Kanniks’ talk in the College Station Campus on Friday October 30, 2009 on the Nottusvara Sahityas of Mutthuswami Dikshitar.

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Kanniks’ talk in the College Station Campus on Friday October 30, 2009 on the Nottusvara Sahityas of Mutthuswami Dikshitar. By S. Jayakumar, Houston.

This talk was organized by SPIC-MACAY of College Station. The Majority of the audience was composed of students from various schools. Some of them were familiar with Indian classical music while others, notably students taking courses in world religions and cultures, were unfamiliar with the concept of Indian classical systems.

Kanniks is a master at understanding his audience and tailoring his talk accordingly. He began with an introduction to the Indian classical raga system and contrasting it with the western systems. The audience was in rapt attention, with many people taking copious notes.

In the early 1800s, during the peak of the colonial period, the renowned composer Mutthuswami Dikshitar is known to have written compositions in Sanskrit set to various western Irish, Scottish and British folk tunes (such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!). In this talk, Kanniks explores this unique genre of Indo-Celtic music.

Mutthuswami Dikshitar was born in Tiruvarur, the abode of Lord Shiva as Tyagaraja – the Lord of renouncers and the Lord of all auspiciousness, and Goddess Kamalamba. Dikshitar’s first composition ever is known to be in praise of Tiruttani Murugan. During his lifetime, Dikshitar had travelled to many places in Tamil Nadu and has written compositions in praise of the presiding deities of temples in those places.

A story he narrated was of a village Ettaiyyapuram that had been ravaged by drought. Mutthuswami Dikshitar visited the village, and composed and sang in praise of Devi To this day the residents of Ettaiyyapuram recount this story. I was moved to hear this story. This composition was written to the tune of raga amritavarshini.

One of the tunes that had the distinction of gaining Diskshitar’s attention is the British National Anthem “God Save the King” (or Queen). Explicit appeals to scatter the enemies of God or to confound their politics gives way to a praise of Goddess as the all sustaining mother, the giver of that which is sought by all, and the form of the all-pervading consciousness.

I also enjoyed the song “Kamalasana Vandita” and the Gallopede tune – a folk melody seen in English and American country dance. The folk tune is very obvious with a playful rhythm and three claps at the end of each line. This composition is in praise of Goddess Kamalamba of Tiruvarur.

Dikshitar has written songs in praise of Rama (“dAsarate”,”rAmacandram”), Ganapati (“shakti sahita”), Subrahmanya, and many songs in praise of various forms of Devi.

Behind Kanniks’ repertoire on Dikshitar’s Nottusvara Sahityas lies a tremendous amount of research. As with anything to do with India’s past, this kind of inquiry is not easy, owing to lack of proper documentation. Kanniks has done an immense amount investigative work, sought out knowledgeable individuals, looked for old books and notes, and conducted numerous interviews.

It is interesting to note that the name “Kanniks” itself was neither invented by Kanniks nor given by his parents. It was the norm in colleges in India where all long names are shortened with an “sss” in the end – such as Venksubs for “Venkatasubramaniam”, Venks for Venkat and “Rams” for Ramakrishnan. So, the name given by his friends to Kannikeswaran is, of course, Kanniks!

Muttuswami Dikshitar’s compositions are rooted in Vedanta – or the vision of oneness of all creation. Here are a set of Irish, Scottish and British folk tunes that were popular in the bars in India in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. And here is a man who sees sanctity in these western notes that were new to the Indian mind. The magnanimity of the vision of Vedanta is fittingly matched by Mutthuswami Dikshitar’s generous and spontaneous expression of that vision.

For the first time, the entire set of 39 compositions has been sung and produced to the original tunes in a historic production called vismaya. Kanniks’ daughter Vidita’s mellifluous voice gives abundant life to Dikshitar’s Nottusvara Sahityas. At the talk, Kanniks himself sang one of the songs to the audience accompanied by the tune.

As Kanniks said, this genre of music is neither completely Indian classical nor completely western. That is the uniqueness of Dikshitar’s genious, and of Kanniks contribution to the world of music. My salutations to Guruguha (Mutthuswami Dikshitar) and my deepest respects to Kanniks for expertly unfolding the world of Nottuswara Sahityas of Dikshitar in this Indo-Celtic Journey.