opera. Venkata Kavi also composed an entire group of pieces covering Krishna's wedding with Radha. His other operas include: Ramayanam Mahabharatam Daksha Yagam Prahlada Charitram Dhruva Charitram Pranavopadesham (which is a single folk style piece with 83 stanzas narrating Lord Subramanya's famous story of teaching his father, Shiva) Life sketch of Manickavachakar Life sketch of Kungili Nayanar Life sketch of Tirumangai Alvar Several songs from Ramayanam and Mahabharatam are missing but even the few songs which have been found showcase "his skills in giving original treatment of known episodes" as dancer Dr Vyjayantimala Bali states. The composer also penned abridged versions of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavatam. Group compositions Venkata Kavi has composed krtis of similar structure that form sets (or groups). The most notable ones are his Kamakshi Navavaranam and Saptaratna compositions (especially the Anjaneya Saptaratna). He has also composed several shlokas such as Madhava panchakam, Nrsimha panchakam, Ranganatha Panchakam and so on. Saptaratna krtis His Saptaratnas (seven gems = seven songs) are dazzling creations, consisting of the main refrain (pallavi), a contrasting section (anupallavi) and a series of other sections (charanas) in medium tempo (madhyama kala) that can be rendered as swara and sahitya. These songs resemble the Pancharatna kritis of Tyagaraja, though Venkata Kavi is said to have lived much before Tyagaraja. The compositions are all in Adi tala, but the differences in melody, rhythm, and brilliant lyrical themes make each composition stand out. For instance, ‘Bhajanamruta’ in Nattai, pays tributes to great philosophers and spiritualists and cites numerous mythological and historical devotees of Vishnu (examples: Prahlada, Sanaka, Narada, Anjaneya, Guha, Sabari, Sugreeva) as well as Shiva (such as Nandi, Matanga, Vyagrapada, Manickavachagar and Sundarar) and Subramanya (such as Arunagirinathar). The saptaratnas are: Bhajanamrta – Nattai Aganita mahima – Gowla Madhava hrdi khelini – Kalyani Balasarasa murali – Keeravani Jatadara – Todi Alavadennalo – Paras Sundara nandakumara – Madhyamavathi Though Venkata Kavi has composed a few more songs in the same style, they are not part of his Saptaratna set since they were composed as parts of other operatic works of his such as Bhagavatam. Anjaneya saptaratna krtis The Anjaneya Saptaratna krtis, eulogize Hanuman and all seven pieces are in Sanskrit. These are: Pavana kumara - Vasantha Veekshitoham - Kedaragowla Anjanaananda ambodhi chandra - Todi Shree raghavadhootam - Suruti Bhaktabhagadheya - Madhyamavathi Satvaguna virachitanga - Rasamanjari Vahini tata - Malayamarutam Of these, the last two were not published