Thumri - A Discussion of Female Voice

'Ṭhumrī': A Discussion of the Female Voice of Hindustani Music
Author(s): Lalita Du Perron

Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Feb., 2002), pp. 173-193
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Modern Asian Studies 36, 1 (2002), pp. 173-193. ? 2002 Cambridge University Press
Printed in the United Kingdom
'Thumrf': A Discussion of the Female Voice of

Hindustani Music
LALITA DU PERRON
Can we find different levels of meaning in the te

voice'? From a straightforwardly narratological pers
voice indicates that the narrator in the art form under discussion is
a woman. Could it also suggest a female perspective, and is a female
perspective distinguishable from female narration: do we assume the
former is built on language that is feminized, using a different
vocabulary and a different expression? Does it matter whether a
female voice is created by men or by women? When a woman creates
art that has a female narrator, and yet through that narrator
expresses woman's experience as constructed by an overarching pat-
riarchal ideology, is the voice nevertheless female? Is the voice of a
genre contingent upon its real-life audience, or upon the implied
audience within the narrative itself? These are some of the issues
that I want to tease out in the present paper. As is often the case i
academic enquiry, more questions may be raised than answered. A
this juncture it is my aim to establish a dialogue between the stud
of text and the study of performance, not only to add to a well-
established discussion of how text is used in performance but to
incorporate into that existing discourse the relevance of the contex
tual dimension.
At first glance, the north Indian (Hindustani) musical genre thumrf
provides the perfect material for a discussion of the female voice in
Indian art. Not only are the texts of this genre almost always spoken
by a first-person female narrator, they are also characterized by an
emphasis on emotional expression that is largely absent from the
other main genres. This is probably why thumrr is often considered
the quintessential female genre of Indian art music. The gendering
of a genre is likely to reflect societal preconceptions and prejudices
as to what constitutes masculinity and femininity, incorporating a
hierarchical perspective.' The two main genres of Hindustani music
Kathryn Hansen (1993) discusses the ramifications of the female gendering of

the theatre form nautanzk.
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173
174 LALITA DU PERRON
are dhrupad and khyal; in a gendered d

these two genres, dhrupad tends to be c
whereas khydl may be cloaked in a feminin
taposed to dhrupad's austerity. When discu
perceived femininity, however, khydl can
line and serious role. Dhrupad's masculin
in its solemnity, augmented by the fact th
traditionally been male. Even today t
established female performers of the genre
have been 'invented' or at least populari
singer Niyamat Khan 'Sadarafig' in the e
has been performed by men and women
light and imaginative2 relief from dhrupad
now the most popular genre in Hindusta
what marginalized in the hierarchy of genr
fied as 'light-classical'. Although the reaso
such a category are primarily musicolog
will be instructive. First of all, in the a
definition of the term there is no agreeme
tute the parameters of light-classicality. In
often cited are its somewhat loose adhere
(musical mode), its use of rdgs which are
thus characterized by a certain fluidity,
(rhythms) which suggest a folk proven
meaning of the lyrics as opposed to the
which to hang a display of musical excel
and emotional expression of the lyrics,
approach to musical grammar, the ass
musical and textual emotionalism, roman
these components conspire to create an a
that not every artist or patron may be able
but which is nevertheless pervasive. Fur
thumrf's traditional performers were song
enhances both the femininity and the m
It is an oft-invoked and undoubtedly acc
riarchal discourse the 'other' will usually
inine'-not necessarily with negative co
nonetheless. Vidya Rao, a music schola
written on thumrf from a feminist ang
2 The name of the genre, meaning 'imagination, f
THE FEMALE VOICE OF HINDUSTANI MUSIC 175
femininity. In her article eThumrf as feminine voice' (1

posits that thumrf can indeed be constructed as the feminine
dustani music, but not, as one would perhaps assume,
attractiveness and charm nor its emotionalism, and not ev
to its female narration, but because-musically-thumrf e
boundaries within a limited space in the same way th
argues, women learn to assert their identities within th
parameters set by patriarchal ideology: 'Because it so rel
questions the established order (...) I see thumri as deeply
ive' (Rao 1990: 32).
Rao argues that thumrr's supposedly female attributes ar
evant in a discussion of the genre's feminine voice, as thumr
ally composed by men and may be, and nowadays often is
men; she also proposes that as nobody could reasonably a
women have a monopoly on sweetness and charm, these q
thumrf cannot be considered inherently 'feminine'. Furtherm
female longing and desire expressed in thumrf are constr
patriarchal framework, and therefore do not contribu
femaleness of the genre. Although Rao argues her cas
raises many instructive points, her appraisal of thumrt's
voice is ideologically slanted: whatever the correct assessm
genre should be, evidence clearly indicates that thumrf's
feminine traits are very much located in its romantic m
female narration. From a musical perspective, the space
the limits of the melodic scale which is allowed and even e
in thumrf is not commonly perceived as an empowering q
rather as more evidence of the genre's femaleness: it lacks
and order, and so is always in danger of being 'out of co
quintessentially feminine attribute in patriarchal ideology
In teasing out the various components of the supposedly
nature of thumrf, the issue of perception is salient: what
should be, and what was are to be considered alongside tha
perceived. Perceptions are not easily documented, and in t
paper I primarily rely on information gleaned from scholarly
and interviews with musicians. This paper aims to discuss the
levels of thumrr's female voice as follows. First I will give a
general overview of the historical background of thumrf, loc
genre narrowly in its own performance environment, a
broadly, in the context of the arts in North India in the
teenth and early twentieth centuries. I will then proceed
the two categories of thumrT and present examples of bot
text, locating them once again in their own perform
exploring their female voice. How are love and de
whom and for whom? Who do we hear in the voice of the female
speaker? Where should we have pitched ourselves 150 years ago
and where can we pitch ourselves now? In this discussion I draw on
conversations I have had with musicians in India during the course
of my fieldwork. The question of the female voice and corresponding
issues of empowerment were particularly relevant in my encounter
with female musicians. Indeed, it was my experience that my ques
tions found most fertile ground in the milieu of educated, middle
class female singers who had some familiarity with feminist theory
and who were able to articulate their thoughts and feelings on suc
issues. I found that hereditary vocalists, usually uneducated though
by no means inarticulate, were less able to step outside their identity
as musicians and were so less able to incorporate the idea that the
female protagonists of thumrr might have been considered represent-
ative of larger women's issues.
Not much is known about the poets of thumrf; they infrequently used
chaps (signatures) in their poetry, and even when they did, it is unclea
who these pen-names refer to. Some of the earlier known poets o
thumrf are still famous today. Lalan Piya is known for excessive use of
alliteration and other poetic devices; he is also credited with having
composed thumrfs in Sanskrit, even though such items are unlikely to
ever have been performed. Kadar Piya has been identified with Wajid
Ali Shah by Abdul Halim Sharar (1994: 137), although Peter Manuel
claims him to have been the grandson of navab Nasiruddin Haidar
(1989: 68), while Chander Shekhar Pant identifies him as Wazir Mirz
from Lucknow, who lived from 1836 to 1902 (1973: 16). We know for
certain that Wajid Ali Shah did indeed write thumrTs using the pen
name Akhtar or Akhtar Piya. Kfivar Syam has been identified by
Manuel (1989: 69) as Gosvami Shrilalji, a sitarist and thumri compose
who lived in Delhi at the end of the nineteenth century, although
sarahgr and sursagar player Mohammad Ali Khan of Delhi claims that
that pen-name was used by his uncle, the sdrahzg virtuoso Bundu Khan
(1881-1955).' A third version, recounted by Batuk Dewanji in
Mumbai, identifies Kfivar Syam as Lalji Maharaj from Jaipur, the
mahant of a temple. The singer and harmonium-player Bhaya Saheb
Ganpat Rao (1852-1920) was the son of the Maharaja of Gwalior and
3 I obtained this information from Nicolas Magriel. Personal communication

Delhi,June 1997-
a tavayaf, who trained him in dhrupad and khyal;4 he went o

thumrf from Sadiq Ali Khan and Khurshid Ali Khan in Luckn
wrote thumrf compositions using the pen name Sughar P
recurring names are Sanad Piya, Madho Piya, Cad Piya and Ra
but little or no information is available as to the identities of these
authors, and, as the above discussion regarding the identity of Kada
Piya and Kfivar Syam indicates, even the limited information available
is not necessarily conclusive. In the final analysis, then, we know very
little of the composers of thumrf, although Manuel's observation that
they were likely to have been musicians first, and only secondarily
poets, is probably valid in view of thumrf's primary status as a musica
genre. What evidence we do have regarding thumrf composers' identit-
ies further substantiates Manuel's premise. Although there is no
intrinsic reason why women should not have composed thumrf, we have
no particular record of this apart from some written texts byAlam, wh
is said to have been one of Wajid Ali Shah's wives, and the infrequent
suggestion that certain thumrTs may have been composed by the famou
GauharJan.5 Whereas some contemporary female composers, such a
Neela Bhagwat in Mumbai,6 write thumrf from a female/feminist angle
previous female composers, assuming that they did exist, did not leave
any distinguishing marks by which to identify their work.
Thumrz is not an ancient form. Its origin and development can be
traced back to a confluence of folk and art music in the eighteenth
century, although its antecedents have been traced to the time of
the Natya Sastra.7 Thumrf flourished in the middle of the nineteenth
century, when the aristocracy of Lucknow favoured it over the more
serious offerings of dhrupad and khyal. The enthusiastic patronage of
the last navab of Avadh, Wajid Ali Shah (who ruled from 1846 to
1856, when he was exiled to Matiya Burj in Calcutta by the British)
was such that he has even been accredited with having invented the
form. Although historical evidence demonstrates that thumrf existed
before Wajid Ali Shah's rule, he did write many thumrf compositions
and was influential in assuring thumrf's prominence in nineteenth
century musical history.
4 Susheela Misra, 1990: 244.

Gauhar Jan, who was of Armenian-Jewish descent and based in Calcutta, is one
of the most famous courtesans from the beginning of the twentieth century; he
fame is probably largely due to the fact that she was one of the first tavayafs to b
recorded, and it has been augmented by her exotic origins.
6 A discussion of one of Neela Bhagwat's thumris is included in Du Perron 2000
7 The date of the Natya Sdstra is generally located somewhere between 300oo B.C
and A.D. 200.
Following the exile of Wajid Ali Shah and the s
idation of colonial rule, changes in patronage str
indigenous attitudes to dance performance resu
decline of the courtesan tradition. Thumri as a danc
performance lost currency, and as courtesan per
be based in private salons, a new style of thumr
slower and which placed much greater emph
expression, emerged and eventually became the
form of thumrt. Indeed, in contemporary discourse
refers to this latter form unless specifically stat
form of thumrf is called bol bandy thumrf, as the
bandnd (using phrases extracted from the tex
melodic improvisation). Short phrases are repeated
a view to emphasizing a different shade of emot
each repetition. It therefore follows that in this for
texts ideally have strong emotional qualities, prov
ample scope for melodic elaborations.
The older form of thumrf is called bandi& (kH) thumr
name suggests, the compositions tend to be 'bou
space for melodic elaborations, and improvisatio
rhythmic, suitable to dance. The texts are us
nature, providing the framework for the story-t
formance. The connection of bandis( thumrf with d
lematic when dance itself, in particular in the co
performance, came to be seen as debauched; the g
in this direction culminated in the establishment of the Anti-Nautch
Campaign at the end of the nineteenth century." Bol bandyv thumrf

emerged in a climate which supported the reconstruction of the arts
to confirm the notion of the 'great Indian cultural heritage', a move-
ment cultivated by reformists and educationists such as Hariscandra
'Bhartendu'. In the private space of the mujra, the courtesan per-
formed thumrf with the appropriate emphasis on emotional expres-
sion, voicing the heroine's longing for her lover as she charmed and
enticed her male audience; in the public sphere of music festivals
and recordings-both still in their infancy in the first decades of the
twentieth century)-thumrf was performed by increasingly well-known
male singers who were inspired by its emotional scope, and by women
who insisted on being known on concert announcements and record
labels as 'amateurs', i.e. not 'professional women'. Whereas the
" Sundar 1995: 245.
desire expressed by thumrf's lyrical heroine could readily

by the tavayaf in relationship to her prospective clients,
desire easily lent itself to a devotional interpretation when
text demanded it. The distinction between eroticism and devotion in
North Indian art is traditionally and famously indeterminate, and
thumrT's ambiguous position was therefore easily incorporated into
the existing framework. We shall return to this point shortly.
Let us start with illustrations of both types of thumrf. Bandid thumrf
texts usually have between four and eight lines, rely on clusters of
short vowels to provide a certain syncopated lilt, and often include a
rhetorical question which I see as a device aimed at establishing a
level of mental interaction with the patrons, who are invited to
engage with the heroine's dilemma.
How can I go, Shyam blocks the way.

Forcefully he grabs my hand,
and steals kisses from my face.
Shyam steals my modesty, look, in the middle of the market-place.
How can I speak of this constant battle, 'Binda'?
I will not stay, I will leave your town, Shyam.
In this text, the heroine is implied to be a milkmaid in Braj, sub-

jected to the shenanigans of Krishna which were eloquently and
probably most famously described by the sixteenth-century poet
Stirdas in his dan-lfla ('the play of toll'), but which probably date back
to Tamil sources. The Tamil epic Cilappatikdram, composed between
the fourth and sixth centuries A.D., includes the story of Krishna
stealing the gopis' clothes, a theme that became extremely
popular in North Indian culture.' This Tamil work may be one of the
earliest written instances of the theme of Krishna as trouble-
maker. The motif of a badly-behaved child-god (who may at ti
be subject to excessive infantilization by the commentators in
effort to explain away the moral problem posed by a manhand
divinity) is also familiar from the folk genre hort in which Krish
9 Hawley 1983: 36.
180 LALITA I)U PERRON
pranks are centered around the throw

the spring festival holf. In discussions
that in spite of the anger and desperat
descriptions of Krishna's behaviour and
surroundings behind in order to escap
others of this type, was considered by
about 'Radha expressing love for Kr
another interpretation might be consid
woman was begging to be treated with r
ment. Most people I spoke to located th
idiom, thereby side-stepping the rules th
situations. Some were quite happy to
wordly angle but nevertheless identifie
coy. The explanation would be that as
sexes is actively discouraged, the only op
to interact is through this type of teasin
to be that no attention is infinitely w
that a teasing and harassing male at lea
tion with the opposite sex.
Love and desire in this text, then, are
and culturally understood medium of dis
harassment which is in actual fact an exp
for the Western researcher to come to te
what appears to be mere female harass
average school-girl subjected to the 'eve
a bus in Delhi is neither perceiving th
intending her outrage (if shown) to be ta
sona in this text is therefore voicing sen
in a certain poetic and cultural idiom. We
text in its time: the presence of the nam
of Lucknow, 1838-1918) suggests that t
years old, when the more widespread p
resulted in different attitudes to the behaviour described. Within the
context of performance, the expression of anger and despair coupled
with latent desire and perhaps encouragement must have been excit-
ing to behold. The fact that the majority of bandid thumrf texts dwell on
this theme indicates that it certainly was a popular motif.
Is the nayika of this type of thumrf a passive victim of cruel behaviour,
or an active participator in the events described? Her sexuality may be
objectified in that she is being touched in a way that she describes as
being unwanted, but if the suggestion is that she is in a playful way
encouraging the man's attention then she is also objectifying

of behaviour. In the context of courtesan performance, th
ment of the tension between passivity and assertiveness impl
nayika receives an added dimension in that the playfulness of
heroine can be teased out by the tavayaf, who can further ex
various layers of the narrative by leaving it entirely am
whether she is addressing Krishna or her patron.
A feature of many thumrf texts is that the mode of addre
between addressees. Within the one text a number of peop
addressed, usually the male protagonist and the heroine's
friend. Sometimes the lyrical heroine appears to be addre
audience of the thumrf rather than a character from within the text.
This feature is particularly useful in dance performances, in which
the dancer can act out the various narrative modes. When a text
does not clearly state its mode of address by including a pronoun li
tum ('you') or a vocative such as sakhf ('friend'), it can be unc
whom is actually being addressed. Such ambiguity can then
exploited in the dance performance. Due to this connection wi
narrative dance the feature is more frequent in bandid thumr
although it regularly occurs in bol banav thumrf as well.
- ~it N C, tt titt Tt I I
fmTR i ? t r iT7 Ak
td T q f t II
Kanha, I am fed up with you, let go of my sari.

Listen, sir, Bihari, I will abuse you.
Night and day he harasses me, he won't let me go
on the road to the water-well, friend.
Let go, sir, let go, sir, don't lift up the cloth of my veil!
'Binda', listen, he doesn't care, and all the women watch.
This text initially addresses Krishna by including his name (kdnhd) and
the second-person pronoun tose ('with you') in the first line, and an
imperative suno ('listen') followed by his name (bihdrf) in the second
line. The third line is ambiguous in terms of who is being addressed,
but the fourth line includes the clarifying words sakhT rf ('hey friend').
Line 5 is clearly addressed to Krishna once again (choroji, 'let go sir'),
whereas the last line addresses 'Binda' (the poet), describing Krishna's
actions. The mode of address thus shifts from Krishna to the heroine's
friend back to Krishna and then to Binda, the poet. In our present dis-
cussion it confirms the multi-layered issue

the narrative position of thumrf, whose
included male poets, female performers and
needs to factor in a variety of narrative rec
that in its original context the actual audien
been predominantly male, the addressees of
vary even within a single narrative.
Re-addressing the question of the ndyikd's
further demonstrates the complexity of
the one hand she is speaking forcefully,
threatening to give as good as she gets. A
imagined that the Krishna described in th
than happy to be on the receiving end of th
abuse') as it would give him the satisfact
had been effective. The sexual power implici
garf ('I will abuse you') has considerable fo
certainly have had great potency in the la
the last line of the text suggests that the
the face of Krishna's behaviour and that
to be shamed by her peers, the mere fact
singled out for Krishna's attention helps h
An inversion of the passive-active dichotom
of the newer form, bol bandv thumrf. In thi
monly have four lines, and contain a much
tional expression than on narrative. The t
of a particular situation, more often than
ine's lovelorn state in the absence of her
text is the following.
,3i T -,WT M -Ci -am 7q, II
Your eyes are full of charm.

Come, dark one, come and I'll embrac
No peace in the day, no sleep at nigh
to whom can I say what's in my heart
Your eyes are full of charm.
In this text the ndyika expresses uninhibite

ment of control. However, the fulfilment
dependent on her lover, whose absence r
paralysis. She may assert that she will embrace her lover when he
comes, thus suggesting that she is making his arrival a desirable
proposition for him, yet it is quite evident that he will visit if and
when he is ready, and not when she wants him to.
The multi-layered position of thumrf's audience is also crucial to
this text. Although we find no shifting mode of address within the
narrative, there certainly is ambivalence as to whom is actually being
addressed. From a secular perspective, the lovelorn heroine is voicing
the desire to see her lover; from a devotional angle, Radha is missing
Krishna. There is no doubt that the ambiguity between wordly and
religious moods has pervaded most viraha-poetry, including thumrf,
and the tension between those two moods can be considered an
inherent component of the genre. In addition, the songstr
courtesan performing the text would have expressed (feigned
real) desire for her patron or a prospective client, and capitalize
the tantalising tension provided by the ambiguity of the lyrics.
The tension between the secular and the devotional is a comp
ent of many thumrfs, although not all express it in similar fashio
the following text the ndyikd forcefully asserts her power, yet
does so in such a way that she immediately reduces the force of
words.
Go lover, don't speak to me.

You're always going to my rival's house, you dandy.
The way you behave really doesn't please me.
You're just a philanderer, and a dandy.
In addition to the familiar situation in which the heroine spe

harshly to her mate who will nevertheless do as he pleases, leav
her to pine for him, there is an important reference in this text:
saut, the woman's co-wife or rival, with whom the lover is often s
to be spending his time away from the speaker. The presence
co-wife renders the heroine's predicament even more pathetic
her husband has an alternative companion available to him and
heroine is therefore unlikely to encourage his departure. As with t
harassment-themed bandid thumrf discussed earlier, the people
whom I explored the ramifications of this particular text were ada
ant that the anger displayed by the ndyika has to be subsumed in t
category of man, 'feigned pride or arrogance'. The poin
that it is feigned, it is a strategically-motivated reacti
a heartfelt expression of emotion. The presence of man
effect: on the one hand it provides a further link with
of Krishna and especially Radha, arguably the arch
whereas on the other hand the image of the woman tea
acknowledges thumrr's function as an entertainmen
subtext of exciting men.
The nayika of the viraha-themed thumrf is more ass
hassled cousin in bandis thumrf in that she actively st
However, the lovesick heroine is entirely defined by
he is absent she pines for him; when he is present s
him not to leave her. His absence is blamed on her
weather; when he does not return she may act hurt
the underlying current of willingness to please him
ponding feigning of anger are in this form even les
bandis( thumrf. Although the thumrt ndyikd appears to
her own sexuality she is ultimately reduced to lame
there is no suggestion that she will take any further
threats of revenge or self-empowerment ring rather h
Thumrf's first-person female perspective is someti
to the Urdu gazal, which has a male narrator/protagon
ence of a male first-person narrator in the Urdu gaz
back to precedents existing in Arabic and Persian litera
the precedent is likely to be located in devotional v
there is a long-standing tradition of the lyrical her
the pain of separation from her lover, as well as th
Radha in the Gitagovinda voices such sentiments," an
in later Braj Bhasa verse the poet-saint Miraba desc
of separation in imagery similar to that which w
thumrf,12 echoed also by the poet Rahim whose
expresses the same feelings.'3 The convention of th
10 e.g. Manuel 1989: 18.

" For instance, in the sixth verse of the thirteenth song: 'The s
torments my loneliness-Some other girl now enjoys Hari's favo
for refuge here? My friend's advice deceives me' (Stoler Miller
12 'darasa bina dAkhana Idgai naina; jaba ke tuma bichure prabhu m
caina': 'Without a vision of you my eves have begun suffering;
lord, I have found no comfort' (Snell 1991: 106-7).
13 'bina dekhd kala nnhina, yaha akhiyzana, pala pala katata kalapa
out seeing him there is no repose for these eyes; each and every
an age, O friend' (Snell 1991: 126-7).
female speaker is also found in (and perhaps based on?) folk song
and literature, most notably the viraha-bdrahmasa tradition in which
a female speaker laments the absence of her mate against the back-
drop of the changing seasons. Although this genre has its provenance
in the folk tradition, it has been a popular part of Indo-Aryan literat-
ures from the fourteenth century onwards (Vaudeville 1986: 32).
Vaudeville suggests that many instances of the folk variety of bdrah-
masa songs are likely to have been composed by women, but the more
literary exemplars were (and continue to be) probably written by
men who followed the custom of inserting their name in the last line
of the poem (op. cit.: x).
The first-person narration of thumrf is usually clarified by the use
of first-person pronouns ('I', or 'mine'). The verb-forms used in thumrf
rarely indicate the gender of the speaker; however, in almost all
instances the gender of the speaker is clarified by the narrative. In
the majority of texts, the person addressed or referred to by the
narrator is Krishna or an unnamed lover; as the narrative is usually
located in a romantic idiom, the feminine gender of the speaker may
be assumed. Similarly, when the text addresses the flute, asking, for
instance, 'why are you full of pride?', tradition dictates that the
speaker is likely to be a jealous milkmaid in Braj. There are some
texts, however, that are neither unambiguously situated within the
Krishna-tradition, nor set in a romantic context. Such texts may cla-
rify the gender of the speaker through its vocabulary, for instance
when she refers to her nanadiya 'husband's sister'. Mention of the
speaker's naihara, 'mother's house', also clearly indicates that the
speaker is female, as this word is used by women to differentiate
between their birth-place (Modern Standard Hindi: mdykd) and their
marital home (MSH: sasurdl). We find that on those rare occasions
when the texts have a third-person perspective it is usually unclear
whether the narrator is male or female, and engaged in the narrative
or not. Such texts tend to be more descriptive than other thumrf texts
and set in a more explicitly Krishnaite framework. They are not
representative of the thumrf genre in terms of their narrative voice
or the details of their content.
What, then, are the implications of the narrative position of thumrf,

especially considering the genre's traditional role as a performance
vehicle for songstress-courtesans?
In the pre-modern era, most courtesans sang a variety of genres,
primarily gazal, thumri, and other 'light-classical' forms. However,
thumrf stands out today as being the genre most clearly associated
186 IALITA DU PERRON
with courtesan life, an association which has affected
tion of the genre within the hierarchy of the Hindust
as well its actual development in both musical and
the light of the present discussion of the narrative vo
we may postulate that one of the reasons that thumrf
ered the courtesan's genre par excellence is related
presence of a female speaker in its lyrics. Wherea
tance itself from the courtesan tradition by virtue
spective and its independent role as poetry outside
text, thumrf had 'performance' as well as 'femalene
basic structure, and could not escape the stigma th
attached to women performers.
Thumrf does not of course have a monopoly on fema
devotional poetry the female voice is extremely co
like Mirabai are sometimes considered to have had
not having to imagine themselves to be female in orde
devotional poetry. However, there are few genres w
thumrf's, are almost exclusively written from a fe
the aforementioned bdrahmasa is one such genre, an
ence suggests that its lyrical form has on occasion bee
tesan performance, its inclusion was certainly not t
masa also has a strong identity as a folk genre wh
diluted any association with feudal life. The female voice of thumrf is
often explained in the same terms as the female voice of bhajans: as
metaphor for the longing of the soul for union with the divine. Such
an explanation suggests that thumrf is devotionally motivated like the
bhajan, a view which some contemporary performers and patrons
would like to propagate; although secular and religious sentiments
invariably overlap, the predominantly secular context of thumrf
cannot be disregarded. Moreover, a salient distinguishing feature of
the bhajan vis-a-vis thumrf, and one it has in common with the gazal,
is that it has a life as poetry in its own right, whereas thumrf achieves
its full identity only in a musical context. A further significant attrib-
ute of bhajans is that they are usually associated with famous poet-
saints like Kabir, Mirabai and Sardas, whereas the thumrf authors-
whose names do not necessarily appear in the lyrics-use pseud-
onyms which commonly include the distinctive marker piy&, 'lover'.
The typical viraha-themed thumrf text sits quite comfortably along-
side the devotional poems of Mirabai, who passionately describes her
torment in the search for union with her lord. Mira, however, is in
common lore defined by her rejection of patriarchal values and soci-
ety: abandoning the trappings of worldly life and leaving behind a
family-in-law out to silence her, she travels as a mendicant and sings
the praises of Krishna. Much of what is believed about MIra is
unlikely to have a firm historical basis; much poetry bearing Mira's
name has undoubtedly been written by others, presumably male as
well as female. In their writings they adhered to a certain 'Mira-
idiom', drawing on the lore surrounding the poetess's life. In the
poetry of Mirabai we find the female voice is indeed characterized
by empowerment: even when she pleads with Krishna that she
cannot live without him we know that the poetess has in fact taken
control of her own destiny. The voice of the nayika is to some extent
reified by what is known about the person behind the voice. Fact and
fiction cannot be separated out entirely.
The identification of performer and nayikd has weakened since
thumrf stopped being the sole domain of courtesans, yet, as we shall
see, the lyrics have at times been adapted to facilitate thumrf's move
onto the modern concert stage. The first step towards the genre's
acceptance in a classical canon was arguably made when male
singers began performing it in public around the beginning of the
twentieth century. Some well-known names that were partly respons-
ible for the genre's move towards respectability (even though many
of the early male singers of thumrf were generally sons and certainly
students of courtesans themselves) are the above-mentioned Bhaya
Saheb Ganpat Rao, who composed thumrfs as Sughar Piya, his student
Mauzuddin Khan and Girja Shankar Chakravarty. Some very famous
khyal singers were also known for singing thumrf: Abdul Karim Khan,
Faiyaz Khan, and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan were probably the most
influential. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's brother Barkat Ali Khan is
widely recognized as having been the greatest exponent of the
jabi style of thumrf. It is recollected that audiences on occa
erupted in laughter when a male thumrf singer sang of the pan
separation without the (male) lover; such anecdotes underline
identification of the performer with the female voice of thumrf.14
this reason some male singers may try to restrict their thumrf re
toire to third-person narratives, or those in which the narrative se
ting is ambiguous. However, the identification of singer and her
is much less obvious in a modern context, and many contempor
male performers may not consider the feminine narrative voic
14 Such stories were told to me by Batuk Dewanji, connoisseur and patr

music, in Mumbai,January 1997.
thumrf particularly problematic. The sin

instance, sang many thumrfs which conf
person speaker.
The most radical change facing Indian a
century was the replacement of feudal w
The two men considered most responsib
Hindustani music among the middle cl
Bhatkande (1860-1936) and Vishnu D
1931). Bhatkande is most famous for his six
Sahgrt Paddhati (1925), a comprehensive l
notation of most of the rags which were cu
also the driving force behind the establis
tions, most notably the Marris College o
is now called the Bhatkande College of
lawyer by profession, and espoused a sci
an often-levelled criticism in that he is not considered to have had
any real practical knowledge of music. Paluskar on the other hand
came from a hariddsf family of religious poets and singers; he himself
became an accomplished classical vocalist. His interest in drawing
up the rules of each rag as it was performed at the time, as opposed
to following ancient written models, led to the establishment of
numerous music colleges called Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, the first
of which was opened in Lahore in 1901.16 The very act of establishing
formal training institutions, in which theoretically any member of
the public could enrol and learn about classical music, was nothing
short of revolutionary: teaching classical music had up until then
been the sole privilege of hereditary musicians in a formal teacher-
disciple relationship (guru-&isya in the Hindu tradition, or its Muslim
equivalent ustad-aigird).
By far the biggest patron of classical musicians is the government-
controlled All India Radio (AIR), which actually began life as a com-
mercial station in 1927, but was soon thereafter taken over by the
state." Former AIR administrator K. S. Mullick (quoted in Neuman
1980: 172) recalls how in the early days of the station most per-
formers were recruited from the courtesan class, as the great male
vocalists were not prepared to have their music broadcast to an
anonymous audience, and amateurs did not perform in public. The
ensuing reputation of the radio station as employer of dancing girls
15 This process has been described by Joan Erdman (1985)
16 Discussions of both Bhatkande's and Paluskar's lif

Deodhar 1993, PP. 38-50 and pp. 133-45 respectively.
"17 Neuman 1980: 172.
did nothing to improve its position with either professional or ama-
teur musicians. Consequently Sardar Patel, the then Minister for
Broadcasting, after Independence introduced a ban on performers
'whose private life is a public scandal'. Art music gradually moved
out of the well-guarded world of hereditary musicians. The dissem-
ination and promotion of classical music was not restricted to train-
ing institutions; alongside the establishment of music colleges came
the inception of music festivals which allowed music to spread to a
larger public, thereby further neutralizing some of its inaccessibility
and elusiveness. Nowadays the Hindustani music world is dominated
by the bourgeoisie: not only are the middle-classes the main patrons
of art music, many well-established performers no longer come from
traditional musical families. The credibility of non-hereditary musi-
cians can be enhanced if they have ancestors who patronized the
arts, as through them a crucial link with the past can be established,
providing much-esteemed continuity.
If the nayika of thumrf is to some extent identified with the per-
former on stage, then it follows that a different mode of interpreta-
tion has to be found when the musician is a married middle-class
woman, performing for a largely middle-class audience. The
loosening of the relationship between performer and protagonist
part of a much larger process in which the contextual meaning
thumrf has shifted. The experience of an art form as relevant to one'
life or identity is a fundamental part of its appreciation; if an ar
form is entirely unfamiliar or inaccessible, we may appreciate it ae
thetically, from a distance, but are unlikely to engage with it o
derive meaning from it. The narrative voice of thumrf is allocate
meaning by performer and audience alike; the identity of the woman
whose voice is heard in the lyrics of thumrf is constructed not on
through the words of the songs, but also through commonly-he
perceptions of the overall milieu in which the genre is situated.
Whereas the first-person female narrative voice of thumrf is a co
stant, the interpretation of what this voice represents is affected by
contextual association. In the course of the twentieth century thumrf
has moved from being a courtesan's genre to being performed b
middle-class 'respectable' women and men alike, and so the ident
fication of the female voice with the performer has weakened.
The process whereby the tension between secular and devotion
moods which is inherent in thumrf texts as well as most viraha poetr
is 'disambiguated','8 and forced into a one-interpretation-only mould,
18 A term borrowed from semantics.
190 IALITA DU PERRON
is clearly demonstrated by examples o

During the course of my fieldwork I cam
jani chuvo ('do not touch my arms') in a t
class married singer in Benares; this
lished collection of early thumrfs as bal
my ripening breasts'). The effect of e
the overall mood of the song is quite
'arms' for 'breasts' clearly reduces t
Krishna's behaviour. A further example
riya ('[my] bed is empty') being altered
empty'). The result of this change is t
text-in which one woman suffers the loneliness of an absent lover-
is replaced with a much more general sense that the whole town is
missing the hero-thereby also consolidating the devotional element
as the implication would seem to be that the man in question is
Krishna, and the town Brindaban.
As the importance and relevance of 'mood' has decreased as art
music has made its way from the courts and salons onto the
modern stage, the atmospheric meaning of thumrf has been over-
shadowed by attention to vocal acrobatics, voice quality, and other
signifiers of expertise that are not necessarily relevant to thumrt.
The conspicuous romanticism of thumrf does not carry the same
meaning when expressed on a raised stage through a tangle of
wires and microphones as it would have done in the very intimate
surroundings of the courtesan's salon. In the public and impersonal
environment of the modern concert hall, the most viable inter-
pretation of thumrf's romantic lyrics is on an impersonal level:
rather than expressing the devotion and desire of one woman for
one man, thumrf is perceived as articulating the love of the female
devotee for her god-albeit in a romantic idiom. In this interpreta-
tion, both performer and audience can be meaningfully located in
relation to the texts; there is no sense of 'other', as performer
and audience share the sentiments expressed in the text. As A.
K. Ramanujan has pointed out, 'an especially arresting aspect of
the bhakti milieu ... is the extent to which bhakti itself appears
as "feminine" in nature (...). The chief mood of bhakti is the
erotic (Yrhgara), seen almost entirely from an Indian woman's point
of view, whether in its phase of separation or union' (Ramanujan
1982: 316). Thumrf-feminine, erotic, and, indeed, seen almost
entirely from an Indian woman's point of view-is thus provided
with an ideal model for its modern identity.
This construct of thumrf's identity is at variance with

ical but contentious role as a courtesans' genre. The com
of women performing for men, central to thumrf's iden
so readily evoked by the genre that the importance
thumrf's relocation in a devotional idiom cannot be over
From the perspective of the modern audience, there
question as to thumrf's intrinsic devotional qualities,
their absence thumrf is too far removed from middle-
to have meaning appropriate to its context. That is
that contemporary male audiences are not tantalise
woman-performer on stage, but the devotional inter
allows a public face to be put on something which is an
in modern middle-class culture: women expressing
public and consequently, passion being stirred by a w
forming for men. The construct of thumrr's modern ident
not just encouraged by moral conservatism or (politically
motivated) sanitization and sanskritization, but also by simple
forces of survival: for thumrf to exist in the modern world, it has
to be capable of being presented and understood in a sanitized
way, enabling it to be relevant to modern life. Feudal relations
and courtesan culture are not compatible with modern existence.
The devotional interpretation provides thumrf with a model through
which it can achieve relevance in its new environment.
There is a close relationship between the original performance
context of thumrf and its lyrics: the courtesan represents the heroin
of the thumrf she is performing; the persona of the hero is projected
onto whomever is being addressed in the audience. The early day
of bol banav thumrf were probably the heyday for this double-layere
representation of the lyrics, as it is particularly in small and intimate
gatherings that the courtesan had the opportunity to establish a per-
sonal relationship with her male audience. Bol banyv thumrf texts pla
on an immediate interaction between performer and host. For th
sake of dissociating thumrf from the courtesan's salon, it is essential
that references to intimacy be removed. The substitution of 'tow
for 'bed' discussed above is a clear example of this sanitizing proce
It is even more poignantly shown by replacing the vocative 'raja
'king', with 'gyama', an epithet of Krishna's, once again inviting t
divine lover onto the scene. It was explained to me that when thumrf
was performed for kings and noblemen, addressing the host as 'ra
would have been appropriate, but as thumrf is now performed in con-
cert halls, a more general reference to Krishna is much more suit
able. The clarification of the use of t

thumrf was at one stage performed a
hardly a secret. What the explanation
uses of this particular vocative, which m
superior in status, and also--especiall
lover or object of desire. Substituting
epithet of Krishna's has considerable
the text: it is now no longer a pers
patron, but rather an allusion to the
Radha and Krishna. The potentially er
narrative is diminished now that th
experienced in relation to a divine rat
thus find that there has been a movem
either by removing them altogether fro
adapting the offending words or phra
to minimize the personal bond betwe
and by extension, between the perfo
depersonalization of thumrf lyrics pave
interpretation.
The complexities of thumrf 's narra
the following diagram:
Voice Receptor
Context (feudal) Female performer Male audience
TEXT Female speaker Male lover
(male poet) Female friend
Audience
Context (bourgeois) Female/male Female/male audience

performer
It is clear that the female voice of thumrf is not an empowered

woman's voice: it is patriarchy's voice, the nayika's voice, a voice that
locates women's expression of feeling in the realm of excite-
ment for men. In the modern context, the public articulation of
woman's sexuality (however passive) is not considered appropriate,
and so it has been steered in the predictable direction of devotion.
The bhakti model provides an acceptable framework for the expres-
sion of female desire. Within the safe and suitable devotional idiom
the disempowered voice of the ndyika continues to ring loud and
clear.
Works cited
Deodhar, B. R. 1993. Pillars of Hindustani Music. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.

Du Perron, Lalita. 2000. 'The role of aesthetic theory in the performance and
interpretation of a modern genre', SOAS Literary Review, no. 2, July 2000.
Erdman, Joan L. 1985. Patrons and Performers in Rajasthan: The Subtle Tradition. Delh
Chanakya Publications.
Hansen, Kathryn. 1993. Grounds for Play: The Nautankr Theatre of North India. De
Manohar Publishers. First published in 1992 by the University of California Pre
Hawley, John Stratton. 1983. Krishna, the Butter Thief. Princeton: Princeto
University Press.
Manuel, Peter. 1989. Thumrf in Historical and Stylistic Perspectives. Delhi: Mot
Banarsidass.
Misra, Susheela. 1990. Some Immortals of Hindustani Music. New Delhi: Harma
Publishing House.
Neuman, Daniel M. 1980. The Life of Music in North India: The Organization of
Artistic Tradition. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. Published
India by Manohar.
Pant, Chander Shekhar. 1973. 'The Sahitya or the Literary Aspect of the Thumr
Bombay: National Centre for the Performing Arts Quarterly Journal, vol. II, no. 3-
Ramanujan, A. K. 1982. 'On Women Saints', in John Stratton Hawley and Don
Marie Wulff, eds., The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India. Boston:
Beacon Press.
Rao, Vidya. 1990. 'Thumri as Feminine Voice', in Economic and Political Weekl
WS-31, April 28, 1990.
Sharar, Abdul Halim. 1994. Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture, trans.
ed. E. S. Harcourt and Fakhir Hussain. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Snell, Rupert. 1991. The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhasa Reader. London: Sch
of Oriental and African Studies.
Stoler Miller, Barbara. 1984. The Gitagovinda ofJayadeva: Love Song of the Dark Lord.
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. First published 1977, Columbia University Press.
Sundar, Pushpa. 1995. Patrons and Philistines: Arts and the State in British India, 1773-
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Vaudeville, Charlotte. 1986. Barahmdsa in Indian Literatures: Songs of the Twelve Months
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Thumri - A Discussion of Female Voice

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'Ṭhumrī': A Discussion of the Female Voice of Hindustani Music

Author(s): Lalita Du Perron

'Thumrf': A Discussion of the Female Voice of

Can we find different levels of meaning in the te

Kathryn Hansen (1993) discusses the ramifications of the female gendering of

are dhrupad and khyal; in a gendered d

2 The name of the genre, meaning 'imagination, f

femininity. In her article eThumrf as feminine voice' (1

3 I obtained this information from Nicolas Magriel. Personal communication

a tavayaf, who trained him in dhrupad and khyal;4 he went o

4 Susheela Misra, 1990: 244.

Campaign at the end of the nineteenth century." Bol bandyv thumrf

" Sundar 1995: 245.

desire expressed by thumrf's lyrical heroine could readily

How can I go, Shyam blocks the way.

In this text, the heroine is implied to be a milkmaid in Braj, sub-

9 Hawley 1983: 36.

pranks are centered around the throw

encouraging the man's attention then she is also objectifying

Kanha, I am fed up with you, let go of my sari.

cussion it confirms the multi-layered issue

,3i T -,WT M -Ci -am 7q, II

Your eyes are full of charm.

In this text the ndyika expresses uninhibite

Go lover, don't speak to me.

In addition to the familiar situation in which the heroine spe

10 e.g. Manuel 1989: 18.

What, then, are the implications of the narrative position of thumrf,

14 Such stories were told to me by Batuk Dewanji, connoisseur and patr

thumrf particularly problematic. The sin

16 Discussions of both Bhatkande's and Paluskar's lif

18 A term borrowed from semantics.

is clearly demonstrated by examples o

This construct of thumrf's identity is at variance with

able. The clarification of the use of t

Context (bourgeois) Female/male Female/male audience

It is clear that the female voice of thumrf is not an empowered

Deodhar, B. R. 1993. Pillars of Hindustani Music. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.

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