 17 - kIrtii

husEni  - 22  - kunda

kannaDa  - 29  - madana

malahari - 15 - k.rda

Fourth caraNam

bhairavi  - 20  - vijayAnanda

sAra.nga - 64  - madi

kEdAram  - 29 - ana.nga

mOhanam - 28 - vIravikramam 

Fifth caraNam 

hamvIru - 65 - simhlIla

sahAna -  28 - rati

gaulipantu - 15 - sampakveSTa

jha.nkArabhramari - 16 - sama 

Sixth caraNam

rItigauLa - 22 - simhavikrama

naTanArayaNi - 8 - caturmukha

bilahari - 29 - shrInandana

hindOLam  - 20 - viSama 

Seventh caraNam 

vEgavAhini - 16  - laghushEkhara

vasanthabhairavi - 14  - vasanta

mEcabauLi - 15 - vanamAli

sAvEri - 16 - shrIkara 

Eighth caraNam 

punnAgavaraLi - 8 - t.ritIya

pantuvarALi -  51 - k.rda

kAmbhOji - 28 - abha.nga

kura~nji - 29 - parvati 

Nineth caraNam 

kApi - 22 - kOkilapriya

nATTakura~nji - 26  - hamsanada

mukhAri - 22 - kandarpa

yaman - 65 - shrIra.nga 

Tenth caraNam 

Anandabhairavi - 20  - pratApashEkharam

darbAr -  22  - ragavardhani

suraTi -  28 - lalita

nAyaki - 22 - shrImatkIrti

Eleventh caraNam 

kEdaragauLa - 28 - vilOkita

nIlAmbari - 29 - mukunda

nArAyaNagauLa - 28 - rAja

dEvakriya - 20 - caturtha 

Twelfth caraNam 

bEgaDa - 29 - kuTumba (kuDukka ?)

navarOj - 29 - vijaya

gamakakriya - 53 - tura.ngalIla

Ahiri - 8 - makaranda 

Final caraNam 

bhUpALam  - 8  - nandana

mALavagauLa  - 15  - rAjaba.ngaLa

saindavi - 22 - akSra

rAmakali - 15 - laya

dEvagAndhari - 29 - shrIkari 

Two rare compositions 

Two other remarkable creations of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar are also worth mentioning.  One is the anuloma‑pratiloma daru in the rAgam ga.ngAtara.ngiNi whose sahityam, when read normally (anulomam}, and in the reverse order (pratilomam) yields the same text.  (Such a style is called a  palindrome in English, and examples are: “vikaTakavi”, or “malayalam” or “remit a toyota timer”) 

anuloma pratiloma daru 

rAgam: ga.ngAtara.ngiNi --  tALam: tishra Ekam 

pallavi 

sA rasanayana sarasA

sA ratararatarasA 

anupallavi 

mAratAta tAramA

mAnita madhyama tanimA

tArapabhA paratA

tApitAvayava tApitA 

caraNam 

bhArambhAtamita bhArambhA

bhAvarAgatALa tAga rAvabhA

bhArate tava ta te rabhA

sAnapatitapatita manasA

hAra vidhi rodhivirahA

hAvanana tAna navahA

sAratu metu me sarasA

sakhi ve.nkaTak.rANa sarasa

Click below for the text of the anuloma-pratiloma daru in ga.ngAtara.ngiNi rAgam:

• Sanskrit

• English diacritical

The other brilliant composition is a svarasthAna pada varNam in tODi, where the telugu sahityam uses only the seven letters sa, ri, ga., ma , pa, dha, ni. The telugu words in the sAhityam of this pada varNam are constructed skillfully using these seven letters. 

svarasthAna pada varNam 

rAgam: tODi - tALam: Adi 

pallavi 

sarigAni dAni pAmarini nI pada

samAgamamAga nIganinisA 

anupallavi 

garima madAri padAri sadAri

gamapada nIdAnigA nidAni pasagani 

caraNam 

marimari ganisAga nipani dagadani

manigAnigA nimmanigadA

marI nI pathama manigA marInigA\\

maNali ve.nkaTak.rSNendra nAto

Click below for the text of the svara sthAna pada varNam in tODi:

• Sanskrit

• English diacritical

Balamuralikrishna has composed a svarasthana k.rti in this manner. 

We conclude with a list of available compositions of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar. The texts of most of these can be found in the books: (i) Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini of Subbarama DIkSitar (Tamil Ed. Vol 5),  (ii) Sangita Bala Bodhini by A. Anantakrishna Iyer (Guruguha Gananilayam, Calcutta), and (iii) DIkSitar Kirtana Mala Vol 12 of Kallidaikkurichi Vina Sundaram Iyer. 

Compositions of rAmasvAmi dIkSitar 

svarasthAna pada varNam 

sarigAni dAni -  tODi  - Adi  - (In praise of his patron maNali ve.nkaTak.rSNa) 

anuloma pratiloma daru 

sArasanayana  -  ga.ngatara.ngiNi  - tishra Ekam 

cauka varNams 

rammanavE tyAgaraja hindOLam  - aTa  - (on Lord tyAgaraja of tiruvarUr)

valaci vaccinnarura  - hindoLavasantam  - rUpakam (on Lord tyagaraja of tiruvArUr)

samI ninne  -  shrIra~njani  -  Adi  - (on tyAgarAja - the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th svaras of the caraNam of this varNam were filled by shyAma shAstri, muttusvAmi dIkSitar, cinnasvAmi dIkSitar respectively)

Ela nanne cEvu -  pUrNacandrika - rUpakam (on Lord tyagarAja of tiruvArUr)

shrI subrahmaNya  - hamsadhvani  -  rUpakam

sarasvati  -  bEgaDa -  tripuTa

rUpamu jUci  - tODi  - Adi – (some musicologists attribute this to muttusvAmi dIkSitar)

shrI kamalAmbA sadA  - manOhari   - Adi -  (on kamalAmba of tiruvArUr)

kamalambA  -  kalyANi  - Adi 

tAna varNam 

rA rA puseyakamA sAmi -  sha.nkarAbharaNam  - aTa  - (on Lord tyAgarAja) 

lakSaNa prabandham 

candasEyaurunDa maladhara  - hamsadhvani - maTyam (on nATaraja of cidambaram)

(This is the very first composition in hamsadhvani)

rAgamAlikas 

shivamOhanasakti  -  44 rAgams - Adi  - (on Madurai mInAkSi)

manasA vEritarula   - 48 ragams  - Adi - (on Lord ve.nkaTEshvara)

sAmajagamana ninnu  - 20 ragams - Adi  - (on King amarasimha) 

rAga tALa mAlika (aSTottara shata) 

naTakAdi vidyala   - 108  ragams  - 108 taLams - (on maNali ve.nkaTak.rSNa) 

k.rtis 

amba nI sharaNamu  -  Anandabhairavi - rUpakam  - (on Devi)

vashi vashi  -  sahAna  - Adi   - (on shiva at kALahasti)

shambhO jagadIsha  - sha.nkarAbharaNam  - Adi  - (on nATarAja of cidambaram in Sanskrit, and has lots of sound effects)

i.nka dayA -  vEgavAhini - Adi - (On ve.nkaTEshvara to cure his son’s eyesight)

vIravasanta  -  tODi  -  caturasra jhampa

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