Documentary: Muttusvami Dikshita

It will be based on a research paper (Chandra S. Balachandran, Surinder M. Bhardwaj (2001) “Geography as Melody in Muttusvami Dikshita’s Indian Musical Works” Geographical Review, 91 (4)690-701.)

Abstract: “The life and works of Muttusvami Dikshita (1775-1834), a luminary of South Indian Karnatak[a] classical music, abound in symbolisms of spatio-cultural integration and harmony. Dikshita’s peregrinations symbolize a cultural circuit of Hindu pilgrimage. His studies of North Indian Hindustani music at Varanasi (formerly Benares), and his transplantation of them throughout South India, make him an agent of active cultural diffusion, harmonizing cultural traditions through spatiosymbolic anchors. The religious expression of his musical genius, his songs, and his melodies contributed to linking linguistically politically disparate regions of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century India. The works of Dikshita affirm India’s cultural continuity and underscore its enduring cultural empathies and similarities.” (p. 690)