Great Composers of Carnatic Music--the

Trinity and After

Vasan Sri
The Trinity of Carnatic Music-- Thyagaraja, Muthuswami
Dikshitar and Shyama Sastrigal-- brought about a
renaissance of music in South India with their soulful
music devoted to Hindu deities. The traditions were
further strengthened and developed by great composers
in the 18th , 19th and 20th centuries . Their
contributions are briefly discussed in this article.
Their compositions are regularly sung in today's
concerts, but rarely a few details are given about
their lives and style of compositions or the 'baani'
they propagated. Some information regarding their
'parampara' or lineage may be of great interest as
well. Several distinct 'schools of music' developed
which took deep roots in the 'sampradayas' [traditions]
we find today.


An important factor in this narrative is the
dissemination and diffusion of kritis from composers to
musicians. The family traditions played a major role in
this process,particularly for the compositions of the
Trinity. Some families treated the compositions of
their forefathers as heirlooms or their private
property and would not part with them for others to
render them.
There was another factor in considering the work of
these masters. The ragas used by the composers may be
changed during the course of handing down to the next
generation.
Most musicians had one main guru who shaped their
style of singing, but would have benefited from several
'upagurus' in early stages or for specific type of
music training, such as pallavis or padams or javalis.
This would clarify many doubts about the lineage of
many singers we will discuss in this article.
[As a matter of record, " All India Radio" [AIR} played


a prominent role in preserving the music traditions.]

The Trinity-- a brief introduction
Let us begin with some information about the
Trinity. All the three great composers were born
in the same town- THIRUVARUR- famous for the
temple of 'Thyagaraja' Deity and equally famous
for the festival with a large temple car.[
Thiruvarur is a different town from the village
Thiruvaiyaru, near Kumbakonam, where Saint
Thygaraja lived.]
Thyagaraja composed songs mostly in Telugu,
and a few songs in Sanskrit. Dikshitar and Syama
Sastrigal both sang more songs in Sanskrit and a
few in Telugu.
Thyagaraja composed nearly 20000 songs; but
only 700 are written down , mostly due to the


efforts of Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar .[ See his
books "Krithi Mani Malai'.] Dikshitar and Sastry
composed about 500 songs each. Dikshitar's
kritis were easily available through Ambi
Dikshitar and later compiled by Sundaram Iyer
and Dr V Raghavan . A recent publication by T K
Govinda Rao in 1997 is a valuable book.
Saint Thygaraja [1767-1847] was inspired by
Purandara Dasa, the Doyen of Carnatic music from
Vijayanagara Empire in Karnataka. Thyagaraja
also composed two operas or musicals :'Prahlada
bhakta vijayam' and 'Nauka Charithram'. He might
have composed several other operas not available
to us.
It is important to recall that Dikshitar
[1775- 1835] traveled to North Indian pilgrim
centers and spent a few years in Varanasi or


Benaras. So, his knowledge of Sanskrit and
philosophy was deep. He also learned much about
Sri Chakra worship in Tantric style and sang
many songs on Goddess Easwari. He was also a
great devotee of Karthikeya or Muruga and his
songs carry the signature or mudra of
"guruguha". Dikshitar's father is credited with
the discovery of the raga "hamsadhwani". His
navavarna kritis on Kamalambal or Nilotpalamba,
the deity in Thiruvarur, speak of his devotion
to Mother Goddess. His teacher ,Chidambaranatha
Yogi in Varanasi gave him a veena. Dikshitar
preserved this veena.
His end is remarkable: He sang
"meenakshi mee mudham" in Purvikalyani with his
band of disciples, had a vision of Goddess
Meenakshi and breathed his last when the line :


"meena Lochani papa mochani' was sung. Legends
say that he was partially blind at that time.

Shyama Sastrigal [1762-1827] was devoted to
his family deity 'Bangaru Kamakshi" at Tanjore
which was preserved and worshiped by his family
for five generations.[The idol of Kamakshi is
made of gold (bangaru)and was brought from
Kancheepuram Kamakshi temple.]
He was also taught music by one monk, Sangita
Swami by name. His father had received land
grants from the Maharaja of Tanjore for the
maintenance of temple of Kamakshi.
Syama Satrigal , at the instance of Sarfoji,
Maharaja of Tanjore, faced a contest in music
against a haughty vidwan from Bobbili in Andhra;
before the contest , Sastrigal worshiped his


favorite deity and cried" Devi brova samaya
midhe" [Chintamani raga]. He won the contest.
He composed nine songs "navaratna malai" for
Madurai Meenakshi deity. Sastrigal also composed
songs for dance teachers like Vadivelu [and
Sivanandam, Ponnaih and Chinniah Pillai]
['Tanjore quartet"] and introduced 'swarajati'
style.
We know more about Sastrigal than the other
two composers, because his son Subba Raya
Sastrigal was himself a great composer and left
a lineage, as we will discuss in subsequent
sections. [A recent Ph D thesis of Dr Y
Saradhambal of Trichy contains much
information.]

Great composers after the Trinity


Some general remarks about the composers may be
made at the outset. Almost all of them hailed
from Tanjore region and sang songs in Telugu,
Sanskrit and some songs in Tamil. They ware
directly related the Trinity or were their
disciples, except a few, like Nayina Pillai of
Kancheepuram. There were several great composers
in 18th and 19th cent from deep south ,that is
,Madurai and Thirunelveli and Ramnad regions
too.
These composers would often perform
'kathakalakshepam' or musical discourses with
their own compositions [hundreds of them in a
sequence] and also created 'Natakams' --operas
or musical dramas-- which were performed by
several troupes in many places in the South. For
instance the opera " Nandanar Charithram', the


story of Nandan, a dalit who wished to enter
Chidambaram temple but could not due to caste
prohibitions, this original story of a
'nayanmar' from Peria Puranam of Sekkizhar, was
written as an opera by Gopala Krishna Bharati.[
This was a very famous opera and even made into
a movie with MM Dandapani Desikar cast as
Nandanar.]
During this period , many maharajas or local
princes supported the composers with gifts and
land grants called 'brahmadeyam": Maharaja of
Mysore, Maharaja of Travancore [Trivandrum] and
Maharaja of Tanjore were in the forefront, and
several smaller rajas and zamindars
[Ettayapuram,Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai,
Vijayanagaram [AP], Pithapuram {AP],
Udayarpalayam among others.] Some of the later


composers became very affluent and led a
comfortable life.
We begin our 'roll call of honor" with
Subbaraya Sastry.
Subbaraya Sastry [1803-1862]
Son of Shyma Satrigal, Subbaraya Satrigal had
the rare privilige of studying with all the
three composers ,the Trinity. This training had
tremendous influence on the kritis he composed.
One of his famous kritis " Janani Ninnuvina" in
Reethigowlam is sung by almost all musicians.
'Nannu Brochutaku' in Todi is also a well known
song.
He later settled in Udayarpalayam zamin as the
court musician. He taught several great
musicians including his adopted son Annaswami
Sastry and the famous Tanjore Kamakshi, mother


of Veena T Dhanammal.

OOTHUKADU VENKATA SUBBA IYER [1700-1765]
He was also known as Venkata Kavi. His period
slightly precedes the trinity, but I include him
because he belongs to the same period as the
Trinity and he had an enormous influence on
Carnatic music. He lived for the most part in
Tanjore under the patronage of the maharaja. He
composed more than 500 songs and several operas
. Most of his works are in Tamil.
His famous composition "Thaye Yeshoda" [in Todi
]describing the pranks of Lord Krishna as a boy
in eight charanams is justifiably the most
famous. [There is another set of replies by Lord
Krisha with "illai,Illai" too.] He composed an
entire opera on Krishna's life. His songs on


Krishna are all full of devotional fervor, for
he considered Lord Krishna himself as his guru.
He also sang 'navaavarna kritis' on Devi.He made
operas on Ramayana and Bhagavatam and other
puranic [mythological] stories.
His two famous compositions are 'alai payudhe'
[Kaanada] and " swagatham krishna" [mohanam],
both rendered nicely in recent times by Dr
Jesudas.!
[A recent book by N Ravikiran ,titled 'Oothukadu
Venkata Subba Iyer--Life and works" [2007] can
be consulted. Pub: International Foundation for
Carnatic Music.]

Gopala Krishna Bharati [1811-1896]
A great Tamil poet and a great composer, he
was a contemporary of Saint Thyagaraja. Born in


Narimanam, he lived mostly in Mayavaram [
Mayiladuthurai.] He sang many songs on Lord
Siva. During his visit to Thiruvaiyaru,
Thygaraja asked him to compose a song in Abhogi.
Bharati composed the famous song "Sabhapathiku
veru deivam" on Tillai Nataraja.
His song also mentions how the compassionate
Lord Siva gave 'moksha' to 'puliars' or dalits.
This theme seems to recur in his works. His
opera "Nandanar Charitram" , as mentioned
earlier,based on the struggle of Nandan, a dalit
became very famous, was played in many parts of
Tamil Nadu and made into a movie.
Gopala Krishna Bharati was inspired to write
these operas by the work of earlier Tamil
composer Arunachala Kavi Rayar [1711-1779]
who wrote several opearas, including 'Rama


Natakam".
[For some information on pre-trinity composers,
read the article of M V Ramana in the Internet.]
Some of his famous songs are:
--"Eppo varuvaro" in Jonpuri
--"guruvarulum thiruvarulum' in Abhogi,
--"innamum sandheka padalamo" in Keeravani.
His songs carry the signature or mudra "gopala
krishna".
His songs became very popular in Tamil Nadu
especially with extensive rendering of his
songs by Madurai Mani Iyer, among others.

Sadashiva Brahmendrar [17th or 18th Century]
Sadashiva was a great saint, mystic and
Advaitin. No one knows his period for sure--When
was he born? When he attained samadhi?


We know that his samadhi place or adhisthanam
is at Nerur where pujas are performed. But there
are some who maintain that he was interred at
Manamadurai!
There are many miracles attributed to this
mystic who wandered around naked most of the
time. [ Some anecdotes are given in Paramahansa
Yogananda's classic book "Autobiography of a
yogi" ,stories he collected when he traveled in
Tamil Nadu, sometime in 1935. His book mentions
the date of Sadashiva as 1750.]
Sadashiva got married at a young age, but when
his wife attained puberty, he walked away from
home as a sannyasi. He was talkative and
argumentative; but when his guru admonished him
and asked him to shut up, he said :"Yes, from
this moment"; he never spoke again. He used to


keep a stone as his pillow. But when someone
mocked at him for seeking comfort with the
stone pillow, he stopped using even that stone.
His school mates at Vedic school were
Thiruvisanallur Ayyaval [1635-1720](of Bhajana
sampradaya) and Thayumanavar (1705-1742). [From
these dates, we infer that Sadashiva could have
been born sometime around 1630 or around 1705!.]
He was patronized by Raja of Pudukottai and he
even wrote a set of instructions for the king to
follow.
He composed many songs in sweet words, all
embodying bhakti, advaita and renunciation . He
wrote several books on "Advaita".
His famous compositions include:
--Pibare ramarasam [Ahir-bhairavi]
--Bhajare gopalam [Hindolam]


--Manasa Sanchara re [Sama]
--Tunga tarange gange [Hamsadhwani]
--Bruhi muhundheti [Gowla]
[I had a book on Sadashiva's compositions
compiled by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. I am
unable to trace it to find its publisher.]
----------------------------------------------


Pattinam Subramania Iyer [1845-1902]
He was born in Thruvaiyaru, but spent many years
in Chennai or Chennaipattinam ; hence the name
"pattinam " was attached to his name.
He was a disciple of Manambhuchavadi Krishna
Iyer who was a direct disciple of Thyagaraja.
Thus Patnam Subramanya Iyer is in direct lineage
of Thyagaraja. He was also called "Chinna


Thygaraja" by his admirers. This is significant
because many great musicians were trained by
Subramania Iyer as we will list here.
He was recognised easily as a great composer
and singer that many Maharajas patronised him.
Chamaraja Wadiyar of Mysore gave gifts of golden
bracelets to him. He was also a court musician
in Travancore [Trivandrum], Ramanathapuram and
Vizianagaram in Andhra.
Several of his compositions are regularly sung
today:
--Raghuvamsa sudha [kathana kudhukalam]
--Evari bodhanna [abhogi]
-- marivera thikku evarayya rama [shanmuga
priya]
--Parithana metchite palincu [bilahari]
--varamulosago brochuta [keeravani]


--Aparathamulane [latangi]
His students ,with distinct style [baani] of
Pattinam Subramanya Iyer , were many:
* Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar [and his student
Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar]
Tiger Varadachariar [and his students, M D
Ramanathan,S Ramanthan, Mani Krishnaswami]
Mysore Vasudevachariar.
--------------------------------
Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatar
[1781-1874]
Born in Ayyampettai, Bhagavatar , a
Sourashtra brahmin, was a direct disciple of
Thyagaraja and was a personal attendant to
Thyagaraja for nearly 25 years. He recorded
the songs of the master on palm leaves. His
son ,Krishnaswamy Bhagavatar also became a


disciple of Thyagaraja.
The Walajapet school by this bhagavatar
family developed a distinct style of
singing. Many later singers and teachers
collected Thyagaraja's kritis from Walajapet
school. Madurai Mani Iyer once remarked that
he collected several rare kritis from the
descendants of Venkataramana Bhagavatar.
It is likely that Naina Pillai also
collected the kritis from the Walajapet
family.
Saint Thyagaraja visited Walajapet and
stayed with Bhagavatar family for 12 days.
At the time of mahasamadhi of Thygaraja, the
saint left all ritual materials , idols, his
paduka and tambura with Venkataramana who
preserved them for posterity.[These relics


are kept in the Sourashtra Samajam in
Madurai.]
Bhagavatar's compositions include:
--Neeve Nannu (Darbar),
-- Rama ravikulasoma (Kedaragowlam).

Swati Thirunal Rama Varma (1813-1846)
A prince from Travancore family, he learned
music from Subba Rao of Tanjore and later
was influenced by the 'Tanjore quartet' of
Vadivelu brothers. He learned to compose
varnams,padams and tillana. He also composed
two operas: Kuchela Upakyanam and Ajamila
Upakyanam.
He ruled the state for 17 years. During his
rule, he gave great encouragement to music
and dance, by inviting stalwarts from


Tanjore region.
His famous compositions include;
--Bhavayami raghuramam [raga-malika]
-- Kripaya palaya Shaure [charukesi]
--Deva deva kalayamidhe [mayamalava goulam]
-------------------------------------------
Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar
[1877-1945]
A great composer and teacher,he created 20
ragas and composed nearly four hundred
songs during his long life. His foremost
disciple was MADURAI MANI IYER.[MMI]
He was born in an affluent family and did
not face financial problems. But he chose a
very simple life style. In later life,
however,he lived in a regal style.
He is credited with starting the first


'music school' to train young singers,
besides the 'gurukula' system in which a
student lived with the master for several
years.
His teacher was Sambasiva Iyer in
Thiruvarur, who was a disciple of St
Thyagaraja.. He introduced many Hindusthani
ragas like sohini and sarang malhar--sohini
was adopted as 'hamsanandi'. He published a
book in 1943 containing 101 kritis of Swati
Tirunal, collecting from several sources in
Kerala.
He was also a great musicologist and
obtained honorary doctor's degree from
Kerala University .He was also a court
musician in Mysore.
Some of his famous songs regularly sung by


many musicians are:
-- Himagiri Thanaye hema lathe [suddha
danyasi]
--Sudhamaye sudhanidhe [Amrita varshini]
--Bhuvaneswariya nemme manasave [Mohana
Kalyani]
--Sarasamukhi [Gowda Malhar]
-------------------------------------
Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar [1860-1919]
An illustrious student of Pattinam
Subramanya Iyer, he belonged to the
Tyagaraja tradition. He composed more than
100 songs ,with the mudra 'srinivasa'.
His foremost student was Ariyakudi Ramanuja
Iyengar who introduced the 'kutcheri'
[concert] format for modern audiences.
Another student was Koteeswara Iyer.


Poochi is best known for several varnams
including "ninnukori" in Mohanam. The song
"Sadguru swamike' composed by him was
dedicated to Saint Thyagaraja.
Palghat K V Narayanswamy carried on the
tradition of Ariyakudi.
---------------------------
Mysore Vasudevachariar [1865-1961]
Another illustrious student of Pattinam
Subramaniya Iyer, Vasudevachariar was fully
supported by Maharaja of Mysore when he
studied with Subramanya Iyer . He also
learned music in early years from Veena
Padmanabhiah in Mysore. Later he became the
court musician [Asthana Vidwan] at Mysore
where he stayed for most of his life. He
spent the last years at Kalakshetra, Adyar,


Chennai, where Tiger Varadachariar and his
student M D Ramanathan also taught.
With mudra 'vasudeva' he composed nearly 200
songs. His songs were always touched with
deep nuances of devotion and melodious
rhythm. Towards the end, he wrote his own
autobiography [in Kannada,] which is a rare
practice for music composers and musicians.
He also compiled his songs in a book;
"Vasudeva Kirtana Manjari".
Some of his famous songs are the following:
--Broche Varevaru ra [Kamaj]
--Mamavatu Sri Saraswati [Hindolam]
--Ra ra rajeeva lochana [Mohanam]
--Sri Chamundeswari [Bilahari]
He also composed several varnams,javalis and
thillanas.



Kavi Yogi Suddhananda Bharati [1897-1990]
A freedom fighter and a close associate of V
V S Iyer , S Satyamurthi and B G Tilak,
Suddhananda Bharati is credited with
thousands of songs including songs for 72
melakartha ragas.
He lived close to Nerur and used to pray at
the samadhi of Sadashiva Brahmendra.
He also took lot of interest in Christian
teachings.
His epic poem "Bharata Sakti" awakened
people for freedom struggle. He lived for
many years at Puducherry in close proximity
to Sri Aurobindo. His famous compositions
include:
--Eppadi Padinaro Ayya [bhimpilasi]


--Kannane en kanavan [kalyani]
--Thookiya Thiruvadi [sankarabharanam].

Neelakanta Sivan [1839-1900]
Neelakantan lived in Padmanabhapuram, the
old capital of Travancore state [near
Trivandrum]. He served as village magistrate
for nearly 15 years. Then he had a vision of
Goddess Easwari and wrote " Thiruneelakanta
Dasakam" . He composed nearly 2000 kirtanas.
He called himself "Neelakanta dasan". Then
he became a wandering minstrel -- he visited
several Siva temples and sang songs in each
temple. He was even considered as the 64th
'nayanmar' by some devotees.
His famous compositions include:
--Ananda natanam aduvar thillai


[purvikalyani]
--Oru Aru mughane [reetigowlam]
--Enraikku Siva kripai varumo [mukhari]
His illustrious disciple was Papanasam
Sivan.
--------------------------------------
Papanasam Sivan [1890-1973]
He was also known as "Tamil Thyagaraja"--a
fitting title for his prodigious output of
Tamil compositions. Born in Tanjore
district, he spent some years at Trivandrum.
Later he settled in Mylapore, Chennai and
was devoted to Kapalaeeswarar temple.
His early songs written for Tamil devotional
movies, sung by M K Thyagaraja Bhagavatar, D
K Pattammal and M S Subbulakshmi, were
extremely popular . He was often seen in


temple processions leading the musical
troupe in Mylapore.
Some of the great songs of Papanasam Sivan,
made famous by Madurai Mani Iyer, are the
following:
--- Ka va va Kandha [varali]
--Kana Kan Kodi vendum [Kambodhi]
--Enna thavam seithanai, Yasodha [Kaapi]
-------------------------------------

Other composers and singers
We may briefly consider other composers and
singers indirectly influenced by the Trinity
and their disciples.
Kancheepuram Nayina Pillai had distinct
style and he was a repository of hundreds of
songs composed by Thygaraja. He might have


collected the songs from Walajapet school.
Though his life was short, he developed a
'Naina Pillai school' which grew with his
disciples such as Chittor Subramaniam Pillai
and his disciple Madurai Somasundaram. Naina
Pillai also taught T Brinda, grand daughter
of Veenai Dhanammal hundreds of Thygaraja's
kritis. D K Pattammal learned many pallavis
from Naina Pillai whom she admired so much
and emulated his style. DKP was often
called "Pallavi Pattammal".
The influence of Veenai Dhanammal is
pervasive in Carnatic music. Her mother
Tanjore Kamakshi learned from Subbaraya
Sastry, son of Syama sastrigal. The
distinctive style , known as "Dhanammal
bani", with slow rendering with gamakam in


Veena,[ also called "sankya music or relaxed
music,] was reverently followed by many
singers and veena players. T Brinda and T
Mukta, grand daughters of Dhanammal, and
their siblings developed a distinct style
,though fast paced music was soon becoming
popular.
Ramnad Krishnan (1918-1973) and T K Govinda
Rao were other singers influenced by
Dhanammal style through T Brinda. Ramnad
Krishnan earned the epithet- "a musician's
musician".
Ranga Ramanuja Iyengar who compiled 'Krithi
Mani Malai' and also wrote "History of
Carnatic Music", was an ardent disciple of
Dhanammal and kept a marble statue of her
in his house which I used to frequent as a


boy in Egmore, Chennai.
[ R R Iyengar was ,however, a bitter critic
of the styles followed by other musicians
that he kept himself away from mainstream
musicologists and musicians. He spent a few
years at Wesleyan University, Connecticut,
USA as a visiting professor.]
T K Govinda Rao was guided by T Brinda and
he compiled many kritis of Dikshitar. His
students were C Saroja and C Lalita.
One would enjoy a similar slow movement from
Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu's style of violin
performances. Dwaram spent much of his life
at Vizianagaram near Vizg and Chennai.
Likewise one can distinguish the style of
Parur Sundaram Iyer on violin. His sweet
handling of "manavi ala kinchara thade" in


Nalinakanti set the stamp of his style. He
learned nuances of Hindusthani music from
such masters as Pt Vishnu Digambar Paluskar
and Pt Omkarnath Thakur. His nephew M S
Gopala Krishnan was to extend this style.
-------------------------------------------
G N Balasubramanian [1910-1965] ,popularly
known as GNB, came to music after college
studies; he learned some formal instruction
at Annamalai and Madras universities,
partly from Tiger Varadachariar. He took
Ariyakudi as his 'manasika guru'. He would
develop his own style with swara prasthara
and later introduced 'sruthi bedam' in a big
way. He had 250 compositions to his credit.
His foremost disciple was M L Vasantakumari.
His style or bani is being carried on


by his earnest disciples such as Thrisur
Ramachandran and MLV's disciple, Sudha
Raghunathan, among others.
Some of the well known compositions of GNB
are the following:
--bhuvanatraya --[mohanam]
--gathi varavarama [bhairavi]
-- kavalai ellam [saraswati]
--nee dhayaradha [andolika]
-------------------------------------
M M Dandapani Desikar (1908-1972)
He was born in Nannilam and was a
disciple of Manicka Desikar and later Kumbakonam
Rajamanickam Pillai, a noted violinist who
accompanied almost all stalwarts like Ariyakudi,
MMI and GNB. Desikar composed several kritis in
Tamil and used to sing with fervor in Tamil Isai


Vizha in Chennai every year. He had sung a few
songs of Papanasam Sivan for movies. [A listing
of his compositions, compiled by Lakshman
Regde, is available in the Internet.]
Periasamy Thooran [1908-1987]
composed nearly 700 songs. He was born in
Erode and was active in freedom struggle. He
was a close friend of Palghat (K V)
Narayanaswamy and T V Sankaranarayanan,
nephew of MMI.
His famous compositions include:
--Kaliyuga varadan [Brindavana saranga]
---Punniyam oru koti [Keeravani]
-- Sama gana priye [Ananda Bhairavi]
-- Muruga,Muruga {Saveri]
-- Engu naan selvenayya [Kedaram]



M D Ramanathan [1923-1984]
This illustrious student of Tiger
Varadachariar, a teacher in Kalakshetra
where he studied earlier, was a great
musician and also a gifted composer. He
composed more than 200 songs. Several of his
compositions are sung in the past two
decades. Some were recorded in his own bass
voice:
-- Saagara sayena vibho [Bageshri]
-- Dandapani [Ramapriya]
-- Dharmavati [Dharmavati]
-- Enna kutram seytheyno [Huseni]
--------------------------------------------
Mahakavi Subramania Bharatiar (1882-1921)
This listing will be incomplete if I do not
mention Subramania Bharatiar. Besides


patriotic songs, he had composed several
devotional songs. His song on Goddess
Saraswati, popularised by Madurai Mani Iyer,
"Vellai thamarai poovil iruppal" [bimpilasi]
had been a favourite of many singers. His
songs devoted to Shakti are fiery in
diction. D K Pattammal set the tunes for
many of Bharatiar's songs.

Prologue
I am aware of the serious limitations of
this article which does not include several
other composers and musicians with great
style or' bani' of their own. I have not
mentioned the great efforts of violinists
,veena and flute players or the tala vidwans
and nadaswara vidwans.


Many of the dates and even year of birth
of some composers are not known with
certainty. Much research with historical
primary documents is required.
There are many saints whose compositions
are regularly sung [for instance, Andal's
'Thiruppavai' songs,other Alwars, those of
Vallalar [Ramalinga Adigal] and those of
Arunagirinathar and nayanmars] which I have
not discussed here. In most cases,some
information can be gleaned from religious
literature.

There are certain styles like that derived
from dance masters , nadaswaram masters like
T N Rajarathinam Pillai and Karukurichi
Arunachalam , and folk songs traditions


[example:siddhar padalgal] and kuravanji
formats;these form a different class of
compositions and deserve a separate
article.]
There is a need for reprinting or compiling
of several books published previously by
small publishers or self published by some
authors . Many books are difficult to gather
since several publishers had closed their
offices.
If this article helps in some way students
and lovers of Carnatic music anywhere in the
world, I would feel amply rewarded for my
efforts.
Note: Constructive comments on this article
are most welcome.Contact:
nenmelisrinivasan@gmail.com


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