Women complete a century in Harikatha
By Sriram V
It was an evening in November 1908. The Ladies Recreation Club, Egmore, a society meant for upper-class women of Madras was all agog. A few men, including Sir C Sankaran Nair, Judge of the Madras High Court, had come. A young girl, C Saraswathi Bai was supposed to perform a Harikatha for the entertainment of the women and this was the cause for excitement.
The girl had been a familiar face at the Club. She was known to be a protege of Bangaru Ammal, the wife of Buchi Babu Naidu. Her father, who had retired from a minor capacity in the Railways, was employed by Moddaverapu Dera Venkataswami Naidu, the dubash of Parry and Company. After his death, his grandson Buchi Babu had extended his patronage and the girl had learnt music along with Buchi Babu's daughter Narasamma. One evening while she was singing for the entertainment of her family members at her home in Triplicane, Tiruvayyaru Lakshmanachar, a Sanskrit Pundit had walked in, attracted by her music. He was employed at the Madras Christian College (MCC) and he offered to teach her various languages and slokas. The tuition began the next day. Krishnachar trained the girl into a Harikatha performer.
On several evenings, Saraswathi Bai had accompanied Mrs Buchi Babu Naidu to the Club and sung for the members. But on that day it had been announced that she would perform a Harikatha, hitherto a completely male preserve though a woman of the Devadasi community, Uayanarvelur Saradambal had earlier attempted it without success. Saraswathi Bai performed "Garuda Garva Bhangam" in thetraditional style. The performance was a tremendous success and Sir C Sankaran Nair in a speech at the end of
it said that she ought to take it up as a full-time profession.
The next day, a storm broke. The male vidwans who felt threatened organised a meeting of the Harikatha Marga Prasanga Sabha and passed a resolution that Harikatha by women was against Hindu dharma. Saraswathi and her family were ostracised and the accompanists who had performed for her the previous day were made to undergo ritual purification. A letter was sent to the MCC demanding the dismissal of Pt. Lakshmanachar.
The curiosity factor of a woman performing Harikatha whetted the interest of a well-to-do businessman of Mylapore, Muraiyur Shanmukham Cherry. He organised a performance of Saraswathi Bai at his house on Mundagakanni Amman Koil Street. There were protests outside the house even as the Harikatha was going on and the police had to come in! But the credentials of Saraswathi Bai as a performer were established.
On 22nd February 1909, Sri Parthasarathi Swami Sabha organised a public performance of hers where she was paid Rs. 450 as against the normal Rs. 150 that most performers got. From then on she became a top-ranking artiste. More notably she was also the first woman from a non-Devadasi background to have given any kind of performance on stage. Others followed in her wake. Padmasini Bai, Banni Bai, Susheela Achutaraman and Sumathi Bai were some of those who took to Harikatha, while Vai Mu Kothainayaki Ammal and D.K. Pattammal took to music. Saraswathi Bai in 1951 became the first woman to be recognised with an award by the Music Academy, Madras. Known as the First Lady Bhagavatar, she passed away in 1974, having lived a life of creative fulfilment. Thanks to her, women took to Harikatha and upper-caste women boldly took to the stage.
