Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Tiruvarur
By Kutcheribuzz staff / Chennai

Muthuswamy Dikshitar, one of the trinity of Carnatic music is famous for his compositions on deities of various temples across the country. Dikshitar was born in Tiruvarur and having spent half of his lifetime there, he composed 64 kritis on Thyagaraja swamy, Devi Kamalamba and other deities in Tiruvarur temple. Sumathi Krishnan, disciple of senior vocalist R. Vedavalli, inspired by a visit to Tiruvarur, has brought out a book - 'Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Tiruvarur'.

The book describes the architecture of the Tiruvarur temple, Dikshitar’s association with the temple, the navavarana kritis on Devi Kamalamba and other kritis on the prakara lingams of the temple.

Apart from the details about the Vara kritis or the navagraha kritis and Tyagaraja and Neelotpalamba Vibhakti kritis, the book has information about the kritis of Dikshitar on almost each and every shrine in Tiruvarur. The author speaks about the kriti on Renuka Devi, who guards the boundaries of the town and a kriti on Sundaramurthi nayanar, one of the Tevaram saints in the rare raga Takka.

The book is published by The C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, Chennai and is priced Rs.100.