Dikshitar followed the mela paddhati (a system of classifying ragas) devised by Venkatamakhi, to whose school he belonged. In handling the vivadi melas, Dikshitar followed Venkatamakhi and avoided unharmonious expressions, prayogas.Further, since Kharaharapriya was not a part of venkatamakhi’s scheme, there
is no known composition of Dikshitar in that raga. The twenty-second
melakarta was Sri Raga; the mangal kriti of Navavarana series is
composed in Sri Raga. Again, Venkatamakhi tradition treated Bhairavi and
Anandha Bhairavi as upanga ragas; so did Dikshitar.
There are many ragas which are employed only by Dikshitar; for instance; Saranganata, Chhaya Goula, Poorvi, Padi, Mahuri, Suddhavasanta, Kumudakriya, and Amritavarshini. In Dwijavanti, Chetasri and Akhilandeshwari stand out in solitary splendor.
Some scholars
opine that Dikshitar’smajor service to Carnatic music is that he gave
expression to nearly 200 ragas of Venkatamakhi. He also breathed life
into a number of ancient ragas that were fading away. Several ancient
ragas found a new lease of life though Dikshitar’s kritis. To name a few
of them:Mangalakaisiki, Ghanta, Gopikavasanta, Narayana Gaula,Sulini, Samantha, maargadhesi and mohana naatta. Even today their lakshanas are illustrated mainly through Dikshitar’s creations.
He transformed
many Outhareya, the Hindustani ragas into Carnatic form through his
creative genius.His interpretation and rendering of ragas like Dwijavathi, Ramkali, and Yamakalyani, Hamirkalyani, and Brindavan sarang are highly original and creative. He made them into his own. His Cheta sri is so wonderfully well adapted to Carnatic raga_bhava that one scarcely notices the Outhereya traces in its character. He took in the best aspects of the other system, transformed them and enriched both the systems.
Shankarabharanam
scale appears to have been his forte; there are as many as 96 kritis
based on that scale. The kritis in Harikambhoji scale number about 63;
while 57 kritis are in Kharaharapriya scale. He had a special affinity
for Mayamalava_gaula in which he composed about 51 songs. The
derivatives of that scale such as Saalanga Nata, Paadi and Mangala
Kaishiki would have been lost but for Dikshitar.
Taala:
Dikshitar was
accomplished in the matter of talas, the rhythmic patterns. He is the
only composer to have set his music in all the seven basic taalas. He
employed all the Saptha Talas in his Vara-Stutis i.e. a song
for each day of the week. He is said to have used ten improvised
varieties of taalas in his compositions. The majority of his
compositions are set in Adi (190) and Rupaka (139) taalas.
P.S. Padithadhil pidithadhu
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