Obeisance to Shri SYAMA SASTRY, born Venkata Subrahmanya (Jananam 26 April, 1762 - Mukthi 6 February 1827), Indian Carnatic Classical Musician, a prolific VAGGEYAKARAR, on His Mukthi Day today as per the Date of attaining it. Syama Sastry was born on Vaishaka Shuddha Shukla Trithiyai under the Krithigai Nakshathiram coinciding with Sri Parasurama Jayanthi and Akshaya Thrithiyai. Like his great contemporaries, he too correctly predicted the time of his Mukthi. He attained Mukthi on 6 February 1827, Shukla Paksha Dhasami Day in the Tamizh month of Thai under the Nakshathiram Rohini which this year falls on Thursday 10 February 2022.
Shyama Shastri was the oldest of the Trinity of Carnatic music. He was a contemporary of the other two, Tyagaraja and Muthuswamy Dikshitar, and was a personal friend of the former. Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri were good friends. They often met and spent hours together singing. Shyama Shastri had deep regard for Tyagaraja.
Venkata Subrahmanya, affectionately known as Shyama Shastri, was born to Visvanatha Iyer and Vengalakshmi on April 26, 1762 in a Tamil - speaking brahmin community known as auttara vadama. His parents though scholarly, had no particular interest in music. His forefathers were archakas in the temple of Goddess Bangaru Kamakshi.
At the age of seven, his Upanayanam was performed. Initially his father taught him devotional songs and has given sound education in Sanskrit and Telugu languages and attained scholarship in these languages at a very young age. Finding the aptitude for music, his mother requested her cousins to teach him the fundamentals of music. However this got no further than the elementary stage in music education.
When he was eighteen years old, his family moved to Tanjore. There, they got a chance to host a sanyasi, Sangitaswami, a master of dance and music, who was spending some four months in Tanjore. The sanyasi was quick to discover Shyama Shastri's keen intellect, melodious voice and musical talent and foresaw greatness in him. He obtained the father's consent and taught Shyama Shastri all aspects of raga, tala and swara prastharaas. The teacher found that the student could absorb even the intricate details very quickly, all in a matter of four months or less. Sangitaswami presented Shyama Shastri with a few rare treatises on music and certified that the student had gained full knowledge on the theoretical aspects of music. He advised his student to seek the friendship of and listen to the music but not learn anything from, one Paccimiriyam Adiyappayya, a composer of the famous bhairavi ata tala varnam, viriboni, and a court musician in Tanjore. Shyama Shastri duly did as he was advised. The influence of Adiyappayya is reflected in his svarajati kamakshi in Bhairavi raga.
Over the years, Shyama Shastri became a well-known and respected musician, scholar and a composer. He was quite admired and respected by Tyagaraja and it appears that the two of them often held scholarly and lengthy discussions on their latest compositions.
He frequently accompanied his father to the temple. Gradually his faith in the Goddess grew. Shyama Shastri, like his father was the archaka in the Bangaru Kamakshi Temple in Tanjore. He was a very pious and genuine devotee of Goddess Kamakshi. He is believed to have lost consciousness of the outside world on several occasions as he prayed to the Goddess. On such occasions, he would sing his kriti-s extemporaneously.
Although he did not compose as many kritees as his two prolific contemporaries, Shyama Shastri's compositions are equally well known. It is said that he has composed about three hundred pieces in all. He did not have too many disciples to propagate his compositions, nor was the printing press an easy convenience during his time! More importantly, the scholarly nature of his compositions was not appealing to the layperson; they needed to be studied to be savored. He composed in Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil and mostly on Goddess Devi.
He is said to be the architect of the swarajati musical form. His set of three famous swarajatees is referred to as ratna thrayam. These are in Bhairavi, Yadukulakambodhi and Todi. These stand unparalleled both for the delineation of the raga bhava and the fecundity of musical ideas.
Shyama Shastri's compositions are usually in common ragas, except for a few in ragas such as Manji, Chintamani, Kalagada and Karnataka Kapi. His favorite ragas seem to have been Saveri and Anandabhairavi, judging from the number of kritees composed in these ragas.
Anandabhairavi, an old raga that was frequently used in folk music, seemed to acquire a new stature after he composed masterpieces such as mariveregati, himachala tanaya, Oh jagadamba, pahi sri giriraja and even a couple of varnams in it. His rare originality was in swara sahitya compositions and the use of swarakshara. In other words, swara and sahitya having identical sounding syllables such as 'padasarara' corresponding to the swaraas pa da sa in the kriti, devi ni in Kambodhi.
Shyama Shastri would perhaps stand out most for the "rhythmic beauties" employed in his kritees, such as the use of five-syllable words like sarasamukhi, varamosagu, kamalamukhi, etc. These correspond to the rhythmic phrase "ta dhin gi na thom". His kriti-s feature the abundant use of the misra chapu tala (4+3). He also features dual rhythms as in sankari samkuru in raga saveri, with the inherent rhythm of rupakam and a suggestive rhythm of adi tala. "Shyama Shastri had a rhythmical frame of mind and he was always swimming in the ethereal regions of rhythm and tala prasthara. No other composer has composed songs answering to the rhythmical beauties referred above.
Shyama Shastri, though not a prolific composer, has been given a permanent place in the musical Trinity due to the quality, depth, variety, scholarliness and bhakthi bhava in his compositions.
Once, Kesavayya, a great musician from Bobbili, challenged the Thanjavur court musicians in handling intricate talas. Before facing him,. Shyama Shastri went to the temple, meditated and sang "Devi brova samayamide' meaning "Devi ! now it is the time for you to protect me". With confidence, went to the court and defeated the challenger.
Once, on the advice of a saint who heard Shyama Shastri singing Brhadamba in Pudukottai, went to Madurai to sing in praise of Meenaksi Amman and composed "Navaratnamalika'. These include kriti-s such as saroja dala netri in Shankarabharanam, mayamma in Ahiri, meena lochana brova in Dhanyasi , etc.
At Nagapattinam, Shyama Shastri defeated in a contest Appukutti Nattuvanar who was proficient in music. Consequently Appukutti forfeited his tamboura and tala for ever.
Most of Shyama Shastri's compositions are in praise of Devi Goddess Kamakshi. He composed about 300 songs. Though a Tamil, he had chosen Telugu language as the medium for his songs for the inherent beauty of that language. There are a few Sanskrit and Tamil songs too..
Shyama Shastri style is neither simple as that of Tyagaraja nor difficult as that of Muthuswami Dikshitar. His compositions are replete with the natural pathos and tenderness of a child crying out to reach its mother. He has composed kritees, varnams and swarajatees with the ankita mudra ‘Shyama Krishna'.
Shyama Shastri had two sons, Panju Shastri and Subbaraya Shastri. The former became a priest and the latter was a versatile musician and a disciple of Saint Tyagaraja. Through Panju Shastri, the family tree grew and produced quite a few scholars. Shyama Shastri's great grandson lived till the age of 94 passing away only in 1950 AD. Through him many incidents of Shyama Shastri's life are known. He was reportedly a tall and a rather stout person with a fondness for betel leaves! Shyama Shastri, like Tyagaraja and Dikshitar, was well-versed in astrology.
First Portrait:
There is this story about the below portrait of Sri Syama Sastri. It is an original portrait and it is the only original from which all published portraits have been derived. On the 7th. February,1827, seven days after his wife passed away, Sastry knew through his knowledge of Astrology, that he had reached the last day of his life. This prompted him earlier that day to send for a friend of his who was a good painter, and ask him to draw a portrait of himself. His friend agreed and commenced the portrait. But after drawing Syama Sastri's face, his friend decided to complete the portrait another day. Little did he realise that this was not to be, as Syama Sastri would pass away later that day, and the picture would have to be completed from memory later. The original portrait so completed is reproduced above, and has suffered fading and erasure in parts in the centuries that have since gone by. But what is of interest here is that the small original drawing of the face has been stuck on a larger sheet on which the rest of the detail have been added. The original drawing can be seen clearly demarcated as a rectangle on the portrait so completed.
