Sangeeta Ratnakara was a milestone of sorts. Not only was it a musicology text, but it also had detailed prescription for the performance. The grammar and framework are usually called ‘Lakshana’ and the actual performance is called ‘Lakshaya’. We have already seen how he gave an Ayurvedic basis for the 22 sruti octave. He too performed a famous experiment (on a veena) to determine the 22 srutis uniquely. He also mapped the 22 srutis into seven swaras and also suggested the ‘mood’ for the various swaras (Sa produces heroism, Ri – terror, Pa – love and so on). He was probably responsible for suggesting an inter-relationship between the various notes constituting a ragam, by proposing the Vadi-Samvadi-AnuVadi-Vivadi notion of a ragam. A word or two about this since you might hear these terms mentioned. What is the relationship between the various notes in a ragam? How can we understand how the note ‘Sa’ is related to the note ‘Ma’ or ‘Dha’ in that ragam? This scheme defines a concept called the ‘Vadi’ or the primary note of a ragam or the sonant or the ‘King’; and by the same token, a Samvadi or the ‘Minister’ or the second in line (‘Concordant note’); ‘Anuvadi’ or the ‘Servant’ to give the ‘proper shape’ to the ragam (‘Assonant’) and finally the ‘Dissonant’ or the Vivadi, or the ‘enemy’. It is questionable as to how useful such dissection is; but considerable volumes have been written about such things and several hundred ragams and their Vadi-Vivadi etc structure has been catalogued by several authors. You must remember that this theory is essentially to analyze the concept of a ragam and explain what gives its specific appeal.

Saranga Deva, among other things, defined almost 264 ragams, including some South Indian and North Indian ones. He described the various ‘kinds’ of ‘microtones’ and how to produce them. He also classified them into various categories. He defined something called ‘Kaku’ (a term that is hardly used these days) as a blending of melody and sruti. More than anything else, after his work came into being, it provided a veritable guide to the performers. Saranga Deva’s work probably launched a whole new era in music compositions and performance. In fact, for several centuries afterwards, the theorization of music became dormant, giving importance to performance. In the seventeenth century, there was a resurgence of theoretical works – such as “Sangeeta Sudha” (written by Govinda Dikshitar) and “Chaturdandi Prakasikam” (by Venkatamakhi). The latter expounded the present day Melakarta Scheme. The author mentions the twelve sruti octave and defines the Melakarta ragams. At that time only about 19 (out of 72) were ‘known’. He proposed the Katayapadi scheme of figuring out the keys used in the Melakarta from the name. It is interesting to point out that the original names given by him for the 72 Melakartas are not the ones used these days. For example, he called the first Melakarta as Kanakambari whereas it is called Kanakangi at present. In fact, except for one or two ragams, almost all of the 72 names are quite different compared to what he had meant – although his names, as well as the present names follow the Katayapadi scheme. It must be remembered however, that this is not the only way to classify ragams. There are several other alternate schemes and names (composers like Muthuswamy Dikshitar used alternate names for several ragams) and you can get very deeply into such things.

While such elaborate theoretical works were being written, eminent composers appeared on the scene and produced music. Annammacharya (1424-1503) a devotee of the ‘Lord of Tirupati’ composed several notable pieces. He was followed by Purandara Dasa (1480-1564). Purandara Dasa is considered the father of Karnatic music. He was a multi-millionaire (‘koteeswara’) to begin with, and accumulated enormous wealth in business. He was only interested in the pursuit of money and material pleasures, like most of us, till one day due to a divine intervention, his life changed. He renounced his wealth and became a ‘Dasa’ (which means a servant) dedicating his life to serving god and making music in god’s honour. From then on, his life was one misery after another and there are several legends associated with him which make interesting reading. Through all this Purandara Dasa never stopped making music. He is said to have composed nearly a quarter million songs in his lifetime, for which he probably earned quite a lot of ‘Frequent Composer Mileage’ awards. By the way, this works out to be about fifteen songs for every single day of his life. Even discounting for exaggeration, he was quite prolific. Several hundreds of his songs are still available, although it is likely that many of the present day versions of his numbers were set to tune by later musicians. His compositions were mostly in his native tongue, Kannada. Purandara Dasa’s songs are simple and easy for beginners to learn. He was the one who is credited with standardising the Mayamalavagoula ragam as a Lesson Number One for beginning students and is said to have even composed the Sarali Varisai/Jantai Varisai (exercises in ‘note’ reproduction) for beginners.

The Golden Age of Karnatic music was perhaps the time when the Trinity of Karnatic composers Thyagaraja (1767-1847), Shyama Sastri (1763-1827) and Muthuswamy Dikshitar (1775-1835) made music. Interestingly, they were all contemporaries hailing from the same century, although it is not clear what kind of influence each had on the other. Their lifestyles, music, attitudes seem so different that it contributed to their musical styles being distinct from each other. Volumes and volumes have been written about them. So what you will find here are truly only the thumbnail sketches. Thyagaraja is probably hailed as the King of Karnatic music, although when he was alive he shunned publicity and even rejected the King’s invitation to join his court. In fact, he renounced worldly goods, (including copyrights to his songs) and devoted himself to God. His songs have the raw devotion (‘Bhakti’, if you will) and are considered emotional. He composed songs in his mother tongue, Telugu. It is not known how many songs he has composed, but nearly a thousand songs are available at present, completely notated and interpreted. He has also composed operas. From the musicology point of view, Thyagaraja is credited with the invention of ‘Sangatis’ and with numerous other creative ideas in rhythm. Thyagaraja’s most famous compositions are the five Pancharatna Kritis set in the ragams as follows; Nattai, Goulai, Arabhi, Varali and Sree. Yes, who hasn’t heard the song ‘Endaro Mahanu Bhavulu’ and not liked it?

Dikshitar was more of an academician of music and a pedagogue. He was quite a handsome man, which perhaps explains why he had two wives. He spent considerable time in the North studying Hindustani music, which influenced him quite a bit. He wrote his songs primarily in sanskrit (I have heard one of his songs with just one stanza in Tamil). About four hundred or so of his songs exist at present. His songs are more complex and few can sing some of his complicated pieces. His lyrics are generally praises of the God (or Goddess) in point and are much more subdued and formal compared to the raw energy of a Thyagaraja song. His songs are often slow (influence of Hindustani) and often went into several different aspects of the ragam. Shyama Sastri is the most obscure of the three – he is considered a wizard of rhythm and composed several pieces called Swarajatis which enunciate various rhythmic patterns. Interestingly, none of the Trinity’s students made it very big, (some of them became reasonably famous alright). This brings to point the curious teacher-student relationship that used to exist in India. Karnatic music was largely an oral tradition. Information was often lost, sometimes forever, when Gurus passed on their knowledge to their disciples – and this doesn’t even count some Gurus who wouldn’t teach everything to the disciples.

There are several other notable composers such as Gopala Krishna Bharathi who composed in Tamil and was a contemporary of the trinity. Prior to him were other Tamil composers like Arunagirinathar and Arunachala Kavirayar. Swati Tirunal, the king of Travancore was a great composer of the nineteenth century. Among the more recent composers are Papanasam Sivan and Balamurali Krishna and the list goes on and on. Now we have come to a point in history where not only has theorising stopped, but even composing of heavy duty pieces seem to have stopped and we are left with only performers! Such performers – some real luminaries and some also-playeds, but most have pompous sounding prefixes like ‘Shankarabharanam’ Narasayya and ‘Todi’ Raghava Iyer.

A more fascinating aspect of history of Karnatic music is to study its evolution, delineate the broad musical trends etc. For example, even the instruments used in music-making have changed over the years. Gone are the olden instruments which were mostly derivatives of veena. In fact, veena-making was a fine art and there were many, many types of veenas serving various different purposes. The harp type instrument (‘Yazh’) and the ancient flutes have disappeared. Instead Western instruments such as clarionet, guitar, axaphone and Mandolin are increasingly being adapted to Karnatic music. Interestingly, not many newer Hindustani instruments (such as sitar, sarod and sarangi) are used in Karnatic music.

Another historical accident was the introduction of violin in Karnatic music. It was popularized in the nineteenth century by Vadivelu, who was a member of what is considered as the Thanjavur Quartet – a set of four brothers who were very talented composers/musicians especially of dance music. (They came a little after the more famous Trinity) Vadivelu was a court musician in the Travancore Royal Court and made extraordinary contributions to dance music, besides being a master of violin. By the way, he is said to have accompanied himself on the violin, a no mean feat! Like his musically gifted patron, composer Swati Tirunal, the king of Travancore, he too died when he was in his mid thirties. It is interesting to note that the violin was embraced very easily by the Karnatic music tradition whereas it is not so prominent even now in Hindustani music. Prior to violin, veena used to accompany vocalists. The present day vocal concert always has violin support, even though the violinist only plays in the shadow of the vocalist, with very few chances in the concert to show off his talents. This is quite intriguing to say the least. (Of course, the violinist can mask the vocalist sometimes and this can actually be a plus point if the vocalist has a horrible voice!) For more detailed accounts of the recent history, happenings etc, one should read a magazine published from Madras called ‘Sruti’, which not only provides concert reviews, news events etc, but also gives us a peek into the prevailing ‘Karnatic music’ taste and culture. However, if you are a history buff, my strong recommendation will be Rangaramanuja Iyengar’s delightful book. He is fanatical about Karnatic music and gets quite merciless in condemning the ‘modern day Karnatic music world’ – his modern day being the 1950s! I wonder what he would have to say if he sees people with questionable credentials writing about Karnatic music primers – who even have the temerity to suggest that a Western electronic keyboard be used as a learning tool!