[Reader-list] aravanis in madurai-june 2007

[priya babu]

  Dear pritham,
   
  In Tamilnadu most of the women are sing oppari in their relativs death or in their own family death ceremonies.They are not  professional oppari singers. They are not getting money for  that.But in madurai and adjoining villages aravanis are professional oppari singers.Singing oppari is their economical source.thus we say none of the women involved in this profession.
   
  priyababu
======================================================
pritham k chakravarthy <prithu7 at hotmail.com> wrote:   
Dear Priya, Sounds good enough. But please recheck about 'no women' singing 
oppari as i have heard groups from Madurai who do so at the dalit kalai 
vizha. we cannot make sweeping statements. Pritham

>From: priya babu 

>To: SARAI 
>Subject: [Reader-list] aravanis in madurai-june 2007
>Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:03:45 +0100 (BST)
>
>Posting for june 2007- Priyababu .
> In Madurai and adjoining villages during death ceremonies aravanis will 
>be called to sing Oppari (Death songs). Since none of the women were 
>involved in this profession, people prefer calling aravanis to sing oppari 
>songs. There was general belief among the public that Aravanis have female 
>tone and don’t feel shy singing oppari songs. If a person died in a 
>particular house then the house will be called as Mattai by aravanis. In 
>villages mattai means the coconut leaf in which the dead body will be 
>placed and taken to the burial ground.
>
> Oppari will have standard lyrics. The aravanis who were invited to sing 
>oppari will collect all the details about the person who died and will 
>tailor the song (oppari) accordingly without changing the standard lyrics. 
>In 90% of the death ceremonies aravanis will sing Nallathangal, a 
>traditional folk song. There is a demand among general public for this 
>Nallathangal folk song. There is general belief among the people that this 
>Nallathangal, folk story is a real incident that happened in Virudhu Nagar 
>district, Vathirairuppu taluk Achananpuram village. The story goes like 
>this; Once upon a time there lived a brother (called Nallathambi) and a 
>sister (called Nallathangal). Both of them were affectionate to each other. 
>Years passed and Nallathangal attained puberty.
>
> Nallathangal was married to Kasirajan, head of a village close to the 
>place where Nallathambi and Nallathangal lived. Nallathangal and Kasirajan 
>lived happily for several years and they had seven children. But things 
>became worse soon, due to severe drought in the village. Kasirajan lost 
>everything and the couples were left in the streets. Nallthangal decided to 
>approach her brother Nallathambi for financial support but Kasirajan 
>haven’t allowed her to do that. In spite of her husband’s wish Nallathangal 
>went to meet her brother along with her 7 children unfortunately 
>Nallathangal couldn’t able to see her brother since he went to forest for 
>hunting. Nallathangal met her sister-in law and explained her about their 
>family situation. But her sister-in law insulted Nallathangal and made her 
>to leave from her house. Since there was no hope to live, Nallathangal 
>committed suicide along with her children.
>
> After a few days, Nallathambi returned home. Somehow through the 
>villagers Nallathambi came to know the death of his sister and the reasons 
>behind it. Nallathambi got angry and killed his wife later he also 
>committed suicide. Kasirajan without knowing anything came to Nallathambi’s 
>house to meet his wife and children. When Kasirajan heard the news of his 
>wife’s death he was shocked and committed suicide. The moral behind this 
>story is about brother, sister relationship and the importance of 
>respecting husband’s word
>
>
> Thus, being the performers of Oppari songs, Aravanis are also included 
>in the main stream society and also being acknowledged as women or even 
>better than the biological females since Oppari is traditionally song by 
>women. Thus, though Aravanis are still by and large kept at the margins of 
>the society, inclusion of Aravanis in the mainstream society happen through 
>some of the traditional customs like Oppari.
>
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
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