Melattur Virabhadrayaa or chaukam virabhadrayaa who flourished in the first half of the 18th century has composed a variety of musical forms like swarajati,varna,ragamalika ,tillana and kirtanas.Ramaswami Dikshitar studied music under him for sometime.According to Subbarama Dikshitar he systematised the styles of ghana,naya and desya margas and illustrated these with his own pieces.So he had the distinction of being called margadarsi Virabhadrayya.

Virabhadraya was a contemporary of Pratapasimha maharaja of Tanjavur.(1739-1763).According to Subbarama Dikshitar  Virabhadrayya was a Mulakanadu Telugu brahmin.He came to Thanjavur from the North and wanted to win the royal favour.He waited patiently  on the banks of the Vennar with the hope of seeing the king.Reports of  his learning reached the king who went to the composer  and invited him to the court.

Compositions :
Most of his compositions are in Telugu and some in Sanskrit.He has sung in praise of  devi,Siva,Subrahmanya and Varadaraja [of the local temple] .The mudra achyuta varada is used in most of his songs and in some sivapriya is used.In the atana kriti "Koluvunna vaibhavamu" the names of the village and the deity occur in the line "ilalo meladuri mudandisuni pattapurani".The mudra is used variously as " varada achyuta varaduni" ,"achyutapuri varaduni dasudani", "varaduni sakhudani palikena","achuta varaduni sakhudow" etc.

He must have been a staunch devi bhakta with a deep study of trisati and saundarya lahari.His kirtanas in sanskrit contain finer expressions like "shiva vamabhaga nilaye", "trayambaka kutimbini".His songs are replete with rhetorical beauties like anuprasa and antyaprasa.

Among his sanskrit compositions may be mentioned the following  few pieces :

1.karunam kurume sivapriyambike - Anandhabhairavi - rupakam
2.bhavani tavacharana - bhairavi-rupakam
3.tila marakatangi- kedaragaula-rupakam
4.palaya shiva shambho - sahana - Adi
5.jaya tripura sundari - pharaj-Adi

His kritis in Telugu exhibit mastery of languages and fine sentiments.The following are some of his fine pieces :

1.ni divya  mangala - shankarabharana - Adi
2.sri narahari -kalyani - tisra
3.vegabrovu niku- saveri  - adi
4.endukella nivu - madhyamavati
5.varada emi ni bhakta vatsalya - gaulipantu

In addition to these kritis there are compositions with the pratapa rama mudra .

Varnas :

We find a varna in Huseni raga which is set to Ata Tala[dayajuda valayinu vyala tamasa myala]
herein are found the mudandisa and uttamapurisa mudras.  His varnas are in ragas like Kannada, Anandhabhairavi, Punnagavarali and shuddhasaveri. Pachimiriyam Adiyappayya , the tana varna margadarsi is said to have followed his method.

About his ragamalikas :

The piece "Na mohananguni yi vira nambu kannelu sri achyuta varaduni" in the six ragas mohana,todi,varali,huseni,nata and kannada is a fine piece with chittaswara and raga mudra for each section. The pancha ragamalika in five ragas saranga, kalyani,bhairavi,saveri,and bilahari has both chittaswara and raga mudra.Ramaswamy Dikshitar who received musical training under Virabhadrayya emerged later as one of the eminent composers of ragamalikas and chowka varnas.

The pioneer tillana composer:
Of particular interest is to consider Virabhadrayya as the pioneer of Tillana composition.His tillana in pantuvarali,Adi tala begins and concludes with jatis.

Ragas:
Huseni was perhaps his favorite raga.He handled mostly rakti ragas like Anandhabhairavi, Sahana, Bhairavi, Kedaragaula, Saveri, Saurashtra, Atana, Kalyani, Nilambari, Mohanam, Shankarabharanam, Kapi, Huseni ,Pharaj, Manji, Madhayamavati, Manirangu, Bilahari, Asaveri, Gaulipantu and other ragas.

Reference :Article of Dr.S.Sita in the book Glimpses of Indian music.Update of July 2001