Śrī Subbarama Dīkshitar (1839-1906)

Śrī Subbarama Dīkshitar was the grandson and adopted son of Balusvāmi Dīkshitar, continuing the illustrious Dīkshitar family tradition. A profound composer, teacher, and musicologist, he is best known for authoring the monumental Sangīta Sampradāya Pradarśini (1904), an encyclopaedic treatise on Carnatic music that meticulously documents the compositions of Muttusvāmi Dīkshitar, musical theory, rāgas, tālas, and the aesthetics of the Dīkshitar bani. Born into the Ettayapuram tradition and tutored under family guidance, Subbarama began composing at a young age and served as a court musician. His musical output includes kritis, varnams, and other forms, but his true legacy lies in musical scholarship: before his work, many compositions and stylistic interpretations existed only in oral tradition. Sublimated into text, his Sangīta Sampradāya Pradarśini remains a foundational reference for performers, teachers, and scholars of Carnatic music, preserving a century of accumulated knowledge and ensuring continuity of the Dīkshitar paramparā.