Carnatic Music and Hinduism
I am sure everyone who is following Carnatic music would have by now heard of the various controversies pertaining to Carnatic musicians singing Christian songs and so on. A lot of people have expressed their opinion on this and as usual, people who have no interest in Carnatic music have jumped in as well as they see this as an opportunity to establish their 'liberal' or 'traditional' credentials. There have many unfortunate Carnatic musicians who have become victims of the shrill shouting. In this article, I do not want to talk on these issues (they have already been debated enough) but rather would want to see what sort of challenge we have if we want to expand Carnatic music move beyond Hindu religion and also discuss if such a need exists at all. Let us ask this question first. "Does Carnatic music belong only to the Hindus?". The answer is obvious: NO. Carnatic music is a musical form and it belongs to the world. Having said that, we also need to