Composers: Cultural Leaders of India

In our country we are familiar with a large number of devotional poets whose outpourings are part of our musical heritage. Some of them have an important place in history of our music and the evolution of music forms. It is difficult to draw the line between these devotional poets and the composers who form the subject of this volume.

The galaxy of composers in this volume includes Jayadeva of Gita Govinda fame, Annamacharya, who shares with Purandaradasa the honour of being the Pitamaha of Karnataka music, Kshetrajna, a specialist in madhura bhakti, Tyagaraja, Muthuwami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, the trinity of Karnataka music, Maharaja Svati Tirunal, the royal composer from Travancore and Gopal Krishna Bharati, who has won immortal fame by his composition on Nanda, the pariah. Amir Khusrau who is a product of the blend of two cultures, Haridas and Tansen, the pioneers of the highest form of Hindustani music, Dhrupad, are three outstanding names in the history of Hindustani music. Haridas was a saint-singer who sang only of God and for God only.