 Many a times, we have heard musicians referring to the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (SSP). What is this? When was it written? Who wrote it? Why is it so important to musicans and others?
We begin a new series on the SSP trying to answer most of these questions as well as bringing you some of the interesting information that is contained in the
SSP.
The author
SSP was written by B Subbarama Dikshitar. We all know that Muttuswami Dikshitar had a brother called Baluswami Dikshitar. Baluswami Dikshitar was an asthana vidwan of the Ettayapuram Samastanam. He had a daughter called Annapoorni who was married to Sivarama Iyer. Subbarama Dikshitar was born to them. As none of the three Dikshitar brothers had sons, the Ettayapuram zamindar advised Baluswami to adopt Subburaman and so the grandson became B Subbarama Dikshitar, the adopted son of Baluswami
Dikshitar.
Subbarama Dikshitar mentions these autobiographical details in the
SSP.
In addition to this, he also mentions the following. His name was Balasubrahmaniam and he was born in Tiruvarur in 1839. When he was five years old, he was taken to Ettayapuram by Baluswami Dikshitar, where he was educated in music, Sanskrit and Telugu. He also mentions receiving upadesa in
Shrividya.
At the age of 17, Subbarama Dikshitar composed a tana varna in durbar in ata tala and sang it before the zamindar. Some vidvans in the court misled the ruler into thinking that Baluswami had helped his son to compose it. So, the zamindar decided to test his composing prowess.
He was given an hour's time to compose a jatisvaram in yamuna ragam, to a given eduppu, and a person was retained to watch over the process. The young lad came up with the required piece and sang it before the ruler, who, pleased with the performance, asked him to sing it before Baluswami Dikshitar too. He was then presented with two shawls and 10 gold coins.
He was later commissioned by Jagadvira Eddappa Maharaja to compose cauka varnams in Anandabhairavi and suratti and a ragamalika with nine ragas, to be used in dance recitals. He accomplished this and was well rewarded. He later composed a tana varna in ramakriya and the kriti shankaracaryam in shankarabharanam. He sang the kriti before the acharya of Kamakoti mutt at
Kumbakonam.
Finally, Subbarama Dikshitar mentions his meeting with Chinnaswamy Mudaliar that led to the publication of the SSP, and ends by saying that he has a son, Muttuswami Dikshitar (Ambi Dikshitar), well-versed in the art of music. Ambi Dikshitar later came to Madras and taught people like T L Venkatrama Iyer, S Rajam, A Ananthakrishna Iyer, Parur Sundaram Iyer, A Sundaram Iyer and D K Pattammal. Subbarama Dikshitar died in 1906.
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Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini
