This year's Navaratri Festival marks the new millennium with a special celebration of the fusion of Indian and Western music. It focuses on dialogue between artists from North America and South Asia with diverse experiences and ideas. At the outset of each academic year, Navaratri welcomes the community, students and friends with events that educate, entertain, and enlighten. The festival venerates traditional expressions and explores contemporary innovation. The aim of Navaratri is thus in harmony with the legacy of Jon B. Higgins, to whom this year's festival is dedicated, of cultural understanding through the arts.

This essay elucidates the broader context of Wesleyan's Navaratri Festival. I first describe Navaratri as celebrated in India, then trace the history of Indian music and dance at Wesleyan, and finally present a sketch of Wesleyan's Navaratri. I thank David Nelson for his contributions to portions of this essay.

Navaratri: The Festival of Nine Nights

Navaratri is one of the primary festivals of India, where nine (nava-) nights (ratri) of celebrations honor nine manifestations of Durga, the Hindu goddess of infinite cosmic energy (an iconic representation of Durga appears on the stage backdrop in Crowell Concert Hall). The festival, known throughout the country as Dussehra, Ram Lila, and Durga Puja, encompasses various activities and meanings. Navaratri is a time to fast, greet family and friends, enjoy music and dance concerts, commemorate stories of the gods that celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and worship Durga to gain her blessings and realize one's path to spiritual liberation.

The origins of Navaratri can be traced back to the ancient period of the Indus Valley civilization (c. third millennium BCE). In the later epic Ramayana, Rama invokes the help of Durga when he battles the evil ten-headed demon king Ravana. In the well-known Ram Lila of Delhi, a dramatic production with music and dance, Ravana's 50 ft. tall effigy is filled with firecrackers and exploded on the final day of the festival. In Durga Puja of Eastern India she is honored for slaying Mahishasura, the buffalo demon who usurped the throne of the king of the gods, upsetting the cosmic order. Elaborately decorated clay forms of the goddess are installed in public spaces, and nightly festive gatherings include music, lights, and sweets and toys for sale. The holiday concludes with processions of the many Durgas to the river Ganga and its tributaries in which she is immersed. Durga is usually portrayed riding a tiger and carrying divine weapons in her several hands; this calm composure does not hinder her power and ruthlessness in the face of evil.

Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga are honored in South Indian Navaratri celebrations. Respectively they embody the qualities wealth, wisdom, and strength. Women construct kolu, intricate dolls of clay or wood that are assembled in a display that conveys a religious theme or social commentary. They visit each other's homes, feasting and singing songs about the goddesses. On the ninth day of Navaratri, educational materials, musical instruments, tools and vehicles are dedicated to Saraswati in a puja ceremony. The concluding tenth day of Vijayadasami marks Durga's victory over the demons and the soul's attainment of spiritual union with the divine. It is the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors, especially in learning and the arts.

Indian Music at Wesleyan

Wesleyan's Navaratri is celebrated each year to open the academic year with a joyous festival of music and dance. Navaratri is a program of the University's Center for the Arts, and is a vital component of the Music Department's program in Indian music studies, World Music, and ethnomusicology. These programs and activities have been developing for close to half a century. In 1958, anthropology professor David McAllester taught the first ethnomusicology courses at Wesleyan. He is a founding member of the Society for Ethnomusicology and a specialist in the music and culture of the Navajo people of the American Southwest.

The presence of John Cage in a music department residency from 1960-61 proved to be quite provocative for the Wesleyan musical community. He is regarded as one of the most influential American experimental music composers of the twentieth century, and possessed a great interest in Asian culture and music which led him to compose pieces inspired by Indian tonality, rhythms, emotions, and seasons. At Wesleyan, he was a catalyst in sweeping transformations of the music curriculum. Department chair Richard Winslow noted that due to cultural and technological changes then occurring, "the very nature of what we teach is thus called into question." Winslow's vision for the department identified the urgent need to add two key areas of study to the curriculum that flourish to the present: experimental music and Indian music.

Robert E. Brown, a student of South Indian music under T. Ranganathan, was appointed to teach in the new "Ethnic Music" program at Wesleyan beginning in 1961. He immediately began South Indian as well as Javanese Gamelan music study groups, and invited guest artists such as sitarist Ravi Shankar to perform on campus. He established "Saraswati Kalashram" in an old farm house on the edge of Middletown, in which he lived with Indian artists-in-residence and graduate students in a situation resembling the traditional Indian gurukulam. Brown also began a series of weekly "Curry Concerts" featuring student groups and different world traditions.

The renowned South Indian Bharata Natyam dancer T. Balasaraswati was in residence at Wesleyan on the first of many occasions in the fall of 1962, following her American debut at Ted Shawn's famous Massachusetts modern dance haven, Jacob's Pillow. Jon B. Higgins was present for Balasaraswati's performances at both the Pillow and Wesleyan. At that time an undergraduate student at Wesleyan, he began his study of the south Indian rhythmic system under T. Ranganathan. Later he studied vocals intensively with both Balasaraswati and her brother, flautist T. Viswanathan, in India. Higgins earned a doctorate from Wesleyan and served as a professor of music and Director of the Center for the Arts. His life was tragically cut short in 1984. He is regarded as the first non-Indian to perform South Indian Karnatak music with great skill and sensitivity.

At Wesleyan in 1962, Balasaraswati's musicians included her brother T. Ranganathan, who was subsequently appointed as an Instructor of Indian Drumming at Wesleyan in 1963; later he was the first to hold the position of Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan. Aside from a period at Cal Arts (1970-75), Ranganathan taught at Wesleyan from 1963 until his death in 1987. He is remembered by many as their best teacher: his campus memorial, a tree by the World Music Hall, includes a plaque commemorating him as "an extraordinary teacher, brilliant musician, and friend."

Additional short-term South Indian Artists-in-Residence soon followed: T. Balasaraswati (dance), T. Viswanathan (flute and vocals), K.V. Narayanaswamy and Ramnad Krishnan (vocals), V. Thyagarajan (violin), Palghat R. Raghu (mridangam), and M. Nageswara Rao and Kalyanakrishna Bhagavatar (vina) are among those who taught at Wesleyan. North Indian Hindustani musicians also taught, and both genres were very popular courses. In 1975, Ranganathan and his brother Viswanathan--who by then had earned a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan--were brought back to teach on a permanent basis. Their sister, dancer Balasaraswati, joined them for summer programs. For the next several years they ran a thoroughly integrated course of study in Karnatak music, with their students learning scholarship as well as performance of the family's sublime Tanjavur court style of music and dance. Some of these students are well-known as performers even now: Jon Higgins and Josepha Cormack (vocals), Douglas Knight, Glenn Gillette and David Nelson (drumming), and Lauren Paul and Kay Poursine (dance). In addition, more than a dozen students in this program have produced highly original and well-respected doctoral dissertations in ethnomusicology.

Ramnad V. Raghavan taught at Wesleyan from 1970-75. He returned to fill the gap left by Ranganathan's death in 1987, and taught drumming until this past semester. The local Indian community has become increasingly involved in the program's activities, and vice versa: students regularly participate in events at Middletown's Hindu Temple and interact with the area's growing South Asian-American communities. Such a long-standing program, including performance, scholarship and community involvement, is surely unique.

Navaratri at Wesleyan

Wesleyan's Navaratri welcomes new and returning students to Wesleyan each year, with beautiful concerts well-attended by members of the academic community, Middletown residents, local South Asian-Americans, graduates of Wesleyan's Indian music studies program, and many old and new friends. The events also serve to educate Wesleyan students about aspects of South Asian culture and arts, and constitute a fabulous opportunity to meet top-ranking artists and attend their performances in an intimate setting. Student volunteers enjoy and benefit from the experience of planning and managing the festival.

Navaratri has long been a key facet of the program in Indian music studies at Wesleyan. It was first celebrated informally at Wesleyan in 1967. Two years later Navaratri became a nine-night Indian music festival, organized by former Professor Robert Brown. Artists who performed that year included Ziamuddin Dagar, V. Ranganayaki, Kalyanakrishna Bhagavatar, V. Thyagarajan, L. Shankar, T. Ranganathan, Lalmani Misra, Lakshmi Tewari, and T. Viswanathan. The concert series was held at 300 High Street. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some Navaratri concerts were held at the Eclectic Society house, 200 High Street.

Since 1976, Navaratri has been an annual event at Wesleyan under the direction of T. Viswanathan, whose vision has largely shaped the festival. Each year the highest caliber of guest musicians and dancers perform. Some South Indian musicians who have performed at Navaratri include M.L. Vasanthakumari, M.S. Subbalakshmi, M. Balamuralikrishna, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, L. Subramaniam, K.V. Narayanaswamy, Lalgudi Jayaraman, N. Ramani, Jon Higgins, Mandolin U. Srinivas, N. Ravikiran, T. Muktha, T.K. Murthy, Palghat Raghu, M. Nageswara Rao, and Trichy Sankaran. South Indian dancers appearing at Navaratri include T. Balasaraswati, her daughter Lakshmi Knight and grandson Aniruddha Knight, Indrani Rahman, Priyamvada Shankar, and Swati Bhise; the North Indian dancer Birju Maharaj has performed here as well. North Indian musicians performing at Navaratri include Nikhil Banerjee, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Jasraj, Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Imrat Khan, Asad Ali Khan, and Ashish Khan. Faculty members and Wesleyan students perform as well.

This festival has become a beloved annual event at Wesleyan. The 1997 Festival was celebrated in conjunction with India's 50th Anniversary of Independence, and like this year's program featured an expanded calendar of events. Through its outstanding performances by great musicians and dancers, the Wesleyan Navaratri Festival continues to unite us in celebration.

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