Mundana and Mundane .Madhavi In Chilappathikaaram

MUNDANA,THE MUNDANE ,AND ILANKOADIKAL’S MADHAVI:
Rejection of pleasure or assertion of womanhood?
(This paper was presented as invited lecture at Cochin university,Department of foreign languages )


Ilankoadikal,a prince of the erstwhile Chera kingdom and the author of chilappathikaaram was a renowned poet/singer /dancer/saint/monk who lived in the second century AD.His epic tells us many aspects of early Dravidian life and culture and of women in different strata of society of that period.Of the many women characters in the epic ,Madhavi is taken up here as a case study of feminist and feminine thoughts .Understanding the place and role of women in historical past depending upon oral traditions and literary sources is wellknown in the academic circles.(1).According to tradition Madhavi is a devadasi born into a family of prostitutes and is supposed to have lured kovilan away from his chaste wife Kannagi .But ,reading the text one finds that the renowned author/saint does not think like that.In this paper ,the characterization of Madhavi by a male monk is taken up and related to the emerging feminist theory and pleasure.

Feminist theory and pleasure-the twentyfirst century context
Modern university-educated women scholars are engaging with the politics of aesthetic pleasures and addressing the accusation that the feminist criticism is alienating and that it is “ruining everybody’s fun”.(2).Srividya Nataraajan ,a performing Bharathanatyam artist and a scholarly woman wellversed in in feminist theories as well as the traditional concept of rasa in arts is one among them.In a footnote to her essay ,she defines pleasure as follows:”Pleasure covers the sense of mastery or control ,wellbeing or selfaffirmation that arises from different kinds of involvement with the text and the with the social context.The kinds of involvement ranges from aesthetic one attuned to textural and aural effects in the text to a delight in the narrative alone.From a critical and evaluational engagement with the text and to a creative reworking of its creative fantasies.(Fn 2 ref 2).
The divergences between the stream of feminist thoughts include liberal feminism (based on faith in individualism).Psychoanalytic feminism ,interpreting culture in terms of individual psyche and collective socialization :And Marxist feminist theories:feminist theories linked to historical /cultural materialism which allow us to investigate a variety of cultural production and practices like Bharathanatyam ,classical music etc.One of the many agendas these new age women explore include their identity as Indians ,interested in theorizing indigenous cultural experiences and practices and their relation to literature.Investigating a cultural form like dance in Tamil Nadu meant taking to account controversies about caste ,religion,materialism and femininity,questions amenable to materialist feminist analysis,the question of body and body kinetics in performing arts,of tradition,pleasure and aesthetics.They are questioning the feminist argument that pleasure is at best selfindulgent and frivolous and at worst narcissistic and retrogressive and pernicious.The question of women’s pleasure in a patriarchial context is so troubled and guiltridden that females end up projecting their own doubts and censorship on the feminist theory .Pleasure affiliated to aesthetic comes under the purview of philosophy –the field of Kant,Abhinavaguptha,Bharatha,Sankara ,Ilankoadikal and other traditional thinkers /philosophers of east and west.Aesthetics is a privilege in the form of individual taste.To resist this individual self,feminists tend to regard with suspicion all the spaces that are defined by aesthetics.Collective moralism according to Cora Kaplan has developed in the socialist feminist thought which stagmatise sensibility itself.It is in this context of a new approach by twentyfirst century women like Srividya Natarajan ,we have to look at Madhavi ,the woman and the performing artist and her thought processes.

The subaltern question.

To consider the subaltern in the genre,one must distinguish between the figure of women as subaltern and the question of subaltern women(3).Woman as the subaltern is the universal woman in every culture and history and in literature written and interpreted by men.Whereas the subaltern women belong to the different classes ,castes ,races,occupations,nationalities,interpreted and expressed by women of these respective strata themselves .Madhavi is an interesting study material for any student of literature and social history because she is the subaltern universal woman interpreted by a man ,possibly an androgynous male,who knew the iyal,isai,and naatakam(literature,music and drama),the aesthetics of art ,and who renounced his political power,comfortable life style,domestic family life to become an ascetic himself. Hence Madhavi ,in his epic poem represents his alterego,or twin female principle with the very same quaklities,a character with Aathmaansa (part of self)of the author.Madhavi belongs to the daasi cult ,a member of the vedic daasi clan and representative of the golden age of Indian womenhood as Uma Chakrobarthy perceives it ,but she is not the captured subjugated or enslaved woman.(4).Instead she is a learned ,welleducated sensible free individual with a voice of her own and who chose to lead a life of chastity with a single man and the freedom to renounce pleasures and devote her life entirely to the service of God.She was the daughter of a fisherman.It is surprising that this low birth did not prevent her from rising to the highest post of Talakkol and to special rights like the palanquin ,specific functions in the royal court and in the temple.The low birth of her does not prevent the poet himself,a kshathriya upper caste man and an ascetic,to call her Malaipparum chirappin vaanavar magal(daughter of the divine ones,whose greatness is eternal ).The katalooragaathai(the song on the beach)gives the evidence of her fisherman birth.Kovalan tells her that her ancestors entering waves with the curve of their boats killed fish and likewise she enters his soul and kills him with her eyes.She belongs to the Parathavar race of the sangam age,the race also called the Thirai veedar (people who have made the waves their home)and also the descendants of Bharatha,the rishi concerned with the origin of Natyasaasthra,.In either way she is an example of the common woman of India,the subaltern woman.According to Natyasaasthra,(5)when Vishnu danced four vrithys (Bharathy,sathwiki,kaisiki,and Arabhaty)originated from him.Kaisiki is related to long hair of Vishnu and is the feminine laasya.It was born out of saamaveda(music )which is equivalent to Vishnu himself.When the poet says that Madhavi is the daughter of the Gods and is the descendant of the Bharatha race and of Urvasi,he is saying that she is a devadasi of the vaishnavite tradition.We find that her associates who erect a tent for her at the seashore are parathavar(fisherfolk)and aracher(kings),singers and dancers.

EDUCATION FOR THE SUBALTERN-JOBORIENTED.

What type of education did the subaltern get in those days?How did this help her to earn a respectable position and livelihood?Learning and earning from knowledge thus obtained ,being the most important tools of empowering the subaltern this aspect becomes important.It is the knowledge and position in society which gives the subaltern the courage to speak up their thoughts and to express their indignation at what is going on in the society.At the age of five Madhavi starts her education and by twelve she has learnt and is ready to display her talents in front of the August assembly of scholars .She had mastered mathematics(ganitha)writing skills,the five of language(akshara or letter ,vaak or word,artha or meaning,vritha or rhythm,and alamkaara or ornamental language )and the four of music (sruthy or pitch ,swara or notes,raga or melody,and thaala or rhythm).Literature ,music ,drama ,dance and mathematics were the branches of knowledge in which she was well versed.With this she became a Vaarasthree(a woman for temple service)leading a life of vow or vratha in temple doing service to the God.The devadaasi/daasa had a division of labour between them.
1.Thondu (service)which include charya and kriya.Servile tasks like digging the temple tank or well ,collecting the flowers for pooja,lighting the lamps etc are the charya.The performance of actual pooja within the sanctum sanctorum is kriya.
2.Yoga and naana.Yoga is meditation on God.Naana is knowledge of veda and its commentaries ,the Upanishads and other scriptures.
3.Thevaarappaattu.The othuvar(singers)sing songs called thevaaram in which the origin of the place of worship,origin of the deity worshipped,his/her greatness,are given in detail.(6)
4.singing and dancing in temples during festivals and other auspicious moments ,fanning the deity etc.
These were the traditional jobs performed by the ancestors of Madhavi.This does not mean that the job was one done by low caste people.On the contrary ,it was a privilege enjoyed by aristocratic females.Till the time of Raajaraajachola (8th century)we find that even highborn,wealthy women adopted such a life,not because they were in need of money or power but because they felt an urge to serve God in the true sense of the word.Rajarajacholan’s daughter herself was a thevardiyaal(servant of the God),history tells us.

The teachers of Madhavi were renowned scholars.The dance teacher knew both the aka and pura(the margi,desi)traditions and their modifications ,their lakshana,porul or tatwa of the 4 purushaartha,different styles from alliyam to kodukotty,kuravai,vary,abhinaya,mudra and all other subtle aspects of Bharathakala.Kuravai is a group performance.Vary is a solo in which the performer depicts the culture ,the geographic and national prestige of the art form and his/her own efficiency and involvement in it so that the people enjoy the aesthetic in it.Her Guru in music was an adept in veena,mridanga,flute,vocal,margi and desi ,a vaaggeyakaara in his own right,with composing skills ,who knew different languages of the continent ,a composer in various languages without any error,and besides he was enthusiastic and of good character .The kavi who taught literature toMadhavi was a panditha ,well known in the land between Imayam(Himalaya)and Kumary(Cape Comorin)who had crossed the ocean of Muthamil(literature,music and drama)a nannool pulavan(scholar in scriptures).Besides she had a flutist ,mridangist,and a vidwan in veena ,each one efficient in their own respective fields as her accompaniments.

When Kovalan takes the garland given to Madhavi by the emperor of Chola kingdom as a symbol(award)of recognition to her mastery over the arts,Madhavi was only twelve year old.She was as innocent as a new flower.She was waiting for her friend to give him her kalavi and pulavi.These two terms have two different meanings.Gross meaning is the paribhava(false quarrel)and anunaya(appeasing )of a loving couple. But kalavi or kalvi also means vidya or education.Pulavi is poetry of the highest order belonging to learned pandits and aesthetics.With the new arts and knowledge aquired ,and newly recognized the small girl was waiting to show off her talents ,rather than to lure a man.She didn’t even know that the man is a married one.She was educating Kovalan in her arts but being too feminine and of a tender age she fell in love with him and had to bear the consequences of that relationship.
The poet tells us that when Madhavi took the veena in the early morning hours at the seashore,there was a clear sign of her liberation from kaama and entry into an ascetic life.The rising sun was saffron with a white halo of rays ,and looked like a bee which after spending a whole night within the flower enjoying to its heart’s content comes out ,with no more desire ,besmeared with the saffron honey and pollens.
Kalavi and Pulavi inMadhavi’s songs

Kovalan is just another lovelorn ,passionate ,jealous,possessive male and resents her performance in front of others in the court and temple.Therefore when Madhavi gives him the veena and asks him to sing ,he praises Kaveri as the symbol of chastity.Her husband the chola king embraces river Ganga and Kumari.Yet she is tolerant and loves him as before.In his subconscious mind he equates his own chaste wife kannagi to kaaveri and king chola who embraces other rivers(as his empire extends upto them)as kovalan who embrace Madhavi.Madhavi is a madhyamavargaganika,as explained in Koutilya’s arthasaasthra(7)and she knows how to read other people’s thoughts(parachithagnaanam or psychology)and she gives a tit for tat.She sang:
Iam a poor woman ,
The oath in front of Varuna was a lie.
How am I to know it!!
No wonder .Isnt our country
Surrounded by beetles
On either banks…..
…..
Kaveri,hail!
The mother of chola country,
The nourisher of earth,
Your eternal flow is the blessing of sun
The ruler of all oceans,
And the saviour of all souls
I know that secret.

The aesthetics and spiritual undertones of the comparison in this is unmistakable .And it is far superior to the similie of kovalan.The ethics of eternal dharma of the universe is unknown to kovalan whose individual sensibility is at a much lower level than Madhavi.He misunderstands the words and construes that she is in love with the king.Madhavi continues:

In the lovely face
Shining as moon
And red lips soft as flowers
Are the rays of joy
The pearls of smile.
Yet,why Arya,
You come here daily
With your pearls?
Can your pearls match
Priceless pearls of my smile?
Pearls are given by the ocean.
My country is the one
Where men bargain with peral
Beautiful women…..

If women in parathavar homes

Living in vedic style
Have loose bangles and thin body(due to viraha)
What can a weak woman like me do
To prevent it?
If the swan mistook punna flower
For a star
And made punna tree its abode
The swan is ignorant
What can I do for that?

My country is the one
Where bees wander in everyopen blossom
Singing passionate songs.
I didn’t know that.
The art of winning over a bee
With cups of honey
Is painful,and uncurable.
I am only a poor innocent woman
My city is Pukaar
Where sandcastles are broken by waves
And women with tears
Try to fill oceans with sand.
Women build sandcastles on seashore.When it is broken in a wave cry and try to fill the passion waves of their men with broken sandcastles.But Madhavi is different.She has an eternal lover,the ocean god –varuna,the saviour who saves her from the criticisms of society.She is his devotee.He is called the thiraineerin cherpan(God of ocean ,)who is represented a ssun.The passionwave of kovala following her has erased the chariotmarks of her Lord,engraved in her mind.Pretending love,erasing the divine mark of God,harming her,yet hurting her saying that she is the cause of his passion,Yet she does not want to hurt him or to take revenge upon him.Because she is an aristocratic woman.
The ocean(paramaatma)being her real lover ,and the jeeva(wave)with the fishy smell of passion ,desirous of cleaning themselves of it ,kisses the fragrant flowers on the shores ,take away their fragrance,and goes back.The ocean,the ruler of numberless souls(waves)persists forever,eternal.Madhavi recognizes two types of waves.The smiling small ones which never gets into the nets ,dancing in the faroff horizons and the fishy smelling ones which come near just to dirty the shores and the innocent flowers .The latter type pretends themselves to be clean and fragrant and blame the flower.She tells Kovalan that you belong to that category of men and I am in love with God (divine men)who are of the deep ocean wave type which is ever pure and devoid of passions.
Though she criticizes kovalan thus,the male behaviour and the society as a modern feminist does,Madhavi is feminine to the core and loves kovalan and wants to be with him always ,sharing life and caring for him.She is a complete woman with her femininity telling her that her music ,dance and knowledge and education have attracted Kovalan but the very same when it touched a false note (while she was singing Thodi)had roused his ego and repelled him from her.Her own aesthetics and dharma had been the ultimate cause of their separation.Therefore she compares herself to twilight traveling in a boat of sorrow ,traversing an ocean of fire.That ocean of fire is her lord and hence she speaks sweet words of love and pleasure .This is the aesthetic feminine side of her character.When kovalan leaves Madhavi forever the poet does not approve of his act.He along with the seasons ask him to lok at the beloved’s face for once and shed his ego and return to her.He comments that when Madhavi was looking for a bright future for kovalan ,he went out hastily to before that morning’s arrival,to Kannagi,who was waiting for his death through a dreadful predictive dream of hers.Madhavi though the system allowed to take another husband of her choice,remains an ascetic,shaves her head,enters an ascetic order ,asks her mother not to teach dance and music to her daughter Manimekhalai.Because of this ,Manimekhalai ,became an ascetic and a scholar too.

Marginalisation of women,popular culture.
Why did Madhavi and Manimekhalai embrace asceticism?Did it allow them a freedom of movement in society?We wil l comparte an almost similar situation and process in the 19th century Bengal(8).The census of India (Bengal 1872)tells us that the followers of Vaishnavism open their arms to thoise who are rejected by all others-the outcastes,crippled and diseased,and the unfortunate.Contemporary records abound with references to women in villages ,widows,married and unmarried women deserting their homes to join vaishnavites Akhara or monasteries . Here religious norms allowed them a freedom of movement ,an access to all corners of society both high and low and a certain liberty in their relation to men –privileges which were out of reach for rich and middle class Bengali women of the time.The vaishnavites went about singing and dancing.Some who were learned taught in the antharmahal of the bhadralok.there were a few wellknown poets among them.These Neri poets were pictured by rival male poets as vagrant low caste women.Neri literally means shavenheaded vaishnavites.In the 15th century ,vaishnavite chandidas had a female disciple ,a washerwoman Rammoni or Rami.She had tosuffer a lot of false accusations because of her attachment to Chandidas.In the early years of the 19th century Jogeswary ,the woman poet had written songs belonging to the Biraha type ,expressing Radha ‘s woes at her separation from Krishna.The songs express the woman’s dismay at her lover’s infidelity,as that of Madhavi.Sumantha Banerjee tells us how these baishnavites were marginalized by the menfolk of the bhadralok by an intense campaign against women artistes and performers.(8).Jogeswary’s male contender Bhola Maira insulted her during a public poetic duel,calling her a shameless woman who had lost all her proportions.We can see that in the duel between kovala and Madhavi also the same thing occurred,kovalan calling her unchaste ,a killer of men,kodumkaali,yamadharma etc etc.It was to prevent this type of purposeful hurts by society that Madhavi gave up her aesthetic performing arts and her knowledge .But we may ask,was she right in abandoning her rightful pleasures derived from aesthetic tastes just to escape from the lures of a substandard society?The attitude of the material feminists who abandon every aesthetic pleasure vs the modern scholarly performing artists of the present century ,who though feminists in their ideas ,take up aesthetics as their rightful and natural sensibility and pleasure can be studied in this light(10)

Mundanam and the mundane

Mundanam or shaving the head by ascetic women and widows is a theme which draws attention because ,many university educated young feminists are now shaving their heads to shock the males.Madhavi and Manimekhalai had done this in sangam age.The poet says that men were shocked to hear the news of the beautiful Madhavi shaving her hair.Madhavi and kovalan were both worshippers of the God/Goddess of ocean.It was acult among them to shave the hair as a sign of abandoning everything mundane.In Mundaka Upanishad we find a similar notion.The pheonicians ,the historic seafarers of yore had a cult of Goddess Astarte (Manimehaladevi of the vaisya in sangham age)where the same custom prevailed.Whether sensuality is attached to one ‘s hair is questionable from the medical point of view.Yet true to the belief that kaisiki is the lasya and music,from the hair of Vishnu,many puritanistic ascetic orders and religions attach much importance to hair and performing arts and for them abandoning the hair and covering the hair ,either always or during the visits to temples,churches,mosques is indicative of abandonment of mundane passions and acceptance of divine will.
Madhavi represents the feminist and the feminine,aesthetic and the pleasure of aesthetic exerience ,but also the divine will,renunciation and spiritual being .Being a female counterpart of the author of chilappathikaaram,who was called aattukottupaatu cheralaathan (an adept in dance,rhythm and music)and a supreme Sacrificer of mundane pleasures,the study of Madhavi offers an excellent means of entering into the consciousness of the poet/saint Ilanko adikal.

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