It is easy to undermine how deeply entrenched caste is in every aspect of our lives. Only those who lie outside of the constraints that impinge upon persons who belong to marginalised castes can afford to say that caste doesn’t matter in contemporary India. If there is one domain that is even more opaque than others on caste, it would be Indian classical music. Not only does it mask its repulsion to establish an equitable stage for everyone, it does so by hiding behind the contentious ideas of “art without politics” or “art for art’s sake”. It is important to remember that all art is political; it always has been. In fact, all art is always changing because of the often invisible strings of politics that many attempt to ignore. One glaring shortcoming of the neoliberal society is its assumption that free economic trade and libertarian values have provided an equitable ground for everyone. In India, it translates to the misunderstanding that in the neoliberal world, caste identities have been nullified and people from marginalised castes can overcome their caste identities with hard work and merit. It is not only interesting but crucial to understand how the neoliberal understanding of caste in India attempts to whitewash the lived reality of millions who still struggle with caste biases, whether structured or unstructured.

The longstanding discourse on caste after the political upheaval in the 90s is a perfect example of why we should constantly engage with the question of caste in every aspect in India. It is almost comical to imagine that a prominent narrative more than thirty years ago was that caste doesn’t exist anymore. What it indeed brought out in the open was the deeply problematic and ignorant stance of many that caste prejudice doesn’t exist simply because it is not visible as much in public spaces or urban centres of the country. Thirty years later, caste still prevails and in ways that we couldn’t have foreseen in the past. One of the most potently problematic tendencies of today that sustains caste based prejudices is not having public discourses about it. Artistic spheres are one of the many spaces in which discourses on caste are often seen absent or wilfully ignored.

Archaic Pedagogy and Curriculum in Public Institutions

The Faculty of Music at Delhi University is among the most coveted centres of musical education in the country. It is known for providing foremost academic and performative education to young and aspiring artists. However, with archaic curriculum and teaching pedagogies, it should be questioned whether the prestigious Faculty of Music can provide a well-founded academic basis that is well-suited for contemporary times. While writing my Master’s thesis, I conducted interviews of students pursuing Hindustani classical music at the Faculty of Music. While it was very evident that these aspiring artists and students of music had varying opinions on the curriculum and pedagogy being used in the university, one common theme was the invisibility of caste in musical education in one way or the other. Some reported that caste biases were not evident in the department in an organised manner. Others reported that even if people have these biases, they’re not able to act on them openly in a public university. One participant pursuing a PG diploma in Hindustani classical music from Madhya Pradesh stated that in state universities, professors prefer to supervise students of the same caste as theirs over others. Unorganised practices like these are very prevalent in government institutions, and they work in sustaining the age-old caste prejudices that were prevalent in classical music before its institutionalisation in public institutions. Furthermore, exemplary scholarship in sociology, ethnomusicology, and musicology in the last 50 years has already brought these discourses into the open. Scores of academicians like Daniel M Neuman, Janaki Bakhale, Shubha Chaudhuri, Chloe Alaghband Zadeh, and many others have resonated on the persistence of caste in Indian classical music in one way or another and on the constructed homogeneous history of the same (Neuman, 2013).

Indian classical music has never had a linear trajectory; it has long and divergent histories branching out into various identity-based and geographical politics. Brahmin scholars maintained a monopoly over texts on classical music in India, and thus only works by upper caste practitioners and scholars are read widely as canonical literature on Indian classical music even to this day (Bakhle, 2005). This is well documented and researched in the scholarship on performance studies and Indian musical traditions. So why is it then that a homogeneous scholarship and history are thought to be enough to educate young artists of today? Why are contemporary scholarship and debate absent in the discussions about the development of Indian classical music? Considering the lack of current-day discourse, it is not surprising that young practitioners of music believe that the arts have nothing to do with politics and the two should be kept separate. A student I interviewed for my thesis casually mentioned that there is no caste-class bias in the university because the students don’t talk about caste at all. This is precisely the nullification of discourse that morphs reality and constructs an alternate truth.

Why Socio-Cultural Capital Matters in Artistic Communities?

There are various ways through which caste makes its presence felt in artistic communities today. One crucial aspect of pursuing education in an institution like Delhi University is the unparalleled exposure it provides, apart from academic education. College societies, fests, competitions, and communities of artists are some of the prominent ways through which young artists familiarise themselves with new experiences and build relationships. While public universities have provisions for admission of persons belonging to marginalised castes through reservation, it rarely translates into the creation of heterogeneous and inclusive spaces for them. Cultural, social, and economic capital stunt the growth of these students in ways that are not even recognised by students from privileged backgrounds. Furthermore, this homogeneous nature of association is highly prevalent in artistic communities that are formed outside colleges as well. Having a community of fellow artists and peers is highly beneficial for students. This is where they fraternise, collaborate, learn, and grow in meaningful and experimental ways. But these communities often have marginal representation of students from marginalised castes, since the lack of cultural, social, and financial capital limits their ability to associate and grow with them. Students cannot be expected to have knowledge of complex social realities of caste on their own; it is the duty of institutions to include curricula that foster discourse on these themes. Our social reality makes it extremely relevant to have inclusive, contemporary, and progressive discourses on caste in institutions of higher education so that a culture of inclusivity and collaboration is fostered for students from marginalised backgrounds. Arts are just as susceptible to caste-based prejudices as other spheres of society. Creative endeavours do not discount them from engaging in inclusive and progressive discourses; if anything, they need to be at the forefront of challenging the status quo, something that is rarely seen in institutionalised education in performing arts in the country.

References:

Neuman, D. (2013, Dec 6-18). Indian music and the English language, fifty years later, International Seminar on ‘Creating & Teaching Music Patterns, Kolkata, India.

Bakhle, J. (2005). Two men and music: Nationalism in the making of an Indian classical tradition. Oxford University Press.

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Devesh Bisht is an independent researcher with an interest in the sociology of music. He completed his Master’s in Literary and Cultural Studies from EFLU, Hyderabad.