“Dīpāvali 2025: Remembering Dīkṣitar’s Legacy”, Brht, October 20, 2025
“As we navigate 2025, a year marked by an ever-accelerating exchange of cultures and a renewed appreciation for diverse heritage, it is timely to reflect on the profound legacy of Muttusvāmi Dīkṣitar. This towering figure of Indian Art Music, whose 250th birth anniversary we celebrate this year, offers not merely a historical curiosity but a powerful paradigm of innovation, intellectual depth, and cultural documentation that speaks directly to our contemporary world. Dīpāvali, the day that happens to mark Dīkṣitar’s death anniversary, is the perfect time to reflect on this master.
While his contemporaries, such as the widely celebrated Tyāgarāja, enjoy broad recognition, Dīkṣitar’s genius, though perhaps less universally known outside of Karṇāṭaka sańgīta circles, presents a wealth of insights into Indian Knowledge Systems. Born in 1775, his life spanned a transformative era of early British colonization, a period he meticulously documented through his multimedia creations that seamlessly integrated music, prosody, and storytelling, drawing deeply from the wellsprings of Indian Knowledge Systems. His compositions, primarily in Saṃskṛta, stand as a unique and invaluable “travelog” of India’s sacred geography, weaving together pan-Indian traditions with local lore, complex philosophical ideas, and a stunning range of melodies, all rooted in the rich tapestry of Indian Knowledge Systems.
Dīkṣitar is the only composer from Southern India who had spent five years of his life in Vārāṇasī, the spiritual capital of India……”
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