Carnatic Search Engine
Menu

Galaxy of Composers
PRE-TRINITY COMPOSERS
SARANGAPANI (17th century)

Musical Background: A famous composer of Padams, Sarangapani was proficient in Sanskrit as well as Telugu. He was Vidhadhikari (Minister of Education) in the court of Maharaja Venkata Perumal, who ruled Karvetinagaram and had the authority to issue Raja Sasanams (royal orders). He was a poet and an expert in music and Natya Sastra. He was held in high esteem not only by the ruler and the ruled, but also by contemporary musicians like Govindaswami and so on.

Region: Sarangapani lived in Karvetinagaram in Chitoor district, Andhra Pradesh.

Contribution: Nearly 200 padams of this composer are available in ancient fibrous paper. A study of these reveals that these padams can be divided into four categories:

  1. Sringara padams
  2. Desya padams
  3. Janapada padams
  4. Vairahya padams

Theme: Bhakti towards Lord Krishna.

Languages used: Sanskrit and Telugu.

Signature: All his compositions bear the mudra Venugopala, in praise of his 'Ishtadevata' (favourite deity) of Karvetinagaram.

Popular compositions: Padams like Mogadochi (Sahana), Pattakura (Anandabhairavi), and Upamugane (Yadukulakambhoji).

Pre-trinity composers home

Galaxy of composers home

Trinity and contemporaries

Post-trinity composers

Living composers