Why do we hear so little about women mystic poets? For poet Arundhati Subramaniam and Carnatic singer Chitra Srikrishna, this quest led them to explore women mystics and their compositions; the duo will present their learnings as a jugalbandhi at the Indian Music Experience in Bengaluru on June 16.
In an attempt at creative experimentation, Wild Women – A Jugalbandhi will be based on Arundhati’s latest book, an anthology of sacred Indian poems titled Wild Women: Sadhikas, Protagonists, and Goddesses in Sacred Indian Poetry While Chitra will render some verses in her melodious voice.
“The idea for a Jugalbandi Our meeting with poet Arundhati happened due to our mutual passion for devotional poetry. When I was handling a music appreciation course at Ahmedabad University, I had invited her as a guest speaker, where I elaborated on the roots of the Bhakti movement, the works of mystic poets, and their social impact. Arundhati shared her insights about the Bhakti mystics and their poetry. During the pandemic, we began discussing collaboration, inspired by our shared love for this poetic tradition,” says Chitra.
This is for the figure Jugalbandi It is a natural outcome of the success of his previous music productions, Bhakti – A Musical Journey with the Mystics, performed on local and global platforms. She says, “With this unique collaboration we aim to merge Arundhati’s insights on devotional poetry with my musical interpretation, creating a new experience that deeply understands the essence of mysticism and music and emphasizes the sacred feminine flow, based on her book.”
Did both of them choose the verses as per their convenience? melody And Lock?“The programme is a creative dialogue where Arundhati will recite a poem and I will do a musical translation of it, along with Deepika Srinivasan. Mridang“Some of the selected poems have already been composed by renowned composers like Pandit Kumar Gandharva and Lata Mangeshkar, while others, like Lal Ded or Rupa Bhavani’s Kashmiri poems, have been composed by me recently,” says Chitra.
Deepika Srinivasan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Understanding the deeper significance inherent in the poetic verses was fundamental for Chitra to extract the true meaning. melody and rhythm.” The selection of the poems was a collaborative process; I approached the selection from a musical perspective and considered its appeal to different audiences. Poems sung at the event Jugalbandi Available in various languages including Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Kashmiri.”
While reading the poems in Arundhati’s book, Chitra says she realised how little she knew about devotional poetry. “The poets were unfamiliar, the local language poetry was diverse in its original form, the nuances of poetry appreciation such as rhyme and alliteration were also diverse.”
This book celebrates the divine feminine by showcasing poetic expressions from 14 lesser-known gems from different eras and regionsth From turn-of-the-century Kashmiri Lalleshwari (also known as Lal Ded) and Tamil pet Avudai Akkal to famous personalities like Andal and Meera.
“Translation plays a vital role in highlighting the beauty of vernacular poetry, giving us an opportunity to appreciate the lyrical beauty and profound insights of these poets,” says Chitra.
Wild Women – A Jugalbandhi will be held on June 16 from 6 to 7 pm at Indian Music Experience.
Wild Woman author Arundhati Subramaniam | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Not for the faint of heart
Arundhathi Subramaniam spoke MetroPlus On her recent book, which reveals the secrets of female mystics:
tell us a little about it Wild women…
As a poet and seeker, I have long had a fascination with the sacred literature of the subcontinent. Wild WomenIt was inspired by my curiosity about the mystic women poets of this land. Why do we hear so little about them? And when we do, why do we hear about them only as submissive singers and obedient followers? When I began my research, I found myself fascinated by the myriad courageous women of this subcontinent – many unrecorded and unwritten. Some famous women have been flattened into calendar art. The rest have simply been ignored or forgotten.
Most of all, I was struck by the intensity of their poetry – their intensity, capacity for dialogue and disagreement, anger, passion, eroticism, ecstasy and the exuberant spirit of freedom and inquiry. It came across in a collection of female sacred poets from this continent – a reminder of some astonishingly spirited, uncompromising sacred ancestors who deserve to be much better known.
Would you say that this book is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the Bhakti movement?
It is not just a compilation of Bhakti poets. It is a compilation of women with different spiritual ideologies. It includes early Buddhist nuns, Tantric, devotee, VedantSufis – the whole range. Some are contemplative, some devotional, others intellectual, and still others deeply emotional.
This mix was integral to this book. It aimed to celebrate the multiplicity of spiritual temperaments and orientations. It also emphasized that despite all the vibrant differences, we are part of an amazing sisterhood that deserves to be celebrated. Here is a tribe of women who asked the tough questions, refused to be satisfied with easy answers, and, above all, refused to be subdued by the gatekeepers of faith or culture.
Can you tell us about some of them?
Although the women described in these pages are seekers and mystics, their poems are not just about bliss. SalvationThese poems are also about subversion and social critique. The slave girl, Punika, empowered by Buddha’s teaching of equality, asks pertinent questions about caste inequality and eventually converts a ritualistic Brahmin. This happened 2,500 years ago!
Soyarabai, a 14th-century Dalit female mystic from Maharashtra, wrote a poem in which she asked why menstruation is considered impure when it is the basis of human life. Later, Avudai Akkal, a Tamil Brahmin child widow, questioned notions of ritual impurity, and Tarigonda Vengamamba, an 18th-century Telugu poet, refused to bow to religious authority. She violated the norms of widowhood by wearing sindoor, jewellery and flowers in her hair.
These are not docile women by any means. These are women who cannot be tamed by priests or pundits, religious watchdogs or cultural custodians. These are wild and intelligent women.
