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Shyama Shastri ( Tamil: ஷ்யாமா ஷாஸ்திரி, Sanskrit: श्यामा शास्त्रि, Telugu: శ్యామా శాస్త్రి) is among the most renowned composers of Carnatic music; indeed, he was the senior-most of the Trinity of Carnatic music, along with Tyagaraja and Muthuswamy Dikshitar.
Early years
He was born Venkatakrishna, in Tiruvarur (of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu) on April 26, 1762, into the scholarly and priestly Tamil Brahmin family of Viswanatha Iyer; a family not particularly interested in music. Though Shyama Shastri attained scholarship in Telugu and Sanskrit at a young age, he got no further than the elementary stages in music education, in spite of his melodious voice. When he was eighteen years old, his family moved to Tanjore.
Although he did not compose as many kriti-s 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 savoured. He composed in Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil and mostly on Goddess Devi. He has composed kriti-s in, varnam-s and swarajati-s with the ankita/mudra (signature) 'Shyama Krishna'. He is said to be the architect of the swarajati musical form. His set of three famous swarajati-s is referred to as ratna trayam. These are in Bhairavi, Yadukulakambodhi and Todi.
