Caste Ingress into the Musical Realm
Case 1 – The story of Vedanayagam Sastri
There is much talk involving religion and caste in the field of Carnatic music these days, we read about musicians boycotting festivals, of musicians getting castigated for collaborating with other religions, and of the sole book which airs some of these issues. At the center of it all, is the person who wrote the book, a book which I enjoyed reading, the writer being TM Krishna and the book being ‘Sebastian and Sons’.
A music enthusiast will demur about the sad state of affairs and take objection to a certain religion trying to corner a tradition to its side, due to its interconnection to Bhakti, which they say you have to experience. I am in no way qualified to argue on such matters, and I can only take you to a period – some 200 years in the past, when a matter of caste came up and was hotly discussed for months in Madras and Tanjore. It involved a person who is once again in the news for the wrong reasons (plagiarism and comparison with Tyagaraja), an interesting man named Vedanayagam Sastri. I think you should all get to know this person, if only to get a feel of Tanjore in those days, united in music, and hugely cosmopolitan. There were Christians, Muslims, Mahrattas, Tamilians, and Telugu... just to name a few, who were brought together by music and a titular king interested in arts and science. Some years ago, V Sriram wrote a lovely article in The Hindu about that period of musical collaboration, and that is the period we will go to.
It was the time when the British were in power, with Tanjore having been ceded to the British, after the deposition of Amar Singh. Serfoji II (1777-1832), a great patron of arts was on the throne and his court and the local temple sabhas were buzzing with the prolific output of many a musical stalwart – Tyagaraja (1767-1847), the Tanjavur Quartet (Chinnayya (1802–1856), Ponnayya (1804-1864), Sivanandam (1808-1863), and Vadivelu (1810–1847), Muttuswami Diksitar (1775-1835), Syama Sastrigal (1762-1827), etc. CF Schwarz, the protestant missionary, and a common factor (1726-1798) was around too, and so many others. I had previously mentioned the Tanjore dance scene, and how Carnatic music found a home there, in an earlier article.
The Hindu poets and composers of Tanjore composed mostly in Telugu or Sanskrit and performed either at the court or at their favorite temples with the attendance of mostly upper-class Hindu communities. Considering that Sanskrit education was imparted mainly to the upper classes, or the rich, the audience who savored the many songs sung in devotion were mainly those classes. The products, i.e. the musical compositions were neither printed nor transmitted to the public through any printed media, they were only consumed orally. Note therefore that until recently, musical compositions did not extend to a wider audience, and could only be gleaned by attending specific performances or listening to the experiences of those who attended.
For most performers during the medieval, an invitation to the king’s court was the ultimate honor, following which the benevolent patron sometimes gave them gifts of gold, land, or property or even a regular position as a court musician. For some stalwarts such as Tyagaraja, these things did not matter, his music was conversational between him and his lord – Rama. The Tanjore quartet and the Tanjore trinity were eulogized much later, and their fame spread after the musical scene shifted to Madras, a topic eminently explained by Lakshmi Subramaniam in her seminal work on the subject. During subsequent musical festivals and seasons, the compositions of the trinity and many others such as Swati Tirunal were discussed, disseminated, and performed by students. Today their names and works are well known, their fame is widespread, and naturally, we have many a book and experts on the field.
But at the same time, and during the same period, there was another poet and composer, whose work, albeit much smaller in volume, was written in a language understood by the masses – i.e., Tamil and performed in the Christian Church. His works were spread around not only through oral means but were also printed and published by the Protestant missionaries. That was Vedanayagam Sastri, a Vellala Christian. Now, here is the twist – while most know the story only until this point, it took an entirely different turn, due to caste politics and that is what we will get to, today. It will demonstrate how politics strived to stall a creative genius and muddy the waters of that collaborative period which we started with. I write this with the hope that we do not do these things again and stifle free creativity.
The well-known Tyagaraja composed many “Kirtanas” that stressed Bhakti Rasa, as well as many a perfect three-part Kriti (with a Pallavi (opening line and refrain), an Anupallavi (sub refrain, elaborating on the opening), and several Charanams (stanzas)) with intricate tala structures and exquisite raga bhava, leaving much scope for elaboration. In the final Charanam, it is usual to find Tyagaraja’s signature or mudra which means "seal," incorporated into the lyric. There are many opinions on whether Tyagaraja penned his many thousand compositions if only in conversation between himself and his lord Rama, in intense private prayer, while undergoing many a personal travail, ensconced in his partitioned home as is often mentioned, or if it was also for performance, sharing and public dissemination. That his music would be used for public consumption was clear to Tyagaraja, due to the inclusion of his personal Mudra (Tyagaraja) in his work, to make sure his work was tagged to him, protected, and labeled as his creation.
Let’s now look at the life trajectory of a contemporary of Tyagaraja to study how caste was brought into the equation, at that time, keeping in mind that irrespective of religion, caste was integral to it, be it Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam, especially in South India. While many of the readers interested in Carnatic music may recall Tyagaraja’s contemporary Vedanayagam Sastri, very few will know of the complicated life he led or the multifaced personality he had. One must also make a note that while music was important to Devanayagam, it was not a passion. For this person, it was a vehicle to introduce and convey the teachings of his Lord Jesus, the Christu Bhakti, and at times, small lessons of science.
Vedanayagam Sastri
Arunachalam (and his siblings) converted to Catholicism at the age of 25, in 1760 and took the name Devasahayam, retaining the Pillai surname, later marrying Jnanappu Ammal, a Catholic Chetti convert. Devasahayam was then employed by the Tirunelveli church as a minor cleric and retained his hair and beard. Vedanayagan (original name Vedapotagam) Pillai was born into this Catholic Vellala family in 1774 and received schooling in Puliyangudi. Some years later, a new priest of the church forced a colleague of Devasahayam, named Nonti Jniani to shave off his beard reiterating that only the main priest had a right to wear one. This coercion was against Devasahayam’s Vellala culture and when he spoke up in support of his friend, Devasahayam was excommunicated from the Catholic church. He then drifted off work for the Evangelist protestants at Palayankottai and in 1785, Pillai converted to the Protestant faith and was sent off to the mission school in Tanjore with the celebrated missionary CF Schwarz.
When Schwarz visited Palayankottai four months later, he met and took back the 12-year-old footloose Vedanayagam with him to Tanjore. Devasahayam continued preaching at Palayankottai using his musical compositions, a trait that his son had acquired. Interestingly Vedanayagam was to one of the three foster sons of Scharwz, the other two being Serfoji a young king and Schwarz’s ward, and JC Kohloff.
By 1789, Vedanayagam was moved to the theological seminary at Tanquebar, where he mastered in addition to theology, astronomy, science, anatomy, and math. In 1792, the 18-year-old Vedanayagam moved to Tanjore, where Tyagaraja now aged 25 was already a master of his musical craft. Vedanayagam too had composed a few of his musical works based on the bible, following his father’s footsteps.
By the age of 20 (1794), he became the headmaster of the school of scripture at Tanjore and taught young catechists the above sciences, a position he held until 1829. He continued to be a prolific writer (they had a printing press in-house), and completed several texts, an arithmetic textbook in Tamil, and many poetic works, mainly to assist his catechists and young students. At 21 he married his paternal cousin Viyakammal, but she died soon after their marriage, in 1796. In 1798, CFG Schwarz passed away and in 1799, his father Devasahayam too passed on. In 1798 Prince Serfoji, with whom he had studied, ascended the Tanjore throne as Serfoji II, who then ruled under the administrative authority of the British East India Company until he died in 1832. Before Schwartz died, he had asked the ‘German Malabarian’, J. C. Kohlhoff to keep an eye on Vedanayagam, as an older brother. In 1801 Vedanayagam married again, a maternal cousin named Mikelu Muttammal.
Most notably, he wrote about many a hundred Christian devotional hymns and prayer-poems. Many of them were set in the classical Carnatic style, using the then-extant raga and tala combinations. Not only were they devotional, but also instructive since he incorporated astronomical and science elements, at times, into his poetry. Experts opine that he may have borrowed from the works of Tyagaraja and others, but it is not all certain, and it also becomes apparent that there was no real issue in freely borrowing tunes and styles or getting inspired by other’s works, in those times.
These songs and works were narrated, spread around, and became very popular earning Vedanayagam many a title and honor. It was in 1808 that he got formally titled as a Sastri, for his literary excellence. Other honors followed and before long he was bestowed with the honor of ‘the evangelical king of poets’ and was even invited to Madras for bigger honors from both the Vepry church and the Nawab of Arcot living at Triplicane (the Amir Mahal which I often mention about – I lived beside that while working in Madras). This was how he got the Islamic Kulah cap and after that, he always performed looking like a Sufi, wearing whites, and a red cap. In 1815, aged 41 he received his last title - Veda Shastri. Thenceforth, Vedanayagam Pillai signed his name Vedanayagam Sastri.
Appreciation for his method of teaching the gospel through poetic means stood shoulder to shoulder with the Hindu Kirtana Parampara. Schools he served, supported by Rajas of Thanjavur, Shivaganga, and Ramnad, became so famous that Company directors subsidized them, and were quite popular.
Without getting into too many details, we can surmise that Vedanayagam created his Christian hymns in praise of Jesus, closely aligned to the Kirtanas in vogue, using similar lyrics, ragas, and talas, quite a few very close to some of the Tygaraja Kriti’s. He also incorporated the popular styles of Kuruvanci, the Kummi, and so on into his works. Whether he discussed these compositions with Tyagaraja, who was living just a few miles away, or not, is unclear. I would assume so, otherwise Tyagaraja who implanted his Mudras into his compositions with deliberation, or perhaps his ardent and vocal disciples, could have complained of plagiarism. It is also said that Vedanayagam produced works along the line of minor literary compositions, has also composed many songs based on Tevara melodies and Tirupukazh rhymes. He was attracted by Tayumanavar and has composed some of his songs in his style. These are found in his work ‘Jepamalai’. His confessional songs of are based on the confessional models used by many saints of Tamil Nadu.
Sriram explains - Besides this, he used the songs of his contemporary Carnatic composer Tyagaraja (1767-1847) and wrote Christian lyrics for the same tunes. Some of the ragas used by Vedanayagam Sastry are Shankarabharanam, Mohanam, Ananda Bhairavi, Kamboji, Kalyani, Neelambari, Surykantam, Chakravakam, Yadukulakamboji, Senjurutti, Senavati, Saindhavi, Jingala and Dwijavanti. He used talas (cycle of beats) such as Adi, Tisra Ekam, Rupakam, and Chapu. In all his compositions, like Tyagaraja, he included his name as a signature.
Meanwhile, he adopted his niece Jnanadipa Ammal, who later helped translate his work into English, a language Vedanayagam was never comfortable with. He then spent a while in Jaffna, where his name had spread. In 1813, a son named Jnanasikhamani was born to him and Mikelu, and by 1814, he was training pupils on music at his home, a practice which continued till his death in 1863.
The issue of caste
The reader must note here that the times we are talking about were quite different from today. As Robert Eric Frykenberg explains - The terms ‘Hindu’, ‘Hinduism’, and ‘Hindutva’ (‘Hinduness’) are modern. Non-religious denotations for things Hindu long antedated confessional meanings. In the early days of the Company, to be Hindu meant simply to be native to Hindustan. Terms like ‘Hindu Muslim’ and ‘Hindu Christian’ were not uncommon. The Empire was thus Hindu. The emergence of modem Hinduism owed much to late eighteenth-and nineteenth-century collaboration. It was neither a British nor a missionary invention. Contributions made by high-caste, mainly Brahman, pandits played as decisive a part as anything done by scholars from the West.
It was also a time when fervent evangelism was frowned upon - Company authorities stood ready to summarily expel any missionary, and to punish any overly zealous officer whose tactless actions provoked social unrest. Anyone disparaging Hindu and Muslim practices as ‘devilish’ or ‘heathen’ could be admonished or even deported. But as we will see, it was not to be.
All this was to create never ending problems for the poetic evangelist, who was by now known as ‘The Tanjore Poet’. It all started when new decrees were passed against caste segregation and the singing of hymns in styles reminiscent of other religions and set in the bhakti style using ragas connected to temple singing. Also at the heart of it was the use of the bulk of hymns authored by Vedanayagam with his mudra. It would be interesting to look at the attacks on the Tanjore Poet, by the Madras establishment.
It all started with Rhenius, a fiery Prussian evangelist, who had been deputed to Trunelveli. This firebrand, as Robert Eric Frykenberg explains - exhorted, encouraged, instructed, trained, translated, and held dramatic public debates. His disciples, known as pilgrims, fanned out; thousands, again whole villages, turned Christian. The community doubled and trebled in size each decade thereafter. As congregations proliferated, so did chapel schools and self-help societies, with missions for the homeless, widows, and orphans. High schools, colleges, seminaries, and hospitals sprang into existence as Tirunelveli society was transformed.
Until the third decade of the 19th century, the upper caste converts (e.g. vellalas) and lower caste converts (parayas) were seated separately in churches and this was accepted by Bishop R Huber who said it was like British and American Churches where the gentry and servants were always separated. Another related issue was that the front-row seated Vellalans received bread and wine first and then came the parayas. If this was disturbed, the upper caste vellala would eat the Ecchil of the lower caste, a deeply offensive tradition! Sastri wrote in 1824 - those new missionaries, led by C. T. E. Rhenius, had tried to force ‘all the castes or nations of this country to be of one caste to make them eat and drink together and to have those of higher and lower classes connected with each other in marriage. This was very offensive to his upper caste sensibility.
Bishop Wilson upset the status quo when he insisted that they all sit together, resulting in large protests and walkouts by Vellalas. The enraged bishop ordered the district magistrate of Tanjore to flog those who insisted on caste segregation. Sastri argued saying that it was not yet time for such radical moves and it should only be brought in gradually.
Vedanayakam Sastri argued that - At the ‘Lord’s Table’ divergent beings could only ‘sit together separately’. They could still enjoy ‘spiritual unity’ within contexts of social diversity where divergent peoples lived differently and separately, enjoying divergent status, wealth, and wisdom. Christians should be free to organize themselves according to earthbound resources and distinctions, whether of caste (India) or class (Europe). As it looked, after a century of independence, Tamil evangelical Christians found themselves being forced to read strange words, sing strange songs, and recite strange chants from an unknown Book of Common Prayer. It was a difficult period for him, as for some unknown reason, his wife left him and moved on to Tirunelveli. He married Varodaya Ammal in 1829 and had three children with her. Sastri and King Serfoji II had a fallout as well, due to the former’s efforts at converting the lay public to Christianity.
It was in 1829, that Vedanayakam Sastri and other Vellalans who supported him were formally dismissed and expelled from the Church. The outraged community, complaining to the Governor of Madras, accused the new missionaries of committing four cruelties: (1) tampering with Tamil Scripture by replacing old versions with their own; (2) forcing integration of all Christians into one caste and excommunicating from the Eucharist all who refused to comply; (3) prohibiting flowers for festivals, weddings, and funerals; and (4) removing Tamil lyrics and Tamil music from worship.
The next argument was that when devotees sing in the presence of God, there is no need for any man’s name to be mentioned. Sastri has used in the last lines of some songs, his mudra Vedanayagam, and this was found objectionable.
Sastri himself quit his post as headmaster of the seminary Schwartz had founded. Rev Pope harassed the family after that, they were prevented from singing in the church, or in the compound. Sastri’s songs were removed from the books, the family was insulted in public, being given communion last, despite their high standing, His younger son's marriage was branded as heathen, on grounds that he had failed to visit the Pope's house after the ceremony. Sastri stopped attending communion at the Church, nevertheless conducting ceremonies honoring Schwarz in front of his house, annually, ever after.
At the King’s court
Several discussions between the King and the poet relating to their respective faiths can be seen in the records. There is an account of Sastri refusing to compose a Kurvanchi (Kuravanchis, similar to operas, are performed as dance dramas by Bharatanatyam troupes, and Sastri had composed the famous Bethlehem Kuruvanchi previously) in the praise of Siva, as it would offend his Christian faith and insult his teacher Schwarz. When asked if he could at least compose a single verse of invocation praising Ganesa, Sastri refused again, even after Serfoji stated that he the King would compose a Kriti honoring Jesus. An irritated Serfoji resorted to a threat, upon which Sastri told the king that he should not consider or treat the poet as his servant. Serfoji finally gave in and did not press him ever again, on the issue. After Serfoji passed away in 1832, Sivaji who took over dispensed with his services. Sastri lived on with donations from Devasikhamani Pillai, a palace officer, and others, tuition monies received by teaching Tamil to new missionaries and a stipend for assisting Surveyor-General Mackenzie collect vernacular writings about Indian culture and history. Symonds who met him on his tour through Tanjore in 1848 said 'the Tanjore poet is quite a character in the mission. He has a fine tall figure and is without exception the most intellectual native I have ever met.’
The Tanjore poet, Vedanayagam Sastri, died 24th January 1864, aged 90.
An epilogue mentions that his descendants ended the fight with the church, and some worked for the church as well as gifted land to them. The Church also relaxed their rules a bit - Immediately after the Benediction, following a custom observed on the New Year's Day service at the Fort church, the son of the old Tanjore poet, and his family started singing one of the old poet's lyrics, accompanied by explanations…
What can we learn from all this? A poet who rose to great heights, followed his ideals and a chosen path, but allowed age-old traditions and caste prejudice to derail his life. He refused to accept the changed situation and eked out the rest of his life as a simple poet and composer in pain and penury. The spirit of that poet lives on, though hardly anyone remembers him. Interestingly, this mirrors in some ways the situation where the Malabar rites of Syrian Catholics in Kerala (among others) were targeted by the Portuguese Catholics, in the 16th century. They maintained that the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala were "Hindu in culture, Christian in religion, and Oriental in worship”.
I had thought that the caste issues had all died down long ago. I don’t know how it is in South Indian Christian churches, but it is rearing its ugly head once again on the Hindu side, at Chennai. It is so strange that we have so many editions of the Ramayana, including a Chinese and Muslim Ramayana, and yet we are arguing that Carnatic music and its bhakti tradition belong only to Hindus, despite the clear fact that during the golden period of the Tanjore trinity, and as you read above, it was shared for Christian hymns too! That was as Sriram explained, true collaboration.
We will continue with this discussion using a second example, from the Hindu side, in the next article.
References
Protestant origins in India - Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706-1835 - D. Dennis Hudson
Between Print & Performance - The Tamil Christian Poems of Vedanayaka Sastri and the Literary cultures of 19th-century South India – Indira Viswanathan Peterson
'The Lutheran Aggression Controversy': Caste and Class Conflict of Christians in 19th Century South India - Robert Eric Frykenherg
Christian Missions and the Raj (Missions and Empire, edited by Norman Etherington) - Robert Eric Frykenberg
'Purified' Carnatic Music and Impure People: Contemporary Debates - P U Mythri
Tyagaraja – Life & Lyrics – William J Jackson
Great Composers Thyagaraja – P Sambamoorthy
A Chronicle of Collaboration (The Hindu) – Sriram V
Related articles
Part 1 Caste ingress into the Musical Realm, The story of Vedanayagam Sastri
Part 2 Caste conflicts – Carnatic Music, Brahmins and Carnatic music
Part 3 The Music of the Melakkar - The Melakkar and the breach of the Isai Vellalar borders.
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