Module 2: A short history · Lesson 4

The Trinity and the courts

◐ Confidence: medium Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

Courts as patrons

In the 18th and 19th centuries, music was supported by royal courts, especially those of Thanjavur, Mysore and Travancore. Court musicians had time to train students and to compose. In this setting the three composers known as the Trinity lived.

The Trinity

All three were born in or near Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu and lived at about the same time. They are remembered for songs that form the core of the concert repertoire, and each had a different style.

The number of songs each left behind is uncertain too: Tyagaraja is credited with roughly 700 to 750 documented compositions and Syama Sastri with around 300. Larger numbers sometimes quoted for Tyagaraja (in the thousands) are traditional claims, not documented counts.

The Tanjore Quartet

Four brothers, Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Sivanandam and Vadivelu, lived in the early 19th century. They were employed at the Thanjavur court and later elsewhere, and they are credited with setting the standard order of a Bharatanatyam recital. They also composed varnams and kritis. Sources say they learned from several teachers, including Dikshitar.

A royal composer: Swati Tirunal

Swati Tirunal (1813 to 1846, or 1847 in the NIOS textbook) was the Maharaja of Travancore and a composer in many languages, with a pen name Padmanabha. He supported musicians, including the Tanjore Quartet, at his court.

The common thread

By the early 19th century the kriti had become the main form for songs, and composers had left a large body of music that musicians still perform. The 20th century would change where and how the music was heard.