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Journalism of Courage
In 1560, in the Tamil town of Seergazhi, a son was born to a family of temple musicians. It was a resonant old year in history: Akbar had literally thrown off his regent, Bairam Khan, and assumed full power; the Roman Catholic church was overthrown and the Protestant faith established in Scotland as the national religion. John Knox8217;s macho 8216;Scot Confession8217; began: 8220;We confess and acknowledge one God alone, to whom alone we must cleave, whom alone we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom alone we put our trust.8221; It spurned 8220;idolatry8221; and decreed a straight and narrow path to the One. That very year, the first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands and Jean Nicot introduced tobacco as snuff to the French court. Meanwhile the family of the Isai Velala, makers and players of musical instruments for Hindu temples, chose to call their son 8216;Taandavar8217; he who dances after Nataraja, the deity of nearby Chidambaram.
But Taandavar proved a sickly child with severe skin infection. His only friend was a musical neighbour called Shivabhagyam, who sang to him daily of Shiva, though everyone protested. His own family turned him out because his disease had made him so loathsome. Taandavar subsisted on the local temple8217;s prasad, growing sicker by the day.
Off went Mutthu Taandavar to the Kanaka Sabha 8216;Golden Halls8217;, an euphemism for Chidambaram. His first song began with the words, 8220;Bhuloka Kailayagiri Chidambaram8221; and five gold pieces apparently appeared at Nataraja8217;s feet. Many songs followed and once, the river Kollidam even parted while in spate to let Taandavar cross to the temple. One day, to his confusion, not a word was spoken in the temple. Taandavar could hear only his own desperate heart beat. He cried aloud, 8220;Pesaade nenjamey!8221; Speak not, my mind and so composed the day8217;s song: his dependence on others was over. One day, in 1640, they say, a great light appeared in Nataraja8217;s sanctum and 80-year-old Mutthu Taandavar was absorbed into it. Aptly, it was the day of the star 8216;Poosham8217;, the very time Nataraja first danced his Ananda Tandava at Chidambaram.
