The Genius of Dikshitar (Part 2)

In my previous post, I explained the first main reason why I love Dikshitar. Below is the second reason.

2) Shows different facets of a ragam

One thing that makes Dikshitar very special is that he was also very well versed in Hindustani music.

The Hindustani influence can be seen in compositions like akhilānḍeśvari (Dvijavanti ragam). However, if you listen to his composition ceta śrī bālakṛśnam (also in Dvijavanti), you will hear a very different version of Dvijavanti than in akhilānḍeśvari. 

This is a video of MS Amma singing akhilānḍeśvari.

This is a video of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer singing ceta śrī bālakṛśnam.

If you hear this carefully, you will notice the Dvijavanti that comes in akhilānḍeśvari uses many Hindustani phrases whereas the Dvijavanti in ceta śrī bālakṛśnam uses all pure Carnatic phrases.

This brings me to an interesting topic: madi and ammadi.

In many ragams, Dikshitar composed a madi (a Carnatic style song) and an ammadi (a Hindustani style song). In Dvijavanti, ceta śrī bālakṛśnam and akhilānḍeśvari respectively are the madi and ammadi krithis. So if one were to learn both these krithis, they would see how Dvijavanti could be sung in both Carnatic and Hindustani styles, and they would see more than one facet of the ragam. 

Other such examples of a madi/ammadi set would be:

govardhana girīśam/nīrajākṣi kāmākṣi - hindolam

hiranmayīm lakṣmīm/agastīśvaram – lalita

rāmānātham bhajeham/śrī sundara rājam - pantuvarāli

So Dikshitar was very flexible in his composing style: it's not easy to take a Hindustani ragam like Dvijavanti and make it sound Carnatic, but Dikshitar did it with ease! Pretty awesome, right?

I will continue the "Why I Love Dikshitar" series in my next post. (I'm sorry, I can't think of a better name! :P)

Until then, Know Carnatic music, know fun. No Carnatic music, no fun!