Carnatic music is not a Hindu fundamentalist art

Listening to the South Indian classical music--carnatic music--was a serious passion among most elders in the extended family.  Appreciation of the music came quite naturally to me and I was beginning to get really good in recognizing the ragas even from the first couple of notes.  It was wonderful until ... I started questioning religion.

Rare is a composition that is not about any one of the Hindu gods.  For all purposes then this classical music is also devotional music. To borrow a word from Christianity, it was ecclesiastical. 

Into my teenage years, as I started questioning religion, the agnosticism spilled over into the appreciation of this music as well.  I suppose I was consistent in my approach in questioning whether one could be into the music without being in the religion.

I was provided with a wonderful real example of this puzzle--following some of controversies related to the musician KJ Yesudas.  Born into a Catholic family, Yesudas took up carnatic music and was a student of one of the most accomplished musicians.

Yesudas' involvement with this Hindu music drew ire from the Catholic religious leaders, who even threatened him with excommunication.  The Catholic logic was that by singing bhajans and carnatic music compositions in temples, Yesudas was straying far away from the monotheism of Christianity.  The excommunication never happened, but all those developments made me think that much more about religion and carnatic music even as I was questioning the concept of "god" itself.

In fact, one of the compositions by Thyagaraja clearly lays out the relationship between carnatic music and devotion:

Sangeetha gnanamu Bhakthi vinaa,  San margamu  kaladhe , Oh Manasa
(The knowledge of music, without devotion (bhakthi) is not the right path, oh mind)

The lyrics further note that this music is a mode of worship. 

The more I moved away from religion--not merely Hinduism, but any religion and god--the more I was naturally disconnecting from this classical music as well. 

Over the decades, I have pretty much lost any interest in carnatic music, and it is only the intellectual curiosities about the music that remain within me.

Every time I visit India, which is almost always in December, I am often presented with opportunities to think about this question of bhakthi in carnatic music--it is also in December that Chennai hosts the huge music festival, and there are programs on television as well.  One of the TV programs features Q/A sessions with musicians.  Without fail, there is always a question about the role of bhakthi in the music, and every musician who has taken that question emphasizes that without bhakthi there cannot be any music.  It is like listening to baseball players responding to questions when you know exactly what their response is going to be. 

Maybe someday there will be a body of secular carnatic music that was borne out of the rebellion against Hinduism?  You think? Nah!

All the above is a part of my post here from seven years ago.

After reading that post, an old high school friend wrote to me about TM Krishna. I then emailed him.  In his lengthy reply (July 17, 2011) Krishna wrote about his experiences when questioning the bhakthi: "reactions have varied agreements to very upset emails etc."

All that was before modi and the BJP came to power in Delhi and in a number of states.  Since then, the emboldened hindutva has gone after anybody who they deem to be a threat to Hindu traditions.  Singers like Krishna and O.S. Arun who have broadened the scope of carnatic music are now under fire; such a huge controversy that even NPR reports.

What's worse is this: Indians living outside the US are some of the big money drivers for such Hindu fundamentalism in carnatic music:

[The musicians] been called "disgusting cretins." Arun has received threatening phone calls.
Much of the vitriol has come from Indians abroad, who've emigrated to the United States or Australia.

It is not a surprise by any means, especially when there is a lack of domestic financial support for carnatic music.

modi and the BJP recognized early on that many of the Hindus living outside India and earning a lot of money are a lot more fanatical than their peers back in India.  The Hindu diaspora is heavily influencing India's politics thanks to its money power, as The Economist noted:

For years Indian politicians paid little heed to the diaspora. But in the 2014 general election the diaspora, some 30m people strong, proved to be influential. Mr Modi made best use of them, realising the diaspora, especially in America, is wealthy and increasingly interested in politics generally

The Hindu diaspora forced the cancellations of concerts that Krishna and Arun were scheduled to perform!

One by one, Hindu temples in the U.S. that had been scheduled to host concerts this fall by Arun and another Carnatic star, T.M. Krishna, have said the singers are no longer welcome. Concerts have also been canceled in India.

I love Krishna's response to all these maniacs: "Krishna vowed to release a new song each month about Jesus or Allah."