Syama Sastri (Telugu: à °¶à ±Âà °¯à °¾à °® à °¶à °¾à °¸à ±Âà °¤à ±Âà °°à °¿; Tamil: à ®·à ¯Âà ®¯à ®¾à ®®à ®¾ à ®Âà ®¾à ®¸à ¯Âà ®¤à ®¿à ®°à ®¿; ; 26 April 1762 â 1827) or Shyama Shastri was a musician and composer of Carnatic music. He was the oldest among the Trinity of Carnatic music, Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar being the other two.
Syama Sastri, whose birth name was Venkata Subrahmanya Iyer, was born on 26 April 1762 in a Tamil speaking Smartha Vadama Brahmin family to Visvanatha Iyer and Vengalakshmi. He was also known as one of the trinity of carnatic music. To later generations, he is better known by his adopted name Syama Sastri or by his musical mudra (signature) Syama Krishna. He was born in Tiruvarur, in what is now the state of Tamil Nadu. He received his instruction in the vedas, astrology, and other traditional subjects early on and learned music from his maternal uncle. He was later trained in music by Adiappayya, a noted durbar musician of Thanjavur.
Although à ÂyÃÂma à Âastri did not compose as many kritis as his two prolific contemporaries, his compositions are still well known due to the literary, melodic and rhythmic proficiency observed in them. It is said that he composed about three hundred pieces in all.
He did not have many disciples to propagate his compositions, nor was the printing press widely accessible during his time. More importantly, the scholarly nature of his compositions made them more appealing to the learned than to the lay. Additionally, they feature a more formal form of Telugu which borrows heavily from Sanskrit. In contrast, Tyagaraja composes in generally more colloquial dialect of Telugu.
There are also a number of krithis in Tamil attributed to him. Most of his compositions propitiate the Goddess Kamakshi.
He composed kritis, vará¹Âa(s) and svarajati(s) with the ankita or mudra (signature) à ÂyÃÂma Krishna. He was probably the first to compose in a new form of the svarajati musical genre, where the compositions could be rendered solely in a singing or instrumental manner. Prior to this, the svarajati was primarily a dance form, and was close in structure to the dance Vará¹Âaá¹ (padavará¹Âaá¹Â).
His set of three famous svarajati(s) are intended to be sung in concert rather than danced, and are sometimes referred to as "Ratnatrayam" (Three jewels). They are KÃÂmÃÂká¹£hë Anudinamu, KÃÂmÃÂká¹£hë PadayugamÃÂ, and RÃÂvàhimagiri kumÃÂri, composed in the ragas Bhairavi, Yadukula kambhoji and Todi respectively. The former two are set to Mià Âra CÃÂpu TÃÂḷa, while the third is set to ÃÂdi TÃÂḷa.
He is known for his ability to compose in the most complex of tÃÂḷas.
Sastri had a number of disciples who excelled at the art. Alasur Krishna Iyer became a musician at the royal durbar in Mysore. Porambur Krishna Iyer popularised many of his guru's works. Another disciple, Tarangambadi Panchanada Iyer also made his mark as a composer. Another disciple named Dasari gained fame as a noted nÃÂgaswaram player. His son, named Subbaraya Sastri, was also a notable composer.
Some of his better known compositions are listed below.