I have written several songs based on Carnatic music even for Bharatnatyam. For example Bhakti Theology Song 217 I wrote based on the old Tamil film song which was written and composed for Bharatanatyam performed by two sisters telling how they feel shy about what Lord Murugan has done to them. I adopted it for Marry to tell what happened to her friend. There are several such songs in Tamil scriptures, in which a girl will talk about her love, love failure, longing for her lover, the pain of their separation etc. to her friend, or bird or to the clouds. There are similar such songs in secular literature also. Using that format I wrote this song.
Though in the Protestant circle such art and music forms are anathema, among the Catholics they used very richly. I have a cassette produced by Kalaik kaveri (of Trichy), a Catholic Institute which teaches and trains students (even Hindus and Muslims) based on several such themes from Mukti Veda. In fact, using the same story of Mary washing the feet of the Lord, they have produced a wonderful dance drama. I also saw a picture of a Catholic Father from Mangalore who composed and performed Bharatanatyam in a newspaper while I was at Sat-tal ashram. I wrote to him requesting him to share his Sanskrit songs, but never received any response. Now several such Catholic cultural Institutes are widespread in India and producing very nice dance dramas etc.
In late 1990s when one Pan-Indian evangelical Conference was organized at Chennai, I too was requested to participate in it. On the second day, in the final session before lunch when one young girl came to the stage to perform one Bharatanatyam based on Mukti Veda, ninety percent of the participants walked away and very few people stayed back to watch it. Still many evangelicals consider dance if not evil, not good for spirituality, particularly performed by women. They think and comment not only on the dress but the body movements are not good to watch as they induce erotic emotions. I feel sorry for them. Even in art they find evil and entrapment. Thank God now that trend has changed a bit and several artists are performing Christian devotional songs in Carnatic music. When the Right Wing Hindu Fundamentalists opposed such rendering of music by the leading Carnatic artists that program was even cancelled by Sri. O. S. Arun and Ms Nityasri Mahadevan even openly asked for an apology if it hurt Hindu sentiments. But Sri. T. M. Krishna, the famous Carnatic Music artist and a Magsaysay award winner and author of several books written on Carnatic music, (one of my favorite singers) openly condemned and said that he will release more Christian devotional songs in the coming days. He recently performed Carnatic music in Afghan Church Mumbai, even singing songs attributed to Hindu deities.(https://youtu.be/WknDE3b7jio). Just search for ‘Christian Carnatic music’ on YouTube to watch such performances.
Meanwhile one RSS leader from Coimbatore called Sri Arun and threatened to disturb him if he had any such plan in future. Another person giving a reason said why Hindu Carnatic Musicians should not sing the songs of other deities. Because unlike Hindus, Christians (as well as Muslims) have exclusive faith only in their god and even denounce other deities. While a Hindu will keep the pictures of various (Hindu) deities in her puja room a Christian won’t keep the pictures of other deities in her house. This is true. But such exclusivism is not limited only to Christianity or Islam. For example, will a staunch Sri Vainshnavite keep the picture of Siva in her puja room or worship Shiva? Will a staunch Lingayat or Veera Saiva worship Narayana. Even in a few temples the sanctuary of other deities receive only a second hand treatment. For example, though the Sri Vaishnavas often request to perform Brahmoostva for Perumal in Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, it is not allowed as it is primarily the temple of Shiva. Such exclusivism is common among various Hindu Sampradayas.
Though I have my own reservation using Indian arts with any hidden agenda, yet I welcome such a change among the Christians who began to appreciate their cultural heritage. At the same time by opposing the singing of Christian or Islamic music in stages by Carnatic musicians, the Right wing Fundamentalists miss an opportunity to show the magnanimity of the Hindu tradition. To say in other words we should show the Christians what their own scripture says: Love your enemy, Do unto others what you would expect them to do.
We cannot confine the rich Hindu tradition within the narrow view of Right Wing Hindu Fundamentalists. One individual, group cannot become the interpreter of what Hinduism is and becomes its spoke person. I would go a step further by saying that Hindu religious or bhakti tradition is ready to observe even Jesus as part of its religious or bhakti tradition, not compromising to its exclusivism (like Sri Vaishnavism, Lingayat etc.). This may shock the Christian Fundamentalists. But we should not forget the fact that one culture or tradition or civilization can accommodate several faiths keeping their own exclusivism and one religious tradition can accommodate various social, cultural traditions. This is not a compromise. Pluralistic exclusivism is the reality in life in every area. But this is the historical reality which Right Wing Fundamentalism will always oppose anywhere and everywhere in the world. They know only exclusivism and will consider every pluralism and inclusivism as heresy. At the same time we cannot blame any kind of Fundamentalism, as others alone create it by their own action or reaction.
As a degression what Periyar E.V. Ramaswami said is worth noting here: He is famous for his atheism and denies the existence of God. When one time Nellai Kannan asked him why he is doing this, Periyar said, ‘I never said that there exists no God. Only what others separately told I am telling, representing them all. Christians and Muslims joining together say that Hindu’s gods do not God; Muslims and Hindus joining do the same and say that Allah is not God and Christians and Hindus joining together say that Jesus is not God. What they each tell separately I say as their collective voice.’ [watch Youtube ‘Ivardan Kannadasan’ by Nelli Kannan part 6., https://youtu.be/yzzdCr6-V1w.]
Regarding reviling other deities is not prerogative of any one religion. In Hinduism one can read such statements in various sampradayas.
… One author of this period, the eleventh- century Saiva author Somasambhu, even asserts that Vedantins, Mimamsakas, and those who worship other gods such as Visnu will be reborn in hells unless they undergo a complicated conversion ritual designed to make them full-fledged Saivas.— Andrew J. Nicholson. Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History. Ranikhet, Permanent Black, (2010), 2011.
p. 3
…My mother once said that in Chiratapudi, every time there was a ceremonial procession in honour of Shiva, the Vaisnavas closed their doors. Chiratapudi was my mother’s birthplace…..— Rani Siva Sankara Sarma, The Last Brahmin: Life and Reflections of a Modern-day Sanskrit Pandit.. Translated by D. Venkat Rao. Ranikhet. Permanent Black. (2007) First paperback 2012. . Originally published in Telugu, edited by Aruna and Sauda (Hyderabad: New Syllabus, 2002). p. 46
Appar, one of the Tevaram trio, laments his past associations with the Jains, and expresses his gratitude to Siva for having redeemed him from the sin of such association (Tiruvaiyaru IV. 39; Kacci Ekampam 100.1; Tiruvarur 102). He says that the Jains are wicked, full of wile and do not understand the truth, that is the greatness of Siva….—‘From Devotion and Dissent to Dominance: The Bhakti of the Tamil Alvars and Nayanars’, in Champakalakshmi, Religion, Tradition, and Ideology: Pre-colonial South India, Oxford, New Delhi (2011), 2012 p. 65
Campantar was a crusader, and his denunciation of the Jains and the Buddhists was instrumental in bringing about their decline at the royal court of the Panyas. He constantly refers to ‘the false doctrines of the heretic Jain and Buddhist monks’ (I, 75.10). The Jains, as also the Buddhists, are ‘worthless, wily rogues, scantily clad, wicked’ (I, 69.130). At the Pandya court, claims Campantar boastfully, the fire that the Jains aimed against him was instead directed by his prayer to afflict the Pandya king as a disease, and by curing the king, he established the superiority of Saivism. (III, 1.309; II, 11.202). Campantar ridicules Jain names ending with the suffixes ‘Sena’ and ‘Nandi’ (III, 4), and their habits of plucking out their hair, eating food standing, mutilating the good Sanskrit (p.65) of the Agama and Mantra, loudly declaiming (them) in the corrupt Prakrit tongue (III.2.297). Every tenth verse of his patikam (=padya) systematically abuses the Jains and the Buddhists. In Cuntarar’s view, god condemned the stupid Jains and the stinking Buddhist monks to ignorance (VII.90.0)….— ‘From Devotion and Dissent to Dominance: The Bhakti of the Tamil Alvars and Nayanars’, in ibid. pp. 65-66
Chilappadhikaram and Manimekalai were practically lost to mainstream Tamil literature. Swaminatha Desikar, the eighteenth-century grammarian (author of Ilakkana Kothu) expressly forbade the reading of Seevaka Chinthamani, Chilappadhikaram, Manimekalai, the Sangam literature and Perunkathai; he even condemned the reading of the grammar Nannool as it was written by a Jain. Sivagnana Munivar (latter half of the eighteenth century, d. 1785), arguably the greatest Tamil scholar of all times, shared similar views about Jain and Buddhist works. Kachiappa Munivar is said to have written Thanigai Puranam only to rival Seevaka Chinthamani. Arumuga Navalar’s contempt for Chilappadhikaram is legendary: he dismissed it abrasively with the offensive epithet, ‘jaina chettichi kathai’, the story of a Jain Chettiar {baniya or Vaisya} woman. In fact, in the list of works he mandated for Tamil scholarship, he did not include any of these texts…..— A. R. Venkatachalapathy, In Those Days there was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History , New Delhi, Yoda Press, 2006. p. 109
…it is interesting to note why, in {Maraimalai} Adigal’s view, the Self-Respect Movement singled out Saivism for attack. He considered the movement to be the ‘mischief of Vaishnavites’!
The leader of the Self-Respect Movement is a Vaishnavite; his brother too, we come to understand, is a Vaishnavite who has converted many gullible Saivites to Vaishnavism. Their accomplices too are Vaishnavities. Some of the Justice Party leaders too are Vaishnavites. Moreover, not only are they Vaishnavites, they are also Telugu-speakers.{Sivanesa 1(45) 26 Aani, Vibhava (Tamil Calendar) )June-July 1928).—ibid. p. 118
…the catholic Vetanayakam usually claimed that he consciously tried not to denigrate any other religion, it seems that in the often ironical poetry of Nitinul occasionally he could not abstain from mockery:
One wife joined in marriage her husband’s disciple,
another wife the king of the celestials [Indra],
another wife [her husband’s] brothers,
and they all were hailed as ideal women.
The prostitute, who unites with me, my sons, brothers,’
disciples and the lord of this world,
may be praised as’
the crest-jewel of all these women. (43.26 [4.5]
Here, the notes of ridicule are still muffled, for mythological details are merely hinted at and were not so obvious to the audience. The wife who married her husband’s disciple refers to Tara, the wife of Brhaspati, teacher of the Gods. She fell in love with the Moon (Skt. Candra) and had a son with him. The ancient Vedic sage (Skt. Rsi) Gautama’s wife Ahalya coupled with Indra, the king of the gods. And the third line refers to the famous legend of Draupadi who bore five sons to the five Pandava brothers. All three, Tara, Ahalya, and Draupadi are traditionally part of the pancakanniyar, the five :ideal women.”
Poem 43.14 carries the mockery of Hinduism further, this time clearly in a less indirect way. In their directness, the following lines are quite unusual for Vetanayakam Pillai’s otherwise sensitive circumspection:
He who rides a bull [Siva] ate poison, kicked the god of death,
slew the demon and burnt the city, thus
the Saivites of this sea[-girded] earth elaborate on his fame.’
If he ate the eye-poison of the dancing girls,
kicked the death of their round breasts, killed the demon
called chief courtesan and burnt the city
where they live—then also we
would sing his praise. (43.14) [4.6] (p.186)
The poem alludes to well-known puranic legends about Siva’s destruction undertakings. The theme of the obnoxious dancing girls is then rather forcefully pressed upon the mythology by means of metaphors and similes. Contained in these lines is more than mockery. We discern also the poet’s disapproval of the fact that dancing girls are tolerated by, or indeed an integral part of, Hindu traditions. And if Siva cannot help in solving the problem, another authority has to be invoked.— Sascha Ebeling, Colonizing the Realm of Words: The Transformation of Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India. New York, Suny Press, 2010, pp. 186-87
…It is said that Appayya Diksita was especially invited to witness the play—but the reason for the invitation was far from magnanimous, it seems, at least in the Saiva version of events. According to the Saiva story, the actors in the second act, after speaking the lines “I bow at the feet of great souls who follow Ramanuja’s path; as for others following other paths, in arrogance debating with their various doctrines, I put my feet on their heads,” acted as if they were about to put their feet on Diksita’s head. But the Saiva master stayed calm and still. Appayya Diksita reflected with sadness on such animosity, and vowed to encourage both Vaisnavism and devotion to Siva. It is for this reason, it is said, that he wrote his commentary on Desika’s mahakavya, the Yadavabhyudaya. The story is recounted in N. Ramesan, Sri Appaya Dikshita (Hyderabad: Srimad Dikshitendra Granthavali Prakashana Samithi, 19722), p. 81. I am indebted to William J. Jackson for the reference to this story.— Steven Paul Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, New York, Oxford, 2002, notes. 11, p. 258
Desika’s condemnation of Banaras (Kasi), where he denies the dogma of the city granting liberation to anyone who dies there, appears in SS {Samkalpa-suryodaya}5.37-39….—ibid. notes. 94, p. 264;
Even Vadalur Ramalinga Swamigal reviles other sects and deities in so many songs. As I cannot give an English translation of those poems and comments I am giving reference for those who know Tamil to read in the original. The following are just few examples. : திருவருட்பா, மூலமும் உறையும், உரையாசிரியர்: ஒளவை சூ. துரைசாமிப் பிள்ளை, சுத்த சன்மார்க்க நிலையம், வடலூர், vol 2. Song 907, vol. 2, pp. 401-402; song 914, p. 411; Song 1092, p. 638; Song 77, Vol. 4, p. 464. Interestingly the author Duraisamyp pillai agrees the fanatic nature of Ramalinga Vallalar and says, ‘Therefore he criticizes that ‘those who won’t chant the Holy Five letter mantra [Om Nava Shivaya Namaha], will go to hell and suffer a lot’. Such songs demonstrates the fanaticism that Vallalar had in Siva tradition.—Siva Nesa Venba, vol. 5, p. 599’
பழையாறை வடதளியை மறைத்த கொடுமைக்கு அப்பமூர்த்திகள் ஏளனம் கொண்டமை நன்கு விளங்கப் பாட்டுதோறும் சமணரைப் பழித்துரைப்பதும், ‘வாயிறுந் தமிழே படித்தாளுறா ஆயிரோம் சமணம் அழிவாக்கினான்’, என்று சிவனைக் கூறுவதும் வியப்பை நல்குகின்றன.—விண்ணப்பக் கலி வெண்பா, நான்காம் தொகுதி, ப. 484-85
இதனால், ‘திருவைந்தெழுத்தை ஓதாதார் நரக மெய்திப் பெருந்துன்பம் எய்துவர்’ என்று சொல்லி இகழ்ந்தவாராம், மேலும், இன்னோரன்ன பாட்டுக்கள் இன்நுலெழுதும் காலத்தில் வள்ளர் பெருமான் சைவத்தில் மிக்க வெறி கொண்டிருந்தமையைப் புலப்படுத்துகின்றது- சிவநேச வெண்பா, ஐந்தாம் தொகுதி, ப. 599
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