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Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini - 3
The collection begins
 Chinnaswamy Mudaliar and Subbarama Dikshitar
June 12, 1894, was the date on which Subbarama Dikshatulu of Ettayapuram (as mentioned in Chinnaswamy Mudaliar's book) wrote to Mudaliar about his book. The letter itself was published in full. The letter basically praised Mudaliar and also promised him his own collection of materials which he was going to part with for publication.
The letter makes it clear that Subbarama Dikshitar intended to share his family's musical wealth for the purpose of publication by Mudaliar. Mudaliar acknowledges the above letter in his reply, dated June 30, 1894, and calls Subbarama Dikshitar as "a direct representative of one of the most scientific of our Beethoven and Mendelssohn families".
In his next letter dated July 19, 1894, Subbarama Dikshitar sketches out the work in the following manner:
Venkatamaki was the son of Govinda Dikshitar, student of Tanappa Chari, who holds as his guru the great Saranga Devar, author of Sangeetha Ratnagaram. He suggests the inclusion of
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all the lakshana geethams of this author
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all the melakartha ragams
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all the githams and tanams in the derivative upanga and bashanga ragams
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all the kirtanas of his uncle, known as Dikshitar, in the said ragams
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all the tana varna githams of this Diskhitar's brother
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all the very rare chowka varna, thanavarna, kirtanas and ragamalikas of Subbarama Dikshatar's grand uncle
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Subbarama Dikshatar's own ragamalika containing the 72 melakartas, ragams and other kirtanams
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soollathies of great men like Pooranthara Vittaller
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the different modes of raga alapana as atchipthikar, vitharikkar, laranan, makarini
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and the vital signs of ragams and thalams and the modes of pallavi singing.
From the above detailed sketch, it is clear that Subbarama Dikshitar had the idea of the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (SSP) much earlier and had intended to publish it through Mudaliar. Mudaliar, in his reply, dated August 29, 1894, said he would be happy to publish the above in a separate chapter exactly as Subbarama Dikshitar had wished it to be printed. He also added, "To some it may appear that the designations adopted by you for the Melakartas, which differ from the commonly accepted ones, will be a source of confusion to musicians and an unnecessary complication of what is already complicated to a frightful extent." But Mudaliar acknowledged the knowledge and skill and wanted it to be preserved for posterity.
In another letter to 'The Hindu, Subbarama Dikshitar made a passionate plea to the public to support Mudaliar's efforts. He describes the same as "His cry has been a cry in the wilderness and princes and zamindars and landed proprietors and judges and magistrates have all been appealed to and they have all remained inert and irresponsive to his call."
In the same letter, Subbarama Dikshitar also describes the Venkatamaki system of deriving the Melakartas and mentions that Mudaliar has not adopted the Melakarta names as per the list handed down to himself. Subbarama Dikshitar promises to "place these ancient works together with the kirtanams made by my ancestors in these 72 Melakartas at the disposal of Mudaliar and these will be published".
Subbarama Dikshitar also wanted to ensure that the text could be as correct as possible and asked a favour of the readers. He mentions that his ancestors have been direct pupils of Venkatamaki and his grandsons and their works have directly come down to him. He also mentions here that the Jagadguru Kanchi Kamakoti Peethadipati, Sankarachari swamigal, had given him copies of the same. He then requests the readers of 'The Hindu' to come forward with other copies of those works if they do possess them.
Finally, Subbarama Dikshitar concludes the detailed letter by sating that Sonti Venkatasubbier, who was under the patronage of Thoolaja Maharaja of Tanjore, was a student of Venkatamaki's grandson. Since Tyagaraja was a pupil of Venkatasubbier, he may have bequeathed his students some of these works. So, Subbarama Dikshitar was making enquiries to see if something could be got from those sources.
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