Across:
7. Fourth chakra (4) VEDA. All of us know that the chakras are named with mnemonics. Indu - named after moon, which we have only one. Netra - eyes, which are 2 in number etc. Veda- we have 4 vedas. so fourth chakra named as veda.
8. Manohara, if you can adjust , you can go up easily (8) AROHANAM. anagram of 'manohara' and the anagrind is 'adjust'.
9. She is born to dharmavathi, but follows kamala, abhaya, meena et al (6) AMBIKA. a charade. ambika is a janya raga of dharmavathi. and the word 'ambika' comes in the kritis kamalambika, abhayambika, meenambika etc.
10. A thevaram sung without oriental help completes a cycle (8) AVARTHAM. anagram of 'a thevaram' without 'e'. oriental means 'east' and 'e' stands for east.
11. Dikshitar's famous surati is about him (8) ANGARAKA.
13. Koluvai _________ (6) UNNADE
16. & 15. Hana the purist, without a point sounds dissonant (9) THANARUPI. anagram of 'hana purist' without 's'. 'point' is a clue given for the directions NEWS, as these are points in a compass. and it is a vivadi raga so 'dissonant'.
17. Tansen is often referred to as (4) MIAN
18. One type of nadaswaram (6) TIMIRI. another type is bhaari. just like alto and soprano in sax.
19. Arre oh sambha, vigilantly listen to this janyam of sucharitra (8) SAMBHAVI. wordplay. SAMBHA VIgilantly.
21. Auspicious (8) MANGALAM
24. Maintain a gamaka without nishadam (6) NAMITA. jumble 'maintain' without 'ni'.
25. GKB and MMD made him immortal (8) NANDANAR
26. Hindustani practice (4) RIAZ
Down:
1. To listen to this doyen, mess with magudi 'n' lose direction (10) SEMMANGUDI. add mess+magudi+n' and remove 's' which is a direction 'south'.
2. Marry Mary? No, not until i hear raja's saramathi (4,4) MARI MARI. homonym indicated by 'hear' . 'Marry Mary' sounds like 'mari mari'.
3. KB's favourite raga but 'this veena does not know' how to play it (6) SAHANA. 'indha veenaikku theriadhu' is a famous song in the serial 'rayil sneham' by KB which was tuned by v.s.narasimhan in this raga.
4. & 6.Basic elements of indian music (4,4) RAGA, TALA
5. A koundar somehow sang kalyani at the end of shankarabharanam in lieu of bilahari (8) DORAKUNA. anagram of 'a koundar'. thyagaraja's original is in raga bilahari. kvm had tuned a 'dorakuna' in kalyani which comes in the climax of the movie 'shankarabharanam'.
12. Say Madhyama differently , say upside down, to meet this composer (5) SYAMA. anagram of 'say ma'. 'differently' is the anagrind. and it comes upside down in the grid.
14. A divine note (10) DHAIVATHAM
16. Keep dancing hana till you come to form (8) THILLANA. anagram of 'hana till'
17. Ghanam krishna iyer's atana is as sublime as this great mountain (8) MAHAMERU. http://www.saigan.com/heritage/lyrics/gk
20. Chandram bhaja _______ (6) MANASA
22. One of the chakras is inverted (4) BANA. (5th chakra pancha bANa - the five arrows of Cupid) is upside down in the grid.
23. KL saigal's classic bhairavi, Babul ____ (4) MORA. this classic song 'babul mora' is in hindustani bhairavi , our sindhu bhairavi.
