dIkSitar compositions - A Statistical Analysis!
Dr. P. P. Narayanaswami

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A total of 479 k.rtis have been used in this analysis.  There are differing opinions on this number. Some musicologists firmly believe that the 217 k.rtis of dIkSitar that are printed in ”sa”ngIta saMpradAya pradarshini” alone are authentic. Also, the total number differs from book to book.  Since the tamil (red) book), “shrI muttusvAmi dIkSitar kIrtanaigaL” by Vina Sundaram Iyer (1989) has the maximum number of k.rtis (479), I am using it as a guideline for the purpose of  this particular statistics. 

sAhityams of all these 479 k.rtis, with a navigator bookmark , both in Sanskrit, and diacritical English, arranged in alphabetical order can be viewed at: http://sky.prohosting.com/~guruguha

Some k.rtis of doubtful authorship (like “gOpikA manOharam bhajEham” in mOhanam) have been omitted.   The only telugu composition, a daru " nI sATi daivamuendu" in shrIra~njani rAgam, has been included, even though it is devoid of the signature "guruguha” It appears in sa”ngIta saMpradAya pradarshini, as well as in Vina Sundaram Iyer's book, (and subbarAma dIkSitar attributes it to muttusvAmi dIkSitar). The telugu varNam,  “rUpamu jUci”, sometimes credited to rAmasvAmi dIkSitar,  is also omitted for this statistics, along with “gaNapatE mahAmatE” in kalyANI (not found in the following references).

Main sources:

1. shrI  muttusvAmi dIikSitar kIrttanaigaL, Vainika Vidwan A. Sundaram Iyer, Music Book Publishers, Madras (1989)

2. dikSitar kIrttana mAlA (15 volumes) Vina A. Sundaram Iyer (Madras)

3. sa”ngIta saMpradAya pradarshini (5 volumes) Subbarama Dikshitar (Music Academy) (1961 to 1983)

Here are the statistics:

Graphical pie-chart diagrams for some of the statistical data can be viewed here

  1. Total Number of k.rtis:                                                                      479

  2. Number of (asaMpUrNa) mELams employed:                                      72

  3. No. of k.rtis in shuddha madhyama mELams:                                     423 (88.31%)

  4. No. of k.rtis in prati madhyama mELams:                                           56 (11.69%)

  5. Number of rAgams employed:                                                           193

  6. rAgamAlikA k.rtis:                                                                            4 (0.84%)

  7. k.rtis in upa”nga rAgams:                                                                  102 (21.29%)

  8. k.rtis in bhASA”nga rAgams:                                                             179 (37.37%)

  9. k.rtis in other rAgams (includes rAgamAlikAs):                                   198  (41.34%)

  10. k.rtis with pallavi/anupallavi/caraNam:                                                 280 (58.46%)

  11. k.rtis with pallavi/samaSTi caraNam (most vivAdi mELa k.rtis):             157 (32.78%)

  12. noTTU svara sAhityams                                                                     37 (7.72%)

  13. k.rtis with pallavi/anupallavi/muktAyi svaram:                                       1 (0.21%)

  14. rAgamAlikas                                                                                     4 (0.84%)

  15. Breakdown of the number of k.rtis according to the 193 rAgams used:

    1. 97 rAgams have 1 k.rti each

    2. 44  rAgams have 2 k.rtis each

    3. 14  rAgams have 3 k.rtis each

    4. 15  rAgams have 4 k.rtis each 

    5. 8   rAgams have 5 k.rtis each

    6. 6   rAgams have 16 k.rtis each

    7. 3   rAgams have 7 k.rtis each (Anandabhairavi, bhairavi,  suraTi)

    8. 4 rAgams have 8 k.rtis each (athANa, Arabhi, kAmbhOji, tODi)

    9. 1  rAgam has 11 k.rtis  (kalyANi)

    10. 1 rAgam has 48 k.rtis (sha”nkarAbharaNam)

  16. Maximum Number of songs are in rAgam  sha”nkarAbharaNam:              48 (10.02%)

  17. Maximum Number of songs are in the mELam dhIrasha”nkarAbharaNam: 96 (20.04%)

  18. k.rtis in major mELa rAgams:

    1. tODi                                                   13 (2.71%)

    2. mAyAmALavagauLa                             51 (10.64%)

    3. naTabhairavi                                        42 (8.76%)

    4. shrI (kharaharapriya)                             57 (11.89%)

    5. harikEdAragauLa (harikambhOji)            63 (13.15%)

    6. dhIrasha”nkarAbharaNam                      96 (20.04%)

    7. shAntakalyANi                                     27 (5.63%)

  19. Notable omissions  kharaharapriya, but substituted by rudrapriya (Also, dIkSitar uses "shrI" as the asampoorna mELam 22)

  20. Number of tALams employed: 10

    1. rUpakam                      139 (29.01%)

    2. Adi                              190 (39.66%)

    3. tripuTa                         17 (3.54%)

    4. jhaMpa                        15 (3.13%)

    5. mishra  cApu                54 (11.27%)

    6. khaNDa cApu               6 (1.25%)

    7. maTyam                      1 (0.41%)

    8. tishra Ekam                 22 (4.59%)

    9. caturashra Ekam          22 (4.59%)

    10. khaNda Ekam              12 (2.51%)

  21. Number of languages  employed:

    1. Sanskrit                      475 (99.16%)

    2. Telugu                        1 (0.21%)

    3. maNipravALam            3 (0.63%) - (sanskrit + telugu + tamil)

  22. vAggEyakara mudra featured in 478 k.rtis, except the Telugu composition "nI sAti daivamendu"  in shrIra~njani.

  23. rAga mudra (including sUcita (indicative) ) featured in 235 k.rtis (49.06%)

  24. None of the noTTusvara k.rtis have a rAga mudra; also all 8 tODi k.rtis and most sha”nkarAbharaNam composition have no rAga mudra.
  25. Number of temples featured:   74 (This number is only approximate, since the geographical location of some k.rtis are either doubtful, or could not be precisely determined)

Click here for the list of these temples, and the names of various deities (gods and goddesses) in these temples that are praised in muttusvAmi dIkSitar compositions.

  1. Breakdown of Gods/Goddesses for the k.rtis:

    1. shiva (includes kAlabhairava, vIrabhadra)                           131 (27.34%)

    2. dEvi (includes lakSmi, mInakSii, rENuka dEvi)                   176 (36.74%)

    3. sarasvati                                                                        13 (2.71%)

    4. viSNu                                                                             41 (8.55%)

    5. rAma                                                                              27 (5.63%)

    6. k.rSNa                                                                            14 (2.92%)

    7. gaNapati                                                                         27 (5.63%)

    8. subrahmaNya                                                                  36 (7.51%)

    9. navagraha                                                                        9 (1.87%)

    10. brahma                                                                           1 (0.21%)

    11. shAsta                                                                            1 (0.21%)

    12. sandhyA dEvi                                                                  1 (0.21%)

    13. ga”nga                                                                            1 (0.21%)

    14. mAya (contempt, not praise)                                             1 (0.21%)

    15. k.rtis on dual deities (included in the above):

      • pArvati + paramEshvara: 1 (included in shiva)

      • sha”nkara + nArAyaNa: 1 (included in shiva)

      • rAma + k.rSNa: 1 (included in rAma)

  2. Group k.rtis

  • kamalAmbA navAvaraNam

  • abhayAmbA vibhakti

  • nIlOtpalAmbaA gauLAnta

  • tyAgarAja  vibhakti

  • guruguha vibhakti

  • madhurAmba vibhakti (incomplete)

  • rAma vibhakti

  • SODasha gaNapati

  • noTTu svara sahityam

  • vivAdi mELa k.rtis on Tanjore b.rhadIshvara/brihannAyaki

(Sahityams  of most of these group k.rtis can be viewd at Carnatica’s Composition Bank.  Also, the Special Features segment  of Carnatica has detailed articles on some of these group k.rtis.)

 


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