Career
Although Syama Sastri did not compose as many kriti-s as his two prolific contemporaries, his compositions are equally well known. It is said that he composed about three hundred pieces in all. He did not have 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, mostly on goddess Kamakshi. He composed kritis, varnams and svarajatis with the ankita or mudra (signature) 'Syama Krishna'. He was probably the first to compose in a new form of the svarajati musical genre. Prior to this the svarajati was primarily a dance form, and was close in structure to the dance varnam (padavarNam). His set of three famous svarajatis are intended to be sung in concert rather than danced, and are sometimes referred to as "ratna traya" (three jewels). They are in ragas Bhairavi, Yadukulakamboji and Todi, and are called Kamakshi Anudhinamu, Kamakshi Padhayugame, and Raave Himagiri Kumari, respectively. The former two are set to Mishra Chapu Tala, while the third is set to Adi Tala. He was renowned for his ability to compose in the most complex of Talas. He was as adept in composing in rare ragas as he was in composing with the popular ones. He was widely revered for his voice and singing ability during his time.
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