T.N. RAJARATTINAM PILLAI CHARISMA, CASTE RIVALRY AND THE CONTESTED PAST IN SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC by Terada Yoshitaka

Author:Terada Yoshitaka [Yoshitaka, Terada]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

2. Isai Vēḷāḷar Musicians in Tanjavur

Isai Vēḷāḷars, who claim to have been the originators and authentic carriers of Periya Mēḷam music tradition, are concentrated in the Tanjavur area and Rajarattinam Pillai belonged to this jāti. The interpretation of Rajarattinam Pillai by Isai Vēḷāḷars as a subordinate group exists inevitably in relation to the all-pervasive dominant discourses, not apart from them or by itself (Bommes and Wright 1982: 255; Alonso 1988a: 49).

With tremendous artistic and material achievements, Rajarattinam Pillai serves as a role model for Isai Vēḷāḷar musicians of the following generations. He excelled in rāgam elaboration which they consider by far the most important aspect of nāgasvaram playing (or music in general, they are likely to add), and many musicians idolize him as the leader of their tradition. The high visibility of Rajarattinam Pillai at prestigious festivals, highly publicized political meetings, and marriage functions of wealthy patrons, as well as the Brahmans’ enthusiastic approval of his music gave them a sense of power and self-confidence.

Rajarattinam Pillai’s popularity as a musical leader of Isai Vēḷāḷars is not unrelated to the state of Periya Mēḷam music in the twentieth century, which is often characterized by the gradual decline in the original context, performance standard, and social standing of its practitioners. As described in Chapter 4, the two most significant reasons for this change are believed to be decreasing economic support from temples and the increasing popularity of film songs in place of Periya Mēḷam music. Nevertheless, a host of virtuoso musicians, including Rajarattinam Pillai, emerged during the first half of the twentieth century, against this background of general decline. In fact, this period is sometimes regarded both by Isai Vēḷāḷar Periya Mēḷam musicians and by Brahman musicians and patrons as a golden era of nāgasvaram music due to the large number of accomplished musicians and the high level of artistic achievement. Put differently, it was an era in which the gap between a small group of fortunate musicians and the rest had significantly widened. Almost certainly the hierarchy among nāgasvaram musicians existed before, but a phenomenon peculiar to the twentieth century is the occupational disintegration of their community with more families leaving their hereditary profession.

Although Rajarattinam Pillai’s insistence on adopting some Karnāṭak music performance practices is considered by Brahmans to be childish and a result of a lack of formal education and behavioural sophistication,414 the simulation of practices previously confined to Karnāṭak musicians is often interpreted by Isai Vēḷāḷars to have been Rajarattinam Pillai’s overt challenge to the Brahman domination of music culture and the discrimination against them. The inability of the Brahmans to curb his adoption of these practices is appreciatively interpreted as an indication of the status and power that Rajarattinam Pillai achieved.

It is true that Isai Vēḷāḷar musicians frown upon Rajarattinam Pillai’s idiosyncratic habits and lifestyle and that their criticism of him is often harsher than that by Brahmans. Rajarattinam Pillai’s sharp tongue and derogatory manners also generated enmity among some of his fellow Periya Mēḷam musicians.415 Nevertheless, Isai

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