Veenavaadhini Sampradaya Sangit Trust’s ‘Dikshitar 250’ highlighted the enduring appeal of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s compositions

A portrait of Muthuswami Dikshitar.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

Carnatic music has a rich collection of kritis composed by different vaggeyakaras, particularly the Trinity. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kritis are known for their intricate phrases, melodic appeal and lyrical beauty. As Dikshitar was proficient in playing the veena, one can also see its influence in his compositions. Many of his kritis are set in a leisurely veena-playing style with quicksilver madhyamakala passages to capture the ragas’ essence.

To celebrate the composer’s 250th birth anniversary, a year-long event titled ‘Dikshitar 250’ has been organised by Veenavadhini Sampradaya Sangit Trust. the Trust, founded by Veena artiste Jayasri Jeyaraaj and Jeyaraaj, recently presented concerts by Veena Venkatramani and Neyveli Santhanagopalan at Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore.

Stringing melodies

The evening began with Veena Venkatramani’s veena recital spanning 90 minutes. The highlight was her presentation of kritis such as ‘Kadambari priyayai’ (Mohanam) and ‘Sadasraye abhayambike’ (Chamaram). The vainika shared that the raga, which is otherwise called Shanmukhapriya, gets the name Chamaram in Dikshitar school. Dikshitar had followed the Asampurna Melakarta system in naming the melakarta ragas.

Veena embellished each kriti with well-nuanced raga alapanas and kalpanaswaras. The tanam section, following the Chamaram alapana, stood out. Choice of kritis and good kalapramanam are her assets. Interestingly,

The tani avartanam by Tirucherai Kaushik (mridangam) and K.R. Sivarama Krishna (kanjira) was rich in complexity.

Bonding with rasikas

Senior vocalist Neyveli Santhanagopalan’s concert showed his ability to engage with the audience. He began his performance with the Gowla raga composition ‘Tyagaraja palayasumam’.

Accompanists Nagai Muralidharan (violin) and Mannargudi Easwaran (mridangam) elevated the presentation. Santhanagopalan got into an introspective mood in the ensuing Bilahari raga alapana as he traversed through its many layers. He presented the kriti ‘Eka dantam bhajeham’ with kalpanaswaras. He did not indulge in too many korvais in this segment. But in the main kriti ‘Sri rajagopala bala’ (Saveri), towards the second half of the recital, he came up with a few intricate korvais. An elaborate and creative niraval-swara segment followed after the kriti.

Earlier, Santhanagopalan presented a Varali raga alapana keeping all its aesthetics intact. The kriti chosen was ‘Seshachala nayakam’. His ‘Manasa guruguha rupam bhajare’ (Anandabhairavi) was rich in melodic appeal. Violinist Nagai Muralidharan’s repartees during the alapana and swara segements were enjoyable. Senior mridangist Mannargudi Easwaran displayed his percussive skill during the tani avaratanam.