What set Muthuswami Dikshitar’s works musically apart?

Muthuswami Dikshitar’s imposing musical virtues are being extolled over the past few months on the occasion of his 250th birth anniversary. One of the sterling aspects we would like to dwell upon is Dikshitar’s exposition of rare and difficult ragas and his contribution in bringing them to mainstream performance. Just for establishing the working grammar of so many rare ragas, Dikshitar should have got a Nobel-equivalent, had there been one.

In order for a raga to be portrayed in detail, both in the kriti form and in alapana, a few requisites are a must: A distinct unalloyed scale, enough signature phrases, jeeva swaras and associated landing rules, distinctiveness in overall flavour, the opportunity to show differences with adjacent ragas without trespassing, and good contours for a wholesome experience rather than scale-based phrases. If a rare raga could be set to kritis with different hues, the vista of imagination for manodharma opens even wider. Dikshitar’s handling of Brindavana Saranga with the two masterpieces, ‘Ranga puravihara’ and ‘Soundararajam’ is a good place to begin.

Dikshitar starts the two kritis in upper rishabam and middle octave rishabam, respectively, to force the contours to run differently, as only Dikshitar can. He then varies the tempo and gamakas distinctly to give each kriti its own charm. The ranges are also different, with ‘Ranga puravihara’ stepping into the melody of the top octaves regularly while ‘Soundararajam’ explores the depths of the scale artistically. To sing ‘rajam’ with its multiple karvais and sensitively optimised oscillation, in the lower octave, is a treat that the legend D.K. Pattammal had perfected. Between just the two compositions, Dikshitar gave us enough creative essence of the raga.

Dikshitar explored Hindustani influences in other ragas such as Dwijavanti (‘Akhilandeswari’, ‘Chetasri balakrishnam’), Yamuna Kalyani (‘Jambupathe’) and others. We would probably not sing or play Dwijavanti but for these two kritis. Similarly, the Dikshitar version of Yamunakalyani has given us key anchors to work with while the more conventional Yamunakalyani has more appeal. I want to make a special mention of two ragas in which Dikshitar has composed only one kriti each (as far as I know) but in which the grammar and the aesthetics of these two ragas are fully laced in. Manirangu (‘Mamava pattabhirama’) and Narayana Gowlai (‘Sri ramam’) are now mainstream ragas in concerts. Manirangu is even an RTP choice. ‘Mamava pattabhirama’ describes the crowning of Rama, with Dikshitar creating a full imagery of the event and mentions every significant character in the epic in a brilliantly studded 16-line charanam. There is even a crescendo as if everything else wasn’t sufficient.

Swaras are often sung for Narayana Gowlai with patterns that stay true to ‘pa ni da ni sa’ or ‘ri pa ma ri ga ri sa’ phrases with janta swaras and don’t infringe on its unique grammar. Dikshitar’s long charanams and the faster lines provide more stone for him to chisel enhanced beauty and defining phrases, as borne out in these kritis.

The curious mind extended to a Sampoorna raga, Hemavathy, which is now a staple prati madhyama item. Dikshitar’s colossal ‘Sri kanthimathim’ and the lesser-known ‘Hariyuvathi hymavathi’ built the architecture of the raga. Among other one-raga wonders are Kumudakriya (‘Ardhanareeswaram’), Naga Gandhari (‘Sarasijanabha sodari’), Navroj, and the popular Thevaram hymn tune (‘Hastivadanaya’). We know these ragas almost exclusively in the Dikshitar context, the apparent limitations of such ragas notwithstanding. The one-off kritis ‘Veena pustaka’ (Vegavahini), ‘Mahaganapathe’ (Nata Narayani) and ‘Maye’ (Tarangini) are emblematic of the gems hidden in them. Finding the soul of each of these ragas and using that in one composition is the secret sauce that Dikshitar deployed. That the master-composer scaled such heights not just with treatise on rare ragas, but in almost everything he worked on – music, language, lyrical elegance, religious angle, places, history, temples and bhakti in one lifetime would remain as an unparalleled feat for a music composer. That tantamounts to distinction in all subjects throughout one’s academic life. Each aspect can stand the toughest scrutiny.

Dikshitar’s endeavour while handling such rare ragas was not just to somehow create a kriti fitting the scale, but to stretch the built-in aesthetics of the raga in many different shades so as to provide a strong understanding of the raga, its boundaries and unravel its most artsy touches. In that process, the master has also provided sufficient fodder for creative expansion by many musicians, especially the likes of Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and T.N. Seshagopalan, who have all lingered in these rare ragas for long, opening up the beauty petal by petal, in alapana and kalpanaswaras.

Dikshitar has clearly been the inspiration for us to enjoy such special nectar. There is so much to celebrate the great composer, but so little vocabulary to truly capture that greatness.