Hindutva, music and the elite

Sad that a mature debate on making Carnatic music less Brahmin-centric has become a spat between equally brilliant musicians

AS THE STORM engendered in the “eversilver” coffee tumblers of Chennai’s Brahmin circles by the Music Academy’s designation of T M Krishna as its Sangita Kalanidhi for 2024 dies down, let me start with some air-clearing positives.

First, the controversy was not about musicianship. Not even his most vicious critics would deny that Krishna (along with Sanjay Subrahmanyan) is one of the two finest Carnatic male vocalists of this generation. Krishna’s concerts are a profound experience: Simultaneously, a dazzling demonstrationoftechnicalvirtuosityandofthehuman voice’s sublime ability to touch the deepest emotional chords. In fact, to many aficionados, Krishna’s Sangita Kalanidhi award is perhaps a decade overdue.

Second, kudos to the Music Academy, the de facto hub of the Carnatic music universe and oft-criticised for its sniffy elitism, for being brave enough to choose as its awardee someone who has repeatedly cocked a snook at the current dispensation in Delhi and their ideology of Hindutva. What this year’s award unequivocally declares is that it doesn’t matter what Krishna’s politicalandsocialviewsare,heisinarguably a brilliant exemplar of Carnatic music as a singer, innovator, and inclusive performer.

In the current climate where everyone from public bodies to academic institutions, private sector corporations, and the media kowtows to the Modi establishment, it is refreshing to see an institution that stays focused on its core mission — of upholding excellence in the south Indian classical tradition — and ignores the political ramifications.

Third, Carnatic music fans are not going to suffer because of the boycott of the Music Academy’s annual conference by the top musicians upset over its recognition of Krishna. While the Music Academy is its most prestigious venue, Chennai’s Margazhi Festival extends well beyond it to scores of locales across the city. Ranjani and Gayatri, Ravikiran, and the Trichur Brothers (to name Krishna’s most prominent musician critics) will all undoubtedly perform in the 2024 “season” at many of these other sabhas, more accessible and less stuffy than the Music Academy where the prime seats in the front section are hogged by “members,” mostly denizens of Chennai’s Brahmin elite.

Meanwhile, as Sangita Kalanidhi, Krishna will not only preside over the Music Academy’s December conference, but will himself sing on one of the evenings, a huge bonus for fans who have been denied a Krishna concert in Chennai since 2015 when he withdrew to protest the Carnatic world’s Brahmin domination.

The anger against Krishna ostensibly stems from his “woke” anti-brahminism (despite himself being a Brahmin) and endorsement of the influential social reformer and founder of the Dravidian movement, E V Ramasamy “Periyar”, his castigation of the Carnatic realm for its Brahmin-centric elitism, and his supposed denigration of revered Carnatic icons — the composer Thyagaraja and the vocalist M S Subbulakshmi.

However, underlying this controversy is the politics of Hindutva. While aggressive majoritarianism has had little overall purchase in Tamil Nadu, the RSS and BJP have won over a section of the Tamil Brahmin community still smarting from the disparagement and erosion of the socioeconomic position it suffered under the Dravidian partieswhohaveruledtamilnadusincethelate 1960s. The content of the attacks against the Music Academy and Krishna suggests that the musicians involved (all Tamil Brahmins) are partial to at least “soft” Hindutva.

Krishna, on the other hand, exemplifies a progressive and inclusive stream that is also found in the same Brahmin community. More than a century ago, the revered Tamil poet, Subramania Bharathi, composed the still-popular Carnatic songs espousing caste and gender equality, and his 19th century namesake Gopalakrishna Bharathi wrote an entire Carnatic opera celebrating Nandanar, the Dalit Saiva Nayanar bard-saint, excerpts from which figure prominently in concerts even today.

Carnatic has long embraced Muslim and Christian musicians and featured devotional compositions to Jesus. Carnatic’s progressive and inclusive tradition sits squarely within its strong Hindu devotionalism. Krishna’s public opposition to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir draws on Vedanta and bhakti theology and practice. And no one who has heard his moving rendition of the 15th century composer Vyasatirtha’s “Krishna Nee Begane Baro” can seriously doubt that he is anything but immersed in bhakti.

As in every other Indian cultural and social sphere, it was inevitable that Hindutva politics would enter the arena of Carnatic music, more so given its ethos of Hindu religiosity. What is sad though is that the clash with Carnatic’s strong progressive tradition ratherthangivingrisetoamaturedebate,for instance, on making Carnatic less Brahmincentric, has descended to a vituperative wranglebetweenequallybrilliantmusicians.

The Krishna controversy underlines that even elite, educated Indians find it difficult to engageincivilexchangesover“sacredcows”. We tend to regard our traditional institutions as flawless and our heroes — be it Thyagaraja or Periyar — as semi-divinities and are unable to countenance any criticism of them, however fact-based and nuanced. For all his pioneering reform credentials, Periyar’s diatribes against Brahmins arguably cross the line into fostering hatred against a particular community.

Equally, while Tamil society and the Carnatic world have come a long way in eliminating casteism thanks, in part, to Periyar-inspired reforms, subtle and overt discrimination persists in many economic and cultural spheres.

Anyone who is familiar with the Upanishads or first millennium CE theologians such as Sankara and Ramanuja or the medieval poet-saints from the Alvars and Nayanars to Basava and Mahadevi Akka to Kabirandthevarkariswillknowthatdissent fromestablishedwisdomandsocialmoresis integraltothehistoryofhinduismanditsreform. To “deplatform” criticism and challengeisprofoundlyanti-hindu.bothkrishna and his critics should remember this.

The writer is a private equity investor and Carnatic music enthusiast