Who is known as the Pitamaha, or grandsire, of Carnatic music?
- A.Tyagaraja
- B.Purandara Dasa
- C.Syama Sastri
- D.Muthuswami Dikshitar
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Purandara Dasa. Purandara Dasa, a saint composer of the Kannada devotional tradition, is honoured as the Pitamaha of Carnatic music because he organised the way the music is taught. The graded exercises a beginner still starts with, and the choice of the raga Mayamalavagowla as the first raga to be learnt, are credited to him, and he composed a very large number of devotional songs.
Options A, C and D name the three composers known together as the Carnatic Trinity, who came two centuries later and were all born in the town of Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu. Tyagaraja is remembered for the Pancharatna Kritis and for the annual Aradhana held at Thiruvaiyaru, Muthuswami Dikshitar for the Navagraha kritis and the signature Guruguha, and Syama Sastri for his compositions on the goddess Kamakshi. They are the greatest composers of the system, but the title of Pitamaha belongs to Purandara Dasa.
Read the full article: Indian Classical Music: Hindustani, Carnatic, Ragas and Talas
Practice Questions
View allWhich Veda is regarded as the source of Indian classical music?
- A.Rigveda
- B.Yajurveda
- C.Samaveda
- D.Atharvaveda
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The Samaveda is the Veda of melody. Most of its verses are taken from the Rigveda, but they are arranged for singing rather than for recitation, and that singing is known as Samagana.
Read the full explanation →The Sangeeta Ratnakara, a treatise accepted by both the Hindustani and the Carnatic traditions, was written by whom?
- A.Matanga
- B.Sarangadeva
- C.Bharata Muni
- D.Venkatamakhin
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Sarangadeva wrote the Sangeeta Ratnakara in the thirteenth century while attached to the Yadava court at Devagiri in the Deccan.
Read the full explanation →How many melakarta ragas are there in the Carnatic system?
- A.10
- B.22
- C.32
- D.72
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The melakarta ragas are the parent scales of Carnatic music, each of them using all seven notes in both ascent and descent.
Read the full explanation →Teentaal, the most common tala of Hindustani music, has how many matras?
- A.10
- B.12
- C.16
- D.14
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Teentaal runs over sixteen matras divided into four equal vibhags of four beats each. The first beat of the cycle is the sam and carries the stress, the third vibhag opens on a khali, and the cycle returns to the sam at the end.
Read the full explanation →Which is the oldest surviving form of Hindustani vocal music?
- A.Khayal
- B.Thumri
- C.Dhrupad
- D.Tappa
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Dhrupad is austere and devotional, sung in four sections called sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhog, and it opens with a long unmetred alap.
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