When God Is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ketrayya and Others by A. K.

Ramanujan; Velcheru Narayana Rao; David Shulman Review by: Stuart Blackburn Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 58, No. 2 (1995), pp. 398-399 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/620921 . Accessed: 27/10/2011 12:20
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REVIEWS
customer, handle cash, and sulk when they feel cheated. As is true of much of the bhakti tradition, the poems speak most often in a female voice, of the courtesan, her friends, or a married mother (but the speaker is occasionally a man, too). Frustrated desire, the leitmotif of many ordinary bhakti poems, is replaced here with fulfilment, often orgasm, controlled by the woman; she may be abandoned in some poems, but she is never the victim of the god's whims as in other bhakti poems; and it is she, not the god, who manipulates her lover. Patronage and power in the poems, the translators argue, comment on those same forces operating in the temples and courts in which they were sung. From about 1500 A.D. a cash economy plied by traders and armies grew more powerful in south India, and in this fluid society, wealthy men could become little kings, and kings were conflated with gods. Thus, although the customer-gods in the poems are identified as deities in local and regional temples, they might also be a local Nayak king or wealthy patron. These duplicities of voice, audience, and sexual identity circle through these poems in which male poets speak as females about their male lovers. Such cross-gender vocalizations, complicated by the fact that some of the poems were sung by men playing female roles in Kiicipiidi dance-dramas, invite further commentary. It is noteworthy, for example, that many of the poems are addressed to another woman (colleague, friend, messenger) and only obliquely to the customer-gods; men are peripheral, except for their money. Were these poems, then, first sung by women and later written up by poets like Ksetrayya? We can ask these questions precisely because the translations are themselves so evocative. Not only are they accurate (given the Telugu talents of Narayana Rao and Shulman), they are poems in their own right (largely due to the hand of the late A. K. Ramanujan). The English poems attend to the structure of the Telugu; the initial statement and its restatement as a refrain, for example, is retained to great effect. In a section entitled 'On reading a Padam ', we are shown that the formal elements of one poem (its stanzic structure, syntax, diction, and morphology) reinforce its theme of tension between pent up desire and fulfilment, ending with the orgasm in the stanza quoted above. Added to formal structure is performance context: when the courtesan, entertaining her customer in her bedroom, sang and danced to these the lyrics, she would imbue them, especially the refrain, with a wide range of emotions. Not surprisingly, later editors and commentators in Telugu condemned the erotic content of these poems, obscured them with vague spiritual interpretations, and published them 'with dots replacing objectionable verses, sometimes spanning whole pages' (p. 29). The social reform movements at the turn of the century, epitomized by the anti-nautch (courtesan songdance performance) campaign, killed off the public role of the courtesans, and their tradition only resurfaced in the early decades of this century with a reconstructed history and idenStill, 'doubts and tity as hesitations persisted' (p. 28). This book breaks Bharatan.tyam.

publication will only serve in the long run to discredit his cause, even if the seemingly innocuous title preserves it a place on the library shelves as an indicator of the mood of the early 1990s rather than as a history of the medieval period.
A. A. POWELL

A.

K. VELCHERU RAMANUJAN, NARAYANA RAO and DAVID SHULMAN (ed. and tr.): When god is

a customer: Telugu courtesan songs and others. 157 pp. by CA: University of Berkeley, K.etrayya California Press, 1994. $12.

The title tells it all: in these song-poems composed in Telugu in south India by little known poets such as Ksetrayya and sung by courtesans, the local god seeks the sexual favours of those accomplished women. But of course, this is not the full story, and the three men who produced this little gem of a book combine their talents to reveal what really happens when the god is a customer. These poems are padams, 'short musical compositions of a light classical nature, intended to be sung, and often danced' (p. 1). Although sung in many Indian languages, padams became especially popular in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in the temples and royal courts under the patronage of Telugu kings in southern Andhra and the Tamil country, where they were sung by professional singers and dancers (devaddsts);some are still sung in the Carnatic music tradition of south India. The three translators place these remarkable songs in their various contexts-bhakti poetry in India generally, south Indian love poetry, and Telugu poetics-in order to point out continuities and contrasts. In particular, the authors detail a set of conventions and allusions, continuous from the ancient Tamil corpus through Vaisnava bhakti poems, that 'frame' these later Telugu padams. But the contrasts are more striking, especially in Ksetrayya's poems, such as this one in which a courtesan addresses Muvva Gopila, a local form of Krsna: 'Listening to my moans as you touch certain spots, the pet parrot mimics me, and O how we laugh in bed! You say "Come close, my girl," and make love to me like a wild man, Muvva Gopila, as I get ready to move on top' (p. 127). This is not an allegory of the soul's desire for god, and the translators reject any such mystical interpretations which have habitually reduced Indian love poetry to a thin theology. Even when these Telugu songs retain a metaphysical dimension, they reflect a 'fascination with bodily knowledge of the god' (p. 18) that reclaims the lost metaphor in divine love. Other readings, including the devotional impulse and softer unions with the god, are proposed for other poets and poems, but the translators reserve most of their commentary for a complex reading of Ksetrayya's bold lyrics. The courtesans in his poems bargain with god the

REVIEWS that silenceand opens a new chapterin bhakti poetry with the publicationof these earthy, tenderTelugusongs. The three premiertranslatorsof southIndianliterature workedcollectconjunction ivelyon thesepoems,an auspicious neverto recur,but we take heartthat the voice of the late A. K. Ramanujanwill be heard once more in theseexquisitetranslations.
STUART BLACKBURN

399

JOHN STRATTON HAWLEY and GURINDER SINGH MANN (ed.):

Studying the Sikhs: issuesfor North America. (SUNY Series in Religious Studies.) vii, 217 pp. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993. $16.95 (paper).

Britishuniversity coursesin religiousstudies rarelyprovidemore than a few lectureson the Sikh religion, often as part of a survey of or a studyof world religionin the subcontinent A Sikhrecently fromone scriptures. graduated of England'smost eminent religious studies saidthat Sikhism had not featured departments at all in the syllabus.It is difficultto explain why this situation should prevail in 1994. It cannot be lack of study materials,as might have been the case in 1974, or the absenceof Sikhs. That never deterreduniversitiesfrom offeringcourseson other religionslong before in largenumbers themselves in they established Britain. Perhapsthe reason lies in the well known difficulty which somethingnew has in itselfin existingcourses.Forwhatever inserting reason,it remainsa fact that the thirdlargest in the UK, afterChristianity andIslam, religion is almostignored. Not so in Canadaand the USA. It is taught in many places and by men and women, Sikh and non-Sikh, for whom it is a primary academicinterest.Severalof these have come together to publish what they describeas a 'basic guideandresource book'. It targetsfour areas: worldliterature, studies, religious history, and ethnicor migrationstudies.It is, however, much more than a guide in any cursorysense. It directsthe readerinto regions as yet little exploredwhichresearchers mightinvestigate. Two important haveled to the developments of Sikh studies and the need for this growth book. One is the Indianpoliticalsituationin whichSikhsfindthemselves. The constitutional collapse of the Indian republicwhich seemed imminentin the days of the Gandhis,Indira and Rajiv, may now be less likely to happen but many Sikhs still agitate for a separate state, Khalistan,or a new federal independent constitutionwhich will give greaterautonomy to Punjab and other states and reduce the interventionist powersof the nationalgovernment. Academicswho had scarcelyheard of the Sikhs found themselves, in 1984, expected to explainthemto the media.A secondreason is the growthof awareness that Sikhismis not an aspect of Hinduism,but a distinctreligion with its own scriptures,beliefs, values, and practices.

This symposiumof eight essays, three by Sikhs the rest by non-Sikhswho specializein teachingthat religion,is a corporatereflection upon the experienceof teachinga variety of useful aspectsof the religion.Mostimmediately of Professor Gurinder may be the contribution SinghMannwho providesa detailedoutlineof the coursehe introduced at Columbiain 1988, reflectionsupon supplemented by self-critical how the course was received and student evaluations.Some tutors contemplating introducing Sikh studiesinto theirsyllabuses might use his model, others may preferto be less historical and focus on contemporary manifestationsof the tradition. Whichever approach they use they will certainly benefit from on Mann'sexperience. reflecting Each of the essays contains important As an anthology readers insights. theyintroduce to a variety of issues not covered in most textbooks because they often lie in areas research. demanding This collection of essays will have lasting value for all who are interested in Sikhismfor three reasons.First, it providesguidanceand extensive bibliographies for those who, one hopes, will establishcoursesin the nearfuture. Secondly,it informs such tutors and departments of the pitfalls that can they may face. This is particularlytrue of Hew McLeod's but is a recurring themethroughcontribution, out the book. There is a tension betweenthe approachof Sikh scholars coming from an Indian background and non-Sikhs,plus some Sikhs who have adoptedWesternmethodsof study. No one should be unaware of this. lack of undergraduFinally,despitethe general ate provisionthere are studentswho work on the Sikhtraditionat higher-degree level. Those contemplatingsuch studies are likely to find In fact, I would go as many ideasfor research. far as to suggestthat for them in particular it should be required preliminary reading.They, and any otherreader, will learnas muchabout Sikhs and Sikhismas they will contemporary about the studyof Sikhismin North America. In no respectshould the book be regarded as of only parochial value,despiteits title.
W. OWEN COLE

NIKKY-GUNINDERKAUR SINGH: The

feminine principle in the Sikh vision of the transcendant. 318 pp. etc. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993. ?37.50, $59.95.
The authordescribes her study as a journey through the three differentphases of Sikh literary history--scriptural,transitional and secular.First she looks at the scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib and then Akal Ustat of GuruGobindSingh.For the remainder of her work she examinessome of the writingsof the SixthRiverof Punjab,as many Sikhscall him, the poet Bhai Vir Singhwho died in 1957. The teachingsof the Gurusis clear. God is One and is immanentin all creation. This leadsto the principle of one humannecessarily ity in which distinctionsof race and gender