Vandalizing Thyagaraja’s Kritis

For those who came late, a controversy erupted last week when it was revealed that O S Arun, Nithyashree Mahadevan, Unnikrishnan, and Srinivas, prominent Madras-based Carnatic Classical singers, were slated to participate in concerts organised by Christian institutions and were accused of tampering with Thyagaraja Swami’s traditional compositions by substituting “Rama” with “Yesu” (Jesus).

The prime case in point was Nithyashree Mahadevan singing Thyagaraja Swami’s extraordinary composition, Rama ni samaanamevaru set in the Kharaharapirya Ragam. The lyric was brazenly mangled where “Rama” was deleted and “Prabhu” (Jesus) was substituted instead.

The original lyric which poignantly describes the glory of Sri Rama, his wife Sitadevi and the nobility of his brothers reaches its devout climax when Thyagaraja Swami hails Sri Rama as “tyAgarAja kula vibhUSaNa” (literally, the Ornament adorning Thyagaraja’s lineage). Whereas the vandalised lyric has such torrid gems eulogising Jesus as:

O pavanatmuda O punydshiluda

papatmulanu brova paramatmasuta

nee samanulevaru prabhu You who are pure, you who are endowed with virtue

You who redeem the sinners

You the son of God

Who all are equal to you?

There’s not even a pretence in the plural “samanulevaru”: the direct implication is that Sri Rama is no equal to Jesus.

I haven’t heard what O S Arun and others have sung so I’ll refrain from commenting. But in light of this available evidence, it’s clear that Nithyashree Mahadevan is the worst offender. Ever since this controversy blazed, she has been quick to clarify that she was

extremely pained to read the accusations against me that have gone viral. I sang the song on Jesus only because I was happy to be an instrument to bolster communal peace and harmony. I apologise for inadvertently hurting your sentiments..

Indeed, her excuse for an apology only makes it worse. But the worse is yet to come. Nithyashree also claims that

she was steeped in rich Hindu tradition, values and culture, was against religious conversion of any kind, and would never ever engage in any act that would endorse or encourage religious conversion.

Nithyashree shouldn’t impute stupidity on the part of people. Here’s what the album for which she sang that vandalised lyric says:

Given this, are we to seriously believe that Nithyashree didn’t know the purpose for which her song would be used? Even assuming that she didn’t, the least she could have done was to ask that Christian lyric-writer the precise meaning of the song. And perhaps then she would’ve seen the bit about “bolster communal peace and harmony” in an entirely different light. Perhaps not. At any rate, nobody asked Nithyashree to bolster the said communal peace and harmony in the first place. Her self-righteous apology is worse than her original cultural transgression.

The clarion call from the rest of the Carnatic Music fraternity to boycott these singers was indeed timely and is a great example of what Hindus can accomplish when they merely stand up with their spine completely erect.

As praiseworthy as this is, and as alarming as the preceding phenomenon is, these are mere manifestations of a deeper and far more fundamental rot.