Which of the following statements about the musical culture in 18th and 19th century South India is/are correct ? 1. Musical developments were spearheaded by the Arcot court. 2. Tanjavur replaced Madras as the cultural capital of classical music in the second half of the nineteenth century. 3. Three great composers, Tyagaraja, Diksitar and Syama Sastri experimented with the kriti form to set the foundations for modem Carnatic music. Select the correct answer using the code given below :

The 18th and 19th centuries were pivotal for Carnatic music, primarily centered in Tanjavur, not Arcot. While the Arcot court patronized Persian literary culture and Urdu drama, it did not spearhead the development of classical Carnatic music. Statement 2 is historically inaccurate because Tanjavur was the established cultural heart of Carnatic music during the 18th and early 19th centuries; it was only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that Madras (Chennai) emerged as the primary commercial and cultural hub, effectively replacing Tanjavur. Statement 3 is correct as the 'Trinity of Carnatic Music'—Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri—perfected the 'kriti' form [1]. Their prolific compositions and experimentation with ragas and talas provided the structural foundation for modern Carnatic music, transitioning it from a temple-oriented art to a sophisticated concert format.

Sources

1. [1] https://cutn.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Contribution_of_Trinity-E-Book_29072020.pdf