Thanjavur district
is the home of the Cauvery delta region and is the rice-bowl of Tamil
Nadu. The river and the fertile fields nourished Carnatic music,
particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, when
the celebrated trinity of Saint Thyagaraja (1767-1847) and his
contemporaries, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Sastri, held sway.
Those
were the days when civilization was river-based. Things have changed
since, and, today, Chennai is the Mecca of Carnatic music. The district,
more particularly, Tiruvaiyaru, 15 kms from Thanjavur city, still
reverberates with the sounds of Carnatic music for five days in a year,
when it hosts the internationally-famous Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana, to
commemorate the death anniversary of Saint Thyagaraja.
The Saint passed away 167 years ago, on Pushya Bahula Panchami. Pushya is the name of the month in the lunar calendar. Bahula is the dark or the second fortnight, while Panchami
is the fifth day of the waning moon, according to the Hindu almanac.
Translated into the Gregorian calendar, which we follow now, the
Aradhana date varies from year to year, though not the month.
I was in Tiruvaiyaru for the Aradhana—as I have been doing for the last decade or so—this time from 17th to 22nd
January. I mostly attend the evening concerts, which leaves me free
time in the mornings. Thanjavur district is also famous for its temples,
with Kumbakonam being the hub for most of the famous Shaiva and
Vaishnava shrines, besides those dedicated to the Navagrahas, the nine planets. I, therefore, took the opportunity on one of the days to visit a few temples.
The
region is also the strong-hold of the Moopanars, the land-owning caste.
The late G.K. Moopanar was the most famous among them. Traditionally
Congress, the Moopanars are proud of Mr. Moopanar and equally so about
his son, Mr. G.K. Vasan, a union minister now. In fact, the family is
well-known for its public service and is the main patron of Sri
Thiyagabrahma Mahotsava Sabha, the body that organizes Sri Thyagaraja
Aradhana. Mr. Moopanar was its president until his death, and the post
is now held by his brother, Mr. G.R. Moopanar.
Our cab driver too
was a Moopanar, without much land, though. “My grandfather squandered
the 32 acres that we once owned,” he confessed. Our driver was a
talkative man: so am I.  Would he vote for the Congress, I asked. “No
way. Modi,” he replied. It was his opinion, I opined. It is the opinion
of most people here, he countered. “Jayalalithaa wants her partymen to
ensure that the AIADMK won all the 39 seats to the Lok Sabha,” I
reminded him. “This is not an assembly election,” he responded. “It is
for the prime minister and we want Modi as pm. Did you see the crowds at
Modi’s Tiruchi rally? My car couldn’t enter the city that day.”  He
could be right. An opinion poll conducted by Junior Vikatan, a political journal belonging to the Vikatan group, published a survey which showed that about forty per cent of those interviewed said they would vote for Modi.
According
to the survey, the AIADMK could get thirty percent, the DMK and the
others the remaining thirty per cent. Another poll has put the BJP vote
at a modest 17 per cent. The BJP is trying to woo the DMDK of Vijayakant
to cobble together a non-AIADMK, non-DMK third front. The DMDK is being
wooed by the DMK too, but the party’s vote has shrunk badly and only
three per cent are inclined to vote for it, according to pollsters.
Back
in my hotel, I asked the room boy whom he would vote for. DMK, he
replied. But wasn’t this an election for parliament, I asked him. “Yes,
but my family always votes for the DMK,” he replied. As his reply shows,
the traditional DMK base is intact.
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