A VALIANT CRUSADER

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Marriage, family, village, and kingdom- we owe a lot to all these institutions. And all of them disappointed us at times, some times and many times. Thomas Hobbs, in his famous book Leviathan, observes that man comes into a covenant with the society only to have protection from the stifling forces and never hesitates to disobey it when it ceases to do that. But the irony is that all these institutions which were originated to provide him happiness outgrew in the course of the time and he had lost his say in the molding of his own life as he himself has become an inextricable part of it. Eventually  the society has become a prison for him in which, to quote from W B Yeats’ famous poem The Second Coming,

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

Mere anarchy is loosened upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

But during the times of crisis and calamity some rare people had the conviction but their voice became inaudible because of the clamor and commotion that overwhelmed the respective period. Bengaluru Nagarathnamma is one among such rare persons.

History is nothing but the record of the ways in which the rich and strong coerced and suppressed the poor and weak. And women have been relegated to the secondary and suffering state since the beginning. As Kate Millet, the great feminist pointed out, the patriarchy encourages a dual moral code for the man and the woman. It expects a man to be chivalrous, amorous, valiant, strong and powerful where as it demands a woman to be sentimental, beautiful, delicate and above all virtuous. It forces a woman to be a chattel and she has been always accused as the main criminal in the adultery. It denounces debauchery but at no time in the past it helped the woman to escape from the receiving end. The institutions like Jogini, Mathangi and Basivi among the Dravidians and Devadasi in the Aryans prove that.

 The Devadasi system began as respectable one as they were artists, mainly musicians and dancers who dedicated their art completely to the god and remain unmarried believing that they were married to the god.  In the beginning they were merely a group of that profession and there are proofs that some Kshathriya and Brahmin women also became Devadasis. They were revered as they were the epitomes of tradition and fine arts. The Devadasis used to crave for the girl children and the girls alone inherited their property.  It is recorded that many Brahmins gave their girls for adoption to the Devadasis as it provided security and riches.

But soon the state of the Devadasis got terribly deteriorated as many of them had to be detached from their association with the temples and resort to be the kept woman for the rich. And their plight had become further vulnerable when debauchery alone became the only way to live and sustain. The patriarchal society then labeled them as harlots. The so called social reformers of the twentieth century led an agitation against the Devadasi system till the government made a law against it.  So much water had been passed through the bridge, many unforeseen developments took place and an entire caste had become a victim eventually.

Bengaluru Nagarathnamma has become a veritable symbol of self respect and feminism. She raged a relentless war against the society which banned the Devadasi system without providing an alternative for them to lead their lives happily. It is a heroinic (sorry, the patriarchal dictionary does not accept that word) battle irrespective of her failure as the values for which she stood for were not defeated. She had inherited that spirit from her mother who took a vow to make her daughter a scholar, musician and a dancer in order to teach a lesson to those who ridiculed her as a cheap shepherdess. She proved that a woman could also be a good friend of the man. She proved herself as a good manager of the house, earned a lot and handled the economic affairs expertly.

She said, “I studied Kannada, my mother tongue and its literature from my childhood. I read Tamil also when I was in Madras. But I am very much fond of Telugu and I read many of its classics ranging from Mahabharata.” She boldly declared that Muddupalani, the Devadasi –poet who wrote Radhikasanthwanam in the 18th century was her ideal. She vehemently denounced Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu for saying that Muddu Palani was a harlot who unabashedly described the lecherous things in her work. She argued that the man also should have the Virtue and it was not merely the stipulation for a woman. She made an appeal to all people to accept that book which was written by a woman and edited and published by another woman. She wrote Madyapanam in Telugu denouncing that bad habit and Pancheekarana bhothika viveka vilakkam in Tamil.

There was a stipulation that women should not sing the Pallavis in the concerts. But Nagarathnamma not only resented that but also sang them valiantly and raised her voice against the patriarchal chauvinism.  She spent everything she earned for the construction of a shrine on the grave of Saint Thyagaraja in Thiruvayyur and began the yearly Thyagaraja Uschvas on Pushya Bahula Panchami day when the saint attained Samadhi. She conducted special concerts exclusively with the women to assert that they were not lagging behind the men. In 1941 during the Thyagaraja Araadhanoschava, she went to the stage and before the beginning of her concert she roared, “I am Nagarathnamma and I am a Devadasi.” It is a clarion call against the caste ridden Hindu society and it would be reverberated as long as the hypocritical cruel monstrous system exists.

Nagarathnamma wrote a will assigning everything she had to Sri Thyagarajabrahma Samadhi trust and got it registered on 5th January 1949. (Modugula Ravikrishna who published a wonderful book entitled Swabhimana Prathika Vidyasundari Benguluru Nagarathnamma has to be complimented for procuring and publishing her will)

In his commendable biography on Nagarathnamma,(Translated by T Padmini and published by Hyderabad Book Trust) V Sriram, the famous Historian of Karnatak Music, while discussing one of her battles against the formidable opponents, casually said that it was all possible because she was a Devadasi. That is an ultimate judgment on the patriarchal society.

                                              -MADHURANTHAKAM NARENDRA

 (The writer is a bilingual short story writer, novelist and poet, writing in both Telugu and English)

 

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