Quote:Synergy of Kalakshetra, Prakriti Foundation and Romilla Thapar [color="#800080"](Of course Romila Thapar.)[/color]

10/01/2010 13:38:44

Radha Rajan





After a very long while I made the time yesterday to go back to Kalakshetra to listen to one of my dearly beloveds at a book launch ceremony.



The book was 'Vaikunta Perumal Temple at Kanchipuram' by D Dennis Hudson. Dennis Hudson deserved better than Prakriti Foundation and Thapar. A remarkable book which testifies to Hudson's immense and passionate involvement with the temple, its history and above all the sculpture of the temple and a burning desire to plumb the depth of history in each panel. A truly remarkable book which everyone of us who visits the temple now can use as a guide to inform ourselves about the breathtaking beauty and meaning of the temple.



The Prakriti Foundation did Dennis Hudson's magnum opus unforgivable injustice by getting Thapar to release the book and deliver the third Dennis Hudson Memorial lecture in Kalakshetra. Dennis Hudson's wife for reasons best known to her allowed Prakriti Foundation to take charge of publishing this magnificent book.



This critique of Kalakshetra, Prakriti and Thapar is interlinked and perforce personal because all three violated something fundamental to classicism - the essential Hinduness, particularly the bhakti that inspired classicism and inspires continuing adherence to the tenets of classicism in our Sanskrit and Tamil literature and classicism in our arts and performing arts - Carnatic Music, Bharatanatyam, Kucchipudi, Odissi, Mohiniyattam and Manipuri. - bhakti or worship.



The building of our temples and the sculptures enriching them are also infused with classicism and therefore infused with bhakti. It follows therefore that if one has to understand Carnatic Music, our classical dance forms, our temples and temple architecture and sculpture, either with a sense of creativity or intellectually, the person must understand bhakti - not superficially and not as a practioner of the abrahamic faiths, but as a Hindu; the person may be an Indian or a non-Indian Hindu but he or she must be infused with bhakti and respect for bhakti to understand classicism. I have to be worshipful if I have to express the classicism inherent in our performing arts and in our classical literature. An irreverend mind which is incapable of worship or bhakti, can only produce sterile and soulless creations of Hindu themes. Classicism is also God-centric and does not touch upon human themes except as bhaktas. Keeping them God-centric has helped to protect them from the defilement and diminishing which would be more realistic perhaps but not elevating. The objective of classicism is to elevate the Hindu mind to God through bhakti. We must not lose sight of this to understand why I find this synergy between Prakriti, Kalakshetra and Thapar both natural and distasteful.



Without the Hinduness, without the bhakti, merely learning the notes or the steps, reading the sacred literature just because one can read and understand Tamil or Sanskrit, and performing it or critiquing it, makes the rendition, the product, sterile. There is no atma in the rendition, in the words.



If the Prakriti Foundation had a sense of classicism inherent in Hindu tradition, if it had felt bhakti, it would not have sung paens of praise to Leela Samson the incumbent director of Kalakshetra nor would it have imported Thapar to Chennai for the book launch.



Let me take all three one by one.



Kalakshetra was founded by Rukmini Devi and her theosophist husband George Arundale. Kalakshetra is a product of the theosophists who set up shop in Chennai in the second half of the nineteenth century - courtesy Olcott and Madam Blavatskaya.



Rukmini Devi's father Neelakanta Sastri, like hundreds of Tamil Brahmins who took to english education and migrated to cities abandoning their ancestral villages, was entranced by the new cult - theosophy. Theosophy was a white race hotch-potch brewed by those who were disenchanted by Christianity's inability to accomodate metaphysical and spiritual experiences not in line with the Talmud or the Bible.



We therefore had the American HS Olcott, the Russian Madam Blavatskaya and the British Annie Besant seeking refuge in theosophy while Madeline Slade sought refuge in Gandhi and the Turkish-Egyptian Jew Mirra Alfassa sought refuge in Aurobindo. This writer beleives that neither Aurobindo nor Gandhi exemplified Hindu dharma in its titality or essence; at best they embodied a small aspect of our religious legacy.



The most important thing for idiot Hindus to know and understand is that all of them HAD TO SEEK PHYSICAL REFUGE from their native countries and from their disenchantment only in Hindu bhumi. They were all heretics and they could not live the religious lives they desired in their own countries. At least not in the nineteenth century. their countries would have tolerated atheism of the abrahamic variety but not a spirituality rooted in some other religion. That is why they burned men and women in the stakes and that is why they had the inquisitions.



The most striking thing about this confluence of upper caste, english educated hindus and the white disenchanted christians and jews was that while the white christians could forsake christianity, they could not take to the difficult road to becoming a Hindu where there is no refuge in faith in a prophet or a messiah. You and you alone were responsible for your acts and you had to bear the result or karma of your acts; sometimes your children and their children also had to bear the fruits depending how great was your punya or paapa. Accepting total responsibility for your actions was a difficult alternate to confession and absolution of sins offered by the abrahamic religions.



Buddhism was the half-way mark in this transition because while it derived from sanatana dharma it had aspects of organized religions in its religious structures or clerical hierarchy. It also had a human being who could be fixed in time around whom the cult was built. and that is why Buddhism is the prefered religion of the disenchanted white christians and jews. Buddhism is also today the half-way mark for those seeking to de-hinduise this nation. Chrsitian missionaries, the church and historically islam has penetrated the buddhists everywhere as the beginning towards islamising it or christianising it.



Theosophy was no religion; it was an escapist way of life around disenchanted white (former) christians and jews. Rukmini Devi married the theosophist George Arundale much before she re-discovered bharatanatyam for india. She also met and was inspired by the russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who inspired and motivated her to rediscover bharatanatyam also known as sadirattam.



Bharatanatyam rooted in Bharatamuni's natyasastra, was preserved in our temples by our devadasis. Hindus owe our devadais a great debt of gratitude that notwithstanding their difficult lives, they nurtured and preserved this great art form. And because this was nurtured by our devadasis and because this was performed in our temples, bharatanatyam and the music that gave it its soul and rhythm retained its bhakti and religious fervor even in difficult times.



Theosophy like the arya samaj, semiticised hindu religion. The intelliegent hin du does not need explanations here. The most demanding was that their adherents should give up worship of the murti, give up rituals. Abstraction is erroneously considered the ultimate in intellectual conception or the perfection of ascetism. Maybe so but it is also the most sussceptible to perversion and subversion, both. Leela Samson who took over Kalakshetra claims she is a Jew. The complete de-Hinduising of Kalakshetra has been achieved.



Adi sankara realised the dangers of emphasising abstraction over worship of murtis and ascetism over sringara (the worship and celebration of the beautiful) in advaita and that is why he composed the saundarya lahiri. that is why he sang of Sarada and Annapurna and Shiva. Abstraction is breathtaking but murti worship is elevating. Abstraction is best reached through bhakti and not through the intellect.



Rukmini Devi may have rediscovered bharatanatyam for us but she also introduced elements of theosophy into her school Kalakshetra. The Besant School started and run by george arundale and the KFI school started by J Krishnamurti also with theosophist roots all suffer from the same malaise - the abstraction and eventual erasing of hinduness in their thinking, the institutions they create, their writings and their speech. They are not anti-Hindu in the beginning; they are merely the abstract expression of theosophy and perhaps buddhism and even some esoteric aspects of hinduism. But they eventually become anti-Hindu because they partner the explicitly anti-Hindus and non-Hindus and despise those who are angered by the gradual de-hinduisation of their understanding and interpretation of Hindu arts, literature and texts.



It is this perversion which has given rise to yoga is not hindu, meditation is not hindu, om is not hindu, ayurveda is not hindu and now bharatanatyam is not swaroopa hindu but aroopa hindu. It is also the beginning of deepavalli is secular, navaratri is secular, Pongal is secular and other idiocies. They want the hindu frills without the hindu content.



Leela samson when she stated that she only removed the 'swarupa' symbols of hinduism from kalakshetra in the true spirit of Rukmini Devi's theosophist spirit, was speaking the truth and the whole truth. The abstraction and diminishing of worship of hindu murtis began in Rukmini Devi's mind. You see this in the children coming out of Krishnamurti schools, you see it in the composition of students learning the performing arts in kalakshetra now under Leela samson. what Jiddu krishnamurti spoke was the essence of vedanta and he invoked the enquiring mind so typical of the best methods of Hindu learning in our guru-sishya parampara and gurukulams of our rishis but he disdained to call his thoughts or its articulation Hindu.



The Prakriti Foundation in its introduction yesterday to the book launch function sang an ode to Samson when it said Leela Samson has opened the kalakshetra to new dimensions. Thapar echoed the sentiment when she said the task of historians today (what she meant was historians like her) was to push the frontiers of history. Now what in Thapar's name does it mean? But being a bear with little brain I dodnt understand such high funda oratory. except to know that Leela Samson is pushing the frontiers of Rukmini Devi's kalakshetra as she conceived it in 1939.



But when Thapar mocked Hindu understanding of Time as being cyclical and thererfore ahistorical and only a fantasy (yes she used the word fantasy to describe cyclical time), when she mocked at our yugas and kalpa, when she mocked at our history, when she declared confidently that all vedic hymns were composed by brahmins, when she spoke of something called vedic hinduism and then puranic hinduism, when she said cyclical time was invented by 'Hindu bards and mythmakers' and when the idiots in raw silk and long ear-rings laughed in appreciation then I knew that the poison injected by Tagore, Jiddu krishnamurti, Olcott and Blavatsky, Arundale and now Samson is losing its potency. Because when I walked out precisely 8 minutes after Thapar began her drivel, a dozen others walked out behind me. They were probably waiting for someone to start the exodus. I came back and found great peace of mind in doing what Hinduism exhorts me to do - feed the hungry. I came back to my street animals and knew that Samson and Thapar and the captive idiot audience which laughed, were yugas and Kalpas away from understanding hindu dharma or its tradition. Hindus must know and understand the causes for their degeneration if they have to put these people in their places.



It is not enough to wear the mayilkann veshti and angavastram when you sing an ode to Leela Samson, it is not enough to wear elegant silk and diamond earirings as expressions of refined brahminical culture when you express disdain for brahmins and all that they represented, it is not enough to wear long thin red bindi like the srivasihnava women simply as a fashion statement if your heart does not melt when you worship that murti. If you cannot bring tears to my eyes when you dance or sing you have to be reborn again and again and again if you have to attain the fulness of MS Subbalakshmi or Palaghat Raghu.



All their sartorial elegance is soulless and sterile. What i saw yesterday in Kalakshetra was the Chennai counterpart of the Delhi IIC chatterati. There was so scholarship, no mastery no wisdom in that gathering. It was all snobbery and no soul. Kalakshetra, Prakriti and Thapar deserve each other. But Dennis Hudson's book deserved bette

Quote:Buddhism is also today the half-way mark for those seeking to de-hinduise this nation.

Quote:[...]

[color="#0000FF"]I disagree with you that Carnatic music should confine itself to singing about Hindu gods. I see no reason why this should be the case, just because the bulk of the music of this genre is devoted to Hinduism.[/color] Christian Carnatic music has not reached the heights that compositions of Dikshitar, or Thyaraja, or Syama Shastri have attained, but that is not because of the content of the music. It is still a genre that needs developing, that has not had a great composer who has come along and created sublime Christian Carnatic music. It should be nurtured and encouraged, and then it will truly flower.Where is the question of imitating? [color="#0000FF"]Christians have lived in India for 2000 years, and Carnatic music traditions are as much theirs as the Hindus'.[/color]

Posted by: Kamini | October 14, 2010 at 08:33 AM

Quote:[...]

I think I have heard this priest in our local television channel,where he made a devastating attempt to do a kacheri. He cannot say ten swaroms at a row. The only evidence I could see that he was a student of Yesudas was his beard. That is often a good disguise for ignorance.

I am a Christian. In the history of the Church in Kerala,I don't find any Karnatic music experts. Yesudas never tried that mistake,because he knows the traditions of Karnatic music.The Keerthanas are all praises of Hindu Gods,and it needs tremendous devotion for it to come out.It was not meant for Christian church recitals.Christians in India imitate many traditional styles,and incorporate them in to their practices. I have heard some of these poor attempts of praises to Mother Mary in Karnatic ragas,to my utter despair.

I always wanted to tell this priest to stick on to his job,and not to try to dirty the only pure tradition we keep in India.

By the way,did it really come from your heart?



Posted by: Dr Antony | October 09, 2010 at 10:24 PM

Quote:[color="#0000FF"]Ms. Kamini Dandapani's blog post is a revelation of how gullible and naive Hindus are and can still be, and how easily they can be deceived by the chameleon-like activities of professional Christians. I say "professional" because the processes of cultural appropriation are invariably done by the clergy who are trained and assigned according to their skills to do what they are doing and devote 24/7 in propagating their religion. Apparently Ms. Dandapani has also probably never heard of "Christian yoga", "Christunatyam", etc. It is most likely that she also doesn't know what Christianity exactly is. For that one has to study it with the eyes open.[/color]

[color="#800080"](Bold bit is a VERY important point.)[/color]



Sadly, the vulnerable situation the Hindus find themselves in (dwindling numbers, dis-empowered in their own country of origin, etc.) may be attributed to the characteristic Hindu naivety as exemplified by Ms. Dandapani. Cultures who similarly thought in these lines are no longer on this earth to talk about their culture.



Long after Hindus and Bharatanatyam are gone and buried, with the earth and dharma destroyed and burnt, Ms. Dandapani can find relief now in the thought that there will be Christian padres left to conduct the last carnatic concert on the prophesied doomsday. I am not saying this because of any irrational hatred I nurse for Christians or Christianity - most of my beloved relatives are still Christian, carrying on out of convenience or ignorance or arrogance. There is much evidence on my side if one cares to stick out her neck and look around.



Christmas and Easter were once pagan festivals in Europe around 1500 years ago, but none of the pagans remain to talk about them. How many people living on earth know that these were pagan festivals that had nothing to do with Christians or Jesus. The birthday of Jesus (Christmas) was celebrated by all early Christians on January 7th and is still celebrated by many Eastern Christians on that day. The date changed when the "faith" came to Europe. They changed the date to usurp the winter solstice celebration of the pagans and fixed it on December 24th, one of the dates in the traditional festival. Easter was the festival of the pagans at the spring equinox, associated with the moon goddess Aster. Now both festivals are patented and celebrated all over the earth by the Christians.



In 1599, the Goan bishop of that time, Alexis Menezes, originally a Portuguese, chaired an acculturation program among the Eastern Christians of Kerala, known in history as the Diamper Synod, where they were asked not to follow Hindu arts, crafts, customs, rituals and festivals and made a long list of prohibited things. After the second Vatican Council in 1962, when the church made a series of U-turns to accommodate a discontented people and new knowledge, they made provisions for the regional churches to start appropriating local customs to make it more attractive for the laity and to facilitate proselytizing among peoples like the Hindus.



Christianity in its core is not at all different from Islam, perhaps a bit more stringent. Medieval European Christianity was much more evil than the modern-day Taliban. One only has to open the history books to find out. The Church liberalism is only a show for people living in the West, because otherwise they cannot wield the influence they still have, like having a seat at the UN and in all countries as diplomats. It was the fascist Mussolini who made Vatican a state. Inside the Indian churches, the Christians systematically tarnish the Hindu religion and on the outside, are taking over one Hindu institution after the other (like Kalakshetra). Many Christian orders have shed their white cassocks and wear saffron robes. Earlier they had shed their customary black for white cassocks when they found that Hindus ran away seeing the black outfit. The white cassock was adopted only for India.



For me, who has seen both worlds, Christianity in all its forms is sheer contamination of the mind and environment and distilled evil. If Ms. Dandapani has any doubt, I am at her disposal to clear that.



Posted by: George Thundiparambil | September 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM

Quote:Quran with Bhagavad Gita in a communal harmony class .

Monday, 21 November 2011 13:17 IANS | [color="#0000FF"]Varanasi[/color]



Holding the Quran in one hand and the Bhagavad Gita in the other, Mukhtar Ahmad conducts "a class of communal harmony" at a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district to enable students to draw similarities between Islam and Hinduism.





Welcome to Bahrul-Uloom madrassa (Islamic seminary) in Chittanpura town where like Ahmad several other Muslim teachers are involved in imparting lessons of brotherhood and unity to inculcate "moral values" in their students.



"Our main objective behind teaching Hindu scriptures along with the Quran is to undertake a comparative study of the holy books of the two religions to enable our students to draw similarity between Islam and Hinduism," Ahmad, a teacher at the Islamic seminary, told IANS.



"By drawing similarity between the two religions, students will be able to correlate the teachings of Quran with those of the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu ancient text, which in turn would enable them to respect the two religions in the same manner," he added.



The Hindu scriptures were introduced one year ago in the syllabi of the Behroom-Uloom madrassa with an aim to spread communal harmony and brotherhood. The private Islamic seminary was set up in 1964.



"The management always asked the teachers to come up with ideas and suggestions for making students good in academics, improving their performance and inculcating moral values," 58-year-old Ahmad said.



"In our discussions, we unanimously agreed that apart from grooming students and preparing them for future challenges, our other main objective was to churn out good human beings from the seminary," he said.



"A few seminary teachers proposed to introduce the comparative study of the Bhagavad Gita with the Quran that was already being taught to students. The sole objective was to make students imbibe the teachings of the religious books," he added.



Today, not only the Bhagavad Gita, [color="#FF0000"]the four Vedas -- Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva[/color] -- are taught to the students along with subjects like Hindi, English and Computer Science.

[color="#800080"](Wait wait wait. An islamic school, "teaching" the Vedas? How? Using the colonial translations? One can "learn" that in alien schools, or by reading alien books by oneself. But that's not the Vedam.

Any looney Hindu parents who send their kids to this school on account of such a "syllabus", Deserve It.)[/color]



[color="blue]The teachers first read the scriptures themselves for four-five months and then impart the knowledge to the students.[/color]

[color="#800080"](Great! That means I too can teach the Vedam next - yeah right - if I just read it for 4-5 months as well. Hey, and to think I can have the title of a Chaturvedi too! Just by reading/studying. It's soooo easy, who knew?

Actually since even that's too much for me, I think I'll just take the shortcut of reading the blurb on the backcovers of each. There ARE blurbs on the backcovers for the R, Y, S and A vedas, right???)[/color]



Seminary officials said the Hindu scriptures were initially introduced in the classes equivalent to 10-12 standards. But now they also form the course content of lower classes.



There are over 2,500 students -- both boys and girls -- enrolled in different classes of the madrassa.



"While we admit boys only till Class 8, we have the provision for enrolling the girls till Class 12," said Hadis Alam, another teacher at the madrassa.

[color="#800080"](Interesting that they want to keep girls longer...? Especially when read along with[/color]



[color="#0000FF"]As there is no Hindu student at the madrassa, the Islamic seminary officials believe they would soon get their first batch of Hindu students with the introduction of Hindu scriptures in the syllabi.



Ahmad said the location of the madrassa in a Muslim-dominated area could be preventing the Hindus from sending their kids there.[/color]

[color="#800080"](Uh, this is Varanasi. Where I'm sure Hindus can learn the BG and the Vedam from their own kind. I don't know why these muslims imagine anyone Hindu would be sending their kids to learn these things - particularly the Vedas supposedly - from muslims. This isn't babble/koran study... Nor is Hindu transmission of the Vedam the same as the indological method of "studying" it, i.e. the "read and interpret away" method.)[/color]



"But the introduction of Hindu scriptures in the syllabi has been considerably appreciated by our Hindu brothers. We believe we would soon have Hindu students seeking admission in Bahrul-Uloom," he added.

Quote:krishna nee begane baaro...

jun 6th, 2012 CE



yet another reason why i like karnataka: this song was composed at the great krishna temple in udupi.



youtu.be/Iwn0mrMjaCo





and k s chitra sings a very good version of it. do you know a better one?



Posted by nizhal yoddha at 6/06/2012 02:07:00 AM 3 comments Links to this post

Labels: carnatic music, krishna

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OverTheHill said...

Going backward in time, try

...Palghat K V Narayanaswamy (The man with the silken voice)

...M S Subbalakshmi (channeling the divine)

and, harking back to an almost forgotten era

...B S Raja Iyengar, who used to sing at in a voice that would go through the roof, a full octave higher than us lesser mortals, a sort of male soprano.

BTW if you visit Bangalore, watch the show dAsa vANI on Sankara Channel, it's all about PurandaradAsa and his compositions and done in a folksy conversational style by a first-rate expositor accompanied by a vocalist with violin and tabla/mridangam support.



6/06/2012 9:28 AM



nizhal yoddha said...

thank you, overthehill. i am, alas, totally ignorant about carnatic music, but as i age, i find it to be more appealing. i will try and find the versions from the great singers you have mentioned.



i wonder if rajan parrikar is reading this, and can give us some insight too.



ignorant as i am about classical music, i find that sometimes it is amazingly evocative. i once listened to a thumri, and i had never even heard the word thumri before, and it affected me greatly emotionally -- i suppose this is what 'rasa' means: the evocation of emotion in the viewer/listener.



i also find that certain saxophone riffs -- there is one in pink floyd 'shine on you crazy diamond part IX' and another in phil collins' 'one more time' -- affect me deeply.



6/07/2012 9:44 PM



OverTheHill said...

There's a lot of math in Carnatic music, so it should appeal to the comp scientist/elec engr in you.

The Katapayadi system of naming raagas is a neat example. (More generally the system uses letters to represent numbers and serves as both a mnemonic aid and a coding mechanism. Maadhava used it in his work.)

Here is a delightful corollary of its use in raaga naming: based on the system the raaga Simhendramadhyamam should really be written Sihmendramadhyamam- Fred Damerau redux.



6/08/2012 8:55 AM

Quote:There's a lot of math in Carnatic music, so it should appeal to the comp scientist/elec engr in you.

Quote:ignorant as i am about classical music, i find that sometimes it is amazingly evocative. i once listened to a thumri, and i had never even heard the word thumri before, and it affected me greatly emotionally -- i suppose this is what 'rasa' means: the evocation of emotion in the viewer/listener.

Quote:These are not "normal" people. They are Expert Hindoos. What they are teaching - what you should be *hearing* - is their imparting their Expertise via their songs: they teach heathenism, the Hindoo kind. TyAgarAja is to have obtained the vision of rAmachandra before dying; I think dikShitar passed away hearing his songs on devI (meenAkShI?) and is also to have seen his Gods during his life. ShyAma shAstri can hardly have avoided seeing his Divine Mother the devI after what he had been composing, etc.

Quote:Another milestone in Hinduisation of the Church

14/07/2012 01:46:22 GSK Menon



Newspaper, Malayala Manorama, dated July 6th 2012 has reported on page 2 that Vallom Forona Church, hosted the Arengtram of 16 Christians, who learnt Shinkari Melam.



These are traditional Hindu temple music played exclusively on ceremonial occasions. The Church which is on a Hinduisation spree has now adopted this practice also. Already Hindu Nilavilakku and temple Dhwajastambham have become an integral part of Church worship. The prayer pattern of a community is itself undergoing a mass transformation. Christian converts, who renounced their Hindu religion, traditions and culture are realising their stupidity in accepting a foreign religion. The Bible expressly prohibits the use of musical instruments in worship that is why orthodox Christian groups do not play music. Christians need to rethink about their continuation in this religion itself? Why borrow from other religious systems and pray to a foreign god ?



I happenned to see an evangelical program on TV. The stage carried a big banner proclaiming "Jesus the name above all names". Ironically, the pastor hosting the show was retaining his Hindu name Manoj. In yet another evangelical program I heard the speaker exhorting the new group of converts to retain their Hindu names. What is this religion which does not want to use its own names but prefers the names of Gods of other religions? Does it make any sense? On the one hand the Pope is ordering to use only Christian names, but evangelical missionary gangs are seen exhorting not to change their Hindu names! Ultimately, these converts become CCC - Confused Christian Convert.

[color="#800080"](The church insists that christos keep Hindu names in public for cryptochristianism purposes (a temporary measure).

Like the church equally insists that (especially) christowomen marry Hindu men and baptise all children, regardless of whether they manage to convert the "Hindu" spouse and his family or not, though the christowomen are encouraged to do this also.

But I forgot. Sensitivities are such that many batting for the home-team specifically don't want cryptochristianism exposed. <- As long as they don't suddenly decide "realise" later on that it needs to be exposed... Because that would be beyond Hypocrisy and deep into the realms of Utter Idiocy, after all. As are most things that people work out too late. There's no points for coming to the right conclusions at the wrong time, ya know. Still adds up to the wrong answer. Sadly it doesn't result in individual fail marks, but a collective one - aka extinction - at the end of this rainbow.

Well, it's not all bad news/not all ignominy: at least there are Hindoos like GSK Menon who aren't blinkered and keep drawing attention to cases of inculturation that many of us - me especially - would never have noticed, were it not for their constant watchfulness.)[/color]



Let us pray that the misguided converts return to Hinduism, Hindu culture and traditions. It is time to bid goodbye to the desert god.

Quote:Thursday, April 18, 2013

May 5- Translated Tunes: Negotiations of Space, Genre, and Identity in Kirtan Conference





---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Bernadette Marie White <bmwhite@stanford.edu>

Date: Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 2:56 AM

Subject: May 5- Translated Tunes: Negotiations of Space, Genre, and Identity in Kirtan Conference

To: southasia@lists.stanford.edu, southasiastudents@lists.stanford.edu, southasiafaculty@lists.stanford.edu, hs-events-announcements@lists.stanford.edu







Please distribute widely.



see image of flyer at the linked rajeev2004 blog entry

it states, with a carefully-structured context/lead up and trail off:

Quote:[...]

Across Religious Communities in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu

<Jewish example in Maharashtra, studied by Hebrew University and presented at Stanford>



2:50-3:30: Zoe Sherininan (University of Oklahoma), "Tamil Christian kirttanai: Musical Style, Theology, and Social Identity

Quote:(alien new-ageist encroaching) Kirtan singer Krishna Das, among the most popular artists, says kirtan is not about religion, even though the chants come from Hindu tradition. "It's just about doing it, and experiencing," his web site says. "Nothing to join, you just sit down and sing."

[...]

I (Anjali/Angela, a cryptochristian inculturating NRI female of Hindu ancestry) was repeating the names of the same Hindu deities I learned about as a kid during religious instruction. Indeed, the words weren't entirely free of connotations even for my co-worker and roommate, who came with me to the kirtan and are not Hindu or Indian. They told me later that while most of the chants didn't mean anything to them, they both instinctively refrained from singing "Hare Krishna," which they thought was affiliated with the movement in India. ... My roommate is already planning on going back because she says kirtan cleared her head.

Quote:Sunday, February 02, 2014

Carnatic music: the latest target for inculturation

Got to acknowledge the Christists for their systematic, determined and relentless assault on Sanatana Dharma.





After Christo-Yoga, Christo-Natyam and

Christo-AyurVeda, it is now Christo-Carnatic music in Church choirs!



[color="#0000FF"]Some (many) stupid people with Hindu names will, no doubt see a fine example of "secularism" and "composite culture" in this plagiarism too and fail to see the inculturation technique of the Christists, their ideology and their motivations.[/color]

[color="#800080"](The irony is Buddhism etc plagiarised features from Hindu and Asian religions in this way.)[/color]



Like this eminent person

[color="#0000FF"]m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/Carnatic-music-gets-a-Christian-touch/articleshow/5286038.cms?intenttarget=no[/color]

Quote:"..Purists too are not averse to the idea. Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri says, "Music is a religion and singing Christian songs in Carnatic style is an interesting way to combine two religions. Christians all over the world adapt local customs and sing prayer songs in local languages."

Exactly, why would they want to do that, i.e. "adapt local customs, languages etc."? Out of a sense of the famous "Christian charity"? Gasp, do I hear the word "conversions" or "soul harvesting"?



Of course, heathens like us are supposed to know that "All religions are EQUAL. All religions teach the SAME THING". This was drilled into us by the Nehruvian "secular" state. Unfortunately, some of us with a "communal" bent of mind were poor students or weren't paying attention!



Posted by karyakarta92 at 2/02/2014 04:37:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Quote:Carnatic music gets a Christian touch

Dec 1, 2009, 01.55AM IST TNN[ B Sivakumar ]





CHENNAI: It's a music tradition that's believed to have divine origins. The lyrics of traditional Carnatic music compositions are usually devotional or philosophical in nature, drawing on Hindu religious tenets and now Christian choir groups too are setting their hymns to classical ragas and talas.



The words may not be so different from the hymns sung at prayer services, but rather than standing behind the priest and singing to the organ, these choir singers sit cross-legged on the floor as a traditional Carnatic ensemble, complete with violin, harmonium and mridangam. They even wear pattu pavadais, silk saris and jasmine flowers. And the trinity they sing praise to are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.



Limsas, a choir based in Purasawalkam that sings at religious congregations across the city, starts its kutcheri' with a small prayer and the traditional sa pa sa'. Beulah Santhi, the choir teacher, teaches people aged between four and 40 Tamil kritis, all in the name of Jesus, written by various composers. They have a book of 400 Christian kritis in Tamil set to different ragas, which clearly mentions the raga and tala in which the songs should be sung.



Santhi, a music teacher in a private school in Vepery, came to Chennai from Nagercoil in 1990 and started the Limsas choir in 2000, after parents and students requested her to teach them Christian songs set to Carnatic music. "Many of these songs were written 50 or 60 years ago, but no one has been singing them," says Santhi, who is a graduate in Carnatic music from Sathguru Sangeetha Vidyalaya, Madurai. "Most choirs tend to follow the western style of singing."



Santhi teaches her students the basics of Carnatic music from Janta Varisai' to gitam, just like any other teacher. But instead of Sri Gananatha', the first gitam for a Carnatic music student, the children are taught a song praising Jesus in the same raga and tala.



Class begins with Santhi tuning the harmonium to set the scale and asking the children to identify the raga. The 30 students begin the song with tala and swaras, as in any other Carnatic kirtana. The choir has a tight schedule in November and December during Christmas and New Year.

[color="#800080"](To takeover the Hindus' December Carnatic season, note.)[/color]



Community leaders and members have responded positively to the music, says Santhi, and enjoy it though not all of them understand it.



There is surprise in some circles too. Musician and composer Paul Augustine says, "Singing choir songs in different ragas is rather new. Though the audience doesn't dislike the concept, they find it hard to sing along as they do with a regular choir." He says his music group has at least two songs in an album of eight set in the Carnatic style.



Fr Jegath Gaspar Raj of Tamil Maiyam, says, "[color="#0000FF"]The community needs Carnatic music teachers in every church[/color] so that the members can learn and popularise the songs of composers like Vedanayagam Sasthriyar in Thanjavur."



[color="#800080"](Christist Jegath Raj is a famous fundraiser for the christo LTTE, now predictably fundraising for converting TN. He also released some western classical symphony version of Mannikavaachagar's Tiruvaachakam=sacred tamizh text on Shiva, as the first part of their inculturation attempt on Tiruvaachakam as being equally about jeebus and therefore about jeebus all along. With this album and his Tamil Maiyam he hoped to raise money for christo LTTE/christianisation of SL's Tamizh Hindus. Now Tamil Maiyam's money is going towards christianising India's Hindus of TN.

I think the same Tamil Maiyam released a "Thirukural" album, published by "universalising" label Kalakendra/Swathi Series/Swathisoft. A la how label Amutham of which Sudha Ragunathan is the director plugs for LTTE-supporter Winston Panchacharam and has a "christian devotional" section next to "carnatic" and "sanskrit" devotional sections. No mention of "Hindu" I note.)[/color]



Purists too are not averse to the idea. Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri says, "Music is a religion and singing Christian songs in Carnatic style is an interesting way to combine two religions. Christians all over the world adapt local customs and sing prayer songs in local languages."



sivakumar.b@timesgroup.com

(Writer's likely cryptochristian. Probably one of those Opus Dei types that were said to work in christomedia specifically for such purposes as inculturation, christian PR and Hindu defamation. In this case it's inculturation: to introduce the notion of christian carnatic and then gradually get audiences used to it and create legitimacy for it)

Quote:Music is a religion and singing Christian songs in Carnatic style is an interesting way to combine two religions.

Quote:Articles on Carnatic Music

Popularity of Carnatic Music, Part II

by Raghavan Jayakumar, PhD



[...]

Recently, the seamless blending of Carnatic music with other forms of music by A.R. Rahman has brought a new level of acceptance of Carnatic musical phrasing. While some may be upset with the loss of rigor and purity of Carnatic music in film music, I believe that this is a powerful medium for the listener to get comfortable with Carnatic music. A great merit (which perhaps offends a section of Carnatic music lovers) is that film music is not restricted to devotional songs and therefore has broad appeal.



[...]

Devotional Music- In South Indian culture, the use of music in worship and on festive occasions has been the cornerstone of musical learning and practice. It is considered auspicious and joyful to sing and listen to Carnatic music and is perhaps a major source of musical satisfaction. This form of practice does not necessarily demand a high level of musical accomplishment and therefore the informal rendering increases participation immensely. While the method stabilizes the popularity of Carnatic music among south Indians, it is also restricted mainly to practicing Hindus and remains a limited context.

[color="#800080"](Villain thinks that Carnatic Music has no deeper purpose to Hindus than being "perhaps a major source of musical satisfaction" etc. He finds Hindus are hogging it, and limiting its spread, so here comes the kreatur's "brilliant" suggestion - can tell he is de-heathenised and doing exactly what christianism wants[/color]



[...]

One of the things that is [color="#0000FF"]owed[/color] to people of the world, is the availability of Carnatic compositions for people of all walks of life. Already Carnatic music is ahead by having compositions in many Indian languages. Why not have compositions in English, French, German, Arabic etc. And over and above that [color="#FF0000"]why not have Christian, Muslim and Jewish prayers composed in Carnatic music.[/color] Here is a veritable treasure trove for creative aspirants. The marketing of these NEW compositions will have to be undertaken with the help of both the parochial interest groups and groups that work to promote integration. If Carnatic music is to attain its deserved place in the world, it has to acquire a universal character. I believe that this expansion is its destiny and will capture the imagination of all peoples much as Hinduism has.

(O hou toch je smoel.

Typical of universalists. They always want to peddle a part or else all of Hinduism as "universal". And it's always the traditional Hindoos who end up getting tormented by the fallout.)



[...]

In closing, I reiterate that Carnatic music is the music of the Universe. It belongs to all the people of the world. Practitioners and rasikas have a duty to help Carnatic music break its shackles and barriers to fulfill its role in world culture. Ultimately, Carnatic music will be a vehicle for the promise: "Engum Shaanthi Nilava Vendum, Aathma Shakthi Oonga Vendum- Ulagile"-(Peace shall reign everywhere, Spiritual strength shall rise all over the world).

(Look how he typically universalised the Hindoo notion Aatma Shakti by translating it into English.)



back to Popularity of Carnatic Music, Part I

Quote:Carnatic music gets a Christian touch

Quote:kunjuppu

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To answer the title of this thread, the answer is ‘very few’. A miniscule number (to be very generous 10,000) of westerners may be interested, to various levels – from benign toleration to intense interest.



But then, even within tambram society, it is, I think, only a section of us, who like Carnatic music with the intensity propounded by some rasikas. It is the same with western classical music – only a minority, and none of them make even a fraction of the moneys made by the pop stars, let alone the popularity and name recognition.



I think the situation is the same with Hindustani music.



Ofcourse, we appreciate, anyone liking our culture. It is the normal and right thing to do. But just because a few westerners like it, we cannot assume there is intense interest in the west. Even in Toronto, with a large tambram and tamil population, it is a rare Carnatic kutcheri that garners more than 100 in the audience. That is a fact.



[color="#0000FF"]Ofcourse, modern Carnatic is synonymous with hindu religiosity. This due to I think, the trimurthis, and those who followed them, took on the same theme.[/color] Bharathiar has some exceptions, but even his songs sung to Carnatic tunes are religious in nature, like nenjukku needhi et al.



[color="#800080"](Nonsense. All Carnatic music is Hindu and this was not some innovation of the Carnatic trimurthi, because the *origins* of carnatic music is Hindoo onlee: Pan and Saamavedam are Hindoo music.

Tomorrow these nutcases will do what's been done with Yoga: they'll pretend that there was a "coup-d'etat" by Hindus at some point in time - as Elst put it for Yoga - on "secular" Carnatic music to "turn" it Hindu. And the way Rani David taught her brainwashee tambram student - dancer Anita Ratnam - that "christianity, Sangham literature and Bharatanatyam originally co-existed together" [paraphrasing from memory].

Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music are exclusively Hindoo.

But sigh. What can ya do with modern 'Tambrams'. Clearly the Gods have forsaken them.)[/color]



I read somewhere, that Hindustani music was originally religious hindu type. But with the Mughal and muslim conquest, the ragas and songs were re written to secular themes, and ragas renamed like morning, evening ragas and such. I don’t have any verification for this, but is believable. As this would have provided a career to the new muslim kings, keen on adopting indian culture, without the added baggage of religion, of which they believed they had the right path.



[color="#800080"](Uh, since when were islamic tyrants - "kings" - keen on adopting Indian culture? It's only the secular ones that did so, or a few while they were trying to woo Hindoo women into their harem.

And of course Hindustani music is originally Hindoo onlee. Everything that's not is simply owing to inculturation.)[/color]



If this indeed was done, I can envisage, the same being done to Carnatic music. All [color="#FF0000"]we need[/color] is some classy music composers and poets, in tandem, to produce [color="#FF0000"]love ragas[/color] to adi talam and anu pallavi



eh!!!

Quote:Sunday, February 02, 2014

Carnatic music: the latest target for inculturation

Quote:Mahesh said...

Bombay Jayshri's utterings may have been caused by the fact that her film singing career owes a lot to the music director Harris Jayaraj.

Quote:In 2002, he [Goldberg] became an ordained Interfaith Minister through the Interfaith Seminaries. He began offering spiritual counseling professionally, and occasionally performing weddings. Recently, with his wife, acupuncturist Lori Deutsch, he started Spiritual Wellness and Healing Associates (SWAHA).* He published Making Peace with God and Roadsigns on the Spiritual Path: Living at the Heart of Paradox. His column, “Spiritual Wellness” appears regularly on Healthworld Online and also blogs on www.Intent.com.

Quote:Philip Goldberg Become a fan

Interfaith Minister, author of 'American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West'



Hindu Jesus: A Different Kind of Christianity



Posted: 12/19/2010 8:19 pm EST Updated: 06/19/2013 4:33 pm EDT



Then came the 60s, and I was introduced to a different Jesus, by way of India. Like millions of my contemporaries, my hot pursuit of truth and personal fulfillment led me to the spiritual teachings of the East. I read the sacred texts of Hinduism and Buddhism as well as modern interpreters such as Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts and Huston Smith. It was called mysticism, but I found it, ironically, non-mysterious and eminently rational. I tracked down a yoga class -- not easy to do back then, believe it or not -- and learned to meditate. Throughout my explorations, the name of Jesus cropped up surprisingly often, and always with respect. In Paramahansa Yogananda's seminal memoir, Autobiography of a Yogi, the rabbi of Nazareth is treated with such reverence that I thought I must be missing something.



So I bought a New Testament, and it blew my mind. Because my spiritual reference point was more Hindu than Judeo-Christian, the Gospels seemed more like the Upanishads or the Bhagavad Gita than the churchy dogma I expected to find. The main character was a master teacher, a guru who prodded his disciples not just to better behavior but to union with the divine. (=popular dictionary translation of "yoga", i.e. inculturationist Goldberg is saying that the fictional jeebus was a "yoga guru") His term for the Ground of Being was "Father," but it was easy to evoke the language of the Vedic seers and substitute Brahman or Self.

Quote:Interfaith dialogues and Inculturation: The Pune Dialogue - by Thamizhchelvan 09 Dec 2011

...

The “International Sanatana Dharma Society” run by one Frank Morales masquerading as “Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya” targets US-born and bred Hindu youths who are distanced from their native culture by two to three generations. His seeks to establish Jesus as “Dharma Master” through the Hindu scriptures, like the local fraudsters like Sadhu Chellappa and Vedanayagam Sastri. (14)

Quote:About the book [Goldberg's "American Veda"], Pandit Vamadeva Sastri (David Frawley), Vedic scholar says, “Through his stimulating and thoughtful book, Indian readers can share in the great adventure in global consciousness that he documents in detail. They can learn how spiritually aware Americans have long been looking to India for guidance, not just Indians looking to the West.”

Quote:Jesus, the Sole Yogacharya: New Conversion Agendas by Christian Church.

23/07/2014 10:24:33 JanmabhumiDaily



The Christian church's conversion agenda now has a fresh tool: ancient India's Yoga. A centre initiated by a private hospital of Muvattupuzha is now embroiled in a controversy after making specific attempts at conversion. The aim is clear: proselytizing via a fake message that Jesus is the 'one and only Yogi'.



The centre's website has indicated that it has now become common the Yesu Namaskaram, with an affiliation from Physical Education and Sports University of Tamil Nadu. However, nowhere in the University website does it indicate an affiliation to the particular centre.



The class, under the guise of Yoga lessons, with the title 'Yesu Namaskaram' has been initiated by a retired nun of Kottayam Medical College. It is said that the place is witnessing large scale efforts in religious conversion.



The nun is said to have learnt the basics of Yoga from Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore and then begun her own centre. She teaches all Yogic Asanas, including Suryanamaskara, but with the message super imposed that Jesus Christ propounded of Yoga.



After having gauged from the general trend that Yoga is now attracting major sections of society, it is confirmed that the church has devious schemes of 'Christianizing' Yoga. Sources have indicated that all those sitting in the apex body of the congregation too have put in their consent in promoting the same. Another of their secret agendas is the amassing of wealth using Yoga.

Quote:RELATED KEYWORDS: Technopark-based-Alokin-software|Christhave-Namaha|Apples-App-store|Android-version



Christhave Namaha set to go viral

B Sreejan, TNN | Dec 25, 2014, 01.41PM IST



THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This Christmas, Android mobile users can freely download Jesus Sahasranama, similar to the thousand names in Vishnu Sahasranamam, from Google play store and listen to 'Amen, Christhave Namaha' with tamburu shruthi in the background.



Jesus Sahasranama and Jesus Namavali the two mobile apps were launched here on Tuesday by Technopark-based Alokin software. Jesus Sahasranama is already available as a paid app in Apple's App store. "Android version will ensure that the app reaches more people in different strata of society", said Rajeev Sebastian, CEO of Alokin software.



The sahasranama and namavali are the works of renowned Sanskrit scholar KU Chacko, who was a professor of Sanskrit at Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, and first published Jesus Sahasranama in 1987. "The free mobile apps will help popularise our venture," said Chacko. Chacko has also written Yesu Suprabhatham, Kristhubhujanam and Giriprabhashanam modelled on Hindu prayers.



Indigenization of Christianity is the state policy of the church in India. Various denominations in Kerala have incorporated the traditional lamp and temple flag post as part of church architecture and rituals.

Quote:Ashok Kini (Kochi, India)

1 Followers

Bronze: 101

With due respect to the author, I regret to say that many of the names used in the Jesus Sahasranama namavali are copied/lifted from Hindu texts like Vishnu Sahasranama. Particularly the use of following names as that of Jesus is absurd 1. Govinda 2. Achyutha 3.Thrivikrama 4. Shankara 5.Shambu and many more. Govinda means cowherd, when was jesus a cowherd. He was a shepherd. Maheshwasa means one with bow full of arrows, when has jesus taken a bow in his hands. I request the author to come with an original work. In my humble opinion, this is not assimilation. This is just "appropriation" and shameless plagiarism.

[1]





Manoj S (Kerala (now in Delhi)) replies to Ashok Kini

Indian christians and hindus do not have much difference in culture... christians now give hindu names to their children, they practice 'ezhuthiniruthu' (vidyarambham) in churches, they give impartance to 'rahukalam" etc. so this also should not be an issue for both christains and hindus!!!!

[2]

Quote:'If your own Scriptures are sufficient for you, why do you nibble at the learning of the Greeks?' (229c). The comment hints at the writer's outrage at the uses to which Christians have put the cultural heritage of the Greeks - an outrage plain in remarks that Julian makes elsewhere. Two of his unplaced fragments set out the issue succinctly:

[Let us ensure] that they [the Christians] may not, by sharpening their tongues, prepare themselves to take on the Greeks in debate ... for as the proverb has it, we are struck by our own arrows. For they arm themselves from our own writings to do battle with us.75

Quote:Ilnago (Ilango, Hindoo author of Silappadikaaram, dated variously between 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE) was very familiar with 'sahasranamam' which means 1008 names of any god or goddess. In the Indra Festival 1008 kings bore on their heads gold pots filled with holy water and performed the bathing of Indra.



In the 'Natukan Katai' section Jain nun Kavunti says, "my tongue will not say anything other than the 1008 names".



The Hindu concept of 1008 names is used for Jains here.



In the 'Urkan Katai', the poet sings of 1008 gold coins.



Most of the Jain names listed earlier are Sanskrit terms, some are common to Saivite Gods: Jinendra, Siddha, Bhagavan, Dharma, Punya, Purana, Deva, Sivgathi Nayaka, Thathva, Sarana, Karana, Kumara, Sankara, Isa, Swayambhu, Chathurmuka, Arka, Veda with the Tamil suffix 'an' (Eg. Nayaka will be Nayakan in Tamil).

Quote:To Make Yoga the Common Man's Choice, Modi Government to Drop all References to 'Om' from Promotion

on 2015/4/20 17:56:27 ( 258 reads )



Source



NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 18, 2015 (Times of India): To make yoga an aam [Hindi for "common," as in "common man"] lifestyle choice in a country where religious symbolism often attracts high-voltage political controversies, Modi Sarkar is dropping all references to Om -- the traditional mystical invocation related to Hindu spirituality and yoga practice -- in its coming high-powered promotion of this ancient discipline. Senior officials involved in the government's extensive preparations to celebrate the June 21 International Yoga Day told ET that the brief is to keep the effort "free of controversy." Therefore, there will be no reference to aum in the 33-minute Common Yoga Protocol that's been prepared by the department of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy), as well as all literature and video being prepared for the June 21 celebration.

Quote:twitter.com/HKupdate/status/586575858258857987



HaindavaKeralam @HKupdate · Apr 10



Dear ArchBishop how cn u call 4 Convr'sn &Opose #Gharwapsi in 1 breath?

Admit tht urs z a failed busines model & Quit



twitter.com/HKupdate/status/586571144905515008



HaindavaKeralam

‏@HKupdate



Call 4 intensive Evangelisation by Catholic Bishop Arch Bishop undr d pretext of dwindling Xian population



https:// pbs.twimg.com/media/CCPrWOsW4AAcwuU.jpg

Quote:HaindavaKeralam

‏@HKupdate



Xian Manorama want 2 opose #Gharwapsi & promote ChristhuBhagvadgitha

Y promote the duplicate whn Original available?



(You mean, like Buddhism and its plagiarised Jatakas - plagiarised from Ramayanam etc and other Vaidika literature - which Buddhists used to promote Buddhism as a replacement of Vedic religion, when the originals were available? Same thing. Same reasons: for proselytising to achieve replacement.)



pbs.twimg.com/media/CBmGxlkW0AANZX1.jpg

Quote:ॐRameshॐ

‏@rameshnswamy



@mediacrooks amazing but true. "siluvai alwar" by rural theological institute in madurai http:// fcraonline.nic.in/fc3_verify.aspx?RCN=075940046R&by=2011-2012 …



pbs.twimg.com/media/BmOmz-3IQAAMx-f.jpg

Quote:HaindavaKeralam

‏@HKupdate



Surprised? It's not #Sabarimala going Ayyappa devotees.But another form of #kerala Evangelist plagiarism for survival



pbs.twimg.com/media/CCmpRMXWYAA5j5B.jpg

Quote:HaindavaKeralam

@HKupdate



#InferiorityComplex of Evangelical #copycat 's-Xian #Vishu



Follow pagans as desert religion can't fascinate natives



pbs.twimg.com/media/CCjTSoPWYAALPup.jpg