Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
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| Indian classical music | |
|---|---|
| Carnatic music | |
| Composers | |
| Purandara Dasa | |
| The Trimurti | |
| Tyagaraja | |
| Muthuswami Dikshitar | |
| Syama Sastri | |
| Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma | |
| Singers | |
| M.S. Subbulakshmi | |
| Hindustani music | |
| Concepts | |
| Sruti | |
| Raga | |
| Melakarta | |
| Katapayadi sankhya | |
| Swara | |
| Tala | |
| Mudra |
Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (April 16, 1813 - December 25, 1846) was a South Indian king of the state of Travancore, in India. His reign lasted from 1829 to 1846. He was born a king, and was in power even before birth. Therefore, he is called Garbha Sreeman.
Besides being an able ruler, he was a patron of music and a musician by himself. He encouraged both broad systems of Indian music, Hindustani and Carnatic music, though he was essentially a connoisseur of the carnatic music tradition.
Image:Swati Tirunal.jpg He has written and composed songs in different languages and ragas. Some of his favorite compositions are Padmanabha Pahi, Deva Deva and Sarasijanabha. His compositions are sung during the Dusshera season, at Kuthiramalika in the Fort at Trivandrum near Padmanabha Swamy Temple. He was one of the figures noted as Kalineesan in Akilattirattu Ammanai the holy script of Ayyavazhi. The king was fluent in Indian languages like Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil and Oriya to name a few. He even has composed ragas in several ragas. He can be compared to Alexander the Great in some ways. Both died in their early thirties but they are alive even today due to the tremendous influence they had on the generations to come, Alexander in the art of warfare and Swathi Thirunal in the art of composing music, poetry and singing. It is said that he encouraged artists of various genres to come to his palace and even if he found the artist not entertaining in his court he would reward him richly. He has been called 'King among poets and poet among kings.'
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The Trivandrum Observatory, The Museum & Zoo, The Government Press, Trivandrum Public Library (now State Central Library), The Oriental Manuscript Library, etc. were started by Swathi Thirunal