Even early Tamil literature mentions music a lot. An ancient work in Tamil literature, the tolkAppiyam, has a few references to music. The work paripAdal belonging to the sangam period mentions about 20 songs set to paNNs (equivalent to rAgAs). These are mentioned in the version of the book published by u vE svAminAtayyar. (I thank shri s. badrinArayaNan for giving me this reference.) There is a lot of music related discussion in the silappadikAram (see for example, Dr. s. rAmanAtan's thesis on music in the silappadikAram - Wesleyan University). However there are no tunes surviving from this period. Perhaps the earliest compositions for which we have original tunes or tunes composed by musicians of that period are the compositions of kAraikkAl ammaiyAr (approx. 5th century AD).
Next come the composers of the tEvAram. gnAnasambandar (635-651 AD), appar or tirunAvukkarasar (580-661 AD) and sundarar (about 700 AD). It is said that each of them composed several thousand padigams but only a few hundreds are available today. A few tEvArams that may be familar to listeners of karnAtic music are sambandar's kAtalAgi kasintu (paNN - kaucikam, equiv. to bhairavi) and appar's sotrunai (gAndArapancamam - kEdAragauLa) and vAnanai. The original tune for the latter is probably lost; the version sung by vidwAns k v nArAyaNasvAmi and d k jayarAman is in kIravANi rAga. I have been told that this tune was set by "tOdi" kaNNan. The viruttam that madurai maNi ayyar used to sing often - vEyoru tOLi.. is a sambandar tEvAram.
A legend involving sambandar mentions that he composed his first song (tOdudaiya seviyan) at the age of three - that would perhaps make him the youngest composer in the whole world.
Many of the tEvAram tunes have been preserved to this date due to the services of the OduvArs attached to temples. Due to the munificence of kings like rAjarAja cOzha, they were given lands etc, thus allowing them to continue their adherence to music.
In the post-tEvAram period came mANikkavAcagar, the composer of tiruvAcakam and tiruvempAvai, sometime in the latter half of the 9th century AD (controversial date). In his case the original paNNs for his songs are not available and they are usually sung in mOhanam. According to some scholars this indicates that he predated the tEvAram trinity. Many of the compositions of mANikkavAcagar have been set to tune by musicians during the earlier part of this century in various rAgAs - one famous piece is moyyAr tadam, which is sung in pUrvikalyANi. Shri semmangudi shrinivasa ayyar and Smt m s subbulakShmi sing this quite often.
Besides these Saivite composers, there were the vaishnavite azhvArs whose (approximately 4000) compositions are called the nAlAyira divyaprabandam. Some of these composers were periAzhvAr, nammAzhvAr, tirumangaiAzhvAr and ANdAL. It is said that these compositions were all set to paNNs and that they included some paNNs not used by sambandhar, appar, etc, but their tunes have been lost. (Dr. s. rAmanAtan mentioned in a lec-dem that there are references which mention the paNNs in which the songs of nammAzhvAr and tirumangaiAzhvAr were sung. I have also heard him sing a pAsuram of tirumangaiAzhvAr - paLLiyil Odi - puranErmai paNN - equiv. to bowLi.) But at some point, people stopped singing them and just recited them.
The music of the thEvAram and divyaprabandham had a lot of influence on the subsequent development of musicology. For example, an important early musical treatise is the sangIta ratnAkara. The author of this work, nissanka sArangadEvA, studied many paNNs and wrote about them.
The next great music composer was aruNagirinAthar whose outpourings include the tiruppugazh, the kandAr andAdi and the kandar anubUdi. He is believed to have lived in the 15th century. There are several legends about him and his life but much of it is unsubstantiated. The special feature of his compositions is the use of intricate time measures or candams. This indicates the high level of tALa related knowlege which must have been available at his time and at the same time the effect this work and its singing has had on the development of the rhythmic aspects of karNatic music. While the manuscripts we have of the tiruppugazh and other compositions come with appropriate candakuRippu or rhythmic setting, they do not mention the paNNs they were sung to. These have been set to tune by several vidwAns and scholars- notable among them are the late kAncipuram nainA piLLai and guru rAghavan. tiruppugazhs are often heard in concerts - infact the late AlatUr brothers, among others, have devoted entire concerts to tiruppugazhs. Some famous pieces are iyal isaiyai in husEni, nAdabindu in cencurutti and kAdimOdi in shankarAbharaNam.
A few centuries later came four great composers in the 16-18th centuries - muttutANDavar (16th century), pApanAsha mudaliAr (1650-1725), aruNAcala kavi (1711-1779) and mArimuttA piLLai (1712-1787).
muttutANDavar was one of the architects of the kriti format as we know it today - i.e. a piece with pallavi, anupallavi and caraNam. While much has been said about later composers like mArgadarsi sEsha iyengAr and their contribution to the development of this structure, the contribution of muttutANDavar goes largely unmentioned. The tunes for many of his kritis appear to have been lost (this may not be true for his padams) and many of them were "re-tuned" in the early part of this century. Some kritis of his which are famous are sEvikka vENdumayya - AndOLikA and ayyane natanam - sAvEri. The former was made popular by vidwAns such as madurai maNi ayyar and g n bAlasubramaNiam. I have heard Smt. d k pattammAL sing the latter very movingly at the music academy in Madras.
muttutANDavar also composed several padams, some of which are still popular.The late danseuse bAlasaraswati used to dance to his kamAs padam - teruvil vArAnO often. The dhanyAsi padam, ittanai tulAmbaramO, is also often heard. muttutANDavar was probably the first major composer of padams and his example was followed by several other composers such as mArimuttA piLLai, pApanAsha mudaliAr, kavikunjara bhArati (composer of inimEl avarukkum - bhairavi and varattum - sAvEri) vaithIswarankoil subbarama ayyar (composer of padari varukudu - kAmbOji and ini enna pEccu - sahAnA) and ghanam krishNa ayyar (composer of nittiraiyil - pantuvarALi and tiruvatriyUr tyAgarAjan - atAnA). The last two were relatively later composers - ghanam krishNa ayyar was a junior contemporary of tyAgarAjA.
Not many of the compositions of mArimuttA piLLai and papanAsha mudaliAr have survived till today. The yadukulakAmboji piece kAlai tUkki... and the tOdi piece ennEramum are compositions of mArimuttA piLLai. vidwAn b. krishNamUrthy once mentioned in a lec-dem that while both these pieces were often sung during the turn of the century, most people did not know who composed them. pApanAsha mudaliar's compositions include mukattai kAttiya in bhairavi and nadamAdittirintha in kAmbOji. The latter is an example of the nindAstuti style in musical compositions wherein the superficial meaning of the song seems to ridicule the deity involved. This was mainly introduced by pApanAsa mudaliAr and mArimuttA piLLai. tyAgarAjA has followed this in songs like adigi sukhAmu - madhyamAvati.
The songs of aruNAcala kavi's rAma nAtakam are very well known and justly famous. The music for these was composed by two of kavirAyar's disciples, kOtandarAman and venkatarAman. But sometime around the turn of this century, others such as ariyakudi rAmAnuja ayyangAr, composed different tunes for these songs and the original tunes are no longer heard. aruNAcala kavi's rAma nAtakam is mentioned as gOpAlakrishNa bhArati's chief source of inspiration for composing his magnum opus, nandanAr caritram.
Sometime between the times of the AzhvArs and nAyanmArs and muthutAndavar et al, there were a number of simple musical pieces composed by a group of mystics (usually 18 are listed) known as the siddhars. The earliest siddhars lived around the 6th or 7th century AD (sivavAkyar). Their pieces were in simple Tamil and based on folk tunes. The famous song tAvAram edukkadi.... is a composition of kudumbai siddhar. vidwAn k v nArAyaNasvAmi sings this often.
Another great composer from Tamil Nadi who lived around the same time was UtukkADu venkatasubbayyar. He is believed to have composed his pieces sometime in the early 18th century . He was perhaps the first to compose group kritis on a certain deity worshipped at some specific temple - something that was followed by all the members of the trinity. An example of this is the kAmAkshi navAvaraNam. A famous kriti of his is tAyE yashOdA in tOdi.
Tamil music has also been the source of some relatively recent (post-trinity) musical forms which have been incorporated into Karnatic music concerts such as the kAvaDicintu and the kiLikkaNNi. Both these draw heavily from folk music. The most famous composer of kAvaDicintus is aNNAmalai reddiAr of cinnikuLam (1865-1891). The famous cencurutti piece, manjunIgar, which used to be sung memorably by the late musiri subramaNya iyer among others, is a composition of his. The late Dr. s. rAmanAtan also used to regularly include kAvaDicintus in his concerts.
The kiLikkaNNi is a set of "love songs" addressed to Lord subramaNya. They were composed sometime in the 19th century by subbarAyasvAmi of ambAsamudram, a devout muruga bhakta and a *head constable* in the police force. d k pattammAL and her brother, the late d k jayarAman, often used to sing one of these beginning with the words, vaLLikanavan pErai, in their concerts.
A few words about the influence of Tamil music on the the modern trinity tyAgarAjA, dIkshitar and SyAmA Sastry. (For an interesting article on tyAgarAjA and Tamil, see s. pashupaty's article in SRUTI issue #55, April 1989, page 28. I thank shri pashupaty for this reference as well as lots of other information/references.) All these composers lived in tanjAvUr which has been the center for paNN music for centuries, it is highly unlikely that they would not have regularly (if not every day) listened to tEvArams and nAyana music. tiruvArUr being an important saivite centre and having a major temple would certainly have attracted the best of OduvArs and nAdaswara vidwAns. From various accounts, such as the works of u vE svAminAta ayyar, we know that the songs of composers like muttutANDavar etc were quite popular till they were somewhat upstaged by the flurry of new compositions in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It is quite natural that the trinity would have listened to them also. The extent of influence these compositions have exerted on the trinity has not been studied in adequate measure.
To summarize, I have tried to indicate several prominent music composers from Tamil Nadu and their contribution to Karnatic music. A study of their influence on the development of Karnatic music leads one to expect that the quote of Isaac Newton about seeing further because he was standing on the shoulders of giants would have befitted any of the relatively modern composers - including the trinity! It is but appropriate that we recognize atleast some of the contributions of these early composers.
Ramana
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