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Carnatic Music: Early Proponents

Posted on July 1, 2025 by Enlite Team

Annamacharya (1408-1503 CE)

First known composer of Carnatic Music:
He composed sankeertanas in praise of Lord Venkateswara, a form of Lord Vishnu.
His compositions were mainly in Telugu.
He is widely recognised as ‘Grandfather of Telugu Song-writing’.

Purandara Dasa (1484-1564 CE)

One of the founding proponents of Carnatic music.
He was a devotee of Lord Krishna.
Widely referred to as the “Pitamaha or father/grandfather of Carnatic Music”.
He is believed to be an avatar or incarnation of sage Narada.
His famous composition includes Dasa Sahithya.

Kshetrayya (1600-1680 CE)

Telugu poet and a prominent composer of Carnatic music.
Composed several Padams and Keertanas.
His compositions were mainly based on Lord Krishna.
He used to travel from one place to another.
His Padams are even today sung during Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi performances.

Bhadrachala Ramadasu (1620-1680 CE)

A famous proponent of Carnatic Music and his compositions were mainly in praise of Lord Rama and mostly in the Telugu language.
He was one of the famous Vaggeyakaras (who composed the lyrics as well as setting them to music).

Trinity of Carnatic Music

Saint Tyagaraja

He has composed thousands of devotional compositions, mostly in Telugu in praise of Lord Rama.
He saw the reigns of four kings of the Maratha dynasty — Tulaja II (1763-1787), Amarasimha (1787-1798), Serfoji II (1798-1832), and Sivaji II (1832-1855), but he served none of them.

Saint Muthuswami Dikshitar

His compositions are noted for their elaborate and poetic descriptions of Hindu gods and temples and for capturing the essence of the raga forms through the vainika (veena) style that emphasises gamakas.
His compositions are predominantly in Sanskrit and he has also composed some of his Kritis in Manipravalam (a mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil).

Saint Syama Sastri

He was the oldest among the Trinity of Carnatic music.
He composed in a more formal form of Telugu which borrows heavily from Sanskrit and there are also several Kritis in Tamil attributed to him.
Most of his works propitiate the goddess Kamakshi.

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