The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 127www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods The Movie THIRUVILAYADAL (IN 1965) Is an Outlier as a Devotional Film Abstract The narrow genre of devotional films in India follows a regular template – a combina- tion of theophanic interventions, bhakti (devotional) worship and didactic narratives. Thiruvilayadal (The Divine Play, Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan, IN 1965), a film in Tamil (a language spoken across South and East Asia by a large diaspora), was long considered a devotional movie that celebrated the God Shiva. However, a close analysis shows that the movie subverts the darshan concept (viewing) in a Hindu de- votional film. Though it may appear to be a film about Puranic (mythic) Hindu gods, the subtle subtext reduces heavenly entities to supplicatory positions in relation to a cornerstone of identity in the post-independence Dravidianist Tamil State – Tamil language. This understanding of Thiruvilayadal is all the more relevant in light of the increasing rigidity of Hindu religious beliefs in contemporary India. Keywords Religious Films, Tamil Language, Hindu Puranic, Dravidianism, Thiruvilayadal Biographies Sreeram Gopalkrishnan is a Professor at Symbiosis International (Deemed Univer- sity) in Pune and has published papers on south Indian cinema, science education, film marketing and computational propaganda. Though primarily from the Indian corporate sector for over three decades (including in a Fortune Global 500 petroleum company), he has worked in films, advertising, brand and image campaigns. He is currently Director, SCMC, a media school under the Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune. Lekshmi Sreeram has a Masters in English Literature and a Phd in Comparative Study of the works of R K Narayan and Sudha Murthy. She has two decades of experience in English language teaching and research and her interests are translation studies, musicology and Indian English studies. DOI: 10.25364/05.9:2023.2.7 128 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 THIRUVILAYADAL – The Tamil Project in Indian Devotional Films Prominent global media voices have reported that contemporary politics in India are defined by a Hindu religious-right movement,1 also known as Hindutva.2 The fact that Hinduism, with six significant schools of mostly non-theistic philosophies, can even be called a religion is a paradox.3 For a nuanced alternative perspective, there is the recently influential scholarly work of Wendy Doniger.4 The Dravidian movement in the south is prom- inent among the many regional political ideologies in India. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) political party in Tamilnadu adhered to this ideology and positioned itself as Dravidianist.5 It defined Dravidianism as a rationalist, anti-Brahminic (against Hindu caste practices), anti-North Indian and anti-Hindi, all woven around Tamil sub-nationalism. It is in this context that we review the Tamil devotional film Thiruvilayadal (The Divine Play, Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan, IN 1965). Intermittently, mainstream Indian cinema has produced devotional films based on Hindu Puranic stories. These revolved around avatars (divine ter- restrial renditions) of the supreme Puranic Hindu trinity,6 though mostly Vishnu.7 The first Indian-made film, Pundalik (N. G. Chitre / P. R. Tipnis / 1 Reynolds 2022. 2 Sharma 1982 3 Sharma 1982. 4 Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago, Divinity School, https://is.gd/oUvXww [accessed 12 July 2023]. 5 Dravid means “land surrounded by water on three sides”, i. e. South India. Dravidianism or Dravidian ideology promotes the concept of a separate identity for southern Indian ethno-linguistic races, distinct from the dominant North Indians. First popular in the 1930s, the movement claimed that Brahmin and upper-caste Hindus had Aryan origins and imposed their hierarchical, non-inclusive Vedic and Puranic Hindu culture, language and exploitative caste beliefs on the egalitarian Dravidians. 6 Parrinder 1997. 7 The Hindu trinity of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer) of Puranic Hinduism. Hindu gods evolved from the Vedic era (3rd century BCE) to the 17th century CE and have many different traditions. The Hindu concept of god also varies from a personal god (Hindu philosophy) to several major deities (as in the Vedic tradition) and on to several thousand (as in the Puranic tradition). Present-day Hindu religious practices largely revolve around Puranic gods, mostly Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva, Parvati, Brahma and Saraswathi. Of these, Vishnu inspires the Vaishnavism stream, while Shiva inspires the The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 129www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 Ramchandra Gopal Torney, 1912),8 had a devotional theme, though it is not easily categorised.9 Indian religious films can be identified as “histo-myth- ological”10 and “bhakti” (devotional) oriented.11 Bhakti films have a more contemporary impact with a god, goddess or saint12 and are characterised by a deus ex machina, where divine entities come down to earth to resolve human issues.13 While research has identified a regular template for devotional films,14 Thiruvilayadal diverges from this template in significant ways. Although apparently a film about gods, the nuanced narrative in this movie reduces astral entities to being subsidiary to a sacred cornerstone of identity in the post-independence Dravidianist Tamil State – Tamil language.15 The thespi- an Sivaji Ganesan, selected to play the role of the God Shiva, had been ac- claimed since the early 1960s for ucharippu (pronunciation) and was known as Nadigar Thilagam (Doyen of Actors)16 in light of his formidable reputation for cinematic histrionics and exceptional oratory (vasanam) in the Tamil language17. During the 1960s, the DMK used its Dravidianist plank to defeat the north-based national party the Indian National Congress in Tamilnadu state. The DMK framed the ability to speak in pure Tamil as a part of the people’s identity by co-opting the pure Tamil movement (tanit tamiR iyakkam).18 The Shaivite stream. The Puranas developed around extensive and richly varying mythologies associated primarily with Hindu deities like Vishnu, Shiva and Devi. 8 Rajadhyaksha/Willemen 1999. 9 Dwyer 2006. 10 Sampoorna Ramayan (The Complete Ramayana, Babubhai Mistry, IN 1961); Karnan (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1964). 11 Jai Santoshi Ma (Vijay Sharma, IN 1975); Bhakta Kumbhara (Devotee Kumbara, Hunsur Krishnamurthy, IN 1974). 12 Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (Ashok V. Bhushan, IN 1977); Jai Baba Amarnath (B. R. Ishara, IN 1983); Mere Gharib Nawaz (G. Ishwar, IN 1973). 13 Ramnath 2015. 14 Madhava Prasad, Philip Lutgendorf, Rachel Dwyer and Usha Brugabandhu have written extensively on Indian devotional films and the concept of darshan. 15 Tamil is pronounced as Tamizh. 16 Tamil film journal Paesum Padam (Talking Picture) was the first magazine to mention this. 17 Shivaji is famous for his oratory in films like Manohara (L. V. Prasad, IN 1954), Veerapandiya Kattaboman (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1959), Kapalottiya Thamizhan (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1961), Thirucheruvar (A. P. Nagarajan, IN 1967) and Rajaraja Cholan (A. P. Nagarajan, IN 1973). 18 Although Maraimalai Adigal is credited, U. V. Caminataiyar is equally responsible for the rediscovery of the Tamil classics and Cangam literature, in 1881. 130 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 DMK’s “contestatory” strategy required a visible enemy,19 and this associa- tion positioned the movement as a southern Tamil revival against dominant Hindi “northerners”.20 Thiruvilayadal, widely popular on platforms like YouTube,21 is based on the 64 stories featuring the God Shiva22 from the ThiruAlavAykantam,23 as well as texts from the thirteenth century CE.24 The movie was directed by A. P. Nagarajan – who also wrote the script and played Nakkirar’s role – fa- mous for making Tamil films based on myths and social themes25 and for contributing to the resurgence of devotional films in the state.26 Little else is known about Nagarajan beyond that his movie Thiruvilayadal (produced by a Muslim, Shahul Hameed) can be seen as a symbol for the dilution of northern Puranic Hindu divinity.27 In Puranic myths, the God Shiva resides in the Himalayas with his wife, the Goddess Parvathi, and sons Vinayaka (Ganesha) and Murugan (Karthikeya). The movie removes Lord Shiva and Murugan from the Puranic Hindu pantheon in the Himalayas and places them in the real Tamil world, in the city of Madurai in the state of Tamilnadu – something of an ethnocul- tural appropriation of religious symbols for the Tamil project. By bringing the gods from the North to real towns in Tamilnadu, Nagara- jan was only following the concept of a demarcated sacred space,28 a Tamil tradition evident in the ancient Cangam era.29 It also links to the ancient Tamil belief that the God Murugan, unlike in Puranic lore, originated in the 19 Schiffman 1996. 20 Zvelebil/Gonda 1974. 21 See e. g. https://is.gd/a9GJcY [accessed 12 July 2023]. 22 Masalaaddict 2012. 23 The narratives can be traced to the 6th century CE (Thirunavukkarasar, Thiruga nyana- sambandhar, Paranjothi Munivar), see Aravind 2017. 24 Tiruttondar Tiruvandhadhi was written by Perumparapuliyur Nampi in the 17th century CE court of Thirumala Nayak, it showcases the “playful actions” (Vilayadal) taken by Shiva to test the devotion of his devotees, see Fisher 2017. There is a version also attributed to Paranjothi Munivar (Bala 2010). 25 Thiruvilayadal, Kudalkantam, https://shaivam.org/scripture/English-Translation/1477/ thiruvilaiyadal-puranam-the-sacred-sports-of-siva [accessed 12 July 2023]. 26 Raman 2012. 27 Nainar 2018. 28 Temples in pockets of South India have a geographically demarcated kodi maram (flagpost). Unlike Vedic gods, who live in the sky (heavens), the gods for Tamils are on terra firma. 29 Shrikumar 2015. Cangams were scholarly meetings which, according to traditional Tamil literary accounts, were held from 200 BCE onwards. Though there is limited evidence of https://shaivam.org/scripture/English-Translation/1477/thiruvilaiyadal-puranam-the-sacred-sports-of-siva https://shaivam.org/scripture/English-Translation/1477/thiruvilaiyadal-puranam-the-sacred-sports-of-siva The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 131www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 Kurunji (hills) as a tribal god. The Dravidianist contention was that Murugan was appropriated and added to the Vedic Hindu pantheon as the son of Shiva during the Bhakti movement, just as Parvati was syncretised from the Tamil Atha or Mari into Durga and Kali.30 Nagarajan was recapturing Muru- gan and Shiva for the Tamils. This argument is supported by sources in the Cangam texts (200 CE), where Sudalai Madan (literally “cremation ground chief”) was worshipped in Tamilnadu and later co-opted as the son of Shiva and Parvati.31 Even Mayon (the dark one), seen as the supreme deity who creates, sustain and destroys the universe, was worshipped during the Cangam period, before becoming an amalgamation of Shiva and Murugan.32 Thiruvilayadal was a commercial success, running for over 25 weeks, and received widespread critical acclaim, being recognised with a Certificate of Merit at the 13th National Film Awards in India. The Temple and the Theatre: Darshana in Context The typical Hindu devotional bhakti film is constructed around a vicarious faith-based experience in which the “performing devotee” is divinely re- warded after several trials and much tribulation. Such celestially induced cinema, with special effects, offers awe-inspiring experiences to the devout against the background of bhakti bhajans (religious songs). Gods’ theoph- anic appearances are the next best thing to the temple deities’ physical darshan, or divine gaze which is represented by the large and elongated eyes of the idol.33 This “exchange through eyes” that devotees attempt in the Hindu temple is an essence of worship34 and is more accessible in a movie earlier meetings, there is some proof of later Cangam conferences, discovered by Kamil Zvelebil. 30 Xavier 2009. Mentioned in Cangam literature poems in Paripāṭal and the Pattuppattu anthologies are said to be between 300 BCE to 300 CE, as well as mentioned in the ancient Tamil literary work Silappadikaram (c. 200 CE). 31 Mahalakshmi 2011. 32 Zvelebil/Gonda 1974. 33 Lutgendorf states that this “is similar to being seeing or meeting powerful people, like royalty and god men”. Cinema superstars Amitabh Bachan and Shah Rukh Khan, even today, make appearances in front of fans on their birthdays. They are often called out by name, to seek their attention, to “see and be seen”; see Prideaux 2022. Lutgendorf, 2006, 227 34 Lutgendorf 2006. 132 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 theatre, where access is not restricted as it is for a temple,35 prioritising the experience.36 The significance of the divine gaze is why devotional films present the deity frontally on the screen, replicating the Darshan gaze with the help of the shot-reverse-shot. Here, a shot of the deity is followed by a shot of the ecstatic devotee who is being “seen”, before returning to a shot of the dei- ty.37 Another shot is the “human avatar emerging from the deity”,38 which in a song sequence in Jai Santoshi Maa ( Vijay Sharma, IN 1975) and in a hand reappearance sequence in Bhakta Kumbhara (Devotee Kumbara, Hunsur Krishnamurthy, IN 1974) is centrally framed within a static tableau.39 There is a reciprocity where the “look” from the god is captured by the camera’s looking as if from the deity’s eyes at the devotee,40 a deployment of film techniques in the micro-narration of a scene.41 This aim is further supported by the “fetish of cinematic eyes” in repeat- ed facial zoom shots (popular in films of the 1980s and indeed in TV serials today) for dynamic effect and to stretch time.42 The viewer is assured of the “look many times over”, which is a difficult task in an actual temple. In fact, the viewer-devotee can experience long and arduous queues in prominent temples in order to catch just a brief glimpse of the deity, which Madhava Prasad terms a feudal tradition with hierarchical criteria.43 This designation is supported by the actual experience of the devotee, who receives, through the priest, the prasad (offering), aarti (fire worship) or a teertha (tulsi-soaked holy water) even as the Brahmin priest adheres to “caste purity” when in- teracting with the devotee. In contrast, devotees-in-the-theatre are released from such restrictions of access to the deity. They engage as a social group, cheering on or even praying aloud when noble deeds are performed.44 The Darshan experience 35 Prasad 2021. 36 Shaikh 2017. 37 Prasad 2021. 38 Lutgendorf 2006. A popular theme involves the god emerging from the temple and taking human form. 39 Kapur 1987, 80. 40 Prasad 2009. See, for example, the first song sequence in Jai Santoshi Maa (IN 1975). 41 Vasudevan 2011. 42 Kapur 1987.79 43 Prasad 2009. 44 Lutgendorf 2006. The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 133www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 in the theatre removes devotees from the physical and sacred rigidity of the temple and makes them a part of a more secular group. Thiruvilayadal further shapes the narrative by “Tamilising” this secular audience by making Tamil language a common thread. Thiruvilayadal was therefore neither a histo-mythological nor a bhakti devotional film in the pure senses of these terms. It had other cinematic agendas to pursue. Divine Play: Tamil Language versus the God Shiva Thiruvilayadal opens with a 1960s-style studio setting in mythical Mount Kailasha (the Himalayan abode of the God Shiva). Narada, often an insti- gator for Puranic stories, walks in to offer the “fruit of knowledge”. Shiva mischievously declares that the fruit will go to the son who is the first to circumnavigate the three worlds. Murugan promptly sets off on his travels, but his brother Vinayaka just goes around his parents and says, “My parents are my world.”45 He receives the fruit! A livid Murugan leaves Kailasha. On his way to the Palani hills, Avvaiyar, the legendary woman devotee (played by the veteran singer K. P. Sundarambal), stops the tantrum-throwing young Murugan. Here, Avvaiyar appears to be a stand-in for the Goddess Tamil Tai, a sym- bol for the atheistic Dravidianists that parallels the Puranic Hindu Goddess Saraswathi of knowledge. Unlike the Hindu goddess, the matronly Tamil Tai has “only two arms”,46 convenient for the motherly Sundarambal to play as a real-life proxy.47 Avvaiyar implores the young Murugan not to leave his home. She first sings in praise of the warrior god of the Hindus and the ad- opted god of the Tamil language (due to the belief that he headed a Cangam), before giving him a stentorian dressing down, You have a Mother and Father who love you. My Tamil has the right to tell you … your logic is wrong! Let your anger go; this is Tamil asking. Don’t you know, young man 45 Mata, Pitha, Guru, Deivam (Mother, Father, Teacher and God) is widely mentioned as a popular adage in sacred texts. Vinayaka’s action justifies this in the “Fruit of Knowledge” episode, see Sadhguru 2017. 46 Ramaswamy 1998. 47 Sundarambal was an elderly and devout singer of devotional songs with a real-life reputation for social and cultural work. 134 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 When your anger dissipates, the race is united, don’t you know that, Muruga? Get up on your peacock and go to Shiva; you will have to accept; I will take you, come running to me. The scene of Avvaiyar’s demand that Murugan listen to Tamil (to a personi- fication of the language and to the Tamils, as a people) while the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon watch from high up in the clouds is striking. All are watching: Shiva/Parvathi, Vishnu/Lakshmi, Brahma/Saraswathi (the Puranic holy trinity of the Hindus). They watch in disbelief as a human being gives a disciplinary scolding to one of their own. The incredulity is captured by quick mid-close-up zoom-in shots of each god pair. In the Indian devo- tional film world, gods are not told off! The chiding Avvaiyar, not part of the original story in ThiruAlavAykantam, is referred to historically as an “old wise woman”,48 and in Thiruvilayadal she emerges as a contemporary palimpsest.49 When she says “this is Tamil asking”, she is referring to the Tamil language as both a pronoun and noun (Tamizikku, Tamizh) superior even to the gods. This is a concept similar to the Tamil Vituthuhtu (Messenger) poems of the post-Cankam period50 that were discovered by Swaminatha Aiyar in 1900: O pre-eminent Tamil! I exist because of you! Even the ambrosia of the celestials, I do not desire! — Madurai Chokkanathar, Tamil Vituthuthu, 15151 The three parts of a Vituthuthu poem – the dispatcher, the addressee and the messenger – are all persons. The messenger is Tamil, the language; the addressee is always Shiva.52 The messenger is pristine and of superior char- acter – cankatamil (Tamil of the Cangam).53 The Vituthoothu placed Tamil language at the centre of the known universe, of the political, economic and moral order. It is superior to the king, almost an ethnolinguistic challenge 48 Ramadevi 2016. 49 For Tamil audiences who have read about Avvaiyar since childhood, the character in the film would have been closest to the real thing. 50 Jayaraman 1965; Varadarajan 1988. 51 Ramaswamy 1998. 52 Peterson 1989. 53 Krishnan 1984, 136. The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 135www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 to the royal economy of that time – that of the Telugu-speaking Nayaka kings of Madurai.54 Tamil is the absolute sovereign of the land of the Tamils (tamilakam) and the world of Tamil (tamilulakam).55 It had suzerainty over the muventar (the three Tamil-speaking kingdoms Chola, Chera and Pandya), bowing to no one as a true emperor of the Hindu-Indic-Tamil world.56 Tamil bows to none, king or god! Kutram Kutrame – A Mistake Is a Mistake The second and more dramatic episode contains the face-off between the poet Nakkirar and the God Shiva, from which the line Kutram Kutrame (a mistake is a mistake) became popular.57 Here the Tamil language and caste58 move centre stage. The story is set in Madurai city, where King Shembaga Pandiyan offers a reward to anyone who could answer his query – Does a woman’s hair have a natural fragrance? The God Shiva, playfully testing, gives a poor poet, Dharumi, a poem that answers the query. But when Dharumi goes to present the poem in the king’s court and is about to win the reward, the court poet, Nakkirar, steps in to find a kutram (mistake) in the poem. When informed, Shiva is clearly incensed, but even when confronted with the divine form Nakkirar stands his ground. Shiva responds by burning Na- kkirar with his third eye. There are various versions of the narrative, most notably Nīlakaṇṭha Dikshitar’s, in which Nakkirar even claims superiority over the almighty.59 In Thiruvilayadal, the narrative is nuanced at multiple levels. There are incendiary back-and-forths between man and god. In the court, the God Shi- va glowers contemptuously at Nakkirar and demands to know the mistake in the poem. The exchange is as follows: 54 Ramaswamy 1998. 55 Sanjeevi 1972, 2–3. 56 Ramaswamy 1998, 75. 57 Luqman 2017. 58 The exploitative concept of varna in the Hindu caste system places the Brahmin as the superior among men and the subjugated Sudras/Ati Sudras at the very bottom. 59 Nilakantha’s version has Nakkirar claiming that the god is famous because of poets. In it Nakkirar says to the God Shiva: “your work has attained the greatness of being a ‘scripture’… only because we describe another intentionality, apply suppletion, inversion, contextualiaation, extraction, and conjunction, keep this in mind … don’t look to find fault with my poems, O Paśupati!” 136 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 NAKKIRAR: There was no issue in the Chol; it is the Porul that has a prob- lem.60 Why did you write the poem and send it through someone? Poets should not lie. SHIVA: Talk about the present and not the past. I know about comprehen- sible, incomprehensible; known, unknown; delivered, undelivered; I know all and do not need your advice. I know everything. NAKKIRAR: The meaning of your poem? What does it claim? What is the message? SHIVA: O bee, with your hidden wings: you have lived a life searching for honey. So tell me honestly from what you have seen: among all the flowers you know, is there one that smells sweeter than the hair of this woman, with her peacock gait, close-set teeth, and ancient eternal love?61 When the God Shiva explains that it means that a woman’s hair has a natu- ral fragrance, Nakkirar rejects that claim. Nakkirar: That can never be. Use of perfumes and continuously sport- ing flowers causes the fragrance in the hair. I can never accept that woman’s hair has a natural fragrance from birth. Even the purest of all women will have only artificial and not natural fragrances in her hair. SHIVA: What about women of higher birth and celestial goddesses? How about Goddess Bharathi, who resides in your tongue and helps you write poems? NAKKIRAR: Even the entire women folk in all the fourteen realms of the world do not have it. Not only Goddess Bharathi, but this also holds good for the consort of my Lord of the Lords Shiva. Shiva: Really? With certainty? Can you swear on your Tamil? NAKEERAR: Sure, certainly, and I swear on my Tamil. SHIVA warns: Nakkera [a less respectful form of address] – carefully look at me. Is the poem I wrote wrong? 60 In a Tamil tradition of peer review, the Pulavan (poet, philosopher) had to defend his work in the presence of an assembly of experts presided over by the king. Review parameters were (a) சொல ்(Sol), for structure, grammar and context and (b) ொருள் (Porul), for meaning, metaphors and rationale. 61 Ludden/Pillai 1976. The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 137www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 When Shiva says this, the screen turns red and his third eye appears to twitch in rage.62 Nakkirar recognises the God Shiva and bows to pay obei- sance. Then he looks up and stares at Shiva and says, Oh, poet, even though you reveal who you are … and I can see your third eye … and even if you burn me … a mistake is a mistake. Even if you open your fore- head eye a mistake is a mistake (Netrikaan therandalum Kutram Kutrame). The scene becomes grimmer when a furious Shiva uses a slur that belittles Nakkirar’s low-born caste, the Vellap Parppars: SHIVA: Someone who survives through cutting [kir kir] is finding fault in my poem [kir kir endru saivano kutram solvadu]. Here Nakkirar is being referred to as a low caste person, typically employed in making bangles with a saw (hence the term kir kir in the slur, to denote the cutting action).63 Precisely at this moment the narrative turns to a sen- sitive topic. Does God sanction the varna system, which makes Hinduism unjustly hierarchical? If God created all life equal, would he differentiate between higher and lower human beings? This point is an apt placement for the DMK’s atheistic and its anti-Brahminic ideology. Then comes what is clearly the denouement of this stand-off between human and god – the riposte by Nakkirar, looking back at the god in anger and contempt, mocking the god: NAKKIRAR: At least we live through such proud work. We do not survive through alms as you do [Nakirrar mimics a begging Shiva].64 Understandably, the God Shiva burns him down. But soon all is well again, as Nakkirar is brought back to life, and another episode of the divine play is added to the list of myths. However, after the event it is clear that Nakkirar, the man, had come out looking better than Shiva, the god. 62 The God Shiva’s destructive third eye on the forehead is part of his role as a Destroyer in the Puranic Hindu holy trinity. 63 Hanumanthan 1977. Nakkirar’s low caste Vellap-Parppar profession was to saw/cut conch shells/leather to make bangles/ornaments. The word kir also means “cut/saw” in Tamil, see https://www.ilkogretim-online.org/fulltext/218-1647498435.pdf, page 13. 64 Shiva has also been known as Bhikshatana (“wandering about for alms, mendicancy”) in the Shaivaite tradition and is depicted in literary sources as a nude, four-armed man adorned with ornaments and a begging bowl and followed by demonic attendants; see Sivaramamurti 2004. https://www.ilkogretim-online.org/fulltext/218-1647498435.pdf 138 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 The Tamil agenda in THIRUVILAYADAL Thiruvilayadal contains a subtle and yet impactful reinterpretation of the relationship between the Tamil people, their language and Puranic gods. With Avvaiyar, there is a personification of the Tamil language as an entity that is above even Hindu divinity. With Nakkirar, there is a validation of Tamil scholarship that cannot be compromised even in the presence of the supreme god. Thiruvilayadal dismantles what we know of the bhakti film, weaponising a social perch for the audience-devotee in the cinema hall where a Tamil agenda can be constructed. Also, the movie does not have the typical trappings of an Indian devotional film. There is an absence of frontal- ity, miracles, rituals and group bhajans. The devotee does not undergo any trials and tribulations before being rescued by a deus ex machina. Nagarajan felt Nakkirar important enough65 for him to play the role him- self, but he also sets up Dharumi’s character as an alter ego of the audience, especially in the scene where Dharumi is venting his frustration about his humiliation at the royal court. There is no one around except the audience and the God Shiva. Dharumi does not know that the rich poet who gave him the poem to present at the royal court was the God Shiva. With only the au- dience at hand, Shiva would be expected to be the all-knowing divine entity that he is. After all, the god would know how this “divine play” will play out. The audience would expect him to treat the situation patronisingly. The god would know there was a fault in the poem and that Dharumi would come back humiliated. Instead, the God Shiva is furious and red-faced. This is a defining moment because the god should be aware of the com- plete arc of the narrative. After all, that is the essence of the devotional film. In that scene, not only does Shiva get angry, but he also takes Dharumi and walks furiously through the real Madurai temple corridors to confront Nakkirar, his hands clasped behind his back to control his rage. He walks for a full 32-second three-shot sequence. He does not disappear and then reappear in the court as gods are supposed to do in devotional films. When the poor poet Dharumi first meets Lord Shiva to receive the poem, he perceives him as a rich poet, not a god. Dharumi is in awe of the rich man before him, admires his majestic personality and even touches his pattu (silk) garments in wonder. Then Dharumi observes Shiva closely and actually goes down on his knees. The viewers may at this point expect that Dharumi, 65 Raghavan 2015. The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods | 139www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 even if has not recognised the god, would appreciate that this charismatic person was special. Someone to be respect or worshipped. That is the initial impression. Instead, Dharumi looks Shiva up and down, as if sizing him up. He then lets out what we recognise as steam vapour from his mouth in vayiru erichal, or burning stomach, a Tamil metaphor for jealousy.66 Dharumi then sarcastically states, “You seem to be a prosperous poet.” When Shiva laughs, Dharumi responds, “You must have had a stomach full of food; that is why you are laughing.” Dharumi treats the god like a wealthy village land- lord, displaying the “sizing-up gaze” of a rebellious serf (Dharumi) to the feudal master (God Shiva). For Nakkirar’s encounter with the God Shiva at the Pandiyan court, Naga- rajan constructs a fascinating mise-en-scène. At the point when Nakkirar realises Shiva’s identity, he joins his palms in a namaste67 and bows like a blessed devotee deeply grateful for the divine revelation. But when he lifts his head to behold the God Shiva’s gaze, his eyes are steady and firm. He is not in a temple in front of an almighty. He is now a Tamil scholar represent- ing a language bigger than the biggest god in the universe. He actually turns his back on Shiva with a dismissive wave, making a point to an increasingly incensed Shiva (all captured in a three part tracking shot without any fron- tality). It is a shocking act in a devotional film. The profoundly passionate Tamil scholar with pride in his language is juxtaposed with a rather peevish almighty who is framed in profile, looking sideways at the human character. Such irreverence towards a god cannot be in a devotional film. Even in other moments when human characters return the gaze, they do not always look the gods (Shiva with Dharumi and Murugan with Avvaiyar) in the face. Instead, their gaze is directed towards the camera or at a corner, as if they had a point to make to the audience or expected a better experience with gods than they had just encountered. In Thiruvilayadal, Nagarajan presents mythical gods as petulant. They are bothered about “knowledge fruits” (in Murugan’s case) or “entitled scholarship” (in Shiva’s case) and exhibit an upper caste bias in relation to scholarly lower castes (in Nakkirar’s case). The film is worth revisiting to- day, given the current socio-political climate in India’s Tamilnadu state. The Bharatiya Janata Party, a largely North India–based, Hindi-language biased 66 There are even 1960s-style special effects showing smoke emanating from Dharumi’s mouth. 67 Namaste is used both as a greeting and in paying obeisance before a deity in a temple. 140 | Sreeram Gopalkrishnan and Lekshmi Sreeram www.jrfm.eu 2023, 9/2, 127–142 and rightist Hindu political party, has started challenging the Dravidianist parties in the state. What stands in their way is the emotive role that the Tamil language plays in the life of an average Tamilian. Thiruvilayadal is located in a Tamil space, interpreting Puranic Hindu divinity through the spectrum of its language. 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Varadarajan, M., 1988, A History of Tamil Literature, trans. E. S. Visswanathan, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. Vasudevan, Ravi, 2011, The Cultural Politics of Address in a “Transitional” Cinema, in: Vasudevan, Ravi (ed.), The Melodramatic Public, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 98–129. Xavier, S., 2009, An Analytical Study on Sanskritisation of the Deities of Folk Tradi- tion with Reference to Tamilnadu, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 70, 621–634, https://tinyurl.com/4k6cw2kc [accessed 12 July 2023]. Zvelebil, Kamil, 1974, Tamil Literature, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Filmography Bhakta Kumbhara (Devotee Kumbara, Hunsur Krishnamurthy, IN 1974). Jai Baba Amarnath (B. R. Ishara, IN 1983). Jai Santoshi Ma (Vijay Sharma, IN 1975). Kapalottiya Thamizhan (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1961). Karnan (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1964). Manohara (L. V. Prasad, IN 1954). Mere Gharib Nawaz (G. Ishwar, IN 1973). Pundalik (N. G. Chitre, P. R. Tipnis, and Ramchandra Gopal Torney, IN 1912). Rajaraja Cholan (A. P. Nagarajan, IN 1973) Sampoorna Ramayan (The Complete Ramayana, Babubhai Mistry, IN 1961). Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (Ashok V. Bhushan, IN 1977). Thirucheruvar (Thiruvarutchelvar, A. P. Nagarajan, IN 1967). Thiruvilayadal (The Divine Play, Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan, IN 1965). Veerapandiya Kattaboman (B. R. Panthulu, IN 1959). https://tinyurl.com/4k6cw2kc