OVERCOMING THE BARRIER OF CLOSED MINDS

In my last post I had committed blasphemy-  I had trodden on what can only be called the “holy cow” ! I had dared to criticize the “purest” of the “pure” form of music enjoyed and appreciated by the “twice born” and their close brethren! I had also made some comments about making it more “inclusive”. One of the readers challenged my question about why other singers were not invited to the Thyagaraya festival at Thiruviyaru by telling me that it was as odd as wanting to chant the “Vishnu Sahasranamam” in a Church on Christmas day!

Today is Christmas day –a day of miracles! I was witness to something close to that. I watched today a performance of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” by the 2^nd year students of the National School of Drama – presented at the Museum theatre here in Chennai! . So what is so miraculous about it you may ask?.The miracle my friends  lies in the way it was presented.  The entire performance was in the “Koothu” tradition of Tamil folk theatre using the medium of song and dance in … … Hindi with a few occasional dialogues in Kannada and Tamil! The  presentation and the accompanying music were also of the “Koothu” style. As in all folk traditions, there was a narrator and accompanying musicians using the traditional folk instruments of Tamilnadu. The only little innovation was that  the lyrics were in  Hindi which the actors sang to bring alive the performance!

Shakespearean theatre is considered rather high brow and intellectual.  The ability to adapt it using a folk form like the “koothu” is therefore  very innovative . “Koothu” as many of us know is the theatre form performed in villages. To be able to bring it from Scotland to Chennai, almost scene by scene retaining the original dialogue is an absolutely creative way of making art and theatre inclusive. Let me tell you something else - my introduction to Shakespeare was thus. I was six or seven years old when I first watched “Hamlet” being performed in a small town in West Bengal at a “Jatra” which is the traditional theatre form of the state! Even today whenever someone mentions “Hamlet”  it is the actor who played the role in the “Jatra” who comes to my mind.   

One may wonder about the relevance of using Hindi as the medium of communication in the play that I had watched today. I can only say that this was probably done because a majority of the student performers were from northern India. However, there were  two actors who were not familiar with Hindi so they  used Tamil and Kannada. It was an interesting diversion to watch Banquo speak in Tamil and hear one of the witches prophesize in Kannada. The language barrier –if indeed there was one, did not seem to have any problem in the communication.  The audience could relate completely to the  charachters, music and the costumes. Interestingly, it was not your usual  snobbish English speaking theatre going crowd of Chennai that thronged the seats inside the hall . It was an ordinary middle and lower middle class Tamil speaking audience that predominated. The children in the front row laughed loudly at the antics of the narrator or the “sutradhar” who pranced about like a monkey using humor to reach out to the audience in typical street theatre form. It was almost as though we were in a village square. And like all street performances it was absolutely FREE!  Last but not the least was they way the "sutradhar" connected some of the situations from the play to  the current issues that we as a nation are facing –particularly the craze for power.

To conclude I can only reiterate that art and music are without boundaries. It is for performers and audiences to be inclusive and take it to the common man/woman.

And about Vishnu Sahasranamam being recited inside a Church, well I would say why not?  Here is the translation of Shloka one

Visvam Visnurvasatkaro

Bhuta bhavya bhvat prabhuh

Bhuta krit bhuta bhrdbhavo

Bhutatma Bhutabhavanah

Vishvam / a) Universe or Cause of Universe b) One who is full in all respects. Om visvaya namah.

 Vishnu: - a) One who permeates everything, is inside every sentient and non-sentient being. b) One who surrounds everything.

vashatkara / One who controls and directs (not merely pervades).
bhuta-bhavya-bhavat-prabhu: The Master of all things past, future, and present. Nirukti - trikAla vartinAm seshi - The Lord of all things that exist in the past, present, and future.

 Bhuta-krit / The creator of all beings.

 Bhuta-bhrt / The supporter of all things. Bhutani bibharti iti bhuta-bhrt - One who supports all.

 Bhavah / He who exists with all the splendor. He who exists always, independent of anything else.
Bhutatma / The AtmA or soul of all beings - sarvesham bhutanam atma

Bhuta-bhavanah / One who nourishes and nurtures all beings that He created.

  Tell me folks once this translation is made known to a Christian, would s/he object to its recitation inside a Church?

Ofcourse if  I as a “Hindu” feel uncomfortable and want  to hold on to those 1000 names of the Lord by way of intellectual property then it is another issue!

Merry Christmas! Peace be with all of you!