A Goddess and a Half: Tantra of the Heart in the Music of Early Modern South India

Join the Department of History, Classics, and Religion for Introducing Muttuswami Dikshitar: "Maya, Go Away!" -- the first in a three-lecture series by Prof. David Shulman from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Carnatic music underwent a revolution in taste, idea, and performance. Muttuswami Dikshitar, perhaps the most radical of the period's composers, was committed to the Tantric school of Shrividya, focused on his personal goddess, "Most Beautiful in the Cosmos."

The first two lectures explore his vision of the goddess and the art of bringing her into existence in the modern concert hall. The third will introduce an early 19th-century poet- singer, a Tamil Muslim mystic and Tantrika called Mastan Sahib, whose songs combine Sufi traditions with images of God as an alluring young woman, inhabiting the creative spaces between Tamil Hindu and Islamic devotional traditions.

Generously supported by the Saroj and Prem Singhmar Endowment Fund.

Free entry for all events, no ticket necessary.

Click here for more information about the event