Tiruvavadudurai N. Rajarattinam Pillai (1898-1956) was an undisputed
master of the nagasvaram (a double-reed aerophone) in South
Indian classical music. Because of his exceptional musicality and colorful
personal life, Rajarattinam Pillai has commanded attention from,
and exerted tremendous influence over, other performers, connoisseurs,
and patrons, both during and after his lifetime. In this article, I document
the heterogeneous interpretations of Rajarattinam Pillai by the
three prominent caste groups of musicians and patrons: Brahmans, Isai
V lalars and Maruttuvars. By doing so, I aim to demonstrate that the
identity of their musical traditions is contested through the act of interpreting
Rajarattinam Pillai's music and life. The relationship between
these three groups is highly ambivalent and sensitive, and the existence of
their rivalry and conflict is widely acknowledged but seldom discussed
publicly or written about.
Classical music in South India is divided into two traditions today:
Periya Melam music and Karnataka music. Periya Melam is a genre of
instrumental music which accompanies daily worship and calendrical
festivals at Hindu temples as well as lifecycle rituals such as weddings.
The ensemble features nagasvaram of which Rajarattinam Pillai was a
master and the tavil (double-headed drum) . Karnataka music ensemble
most typically features a vocalist accompanied by a violinist and a
mridangam (drum) player, and is performed most prominently in con-
cert-hall recitals.
I aim to inquire how the discourse on Rajarattinam Pillai is socially
and politically significant in South Indian music culture, instead of
yielding to the notion that the genius is a self-complete unit for analysis,
and asking only what musical features make this particular individual a
genius. The changing positions of the three groups examined in this article
in social and musical hierarchy can be identified as simultaneously
affecting and reflecting the interpretation of Rajarattinam Pillai.
For Brahmans, the trenchant attack on Brahmanical culture in the
non-Brahman sociopolitical movements during this century generated
the need to establish a cultural arena in which to ascertain their threatened
identity and to maintain moral superiority. Constructed with anecdotes
of Rajarattinam Pillai, their perception of Isai Vlalars as corrupt,
uneducated and unrefined has provided Brahmans with an effective
pretext for refusing non-Brahmans due public recognition, and has
therefore enabled Brahmans to project Karnataka music as their own
cultural arena.
The Isai Vlalars find in Rajarattinam Pillai a means of symbolic
cultural resistance to Brahman hegemony. Although their counter interpretations
are rarely advanced face to face with Brahmans to avoid
retaliation, Isai Trlalars can maintain pride in their own musical heritage
and even a sense of musical superiority by projecting the image of Rajarattinam
Pillai as a musician with unprecedented talent who fought
against Brahman dominance. The discourse on Rajarattinam Pillai also
serves to legitimize the drastic changes in Periya Melam music during his
lifetime and its increasing alienation from the original ritual performance
context.
Analysis of the differences in interpretation of Rajarattinam Pillai
between Isai Vlalars and Maruttuvars reveals some aspects of the complex
interplay between dominant and subordinate discourses. The appropriation
of the primacy of vocal music by Isai Velalars for maintaining
a superior position to the Maruttuvar musicians has the effect of reinforcing
Brahman appropriation of the same aspect of music against Isai
Vlalars themselves. This unwitting endorsement and reinforcement of
dominant discourse is not uncommon among subordinate groups.
While the non-Brahman musicians criticize the tendency for preferential
treatment of Brahman musicians by Brahman-controlled organizations,
once they are individually given benefits, such as performance opportunities,
awards and musical titles, from the same organizations, the
prestige associated with organizations is often utilized to establish their
superior position against other members.
As Hobsbawm and Ranger's important study, Invention of Culture
(1983) , and many others inspired by it inform us, the past is used for the
manipulation of the present. In order to account for, justify, understand,
and criticize the present, the past is selectively appropriated,
remembered, forgotten or invented. Multiple interpretations of Rajarattinam
Pillai reflect and embody the distribution and exercise of power in
South Indian music culture, as the polysemy of his charisma derives
from, and corresponds to, the conflicting yet interdependent relationships
between Brahmans and non-Brahmans and between non-Brahman
groups. Rajarattinam Pillai serves as a site of contestation where a
multitude of interpretations are accorded to his attributes for the
legitimization of one's desired position and for securing one's identity.
カースト競合の「場」としてのカリスマ的演奏家 : T. N. ラージャラッティナム・ピッライと南インド古典音楽文化
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