Maargadarshi SEsha Aiyyangaar - A pre-Trinity composer of the 17th century, Margadarshi Sesha Iyengar composed mainly in Sanskrit. He had used brndAvana sAranga before many others. He is also known to have been among the earliest to use the raga bEgaDa. His kritis have triple charanams, and he experimented with the traditional pallavi-anupallavi-caraNam structure of kritis. Some of his manuscripts are still available on palm-leaves.

The famous musician Shatkala Govinda Marar brought with him a collection of the songs of Margadarsi Sesha Iyengar and sang many of them before the king, Swati Tirunal. Impressed by their novelty, Swati Tirunal adopted them as models for his own compositions and also wrote a tract on the verbal embellishments like assonance, alliteration and rhyme to be adopted in musical compositions. Because he paved the way for a systematic style of compositions for all composers that followed, his title Margadarshi (one who shows the direction), is appropriate. Other compositions include: kannilaveno nija kaanaveno, jaya sugunalaya - bilahari, Vande Govindarajam

Mudra:

Compositions:

1. AnjanEya paripAlayamAm - mOhana
   
2. bhajEham vIrarAgavam - gauLipantu
   
3. dEva dEvAnupama - bhairavi
   
4. gOpAla pAhi divya - dhanyAsi
   
5. jAnakI manOharAya - dhanyAsi
   
6. jayajaya shrIrangEsha - no
   
7. kalayAmi dasharatha - suraTi
   
8. kalayE tAvakIna - sAvEri
   
9. kamala nayana - pUrvikalyANi
   
10. kOsalEndra mAmava - madhyamAvati
    
11. mAmava raghuvIra - asAvEri
    
12. nAthavAnasmin - tODi
    
13. pAhi gOpavESa - kalyANi
    
14. pAhi shrI raghuvara - tODi
    
15. pAhi shrI ramAramaNa - aThANA
    
16. pAhimAm shrI raghunAyaka - bEgaDA
    
17. pAhimAm shrI rAmacandra - punnAgavarALi
    
18. rAma pAlayamAm - bhairavi
    
19. ranganAyaka bhujanga - kEdAragauLa
    
20. rangapatE pAhimAm - darbAr
    
21. rE mAnasa cintaya - kalyANi
    
22. sArasadaLa nayana - suraTi
    
23. shreerangashaayinam - dhanyaasi
    
24. shrI nAyaka - punnAgavarALi
    
25. shrI raghukula vara - sAvEri
    
26. shrI raghuvara - ghaNTA
    
27. shrIrangashAyi - kEdAragauLa
    
28. shrIrangashAyinam - dhanyAsi
    
29. sItE vasumati - asAvEri
    
30. vandE gOvindarAjam - shankarAbharaNa
    
31. vandE vakuLAbharaNam - mukhAri
    
32. vandEham karishaila - jUjAvanti