TRACES OF A FEATHERED FRIEND

ISLAM AND MUSIC -- 02

2011-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I could add a few more points about music. I thought of summarizing the qualities and nature of music. Hence, this:

We need not appreciate a knife that cuts vegetables or fruits nicely. Nor should we blame it for cutting a throat. The knife is only a tool, a weapon. A tool is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy. It is just a tool.

I remember a poem by Brecht. In it he / the poet / the narrator will praise the qualities of a tank. At the end, he will say that though the tank is a powerful weapon that can kill many human beings, it needs a driver! I am just sharing the central idea of the poem and not quoting from it.

What Brecht said about man-made weapons is true of weapons used by men also. The story of the history of poetry in Arabia will bear evidence to this fact. The Prophet objected to poetry of only those poets who were criticizing Islam vehemently through their poetry in an unjustifiable manner. But later, he praised poets like Hassan and Ka'ab and rewarded them with gifts.

The case of music is also similar. In raw and wrong hands, anything could become harmful. That is the sad fate of the concept of jihad as understood by extremist groups today.

Music per se is neither Islamic nor anti-Islamic. Music is just musical in nature. That music has tremendous curing effect and that even plants listen and respond to music has also been scientifically proved. If you listen to Santoor, of, say, Shiv Kumar Sharma, for example, in seconds, it will take you away from your worries.

Quranic verses or the Sayings of the Prophet with regard to music have also to be understood in the same way by trying to understand the intent behind them.

TAMIL NADU OUR PRIDE

2011-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I wrote this piece for a college poetry competition for my daughter.

TAMIL NADU OUR PRIDE

Tamil Nadu is our pride

Tamil culture is our guide

We have many values on our side

And have no evils to hide

Tamil language is classical and ancient

Tamil people are musical and efficient

We invoke Tamil as our mother

And stand and sing together

We have temples, mosques and churches

Where unity in diversity perches

We see no caste, color or creed

For education makes us freed

Yesterday we had Chola, Chera and Pandya kings

Today we fly on democracy’s wings

Yesterday, we had Nawabs and Nizams

Today we have Kababs and bread jams

For peace we say Salam

For Space we have Abdul Kalam

Bharatanatyam is our state dance

For cultural heritage, we give hands

Periyar, Anna and Kalaignar – were our great leaders

Valluvan, Kamban and Bharathi were our great poets

Our chief grain is paddy

And our Chief Minister is a lady

Truth is our motto

Peace is our photo

We are Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jains

But religious harmony everywhere shines

Tamil Nadu is our pride

Tamil culture is our guide

We have many values on our side

And have no evils to hide

ISLAM AND MUSIC

2011-08-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

Islam and Music

The tenets of Islam need interpretation. It is ironic to see that interpretation is the strength as well as the weakness of Islam. Yes. I mean the wrong kind of interpretation, misinterpretation. But who is to decide which interpretation is right? That’s where the shoe pinches. All problems crop us from this. It is the religious ego of religious scholars that play the vital role in this. The mushroom growth of divisions or schools of thought spring from this single cause: the religious ego.

But scholars and great Imams of the past did not have any ego. They were humble and simple. Even when they were sure of a thing, they did not say it with authority. They were of the strong opinion that authority of any sort rests with Allah only. They were objective and unprejudiced but humble and simple at the same time. Today’s problem is this: humility and objectivity is missing.

Music is interpreted to be anti-Islamic. Many scholars say that music, especially instrumental music, is forbidden. Of course, they quote the holy Quran and Hadis to prove their argument. Well, let us take an objective and unprejudiced look at the issue.

Could music be against God? Could it be the enemy of divinity? God says that He created man with His own hands and breathed into him His own Spirit and made him His representative on earth (38:72, 75). In that case, when man’s sense of music is very high and subtle, could God, who created man as His representative, be insensitive to music? Can such an imagination be right? But today, adamant interpretations say ‘Yes’ as the answer to this question!

To show interest in music, whether as a composer or as a listener, is not acceptable to Islam. This is the opinion of many in the Islamic world today. It is said that music distances man from God and makes him forgetful of his duties to God. It is argued that as music makes one forget himself or herself, it is to be avoided. (I think this is one of the reasons why one should listen to music)! There are many who go to extent of declaring music to be haram, showing ‘proofs’ from the Quran and Hadis.

Such interpretations imply that man, who has to live in many relationships and responsibilities as child, father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife and the like must live thinking of God alone throughout his life. And anything that prevents one from thinking of God alone is interpreted to be the ‘voice of Satan’. How alluring is the voice of Satan! How great is the miracle of God’s creation!

All religions have earmarked a particular time and place for the worship of God. We know that a Muslim has to pray five times a day and the place is usually a masjid. This does not mean that man should forget God at other times. This is just like getting the minimum of 40 per cent of marks out of 100 in order to pass an examination. You can get centum and that is a matter of your intelligence and diligence.

The minimum is fixed for the ordinary. God says in the Quran that He created man for His worship only (51:56). That was the purpose behind creation of man by God. But the five time prayer is just the minimum pass percentage only. It is the basic training for the real worship of God. It is to just pass. This has been beautifully explained and explicated by great scholars like Imam Ghazzali.

What does Islam say about music? Let us come this matter little later. But tell me, is there a single Muslim in the world who has not listened to music or cine songs and enjoyed it? Is there any one whose fingers have not danced to the tune, music, melody and enchanting voices of Ghulam Ali, Hariharan, A R Rahman, Ilaiyaraja or Justin Beiber? If you say yes, such fingers could be counted easily. This is an undeniable fact.

There are groups who allow only vocal music, without any instrumental accompaniment. And there are some other groups who enjoy religions songs from singers like Nagore Hanifa. And it goes without saying that Nagore Hanifa songs are always accompanied by instrumental music from harmonium, tabla and the like.

And there is also the group which does not confuse music with God and listens to music as music. This group will listen to all kinds of songs and music. From sheer instrumental music like santoor of Shiv Kumar Sharma, Beethoven’s symphony, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mystic India, Carnatic Music, Hindustani, Ghazals to rap. This is also a fact.

The argument that just because many Muslims do something which is prohibited in Islam does not make it halal springs from a misunderstanding of both Islam and Music.

The main objection that music makes one forget oneself and is therefore conducive to forgetting God is very superficial. Success comes to a man only when he does a work in complete forgetfulness of himself, in other words, in complete concentration. When the potter makes the pot, if he thinks of the price for which he may sell it, the pot will not be made to shape. If a student ponders over the possibility of passing or failing in the exam while writing it, what will happen as a result?

Therefore, forgetting oneself is nothing but total concentration in a work. When husbands make love to their wives, they forget themselves. Of course the wives too. At that moment, we do not take any effort to forget ourselves. It happens automatically. And it is natural too. Forgetting oneself while being engaged in a work is one of the secrets of success.

In Islamic history we see that many Muslim warriors have allowed the lances that have pierced their bodies to be removed while they are praying. The reason is very simple. In prayer, they forget themselves and will be unconscious of their bodies and their discomforts. And if the lances that have pierced their bodies were removed at that time, they will not feel the pain. Islamic history bears witness to the fact that in the life of great Ali (RA), such an incident has happened.

Therefore, to say that God is forgotten because one forgets oneself is not a valid argument. And in the Indian context and musical history, it becomes incorrect also. If we look at the sahityams of Thyagaraja in the Carnatic music world, almost all the songs are in praise of gods and goddesses. Any learner of Carnatic music has to start his training with Sri Gana Nadha Sindhu Ragavarna only! Carnatic music operates within the sphere and dimension of devotion to god and piety. Hence, efforts were made to redeem and rescue it from that narrow circle and broaden its boundaries to romance, love, affection and such other emotions. The contemplation on God and expression of divine love is inseparable from Indian music.

We can include Sufi music also here, though Sufis were not confined to India. Sufis poets and Masters like Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi used music and dance as vehicles of divine meditation. He said that music is the “food of lovers of God”. And the followers of his spiritual path or tariqah are called ‘whirling dervishes’.

Sama, a kind of spiritual music, was part and parcel of many Sufi tariqahs and was used as an effective medium for doing dhikr or meditation. The word ‘sama’ originally meant ‘listening’. To listen to music means not just to listen to its sounds but understand its spiritual meanings. That could be called real hearing or listening, said the Sufis. Great scholars like Imam Ghazzali and Ibnu Arabi have also emphasized this idea in their writings.

The famous Egyptian Sufi Master Dhunnun says that through listening to music, one goes closer to God. Parveen Sultana, the Hindustani classical singer, said once that music was Godly to her. Even today, in famous shrines like Nagore Darga and Ajmer Darga, Qawwals and singers sing songs in praise of the saints entombed there. Pious singing and pious hearing of those songs have become an inseparable aspect of Indian culture.

If the voice of Jesudas or Lata Mangeshkar or Shreya Goshal or the music from a santoor or veena could distance a man from God, what else can’t do the same? Cinema will distance him, TV will distance him, computer will distance him, college will distance him, happiness, unhappiness, walking, sitting, standing, sleeping, waking – all aspects and activities of daily life will be able to distance him from God. Rather, he will use every small opportunity to distance himself from God.

He will distance himself from God even in those activities like prayer and fasting which are supposed to bring him in proximity to God-consciousness. When his head touches the floor in sajda of prayer, his mind will be after the new Bata slipper left in the entrance of the masjid. When he is fasting, his mind will be dwelling on things like kanji, makruni etc, i.e., the items or ‘courses’ to be prepared for the iftar or breaking of the fast. Any conscientious man will agree with me.

Conversely, a man who has the right kind of thinking about God will not forget but remember God in whatever he does. Like a man with a tooth ache who cannot forget his ache when he speaks or eats or drinks or does nothing. Or like a pregnant woman who will walk, talk, sit, stand and do everything with the feeling that she is carrying a baby inside her.

Can anything separate man from God? What is there in the Universe except God? All things are nothing but expressions of the divinity only:

And to Allah belong the east and the west, so wherever you turn (yourselves or your faces) there is the Face of Allah (2:115)

True Tauheed is in our ability to see the oneness of God in everything. “If one of you lowered a bucket by a rope, then it would fall on Allah”, says a hadis fromTirmidhi. Should we not then ponder the real meaning of this statement?

This truth becomes clear when we look deeply into Islamic history also. From the time Islam began to spread all over the world, many researches were done regarding sound and music. Many music theories were put forth and many a musical instrument was discovered. Many musicians also became important in different ages. But Islam was not spoiled by any. Instead, they have helped to make the Islamic feeling even stronger.

From the 9^th century to the thirteenth, various theories of music were put forth and many research articles on music were written. And the theories of Arabian music were well developed even before this period. The Abbasid rulers (750-909 AD) were lovers of music. When we say music, it included instrumental music also. In the beginning, slave women were singers. Later, trained musicians came from the royal family itself.

A man called Ibn Munajjim divided music into eight kinds. Each kind of music was named after a finger. Ibn Surai defined the characteristics of a good singer. Al Kindi (800-873 AD), a philosopher, wrote seven books on sound, rhythm and musical notes. He also explained how the four strings of Oodh, a lute-like instrument represented land, water, air and fire and the four seasons. He also introduced a fifth string to it. Like L Shankar who improved the violin.

The tenth century scholar on music, Abu al Nasral Farabi’s book on music explained the scientific nature of sound. It also gave details about two kinds of instruments called tambur. Al Farabi is said to make the listeners weep or sleep or laugh with his playing of Oodh.

Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes in the West, of the 12^th century was an expert in the explication of the Quran, Hadis, Shariah, philosophy, logic, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, biology and music too. It is to be noted that he was the Chief Justice of Cordoba, one of the main cities of Spain.

In the writings of Ibn Sina also, known in the West as Avicenna (980 – 1037 AD), detailed notes on music are found. He was also an astronomer, chemist, geologist, Hafiz, Islamic psychologist, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, logician, mathematician, Maktab teacher, physicist, poet, and scientist. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age. He wrote about music in his explanation of mathematical calculations. He also explained the relationship between mathematics, astronomy and music in his encyclopedia called The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine.

There were famous musicians in Spain like Saryab. Fareed Al Adrash and his sister were famous Arab musicians. Bandir, Busook, Darbuka, Kimbi, Kamanja, flute-like Nei, santoor-like Kanoon, violin-like Rabab – all these are names of some of the Arabian musical instruments.

There was an Egyptian singer named Ummu Kulthum. She learned the Quran and Arabic language in her childhood itself. On the first Thursday of every month, her concert was held. And thousands of fans gathered from the countries of the Middle East. Critics praised her saying that her voice and song touched the Arabian soul. The Egyptian ruler Nasser was proud to have her amity. Her songs were about the life of Arabs in general. In marriage functions she used to sing the verses of the holy Quran and sayings of the Prophet in a voice which melted the audience.

Her fame was such that people used to say that two things in Egypt never changed: the pyramids and the voice of Ummu Khulthum. More than three lakh audio cassettes were released in a year! When she died in 1975, it is said that the number of mourners who attended her burial was the biggest in Egypt’s history.

Dars-e-Nizami, an educational institution which was popular during the Moghul period, had on its syllabi Quran, hadis, philosophy, logic, mathematics and music. World-famous scholars like Allama Shibli were students of that institution. Music was a lesson in the school of Shah Waliullah of Delhi, a famous saint of great repute. The life of legendary Indian poets like Amir Khusru was surrounded with song and music.

Before answering the question whether music corrupts the mind of human beings, we have to understand the basics of music. To many, music means cine songs. Cine music which is usually provided with a song is not the pure form of music. It is made to suit the scenes in the movie. For one who likes songs of lust, the song and the accompanying scenes make room for ugly and pervert imagination. It induces him to imagine that he is the hero of the song, singing and dancing with the alluring heroine. For one who has not seen the movie, the lustful words of the song help. Willy-nilly, cinema does the harm of making the watcher or listener enjoy its music for reasons other than purely musical. One may like a song because a particular actress or actor has acted in that scene.

But language has never been a barrier in music. We can even say that music has no language or it is a language on its own. Its message is always beyond the words. If one wants to understand the meaning of the words of a song, then that is a non-musical objective. For that one need not listen to music but can simply write down the lyric. We can enjoy an English or Hindi or Arabic song as much as we can a Tamil song.

I love ghazals very much thought I do not know Urdu language. When I heard rat bhi neendh bhi song by Chitra Singh for the first time, I lost my neendh (sleep). I wandered from pillar to post to get that song. My relationship with ghazals started there.

Zindagi mein to sabhi pyar kiya kar te hain

Mein to mar kar bhi meri janu tujhe chahoonga

(People love while they are alive

But my spirit will love you even if I die)

That is the refrain of a ghazal by Mehdi Hasan and that is the relationship between me and music. The meanings of these words I learned later in my life. To enjoy the song and music I did not need those words at all.

I have wept on hearing Jin ke hoton ghazal by Ghulam Ali. Thought I did not understand a word of what he sang, its message was “cry” and it was effectively conveyed to me and I understood it from my tears. We can say that it was the power of music.

Sound is a power. Like the sunshine. When you hold a tender leaf or a piece of paper under a lens in sunshine, the paper or the leaf gets burnt. We all know this school-day experiment. Music is also like this. When sounds are focused in a particular measure, rhythm, timing and particular imaginary spatial point repeatedly, they acquire form and energy. A Tamil serial called Rudra Veenai also portrayed this point effectively.

History says that when Hazrat Miyan Tansen sang deepak raga, it started fires and when he sang raga mesh malhar, it rained. When Bala Murali Krishna sang neelambari raga, it sent a crying baby to sleep. God is called naadam in the Indian tradition because sound is a form of energy. Even the holy Bible begins with the words, ”God said”. God is also known as the Word.

All these point to the truth that sound is energy. And music is the art form in which the notes are streamlined, ordered, focused and sent in a concentrated rhythmic manner towards a point. So music is power and power music.

The legend says that though Ravana was a bad fellow and a villain, when he sang Shankarabaranam, the hill that grew on his body melted. We know the story of Orpheus who brought himself back to life after death by the use of his harp, the legendary musical instrument. And in cine songs also order of sounds is to be found. And that is why we like them more than the sounds of our household gadgets like the pressure cooker.

Cine music is narrow with already written words and already prepared scenes. But pure music is not like that. It is like a dream. A dream may mean four things to four people. In the same way, a single piece of pure music will give more than one meaning to the listener, according to his or her life experiences. Hence we cannot make a dictionary to narrow down the extensive nature of music. Though we can distinguish between a sad note from a happy one, to arrest pure music between these two elementary feelings is to limit and simplify it.

Like all arts, music is also a powerful medium. We know that the success of many a movie has depended only on its music. Not only this. To say that music is the most powerful of all arts is no exaggeration. A dictionary will give us the meanings of words. And we can guess how a poem becomes meaningful with reference to it and we can also understand when and how a poem goes beyond the dictionary after studying it deeply. Only then the work of art will make an impact on us. The magical smile of Mona Lisa makes its impact on us only after understanding the fact that Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman.

But with regard to pure music, it makes its impact immediately while hearing it. The question of understanding its meaning does not arise at all. The moment the music is heard, it affects us. Some feelings are created and some images are created in our minds.

Without any commercial controls like finishing it within a stipulated time, when Parveen Sultana or Bimsen Joshi sings just the alap for more than half an hour, it gives one the image of a helpless woman or man beseeching God. One can feel a wordless sadness from the shehnai sound of Bismillah Khan. When one hears the music of Tchaikovsky, one can feel as if one is participating in World War or witnessing it. If one hears the ting, ting of Shiv Kumar Sharma’s santoor, one can feel the peace of mind that has destroyed all unhappiness. In the TV serial on Tipu Sultan, the title music my Naushad does give one an idea of the courage and gallantry of Tipu.

How can one listen to the sitar of Ravi Shankar, the sarod of Ali Akbar Khan, the violin of Yahudi Menuhin, the veena of Balachandar and the flute music of Chaurasia for hours? One can ask: what do you understand? But the right question or answer is: what has not been understood? Our culture is closely connected with music. When the Order of the Universe is a proof of God’s existence, the order of sound, which is music, also adds to it.

Music is closely related to the wise men who developed intimacy with God. They were not slaves to their feelings. Rather they were masters of them. In classical music, though one sings in fast timing, the ‘sa’ will be ‘sa’ and the ‘ni’ will be ‘ni’. Each note will not budge from its place, however slow or fast one sings. The timing or ‘kaalam’ is also never hurried but goes like a pendulum in the same speed, pattern and rhythm. And this symbolizes the state of mind of the sages who kept their minds in the same state at different demanding situations. Music offers such a rare opportunity to the learner and listener of music. Ali (RA) said: “Even if all the seven gates of paradise and those of Hell are shown to me, my faith will neither grow nor diminish”. His statement also hints at this state of mind. Music offer one a non-resisting, peaceful and harmonious state of mind.

The Indian tradition has listed ragas and their effects also. For example, boopalam for waking up and neelambari for sleeping. We know how plants grow healthily after making them ‘listen’ to music. And we also the history of how many diseases were cured by music. Science says that curative neuropeptides are secreted in our brains as we listen to music.

Ustad Dawood Miyan of Nagore was cured of his leg problem by singing raga Malgos for forty days according to the order of Shahul Hameed, the saint of Nagore. How can such a noble thing as music distance man from God?

Let us see the standpoint of Islam on music here. Many people say or think that Islam is allergic to music! They explain that the Quran and Hadis are against music.

Usually, verses of the following chapters are quoted as proofs against music: 31 : 06, 17 : 64, 53 : 57-62. Particularly Sura Luqman’s verse 31:06 is often quoted. The words ‘lahwal hadees’ in that verse is rightly translated into English as ‘idle talk’. But some scholars say that ‘lahwal hadees’ also means song and music, with reference to some saying of Prophet (Sal).

What does that particular verse say? It talks about the nature of divine messages and how some will not believe in it. In continuation of this the verse says:

But there are among men, those who purchase idle tales, without knowledge (or meaning), to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah and throw ridicule (31:06).

There is not a mention of music or musical instrument in this verse. How can God, the Great Universal Musician, who Has made this earth rotate in the destined speed and rhythm speak against music? When not a single atom could move without His permission, how can the seven notes move around in air without His knowledge and permission?

The haters of music take a hadis in support of their argument. According to the hadis, the Prophet is believed to have said: A group of my followers will turn adulterers, wear silk, drink liquor and play musical instruments. And they argue that God and His prophet are against music, vocal or instrumental.

But this is the explanation of one of the schools of thought. It is not the opinion of the Islamic world in toto. And it does not have the consensus of all the religious scholars of Islam.

A hadis: Narrated Aisha: Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) came to my house while two girls were singing beside me the songs of Buath (a story about the war between the two tribes of the Ansar, the Khazraj and the Aus, before Islam). The Prophet (p.b.u.h) lay down and turned his face to the other side. Then Abu Bakr came and spoke to me harshly saying, "Musical instruments of Satan near the Prophet (p.b.u.h) ?" Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) turned his face towards him and said, "Leave them." When Abu Bakr became inattentive, I signalled to those girls to go out and they left.

Another version: Two women were singing of a battle called Buad in the house of Prophet Muhammad (sal), while playing a kind of drum. Abu Bakr (RA) chided them saying, “Satan’s instruments in the house of the Prophet of God?” and stopped them angrily from playing and singing. But the Prophet told Abu Bakr that they need not be stopped from being happy on a festive day and allowed them to continue playing and singing.

This hadis has been recorded in the authoritative collections of Bukhari and Muslim. And it is reported by Ayisha (RA), the wife of the Prophet.

And in Sura As-Sumar, verse 75 says:

And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne on all sides, singing Glory and Praise to their Lord 939:75)

It is said that when the world is ultimately destroyed, soor will be blown. Is not soor then an instrument?

Though the verse regarding ‘lahwal hadees’ and the supportive hadis talk of music and musical instruments, let us say for the sake of argument, they are not sufficient to say that Islam declares music of all sorts haram. Because, the Luqman verse condemns only those who sing songs or play instruments in order to lead men astray from the path and message of God. We can certainly reject such songs and music.

We must be intelligent enough to note that the hadis quoted above gives a list of the sins of a group of people which includes sins like adultery and drinking liquor. If an immoral person is singing and playing with an instrument, can we support that action? But what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander here. How can we argue that all those who sing and play musical instruments are adulterers, drunkards and immoral persons?

It is just like saying that Islam is against poetry and the Prophet is against all poets. He was against those poets who sang to demean Islam and its tenets. Only such poets and poems were condemned. The Prophet himself has presented his mantle (burdah) to the poet Kaab Ibnu Zuhair in appreciation of his poetry. The opposition to music is also a similar one.

There is also the famous hadis which says that our actions are judged by our intentions. How can the instrument be responsible for the immorality of the player? How can we reject and ignore on flimsy grounds something noble which gives mirth and peace to man? Music is a divine tool in deed. When Abdul Basit recites the Quran, it makes us forget everything and immerses us in the thought of God. Is not his ‘qirath’ a noble music? Did not Pickthal describe the sound of the verses of the Quran as “inimitable symphony” rightly?

If instrumental music could separate man from God, then, why did the Prophet permit those two ansar women to sing of Buad battle and play the drums? Does it mean that on festival days one can forget God?

Meanings are not always contained in the words. They have to be decided by the historical context and the intention behind the words. It is very very unintelligent to be superficially sticking on to the primer always.

Scientists have found that even the babe in the womb responds positively to music. Why must we, who have come away from the nadir of the womb to cultural peaks, refuse to ourselves a divine experience in the form of music? If our hearts are strong enough, music, instead of distancing us from God, will take us nearer to Him.

Death: A grave situation

2011-06-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

The viewers have gone

The curtain is drawn

The play is over

And the journey from the full stop begins.

The ultimate going down is

The actual going up

The alpha of the omega

For the soul to sing ‘eureka’.

Liberty, equality, fraternity

As time leaps from the grave

Into eternity.

The noise ceases

And the music pauses

The self faces

The Cause of all causes.

When all our account is paid

We are to rest laid

With nothing to hide

By God’s rule abide.

Die before you die

Said the wise Prophet

If you can die while living

You can live while dying.

Never ask how

Try it here and now

Truth is a wonderful dove

The hands of Reason above.

I wrote this poem on 21.03.1994. Today I happened to read it again and it sounded good. I thought it better to post it.

THE IRONY OF PARADOX AND THE PARADOX OF IRONY

2009-09-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Picture of Dorian Gray was a novel by my favourite author Oscar Wilde. In fact it was the only novel he wrote while most of his writings were plays. He is known for his paradoxical witty sayings which were often criticized but it is an irony that he became famous mainly due to them. Had he been alive today and were he an Indian, he would have certainly become a very successful cine script writer. He is an author of such lively dialogues.

The novel's story or summary is not as important as the conversations put into it. Any story would do for Oscar Wilde. All he needed was a situation in which two people must talk. That was enough for him to pour out his genius. And that is what one sees or reads page after page in this novel.

THE STORY IN BRIEF

But still, let me give a short summary of the story to make things easy for you.
The novel revolves round four characters mainly: Basil the artist, Lord Henry his friend, Dorian Gray his subject for a painting and Sibyl a poor but talented actress with whom Dorian falls in love. The hero is of course Dorian Gray or I should say his extraordinary beauty. The character and picture painted by Wilde of Dorian is autobiographical because Oscar Wilde was one of most handsome of writers the world has ever known.

Wilde was accused of homosexuality and served two years' imprisonment too on account of his relationship with male prostitute boys and young men like Ross and Douglas. Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. In British legislation of the time, this term implied gay activities. On 25 May 1895 Wilde was finally convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour. Yet, we are not sure of his homosexual acts but we can say that his views on sexuality were certainly revolutionary. Wilde was really wild with regard to sexual orientation!

The artist Basil paints a picture of Dorian Gray his handsome subject of whom he enamoured. More for the new painting dimension inspired by Dorian’s beauty than for the handsomeness per se. As the painting sessions progressed, Lord Henry and Dorian become friends. Henry’s way of speaking attracts Dorian. Basil’s picture seems to be a masterpiece in deed. On seeing it and after hearing Henry’s world views, Doran thinks that the only thing worth having in this world is beauty. He wishes that instead of him the picture should become old! But his strange wish gets fulfilled gradually! The success of this novel as an art form lies in this imaginative element, I think. The idea is highly imaginative and wonderful in deed. The novel develops on this strand of imagination and perfects itself out of it. There is an element of surrealism or magical realism in it.
This happens after rejecting the love of Sybil the poor, beautiful and talented actress with whom he fell in love and whom he proposed to marry. Dorian invites Basil and Henry to see Sibyl perform Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl loses her acting abilities through the experience of true love with Dorian. Dorian rejects her, saying her beauty was in her art, and he is no longer interested in her if she cannot act impressively.

The first thrilling and climax-like event occurs now. When he returns home he notices that Basil's portrait of him has slightly changed. Dorian realizes his wish has come true - the portrait now bears a subtle sneer and will age with each sin he commits, whilst his own appearance remains unchanged!

He decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but Henry informs him that Sibyl has killed herself by swallowing hydrogen cyanide. (Maybe the first cyanide death in literature and an inspiration for Liberation Tigers).

Slowly Dorian’s views are poisoned by the speeches of Henry and lust and looks become more important to him in life than anything else. Over the next 18 years, Dorian experiments with every vice, mostly under the influence of a "poisonous" French novel, a present from Lord Henry.

One night, before he leaves for Paris, Basil arrives to question Dorian about rumors of his indulgences. Dorian does not deny his debauchery. He takes Basil to the portrait, which is as hideous as Dorian's sins. In anger, Dorian blames the artist for his fate and stabs Basil to death. He then blackmails an old friend named Alan Campbell, a chemist, into destroying Basil's body. He also escapes an attempt by Sybil’s brother to shoot him down in an opium den which Dorian visits by showing his unchanged and un-aged youth. Sybil’s brother James releases Dorian but a woman from the opium den chastises him for not killing Dorian and informs him of the strange fact that Dorian has not aged for 18 years!

Sybil’s brother is accidentally shot and killed by one of the hunters. After returning to London, Dorian informs Henry that he will be good from now on, and has started by not breaking the heart of his latest innocent conquest, a vicar's daughter in a country town, named Hetty Merton.

At his apartment, Dorian wonders if the portrait has begun to change back, losing its senile, sinful appearance, as he has changed his immoral ways now. He unveils the portrait to find that it has become worse. In a rage, he picks up the knife that killed Basil and plunges it into the painting. His servants hear a cry from inside the locked room and send for the police. They find Dorian's body, stabbed in the heart and suddenly aged, withered and horrible. It is only through the rings on his hand that the corpse could be identified. Beside him, however, the portrait has reverted to its original form.

There are references to dainty Delhi muslins and Persian saddlebags in the novel, to my surprise.

BEAUTIFUL QUOTES FROM THE NOVEL

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Real beauty ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.
When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them.
The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.
We tell each other the most absurd things with the most serious faces.
Every portrait painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion.
As for believing things, I can believe anything provided that it is quite incredible.
She is peacock in everything but beauty.
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.
There are only two eras of any importance in the world’s history. The first is the appearance of a new medium for art and the second is the appearance of a new personality for art.
There is no such thing as a good influence. All influence is immoral.
The highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to oneself.
They feed the hungry, clothe the beggar, but their souls starve and are naked.
Terror of god is the secret of religion.
The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
The only difference between a caprice and a life-time passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer.
American girls are as clever in concealing their parents, as English women are at concealing their past.
I am told that pork-packing is the most lucrative profession in America, after politics.
As bald as a ministerial statement in the House of Commons.
The way of paradoxes is the way of truth.
To get back one’s youth, one merely to repeat one’s follies.
He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.
Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.
Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.
As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.
The people who love only once in their life are really the shallow people.
Faithfulness is simply a confession of failure.
Only the sacred things are worth touching.
When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always end by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance.
Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined oneself in the poetry of life is a honor (This is, according to me, is the best quote from Wilde and one that needs a lot of experience to understand).
Experience was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.
The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish.
As for spoiled life, no life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested.
When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.
It often seems to me that art conceals the artist far more completely than it ever reveals him.
Married life is merely a habit, a bad habit.

The Language of Poetry and the Language of Prose: A Study of Modern Tamil Literature

2009-09-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Questions regarding the use of language in poetry or prose inevitably turn out to be questions on the genres themselves. For the sake of convenience, I am placing poetry on one side and all other non-poetic forms like drama or essay on the other and treat them under the head of 'prose' in this article. Before talking about the language of poetry and the language of prose, it will be useful to start with some meditations about language itself, which is the basic tool available for the expression of human thinking.

We can say that language is a structure made up of sound symbols. Basically, it consists of only sounds and not meaning. This has to be clearly understood. It is we who have assimilated those sounds as it suited us and have created our meaning out of them. To denote man for example, in Tamil they say manidhan, in Urdu insan, and in Arabic, naas. In this way, to denote one thing we have as many words as there are languages in the world.

If you show a book to a child and say that it is a 'tree', even after growing up, whenever the word ‘tree' is pronounced or heard, only a book would appear in the mind of the child or the man who was that child. Just as man has created time from eternity for his convenience, he has also created meaning from sounds, semantics from phonetics.

Certain sound structures in a given language can create some established meanings. But we should not forget the fact that the same structures can and do create other meanings at different times, different climes and different cultures. The history of words, etymology, bears witness to this fact.

George Orwell in his article "Politics and the English Language" says that the word 'pacification' does not mean the act of pacifying but a political euphemism for genocide, looting, arson and annihilation of whole villages or towns carried out against all those considered anti-American. When such is the complex situation we are forced to live in, it is highly possible that the line of demarcation that separates any two different genres may vanish at any moment.

2

I do not fully agree with the view that Tamil literature, though thousands of years old, lacks serious and structured thinking about literary forms and language. Such meditations may belong to our times. Though they are comparatively modern, they are borrowed mostly from English critical tradition and for the most part prejudiced.

Tamil poetry is more than two thousand years old. It is not possible for any poet, to whatever period he may belong, to write timeless poetry without having some idea of what poetry is. I am using the word 'poetry' as a literary gene here.

None can say that the creation of rules of diction and conventions and the writing of verses or even epics according to those rules and conventions show only a half-baked curiosity. But unfortunately, our poets and prose writers did not attempt to give us a generalized or universalized theory or poetics, as was done in the West.

But Yappu, the Tamil traditional poetic diction of the past, could well be seen as a powerful and influential beginning in that direction. It acted as the definite dividing line between the language of poetry and that of prose until the time of the great Tamil poet Bharathi who pioneered Modern or New Poetry in Tamil.
Prose is of recent origin in Tamil. Though a few notes are available in the ancient classic of Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam, though Ilango Adigal, the epic poet, tried prose occasionally in his epic Silappadikaram, though the formulae for poetry and grammar were written in prose, and though the Christian missionaries wrote mainly in prose, it was versification which had the upper hand over prose in the past1. We can say that Tamil prose learned to walk only in this century. In the history of world literature, poetry has always been the predecessor of prose2.

3

Many a definition has been given to poetry by poets and critics. Wordsworth said that poetry was the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions.3 Coleridge said that it is the best words in the best order. 4 T.S. Eliot thought that poetry comes from the language of the people representing its powers.5 Matthew Arnold said that poetry is a criticism of life.6 Ezra Pound said that the art of poetry is not simpler than the art of music.7 Paul Valerie said that poetry is language within language.8 Today we are happy to imagine that poetry is something written or printed on paper.

When we carefully look into the definitions given by poets and critics of the past, we understand that all attempts to define poetry inclined towards becoming an attempt to define poetic language. But in the explanations of the poets and critics of our time, the consciousness and concern about language is at its highest. Yet, all views are only partial. Poetry refuses to be contained within the grammar provided by structuralism or deconstruction. It thrives and survives, despite the definitions provided by time. Basuwayya's poem points to this:

Write you, your poem
And if you are not qualified
to do it:
do not ask me why
I have not written
your poem9.

But language and literary forms did change according to the understanding and definitions of their societies. If we compare a few lines from Kamban's epic with those of a modern poem, we can clearly understand this truth.

It is not the drudgery or monotony of old language that paved the way for changes in poetic language. None can succeed in effecting changes in literature on account of merely linguistic reforms. The reasons for changes in language have always been beyond the language.

It is relevant to note here what T.S.Eliot and Shelley said: If Wordsworth, who advocated the use of simple and plain language in literature, had thought that he was reforming English language, he was simply deceiving himself, said T.S.Eliot.10 The freedom given to women produced poems of lust, said Shelly.11

Even Bharathi was no exception to this. It is not simply due to the influence of Walt Whitman that Bharathi started writing prose-poems. He saw that the new form was more fitting and expressive of his new insights and philosophy and hence he chose and stuck to that form in his later days. It is not surprising to see that a poet who was yearning for political freedom chose the kind of style and language which quenched his thirst for freedom.12

A poet does not think of matter and manner separately. The form and content are decided simultaneously. In fact, all concern about language is nothing but a concern about ideas only. Though we can talk of poetic language and poetry as though they are two separate entities or two different compartments, they are in fact inseparable.13 An example from Nakulan's poem:

He was cross
ing the boundaries.

This is the beginning of the poem entitled Ellaigal (Boundaries). After eleven lines, the line is repeated, but with a difference:

He was crossing
the boundaries.14

This poem is from Nakulan's Coat-stand Poems. Ideologically, when you cross the boundaries of tradition, you have to break the connection between tradition or convention and yourself. The breaking becomes inevitable. To denote this, the poet breaks the sentence in the continuous tense at first. The unbroken line which comes the second time symbolizes the benefits of going beyond tradition. This poem makes clear that even a slight change in the form, the sentence or the structure will have its own impact and gains.

Turkey for the peacock, cat for the tiger
Ass for the horse, crow for the nightingale
And pundits for the poets.15

This poem by the modern poet Gnanakoothan from his collection Ethiredhir Ulagangal (Opposite Worlds) looks surrealistic and absurd. Though the poem is written in the traditional eight syllable format (in its original), it does not mean that the poet has regressed. Rather, he is deliberately using the traditional form for satire and sarcasm. The satire becomes intense not only by the use of the traditional form but also due to the deliberate alliteration. Brammarajan also comes under this list of modern poets who experiment with traditional forms with a purpose16.

4
Releasing itself from the clutches of Yappu, Puduk Kavidhai or Modern Tamil Poetry has grown with a simplicity characteristic of prose, from the writings of Bharathi, Pitchamurthi, and Basuwayya to Satyan. But still, it keeps the line of demarcation between itself and prose clear by special features such as the inseparability of form and content, concern for every word, images, symbols etc. When we talk of images and symbols in poetry, we should be cautious to see that they are used not just for adornment but for strengthening the poem. Ezra Pound said that it is better to give one meaningful image that may speak volumes than writing volumes after volumes.17

The sweep and slap
at the windows of memories --
the shower of fingers.
The wings of butterflies flutter --
the eyebrows of the beats
of the north.18

This is from the beautiful poem of Brammarajan's Viralgalin Mazhai (Rain of Fingers). One wonders if there can be another Tamil poem which can express the experience of the musical beats of Tabla in better images.

The thatched huts
that looked like
the pregnant stomach of the earth
lying supine
were all turned to ashes.19

These lines from Gnana Koothan's Keezh Venmani very effectively rams into our mind the image of the sufferings undergone by the innocent, pregnant, poor women burnt to death in Keezha Venmani village. In a poem of mine, I too used a modern image: ‘in my memory hanger.' Brammarajan used the image of ‘memory button' in a poem. That was a very modern and suitable image for our times. Memory simply becomes a button in the world which has become mechanical. Happiness or unhappiness could be triggered by simply pressing the memory button. I think that the image effectively points to that condition of ours, of course with a tinge of sarcasm.

Have you seen Kannamma?
I have seen only my Amma.
Even she
is not alive today.20

These lines from Nakulan recall the symbol of ideal beloved, Kannamma, from Bharathi. Kannamma is a symbol and embodiment of unconditional love. When Kannamma shrinks to just amma (mother), it adds the taste of irony. Pure or Platonic love has become so rare that it is as good as absent because even the mother who can be a symbol of such love and affection is no more!

Symbol and image are inseparable parts of a poem. They are born with the poem, we can say. Poems of the past were so full of symbols and images that Kalapriya, a modern Tamil poet, was driven to the extent of begging for a ‘naked' poem without images or symbols!

Sometimes, the poet makes out of necessity certain unusual collocations and expressions. They create various effects in the minds of the reader and help to further distance poetry from prose. One can think of Brammarajan's expressions like “blind legs”, “dogs of books”, and squeezing the flame” in this way.21

5

The language of poetry differs from that of prose not only with reference to diction, form, inseparability of matter from manner, symbol, image, simile, alliteration and the like but also in another important and subtle way. It is perhaps one of the chief reasons for the existence of the thin line of demarcation between poetry and prose.

The use of language can create two consequences. In one, language destroys itself. If I say, “come” to you, and if you understand what I mean by the word ‘come', then the word dies that moment itself. A word is dead, when it is said, to quote Emily Dickinson. When understanding happens, language become something non-linguistic. To make it more clear, when words are uttered in a conversation, they do not live after making the hearer understand their meaning or meanings. Its form does not survive the meaning. That is, language does not live beyond the point of understanding. As soon a word is uttered and understood, it dies with the satisfaction of having lived meaningfully.

When you nod your head or smile or frown in response to the uttered word of mine, I understand that my words have taken the form of your reactions now. They are no longer words now. They do not exist as words after being uttered. This is the character of the language of prose. It is born to die. The language found in dailies, weeklies, monthlies, annually published magazines and books and the language of short stories, novels, dramas and prosaic poems – all are of this type.

Prose is comparable to human walking. If legs are considered language, and if you are walking from your bedroom to the hall, there is a purpose and destination to your walking. When the purpose is served and destination reached, walking stops. Prose writings confine themselves to a title and they are appreciated as much as they do justice to the title. The merit of a prose piece is to the extent to which the idea is effectively conveyed. Once the idea is conveyed, its job as well as its life is over.

But poetry is language within a language. It is comparable to the dance. We create dance with the same legs which we use for walking, just as we use the same language with which we write prose and poetry. When we use our legs for dancing we give them an extra or secondary use. That is, we order the natural movements of the legs according to certain well-defined rules and create a new use for them; we create dance from that which is created for walking.

In this movement called dance, the legs do not go anywhere. There is no destination to be reached. The beginning is the end and the end, the beginning. It is an inner journey, if that can be described a journey at all. The walking man can create his own rules, conventions and procedure for the dance in tune with his imagination. This way, he can create innumerable dance movements and dance types.22

Poetry or the language of poetry is also like dancing. It is because of this quality that the words in a poem take on new and newer meanings ever widening in its semantic dimensions. Poetry thus explores the possibilities of language. But a poem need not be necessarily so. It all depends on the quality and nature of the poem.

The room looked empty
though in the locked trunk were found
the face created for bread-winning,
the much-beaten and stiffened smile,
the skull of the dead God,
the shirt worn by drawing lots
and the greeting from the one who loved.23

This poem Kaali Arai (Empty Room) by Sukumaran does not seem to me to be highly connotative. But still, it is very good in expressing dejection and depression.

The meaning of prose does not change irrespective of the number of times we read it. This is the nature of prose. And it is to the credit of prose that it does not change its meaning. But with regard to other forms of literature, this prosaic nature will bring down their merit.

Joseph James died at the age of 39, on January 5, 1960, the day next to that of Albert Camus's death in accident.24

Thus begins the novel J.J.Sila Kurippugal (J.J.Some Notes) by Sundara Ramaswamy. Though I have my own doubts regarding the purpose of reference to the death of Albert Camus by accident, this is a plain sentence which does not open many possibilities. Rather, it should not be multi-dimensional.

But all great literature defies not only time and space but also definitions. When language is used by a great creative writer, the boundary lines of forms like poetry and prose do disappear and the qualities of one are superimposed on another.

But we should not forget the difference between verse dramas and poetic plays. Plays with poetic possibilities are very rare in deed. But it has been made possible in short stories and novels. It is said that ten possible meanings have been given to Franz Kafka's novels. Ulysses and Finnagan's Wake of James Joyce are considered epic novels. In fact, they were written in a complex cultural and difficult language which remains a challenge even to poets.

“They were jung and freudened” is a sentence that appears in Finnagan's Wake. It tries to extend the meaning through the sound. It combines the name of the Psychologists Carl Gustav Jung and the sound in the word ‘young' and also makes a verb of the proper name of Freud.

Tamil prose has developed of late. And hence, once in a blue moon one finds a prose piece which goes beyond being prosaic, especially in experimental writings of a few. Putra by La.Sa.Ra, Naveenan Diary of Nakulan are of this type. In the latter novel, a particular sentence is deliberately repeated with changes in the subject like, “Oh friend, have you read Bharathi? Bharathi oh friend, have you read? Read oh friend, have you Bharathi?”25 These sentences attempt to convey a shift in meaning by a shift in the intonation effected by changing the subject.

We have already said that the language of prose is one which destroys itself. Short story, novel, essay and the like are brought under the head of ‘prose' only in that sense. But there are a few prose writings at least which attempt to go beyond the limitations. For example, Pudumaip Pithan employs a variety in his prose.

Of the recent novels, J.J.Sila Kurippugal of Sundara Ramaswamy is a noteworthy one. It has many sentences that are very difficult, if not impossible, to translate. The style of the novel has something of poetry in it. A sample:

J J is in a perennial restlessness. He goes on shaking the bars of the invisible cage that has descended on him. We see only the shaking but not the bars (page 89).26

In the same page, J J says, “Now and then suicides are necessary for me in order to live.” What are these if not poetic!

6

There is every possibility for the line of demarcation to disappear with regard to short story, drama and novel especially. But with essays, this opportunity is rare. But still it is not impossible.

As the true guru will not get angry for anything, it is possible for him to be present in all creations. Every creator, whenever he creates something new, becomes a new guru. The creator is continuously being born refuting guru after guru (page 32).

I have quoted from an article by Atmanaam published in Meetchi, a little magazine in Tamil (Issue 11, July 84), in a clear and simple prose. It shows not only another dimension of Atmanaam the poet but also that of prose. One could feel very intensely that this essay goes beyond the prosaic nature of prose.

When we say that this is a poem or that is an essay, it only means that we are trying to define or confine literature within the criteria set by us and our literary experiences. It is the purpose of this article to bring home the point that when a great literary work refuses to be confined within our criteria, we should be mature enough to appreciate it and be prepared to expand our own boundaries.

End Notes
1 The Contributions of European Scholars to Tamil. ed. K. Meenatchi Sundaram, University of Madras, 1974
2 Ibid.
3English Critical Texts. ed. D.J.Enright and Chickera, OUP, London, 1962.

4 Ibid.
5 The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism. T.S.Eliot, Faber & Faber, 1970.
6 English Critical Texts. ed. D.J.Enright and Chickera, OUP, London, 1962.

7 20th Century Literary Criticism : "A Retrospec" & "Poetry and Abstract Thought." Ed. David Lodge. Orient Longman, London, 1978
8 Ibid.
9 யாரோ ஒருவனுக்காக, பசுவய்யா (Poetry collection by Basuwayya).
10 The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism. T.S.Eliot, Faber & Faber, 1970.

11 English Critical Texts. ed. D.J.Enright and Chickera, OUP, London, 1962.
12 தமிழகம் தந்த மகாகவி, ed. சீனி விசுவநாதன், ஸ்ரீ புவனேஸ்வர் பதிப்பகம், 1978 : “வசன கவிதை”, நா வானமாமலை. (Article by N.Vanamamalai).
13 The Critical Sense, James Reeves, Heinemann, London, 1976.
14 கோட்ஸ்டாண்ட் கவிதைகள், நகுலன், 1981. (Poetry collection by Nakulan).
15 அன்று வேறு கிழமை, ஞானக்கூத்தன் (Poetry collection by Gnana Koothan).
16 ஞாபகச் சிற்பம், பிரம்மராஜன் (Poetry collection by Brammarajan).
17 English Critical Texts. ed. D.J.Enright and Chickera, OUP, London, 1962.

18 ஞாபகச் சிற்பம், பிரம்மராஜன் (Poetry collection by Brammarajan).
19 அன்று வேறு கிழமை, ஞானக்கூத்தன் (Poetry collection by Gnana Koothan).
20 அரும்பு (Arumby, Tamil literary monthly).
21 வலி உணரும் மனிதர்கள், பிரம்மராஜன் (Poetry collection by Brammarajan).
22 20th Century Literary Criticism : "A Retrospec" & "Poetry and Abstract Thought." Ed. David Lodge. Orient Longman, London, 1978.
23 கோடை காலக்குறிப்புகள், சுகுமாரன் (Poetry collection by Sukumaran).
24 ஜே ஜே சில குறிப்புகள், சுந்தர ராமசாமி (Novel by Sundara Ramaswamy).

25 நவீனன் டயரி, நகுலன் (Novel by Nakulan
26 ஜே ஜே சில குறிப்புகள், சுந்தர ராமசாமி (Novel by Sundara Ramaswamy).