Can we wash the unholy from Holi?

What is common to the latest single released by Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Yadav -2017 ke holi ba ufaan par/ Faar da san choli a chadd ja sab machaan par (When the 2017 Holi is at its peak, tear open her blouse and make good your escape to the platform on the tree); the traditional Holi Dhamaar -Biraj mein holi kaise khelungi mein sawariya ke sang, which complains of the way the pichkari is directed, leading to shrinkage of the choli or the perennial Holi favourite Rang Barse from Silsila(1981) where the wive's lover taunts the cuckold husband about making out with her on their flower-laden bed?

Senior sociologist and cultural historian Mukul Joshi laments how the vulgarity unifies these compositions which have gained popularity only because of infamy.“The cries of 'Bura na maano holi hai!' seem more like a blanket anticipatory bail for aggressive, abrasive, bawdy, brash, flippant, lewd and often downright offensive misogyny which masquerades as Holi celebrations,” he says and adds, “Lyrics of the Holi-themed compositions called horis need to be seen from the point of view of culture and social change as the times we live in create a caste, class and gender churn. The festivities around Holi and the music and lyrics centred around it have come to mean a re-assertion of patriarchal values by men who feel threatened by the obvious visibility of resurgent women. The heavy, sexual and erotic content that is almost always an of-by-and-for-the-male-gaze affair make no attempt to mask its directness in titillating and usurping spaces traditionally available to women.”

His thoughts find resonance over 1,500 kms away, off the ghats of the Ganges. Benares gharana maestro and noted exponent of the Kirana gharana (especially the khayal and the 'Purab Ang' – thumri) Pandit Channulal Mishra who demonstrates this with a hori Rang Daarungi Nand Ke Lalan Pe in his inimitable style.

“In this composition, it is Radha who is in command, she dresses Krishna as a woman and plays Holi with him. This is the beauty of our culture which we are losing nowadays.”

Drawing a line

Agreeing with him, Joshi feels it is high time a society a suffering from heightened sexual attacks and harassment of women re-looks at this tradition. “We'll have to stop celebrating forced unwelcome attention on women which is seen as a masculine thing and worse, projected as something women actually want.”

He cites the instance of the popular Nusrat Badr compostion from Devdas (2002) Kaahe chhed, chhed mohe garwa lagaaye?(Why does he harass and hug me against my wish?) / Nanda ko laal aiso dheet (Nanda's son is so outrageous) / Barbas mori laaj leeni (He forced himself on me and took my honour)

His thoughts find echo in the classical vocalist Soma Ghosh who recited a Maya Govind composition to illustrate what she thinks is the perfect Holi nuance: “Nayanan ki pichkari so, mo pe daarat rang bina pichkari(You hit me with the pichkari of your eyes without even using colour) /bheejhi more mannki angiya(It leaves me all wet from within) /mai toh laagi nichoran unbheegi sari(I'm left wringing my still-dry sari).”

Not everyone agrees though. Ritesh Yadav, the Bhojpuri singer whose Faar da san choli a chaadd ja sab machaan par dismisses the criticism as envy of other artistes. “If my songs were not working, audiences would reject me. But that isn't happening, is it?”

Ghosh laments this pursuing of what she calls 'base commercial success' which has left artistes trying to sing the vulgar.

Soma Ghosh

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Soma Ghosh

Addicted, the audiences will keep demanding more. But if we don't draw a line, where will we stop?”

Others like well known Bhojpuri lyricist-poet Suresh Mishra lay the blame for the falling standards on the rapid rise of the internet and tv where everything is out in the open. “In the last two decades the romance of slow seduction and sensuality has been thrown out. When you reduce the plot, visuals, lyrics and music into a in-your-face sexuality what else can you expect? This has done more lasting damage than the 331 years of Mughal rule and 336 years of British rule over this land.”

According to him, it has reached a level where the hypersexualised image of Bhojpuri songs and films has begun to be transfer projected to an entire state and people. “People in the Bhojpuri industry will have to wake up to the very real danger of the prurience and hence disgust that is coming to be attached to the language and the 10-12 crore people from UP, Bihar and Jharkhand who speak it because of the omnipresent vulgarity in the region's music, cinema and tv.”

What about homosexuality?

Leading disciple of the late Kathak guru Pandit Chitresh Das, Seema Mehta who heads Chhandam Nritya Bharati school of Kathak says she finds herself questioning the need for all compositions to express the erotic and sensual from the male point of view. “I've been fascinated by miniature paintings where two gopis are giving each other pleasure. As someone who lived in San Francisco for a long time I've similarly seen very closely intimate homosexual partners. I wonder why their feelings for each other don't find as much expression as that of man for a woman?”

It is not like there are no compositions which don't adhere to the stereotypical gender binary. “Forget equal space. Do they even find space at all?” asks Kolkata based musicologist Meena Banerjee.

Meena Bannerjee,

We've always been a culture that openly celebrated the erotic and the sensual. Unlike Abrahamic faiths which say we are born of sin, the way of life in this subcontinent has insisted we were born out of joyful union. That is what the shiv-linga and yoni depict.”

According to her these depictions were always celebratory and non-exploitative in nature. “The seers of yore felt that this was the time of the year when the season signalled you to yearn for intimacy. The fields are ready with harvest, the mango is in bloom and nature asks you to look for company and togetherness, irrespective of gender and sexuality”

Mythological roots

An attempt to trace roots of the tradition of the male-gaze in Holi music takes us to Vrindavan in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, where Lord Krishna spent his childhood. Here, musician-priest Pandit Mohan Goswami a legatee of the tradition of Swami Haridas (the spiritual poet-musician from early 1500s who had among his disciples, Tansen, the legendary musician in Emperor Akbar's court) explains the link of the tradition of playing colours on Holi with that of the tradition of Radha-Krishna. “Envious of Radha's fair skin since he was himself quite dark, a young Krishna confided in his mother Yashoda, who asked him to colour Radha's face in the colour he wanted. In doing so, Krishna began the tradition of colouring one's beloved, now a part of the tradition of this subcontinent.” He points out how before Gen Zia-ul-Haq took over the reigns in Pakistan, Holi was quite the celebration in Lahore and Karachi too.

Hori which borrows from both folk and classical traditions has since found its way into semi-classical, light and popular forms, including Bollywood, underlines Goswami. “These compositions are mainly based on Radha and Krishna's love pranks. There are some delightful exceptions too. Like the traditional Hori khele Raghuveera Awadh mein which celebrates Holi colour play by Ram and Sita (hit number in Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Baghban), that of Lord Shiva who plays Holi in the crematorium with the ashes, Khele masane mein holi Digambar khele masane mein holi or the Nirgun horis which have a deep philosophical meaning.”

A need for caution

While admitting how downright vulgarity is replacing innocent fun associated with Holi, well-known classical vocalist-musician Shubha Mudgal says that the festival or the music associated with it cannot itself be blamed. “Every catalyst will lead to all kinds of responses. This is true of music related to Holi too,” she says but points out how she is against any bans. 

Shubha Mudgal,

While the erotic and sensual have always been celebrated tastefully by our arts we're now see an era of moralising based on contemporary ideas of the politically correct.”

As someone whose repertoire includes horis (she has also performed at Vrindavan on the occasion of Holi) she explains how the responsibility of decoding nuances and rendering by artistes can make a difference to the perception by audiences. While admitting her discomfort with downright ribald lyrics which use words like 'tharki' performed by young children even as their parents are watching in the audience, she warns, “We've had a Victorian morality imposed on our arts in the past when classical musicians purged all the sensual and sanitised lyrics before singing. We should watch our efforts to weed out the undesirable from our Holi musical compositions so that it doesn't throw out the baby with the bath water.”