By: Shanmugapriya Balasubramanian
(Shanmugapriya Balasubramanian is a student of Economics at M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women, University of Madras.)
Music was omnipresent in upper-class households in Madras (now Chennai). Every morning starts with the Suprabhatam (hymns and verses recited to awaken deities in Hinduism) sung by Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi, broke stereotypes and ceilings on the devadasi community and made the world of Carnatic Music her own. References from the Nandanar Charitram, a literary work on the life of the only Dalit Tamil Saint-poet Nandanar brought to the limelight, the role of identity in a person’s life. Owing to him being a Dalit, Nandanar was forbidden from entering a temple after which history has it that his faith moved stone (the Nandi at Tirupunkur temple) and caused the temple doors to open to him, challenging the caste beliefs of the society.
Looked up as one of the most privileged forms of art in the South, Carnatic Music is one of the genera of Classical Music in India, Carnatic Music is often termed as the most scientific form of music, that involves complex mathematics, algorithm, poetic and rhythmic beauty, Carnatic Music gives enormous room to artists creativity through Manodharma (on spot improvisation). With songs and poems mainly written in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada praising several gods, the sphere of the genre stays within the upper-castes in these regions.
During Colonisation, Carnatic Music was a medium of expression of cultural superiority, with the upper-class Hindus employing it as a gimmick to showcase the superiority of their culture to the British. Until the late 19th century, performances took place in temples and royal courts, with patronage offered by the kings of princely states, and Zamindars in South India. Carnatic music’s modernisation occurred in tandem with the emergence of the colonial city and the movement of population to urban centres. Musicians migrated from homes and courts of their patrons to colonial centres like Madras City (now Chennai) to seek networks of protection and support. In the cities, the new upper-class, the Brahmins often English-Language Educated professionals like Lawyers, Doctors, and Bureaucrats, who were also well versed in Vedas, Upanishads and Sanskrit literature became the patrons and consumers of the art form. Among the Brahmins of South India, Carnatic Music is a part of the socialisation process. It becomes a set of internalised habits among the upper castes, a naturalised way of life, is a part of their habitus. Consequently, performers come from this caste automatically making this an elite minority space (Krishna, 2012).
One of the most significant acts of purifying the Carnatic music ecosystem is associated with women artists and performers in the realm. “Particular notions of female respectability and ideal womanhood were central to the project of defining middle-class identity, modernity, and the aims of colonial nationalism” (Wiedman, 2003). At the historic juncture, Devadasis were denied opportunities and decriminalised as mere prostitutes, paving way for the entry of upper-caste females into the “Purified” realm of Carnatic music. (Wiedman, 2003).
Interestingly, artists and people who support the art form are approving and accepting of the caste and identity divide in the fraternity, and employ it as a tool to maintain the status quo. But, the hegemony in the Margazhi Festival is held by the Brahmins, stated today’s meritocracy and egalitarianism. To put in simple terms, people practising and those who form part of the community are a part of the “Cult” which they consider superior and binding. Chennai celebrates the world-renowned December Season, a series of concerts spanning over 60 days, with thousands of concerts, in various slots. Crucial to the December Season is the role of Sabhas (organisations reminiscent of clubs), with sponsorships and memberships that host the artists. Musicians perform for various Sabhas, including the most prestigious citadel of Classical Arts, The Madras Music Academy that decides the career of an artist. The Academy certainly is a crucial ethnographic site to understand inherent Culturalism and Casteism present in the larger picture. One needn’t move from the premises of The Academy to make an argument of Brahminism in Carnatic Music. The elites in the premise use Carnatic Music to differentiate from the lower castes, that their social stratification is maintained. Taking a glance at the audience in The Academy, the fortress of Arts in Chennai, one immediately gets to notice people dressed in their finery, treating the Sabha as a club exclusive for them often exchange pleasantries and can be often found in the lavish cafeteria that one can easily spot in the venue. The ecosystem can easily be quoted as “By the Brahmins, For the Brahmins” that are well off to do with their social capital and privilege in the society.
Though, a handful of musicians, including T.M. Krishna are constantly working towards making the realm more open and accepting of people through many one of it’s kind initiatives to bring as many indegeneous musicians as possible into the picture. Urur- Olcott Kuppam Vizha is one such, which brings in marginalised artists spanning across artforms to showcase their talents in a different context. From hosting concerts in a government bus, that eventually became a “Musical Caravan”, that include performances from Carnatic Classical to Rap and Parai, T.M. Krishna has broken barriers and taken music to the slum children, and fishermen who do not have essential exposure to any art experience. Yet, Success is possible when artists, rasikas (connoisseurs), and people interested in the art form look at this genre of music as an art form, as opposed to religious and cultural representations. As Adrien Elmer rightly points out, “Art is when a human tells another human what it is to be human”
References :
Amanda J. Wiedman, Singing the classical, voicing the modern : The postcolonial politics of music in South India, 2006 : 145-263
Ramaswamy, Vijaya. “Voices on Untouchability.” Economic and Political Weekly 41, no. 26 (2006): 2708-710. Accessed August 1, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/4418397.
Krishna, T.M. Reshaping Arts, 2018 : 25- 98
Mythri P.U. “Purified Carnatic Music and Impure people : Contemporary Debates”, Economic and Political weekly, June 27, 2015