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2006

Singing of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, Dalit Religious Identity, and Satnami- in Chhattisgarh, India

Chad M. Bauman Butler University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Bauman, Chad M., "Singing of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, Dalit Religious Identity, and Satnami-Christian Music in Chhattisgarh, India" Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies / (2006): 28-36. Available at https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/13

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The original publication appeared at: Chad M. Bauman. “Singing of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, Dalit Religious Identity, and Satnami-Christian Music in Chhattisgarh, India,” Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies 19 (2006): 28-36.

DOI: not available. Singing of Satnam: Blind Simon Patros, Dalit Religious Identity and Satnami-Christian Music in Chhattisgarh, India

Chad M. BaulnaD Butler U Diversity

CHRISTIANITY in every context-whether downplay or even deny its largely lower-caste western or nonwestern, contemporary or provenance. ancient---emerges as a composite entity, combining elements of the religions and cultures Historical Context that predate it with aspects of the Christian faith, in whatever form it arrives. There is, of course, . In the early nineteenth century, an illiterate nothing distinctly Christian about this process, Chamar from what is now the central Indian for just as the expansion of Chdstianity into state of Chhattisgarh. Gum Ghasidas, returned India involved the lndianization of Christianity, fr0111 a pilgrimage to the famous Jagannath so too did the growth of in Bali entail temple with a message for his followers. the Balinization of Hinduism. Other religions Ghasidas's message was similar to that of many follow a similar pattern when they cross cultural Hindu refonners who had come before him. He boundaries. told his followers, among other things, to This paper explores the Indianizatioi1 of abandon the worship of images, to avoid eating Christianity in late colonial Chhattisgarh, India, meat, to reject the use of brahl71ans as religious with special reference to a Salnami-Christian functionaries, and to devote themselves entirely catechist and composer, Blind Simon to the one and only f0!111less (nirgun) deity, Patros. Ixxvii S'11110n ,.s mUSIC. drew upon whom he called "Satnam" (i.e., the Tme Name). Chhattisgarhi linguistic and musical forms and The Gum's following grew, slowly at first, but emphasized continuity between Christianity and by his death in 1850 he claimed a quarter of a the Satnampanth, the dalil (lower-caste) million disciples, and by the century's end, community of Hindu Satnamis from which most nearly all members of the ChamaI' caste in Christians in the region had converted. Simon Chhattisgarh had joined the panth and had begun therefore contributed to the "indigenization" of calling the;11se!ves Satnamis. Ixxviii Christianity in Chhattisgarh. However, the In 1868, eighteen years after Ghasidas's indigenization process cannot be properly death, the first westem missionaries in the considered without reference to the process of region, sent by German Evangelicals living in identity formation. For while the Chhattisgarhi the United States, alTived in Raipur and later set Christian community at first embraced Simon's up camp nearby, in Bishrampur. Given the lyrics, which drew attention to the community's downtrodden state of the Satnal71i community, unexalted Satnami roots, it later, after having these missionaries came to expect that all gained a degree of social rei:1pect, began to Salnamis would soon become Christian. Only a

CHAD M. BAUMAN, who received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminmy, is AssistantProfessor of Religion at Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His dissertation, "Identifying the Satnam: Hindu Satnomis, Indian Christians, and Dalit Religion in Colonial Chhattisgarh, India (1868-l94 7)," was completed in 2004, and he has since authored several articles related to the topic. His research interests include Hindu-Christian interaction, rural Hindu devotional and guru-focused movements, and hybrid religious identities.

Journal ofHindu-Christicm Studies 19 (2006) 27-35 I I It '~-~"-'~------'-.--~---~-~--'------~---~------~~----~~----.~---~---

28 Chad M. Bauman

small percentage of Satnamis ever did convert, as this, Satnami-Christians were able to pOliray but the great majority of today's Christians in Guru Ghasidas's message as little more than a this area can trace their ancestJy to the bastardized form Christianity, ,which was even Satnampanth, and thus to the ChamaI' caste. further vitiated by the panlh 's subsequent gurus. The Chamars are the largest dalit caste This innovation situated Ghasidas, and thus the in India, and in Chhattisgarh they were at the entire Satnami community, within the larger time the largest of all communities. The Clu'istian stOlY, and suggested that conversion Chamars were traditionally associated with did not represent the abandonment of the Guru's tanning and leather goods. "Chamar" is, in fact, ideals, but rather their recovely. a derivative of chmnra (with a short final "a"), Similarly, Christian leaders, working i.e., hide or skin. Because of this association perhaps with information "remembered" by with the skins and bodies of dead animals, and converts themselves, suggested that Ghasidas in particular the sacred cow,. Chamars were had predicted the arrival ofa "white-faced man excluded from entty into Hindu temples and with, a book under his arm." Christians of considered among the most ritually polluting of course believed that Ghasidas's prophecy all castes', despite the fact that a large portion of refelTed to the missionaries who alTived half a Chamars in Chhattisgarh had abandoned their century later. Ghasidas was thus reimagined as traditional occupation for agriculhire. The velY a forerurlner of Christianity, a latter-day J oh11 the name "Chamar" has oveliones of obscenity, and Baptist. Again, the implication, for Satnamis, a related word, chamra (with a long final "a") was that becoming Christian was an act of when used in the proper context, is among the obedience and faithfulness·. to the Guru's worst of all possible abuses. message: a fulfillment of the tradition rather. than Ixxx Not surprisingly, Chamars in various perfidy. parts of northern India have attempted to change Neither Ghasidas's encounter with their name.lxxix In fact, followers of Ghasidas mlsslonaries in Cuttack, nor his alleged successfully petitioned the British government's prophecy regarding the "white-faced man" census officials, in 1926, to have Satnamis appear in the stories Satnamis tell about distinguished from Chamars in all official themselves, but the earliest Satnami-Christians documents. One side effect of this change was appear to have embraced these accounts of that "Satnami" came to be used as a caste name. Ghasidas's life as the "true" ones, and even, Slowly, even Chhattisgarhi Chamars who had perhaps, participated, consciously or no connection to Ghasidas began to embrace the unconsciously, in their construction. Later, term, happy to abandon the derisive "Chamar." however, the community came to regard all One issue of great significance for those reminders of its Satnami past, expressed or Satnamis who became Christian after 1868, implied, as a liability. As the Satnami-Christian therefore, was how they were to relate to their community gained ground in wealth, education, Satnami (and ChamaI') past. Early on in the and social stahls, especially beginning in the cop1111Unity's histOlY, distinct Christian versions 1930s and '40s, it sought, in a variety of ways, of that past developed which emphasized or to distance itself from its low-caste roots. The invented (depending on one's perspective) links ChamaI' and Satnami roots of the Christian between Guru Ghasidas and the Christian community, emphasized by the Christian community. Missionaries and Indian Christians "myths" discussed above, were accordingly consciously and unconsciously reconfigured the obscured or "forgotten~" Satnami past in order to portray conversion to It is in this context that we must Christianity as the culmination of a process consider the work' of a regionally' famous begun by Guru Ghasidas himself. The roots of Satnami~Christian catechist, known as blind Ghasiclas's message were to be found, they Simon Patros. Simon composed songs which maintained, in his encounter with missionaries in drew upon local musical styles and employed Cuttack, Orissa, during his pilgrimage to the the religious vocabulary. of the Satnampanth. Jagannath shrine in Puri. By telling stories such His music grounded Christianity in' the cultural I~ ~ ---~--

I

soil of Chhattisgarh, and his innovations were All stories to him were fairy st<5i:i~§M welcomed by Christians and Hindus alike. those that he heard in the villageas'>0;Jit However, just as the Christian "myths" as those that he heard in Sunday scliOc5i. discussed above were rejected by the Christian and church. When attending a chilch;~i1s; community as their socioeconomic situation [sic] meeting one day, the missiom\.!:·Y( began to improve in the 1930s and '40s, so too said that she was going to tell therh.f was Simon's more explicit use of Satnami true story ... [When the meeting w~st;>· .. religious vocabulary. over with, Simon could hardly wait untiL/;> . he got to the missionalY. "What," [he Shimon Drashtahin (Simon the Sightless) said,] "Are there true and false stories? Is not the story of the mouse and the cat Simon's parents, Rachel (bomKari) and Patros just as true as the story of Daniel?" (born Vishnath) were both Satnami converts to Hearing that this was not the case Christianity. When it became clear, in 1903, caused him several. sleepless nights.lxxxiv that their infant son, Simon, had become blind and would not recover his eyesight, the couple's Certainly Simon's mythic imagii1atiol1 happiness turned to sorrow, and they began to contributed to his success as a musician and wonder, as some of their Satnami neighbors song-writer later in life. Simon's musical skills

were suggesting, whether· Simon's infirmity increased along i with his knowledge of might be karmic retribution-'-'-the result of his, or Christianity, and despite the fact that he lacked their sins from a previous life.lxxxi Simon the requisite educational background, the sensed from a very young age that his pat'eilts mission sent Simon to its seminaty in Raipur, did not love him as they loved his siblings.lxxxii the largest town in the area and the current Once, during his infancy, he "fell" from an capitol of Chhattisgarh, in 1920. uncle's lap into an earthenware pot full of Simon's parents lived in the Christian smoldering ashes. The severity of the wounds colony of Ganeshpur, but they had not fully suffered in the incident led some to conjecture abandoned their pre-Christian religious that the fall was not entirely accidental.lxxxiii practices. They continued, in secret, to worship As a l"esliitof not going to school, Hindu deities (especially Nishana, one of the Simon came to associate with a rather unruly gods favored by Satnamis), honoring them on group of children; and oral Chtistian accounts of auspicious occasions and appealing to them for Simon's youth describe his juvenile antics as help in mundane affairs. They had even fondly and lovingly as Hindus speak ofK.rishna worshipped Simon as a vessel of Mata when he the Butterthief's youthful impishness. He was, contracted smallpox during his childhood. nevertheless, one of the most attentive students Following the customary treatment of those at the mission's Sunday school, and could easily stricken with the disease, Simon's family ritually remember and repeat the stories teachers told in washed his feet in milk and then drank it as a class. He also possessed a rather fantastical sign of their adoration of the devi. But imagination, probably a fortuhate side effect of whenever missionaries visited, they quickly and his' infirmity. He experienced the Chi'istian quietly removed the evidence of such passion narratives so profoundly, for example, practices.lxxxv that he was fourteen before he realized that Jesus In Sunday school, Simon and his brother was· not actually crucified somewhere every heard the story of the Hebrew prophet, Gideon, Good Friday. In apassage that not only offers a who tore down his father's altar to Baal (Judges glimpse of Simon's young' mind, but also 6:25ff.), and the two boys vowed to destroy their indicates disparate cultural and religious parents' image of Nishana. Their father, Patros, understandings regarding the "veracity" of myth, considered the image sacrosanct, and believed one Evangelical missionary l'eported: that his own father and younger brother had died as a result of having discarded theirs. For some time, fear of divine reprisal prevented the boys 30 Chad M. Bauman from fulfilling their vow. One summer, grabbed hold of the Nishana and pulled however, while on break from his theological it out of the ground. I put all the training, Simon was rooting around in the family collected things of the god into an house and happened upon the basket with which earthen pot, and covering myself with a the family covered the altar of Nishana. (The towel, I went out of the village toward altar is created by driving a stake into a mound the brook [where I discarded the of packed earth.) Simon resolved to get rid of idol].lxxxvi the altar and waited until his family was out of the house on a market day. An account of the Simon's father feared for his son's life, but pivotal experience, perhaps glossed by time and decided to see what would happen before subsequent events, but intriguing nonetheless, making any decisions. Simon remained healthy appears in his autobiography: throughout the summer and even improved in health, significantly affecting the strength of the At four o-clock of that day in the month faniily's confidence in the Christian God. of May, I prayed [to] God for strength Simon completed his degree at the top of his and courage like that of Gideon to class 111 1923,married a schoolteacher's destroy the idol. I removed the basket daughter, and moved to another small town, which covered it and began to pull the Baitalpur, to work among lepers in the mission's staff out of the ground. As I did so, I leprosarium there. . Some in the Christian felt a strong impulse directing me not to community, perhaps revealing the influence of pull it out, and I was frightened; but the Hindu view of inl1rmity as karmic another and stronger impulse drove me retribution, questioned the l1tness of a blind man to do so and throw it away. The words for a ministerial job with the language of the of my father came to mind, "This idol Hebrew Scriptures: "For whatsoever man he be has killed your grandfather and uncle." that hath a blemish, he shall not approach; a My mind filled with conflicting ideas blind man or a lame.,," (Lev. 21:18 KJV). and I began to lose courage. Tn this Missionaries and·· Indian Christian leaders extremity I tumed to. God and asked for defended him with another passage: "Jesus help. I tried again to pull out the staff answered, 'Neither hath this man sinned, nor his but could not. In desperation I tmned to parents: but that the works of God should be God and said, "Lord Jesus, give me the Imide manifest in him"; (In. 9:3 KJV).lxxxvii strength to gain the victory over this devil." As I touched the idol again, the Musical and Lyrical Indigenization devil made his final attempt to thwart me and I felt I would surely die. I was In Baitalpur, Simon began to develop his shaking, tears rolling down my cheeks; I musical skills more formally, teaching himself to thought I would stop breathing. I sat play several instruments, including the tabla, down to regain composure; I felt I was dafali (a small tari1bourine) and chikara (a defeated and would not be able to stringed, bowed instrumerit in the sarangi remove the idol from our home. family). Later in life, Simon also learned to play Finally I summoned my courage the harmonium, but the instrument for which he again and prayed, "Lord Jesus, now I am was best known was the tambLira, a long-necked going to pull that devil out. If I can do it instrument made from a gourd, with four strings this time I will know that thou art that are plucked in accompaniment of a singer. almighty and victorious. If I cannot do Just after Simon arrived in Baitalpur, an it I will believe that the god of my Evangelical missionary, Theophil H. Twente, forefathers is true. Having prayed thus, reported that the blind evangelist's musical I made my l1nal attempt. All conflict innovations had touched off an "awakening" 111 . lxxxviii had ceased, and with peace and strength t1 1e reglOn. . in my heart and a smile upon my face, I I--~-- .--- -.------. ----~------.-----.------

I I Blind Simon' Patros 31

Simon gave his first formal concert at for most Christian scriptures, and so Simon was the annual Chhattisgarhi Christian mela at forced to create his own musical lyrics. He is Madku Ghat. He first. put· the story of the remembered for his evocative skill, for his Prodigal Son to the tune of Alha, a well-hown ability to bring the drama and emotions of Bundelkhandi folk song traditionally sung by Biblical narratives to life. He sung the stories of men and used with lyrics describing the heroic Samson and Delilah,Queen Esther, Ananias and deeds of two brothers, Alha and Udal. Later, he Saphira, and Jesus' birth, among others. His sang a on the conversion of Paul.lxxxix crowds were not infrequently brought to tears The crowd was electrified, and collected funds during his musical descriptions of poignant to support Simon's musical development. It is scenes such as Jesus' crucifixion, or the cleat: that Simon's use of indigenous musical dissipation and destitution of the Prodigal Son. forms appealed to most Indians far more than To those raised on recitations of the Ramayana the Hindi translations of western hym11s to and Mahabharata, many of these stories, which they were accustomed. xc particularly those from the Hebrew Scriptures, After this episode, Simon began to must have seemed of a rather familiar type. perfOlin more regularly. Along with The biblical Parable of the Prodigal Son, bhqjans, kirtans are the most common form of for example, reflects a social situation familiar among Hindus in village India, to Chhattisgarhis .. They would have understood and they. are oftel} sung in the spring and the agonies of famines such as the one described summer months when fanners are seeking in the parable-some of the worst famines in the divine protection a~1d favor for the hot and rainy region's history had occurred just before months to come. XCI Kirlans are composed of a Simon's birth. And they would have shared the chorus [pallavi] and several verses [caranam] , biblical audience's revulsion towards the swine and usually expound a theme or tell a story. among which the son was forced to live and eat. Like those of his Hindu counterparts, Simon's But Simon added touches of local nuance to his, kirtan performances took place outside, in a renditions of the stories, localizing them in order village maidan, over the course of a few days or to draw in his audience. For example, in his a week. He would play for several hours at a Prodigal Son kirtan, the father is portrayed as a time and late into the evenings. He often great malguzar (landlord), and the son a torpid performed seated on a dais~the same dais, in vagrant.who indolently plays marbles rather than non-Clu'istian villages, where Hindus played going to school. Neither of these details appears their kirtans and held Ramayana recitations. in the biblical account (Luke 15:32). Simon also But occasionally he performed in the Pandvani added an emotive description of the father's style, in which the musicians would jump about SOlTOW at the SOl1 's premature request for his while playing. In these more animated settings, inheritance, and suggests that the son threatened the crowd often joined the performel"s in to strike the father with an axe in order to laughter and dance. expedite the transaction. In another detail not Simon's kirtans drew large crowds, found in the biblical version, the Prodigal Son's sometimes of hundreds of people,. from all castes friends then make suggestions as to how he and religious communities. Satnamis and should spend his newfound wealth. One Hindus in the region speak highly of his encourages him to buy a village and become a performances even to this day. Though non­ gn;:at zamindar, but the son eventually decides to throw something like a long, drawn out bachelor Christians el~oyed Simon's kirtans primarily for their entettainment value, some appear to have party. Simon drew life out of evelY sentence of respected Simon as a religious teacher. They the Christian scriptures, and could transform a were impressed by his religious passion, by his short biblical passage into an artistic event xcii lasting an entire evening,xciii devotion (bhakti) 10 Jesus.' Virtltallyall Hindu scriptures are written Simon also composed around 250 in a poetic form and thus lend themselves easily bhqjans for use in the congregational setting. to musical interpretation. Such is not the case (Bhqjans are songs of a diverse, loosely 32 Chad M. Bauman organized genre of relatively simple devotional leprosarium. Those afflicted. by leprosy in tunes used in communal worship settings.) Simon's audiences would have understood lyrics Though he created music for some of his such as those in one song, set to the Gazal rag, , in most cases Simon put his own in which God is portrayed in the aspect of a Christia.n lyrics to the tune. of well-known doctor, washing wounds and applying ointment. Chhattisgarhi folk songs, such as the Bihav Gil In the same song, the .. interminable and (Wedding Song) and Sua nach (Parrot Dance), impossibly loud sound of the .insects that bore or common rags, such as the , Tambhura, through the rafters of rural Indian .homes Gazal, and Dadra. xciv These folk songs are becomes a metaphor for sin. "The worms. of sin popular at Hindu festivals and weddings in are in my heart / Gnawing, gnawing, gnawing, Chhattisgarh, and many of them are still in use the worms bore on. Because of this I weep."c today. (In the phrase translated here as "gnawing, Some of Simon's bhajans are gnawing, gnawing," Simon repeats the catechetical, and articulate basic themes of onomatopoeic Chhattisgarhi word, kut; that Christian doctrine, like sin and soteriology, or approximates the sound of the wood-boring the story of Jesus' birth, teachings, death and insects.) resurrection. The words of a song S\ll1g before The lyrics .of some of Simon's bhajans each of Simon's kirtan~ and modeled after a bear. no resemblance to· those traditionally form of Hindi poetic meter called savaiya" for associated with the rags .on which they are example, offers a creed-like statement in four based. For example,SimOll set a description of verses and covers creation, God's forgiveness, Jesus' birth to the tune of the popular Sua nach, and Jesus' incarnation. and resurrection. xcv a regional . harvest song of. playful lyrics Other bhajans fall within the Hindu bhakti addressed, metaphorically, to a parrot (suana). ci tradition, and express the composer's love and But in other lyrics, Simon builds upon the ideas; devotion for Jesus the Guru. In one song, set to images, and emotions related to the rags, the Garan bihav rag (a tune used in Gand transforming these evocative associations by weddings), Simon writes, "I have seen so many situating them in a new context. For instance, in gods and goddesses / They died like humans / the chorus of a bhajan set to the Kevat Kahani But Yishu Masih [Jesus the Messiah], you are rag, a tune usually accompanied by lyrics righteous, / Thus I have made you my Guru."xcvi containing kahanis (stories) about kevats The anti-idolatry theme adumbrated in this (members of the fisher and ferrier jati), Simon passage is a common one for Simon. A line portrays Jesus as a fenyman: "Savior of life, from a song based on the Tal71bhura rag asserts, captain of the boat, 0 beloved Jesus / FelTY me "Iron idols rust, and wooden idols spoil/Those across the river, feny me across the river." The who choose a Guru without thinking suffer first verse continues the metaphor, "The river is much."xcvii Like those in this bhqjan, some of too deep and my boat is so old / Jesus my Simon's lyrics appear to be aimed directly at the beloved ferryman (kevat) , ferry me across the Satnamis. Another song,also set to the river. "cii Tambhura rag emphasizes that eal1hly gurus are In a bhajanbased on the Bihav Git, "without conscience" and "bear false witness Simon exploits the grammar and style of the agall1st. eac 11 ot 1leI'. "xcviii (Tl"·lIS IS a re'erencefi not song's traditional lyrics for evangelical to Ghasidas, but to his successors, his sons and purposes. The Bihav Gil is actl.Jally a series of grandsons who were unable to uphold songs lIscd at ditferent stages during traditional Ghasidas's high standard of moral behavior.) I-lindu weddings, and is still in use today Yet another lyric refers to Jesus as the "Sat (though not by Christians). The tune employed Guru" (the True or Real Guru):xcix by Simon is from the· section of the tune called Healing is another regular theme in telchaghi, which IS. sung while the bride is being Simon's bhqjans, perhapsIlot surprisingly, anointed with oil (tel) . . Though Simon's lyrics given his own disability and the fad that he involve the birth of Christ, their style clearly worked for many years at the· Baitalpur borrows from that of the Bihav Git. Simon

; ...... -: .. Blind Simon Patros 33 transforms the aesthetic coupling of' the In Bethlehem, in Bethlehem, I took birth from traditional lyrics into an effective catechetical Mary's womb. tool. Compare: What was your covering, what was your covering? Bihav Git Where did you find your bed and bedding? I covered myself in rags. I covered myself in Where o Ginger, where 0 Ginger, were you rags. born? Straw was my bedding, and I slept in a sheep's Where have you taken birth [avatar]? manger. In the marar [vegetable grower'sjati]parq Why have you done this, why have you done Mararpara sister, I hav~ taken birth. this? I have taken birth in the world [pirthi]. What is the great work for which you came? Where 0 karsa [earthen pot] I have come for sinners. I have come for where o karsa, were you born? sinners. Where have you taken birth? I have come to save sinners. In a black ant hill [possibly a'metaphor for a How did you save the sinners? How did you kiln], save the sinners? A black ant hill, sister, I have taken birth. . How have you rescued them from sin? I have taken birth in the kumhara [potter caste's] For the sake of sinners, for the sake of sinners, para. I have shed my blood. Where 0 maur [a feathered, ceremonial crown], You have shed your blood. You have shed your where 0 maur, were you born? blood. Where have you taken birth? Tell me the secret of how you saved sinners. In the jungle and bushes, I have shed my tears. I have shed my tears. In the jungle and bushes, sister, I have take!1 I died, was raised, and purchased the life of birth. sinners. In the marar para have taken birth. Where 0 parra [a woven bamboo plate], where Conclusion o parra, were you born? Where have you taken birth? . It is not surprising, given Simon's loving, In the mountains and hills, masterful use ofChhattisgarhi and his skillful In the mountains and hills, sister, I have taken utilization of local lyrical and musical forms, birth. that his bhajans were exceedingly popular. In the kanrara [the caste that makes parras] para Simon's songbook, Chhattisgarhi Christian I have taken birth. Bhajans, which contained around sixty of his Our bride, our bride, so beautiful. songs (some editions had fewer), was first Teli [member of the oil-pressingjati], published in 1937, and was reprinted nearly press oil and give it to us. evety year until· the end of the 1940s, It was among the mission's best-sellers each year, and Simon's Bbajan sometimes topped the list. By the end of its run it had sold over fifty thousand copies. ciii This From which country, from which country [have number is particularly striking when one keeps you come]? in mind that in the 1930s there were fewer than In which country have you taken birth [avatar]? fifteen thousand Christians in all of From the land of heaven, the land of heaven [I Chhattisgarh, and that less than tell percent of have come]. the general population could read. Clearly I have taken birth in the world [duniya]. Simon's popularity was such that large numbers Jesus tell me, Jesus tell me, from whose womb of non-Christians and illiterate Chhattisgarhis did you take birth? were purchasing his bhajan books. Simon did not appear to use his musical skills for the 34 Chad M. Bauman

express purpose of evangelism, though his and for all, but remains a live issue well after passion and devotion often had evangelical Christianity becomes established. The repercussions; many Satnami convelis attributed formation of communal identity IS an their initial interest in Christianity to Simon's amorphous, ever-changing process. . What kirtans. constitutes an instance of acceptable Blind Simon Patros translated the myths "indigenization" thus· changes from period to and beliefs of Christianity into an indigenous period. musical idiom, and appealed, above all,· to the Despite the fact that subsequent Satnami community tl'om which his parents had generations of Satnami-Christians have rejected come. In the lyrics of a song set to the Bhajan some of Simon's attempts at rooting Christianity rag placed prominently for effect at the veIY in the cultural and religious soil of Chhattisgarh, beginning of his bhajan book, Simon refers four he did contribute significantly to. the times to Jesus as "Satnam." Clearly Simon was Chhattisgarhization of Christianity in a variety attempting, like those who "invented," of ways. The n1ere fact that Simon employed promoted, and published distinctly Christian local languages to express his faith, f6r example, accounts of the Satnami past, to forge a would have influenced how it was received. connection between the Satnampanth and Chhattisgarhi words, like all words, would have Christianity. But just as the Christian come fl-eighted with their own semlOtlc community later rejected the implication of associations, and, when applied to Christianity, these historical "myths," so too did it reject the would have tinCtured the appropriation of implications of Simon's indigenized music. Christian ideas. Think, for example, of Simoi1's After four days of revelry, sleeping in use of the Chhattisgarhi(and Hindi) term avatar. tents, and bathing in rivers at the 2004 Madlm The fact that Simon chose this term to speak Ghat meia, where Simon had had his performing about Jesus' incarnation would have affected the debut almost a century earlier, I was way that it was understood. Similarly, SimOlY'S interviewing a young woman who knew some of use of the term, "Satnam" for Jesus would have Simon's songs. I showed her a copy of Simon's conjured up a whole range of associations for songbook, which I had discovered in an those Satnamis who used the term to refer to American archive and taken along to India. their God, and these associations would have Pointing at the tlrst bhajan, the one in which attached themselves to the figure of Jesus. Simon refers so frequently to Jesus as "Satnam," Likewise, the local folk tunes that I asked her whether she knew the traditional Simon employed would have evoked celiain Chhattisgarhi words of the tune. Taking a look emotional states, because of the traditional lyrics at the songbook, and noticing the word attached to them and because of the settings in "Satnam," she declared Simon's lyrics to be the which the folk tunes were traditionally sung. pre-Christian, traditional Chhattisgarhi words to Simon's use of these folk tunes with Christian the tune. In the version of Simon's song that she lyrics would thei'efore have eVQked an emotional knew, and that is now popular, the words had response, conscious or unconscious, that could been changed; "Satnam" had been removed and not have failed to inf1uence the way in which replaced by "Yishu."civ Later redactors of the those lyrics were understood. song, apparently uncomfortable with the Musicians, poets,historians, and older emphasis Simon laid on the continuities between Christians in the area, especially those who were the Satnami and Christian faith (with the born in the early part of the twentieth century, encouragement of missionaries), had expurgated bear a certain nostalgia forSimori's songs and . his use of the Satnami divine i1ame. for his ability to draw continuities between As Christianity develops in any Christianity and the Satnampimth. But more particular locale, it does so in conveI;sation with recent generations of Christians in Chhattisgarh the pre-Christian past. However, as the have rejected Simon's desire to forge Satnami-Christian stoiydemonstrates, the pre­ connections betvyeen his Christianity and· his Christian past cannot simply be dealt with once family's cultural and religious heritage. To --- --~ -- --~------~ ------~~---- I-~--

Blind Simon Patros 35

them, Simon's use of Satnami religious vocabulary was ill-advised and unwelcome. Ixxxviii Twente to Paul A. Menzel, October 1923, AES Nevertheless, Simon was a creative cultural and 82-13a Pr91, Annual Reports, no. 8, 1923. religious trailsgressor of religious boundaries, a Ixxxix Patros, Simon Patros o.lIndia, p. 39. Satnami-Christian for Wh0111 the hyphen was xc On a far more widely known Indian Christian who important, and another example of the infinite employed Tamil musical and poetic forms in the variety of interstitial and hybrid religious production of Christian songs, see Indira Viswanathan Peterson, "Bethlehem Ku[aval1ci of expression. Vedanayaka Saslt'i of Tanjore: The Cultural Discourses of an Em'ly-Nineteenth-Century Tamil Ixxvii Research for this paper was conducted in the Christian Poem," in Christians, Cultural Interactions, Raipur and Bilaspur districts of Chhaltisgarh, a new and India's Religious Traditions, ed. Judith M. state in central India, in the firsl half of 2004, and in Brown and Robert Eric Frykenberg (Grand Rapids: the Archives of the Evangelical Synod (hereafter William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), AES) at Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, pp.9-36. Missouri. An earlier version of this paper was xci For more on rural devotional songs, see Susan S. delivered at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of Wadley, "Texts in Context: Oral Tradition and the the Association for Asian Studies, 23 October 2004. Study of Religion in Karimpur," in American Studies The author would like.to thank Rev. Samsher Samuel in the Anthropology o.j'Jndia, ed. Sylvia Vatuk (New for his assistance with the research for this article Delhi: Manohar Publications, 1978), pp. 326 ff. Ixxviii Saurabh Dube, UntouchablePasts: Religion, xcii ltwari and Parshadi (both informants use only one Identity, and Pmveramong a Central Indian name), interview by author, Dekhuna, Chhattisgarh, Community, j 780-1950 (Albany: SUNY Press, 23 March 2004. 1998), p. 50. xciii Much of the information in this paragraph comes Ixxix On Chamal's in Uttar Pradesh who call from Theodore Twente, "The Gospel in Chhattisgarhi themselves "Raidasi," see Bernard Cohn, "The Garb," undated, AES 82-14 Qu2, Twente, Th. H., Changing Status of a Depressed Caste," in An Quarterly Reports, Articles, Newsletters. Anthropologist among the Historians and Other xciv For more on these Chhattisgarbi musical forms, Essays, ed. Bernard Cohn (Delhi: Oxford University and collections of the lyrics traditionally sung to Press, 1987), p. 264. them, see Sharif Mohammad, Madhyapradesh ka 10k Ixxx For a detailed discussion of the development of sangit (Bhopal: Madbyapradesh Hindi Granth these stories from "myth" to "history," see Chad Akadmi, n.d.); and Hanumant Naidu, Chattisgarhi Bauman, "Identifying .the Satnam: Hindu Satl/amis, lok-gitol1 ka loktatvik tatha manovaUanik anushilan Indian Christians, and Dalil Religion in Colonial (Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh, India: Vishvabharati Chhattisgarh, 1868-1947" (Ph.D. Dissertation, Prakashan, 1987); and Dayashankar Shukla, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2004). For an Chattisgarhi loksahi(va ka adhyayan (Raipur, . overview of Christian and Satnami versions of the ChhaLlisgarh, India: Jyoti Prakashan, n.d.). Satnami past, see Dube, Untouchable Pasts, pp. 193- xcv Simon Patros, Chhattisgarhi Christian Bhqjans 204. . (Raipur: Evangelical Book Depot, 1940), #2. Ixxxi Simon Patros, Simon Patros ofIndia: A Miracle xcvi Ibid., #7. . o.lGod's Grace (St. Louis: Board oflnternational xcvii Ibid., #20. Missions, Evangelical and Reformed Church, Inc., xcviii Ibid., # 16. 1954). p. 10. xcix Ibid., # 23. Ixxxii Shyama Kumari Patros (daughter-in-law of . c Ibid., # 12, Simon); interview by author, RailJUr, Chhattisgarh, 9 ci Ibid., #4. For more on the Sua nach. see Joyce April 2004. Burkhalter Flueckiger, Gender and Genre in the Ixxxiii M. P. Albrecht, "Blind Simon," undated, AES Folklore o.lAliddle India (Itbaca: Cornell University 84'-9b SimaS. Press, 1996), pp.77 ff. Ixxxiv Ibid. cii Patros, Chhaftisgarhi Christian Bhqjans,.# IS. Ixxxv Patros, Simon ?atros (~j'Jndia, p. 15. ciii M. P. Davis, "The Mission Pen," 1941, AES 82- Ixxxvi Ibid., pp. 44-45. 13b St2 7a, Literature Committee (Publications). Ixxxvii Ibid., p~ 33. Here again, the Hebrew scriptures civ Smita Baksh and C. P. Samuel, Madku Ghat, seem· more consonant. wi th the pre-Christian Chhaltisgarh, 13 February 2004 (interview by world view of Chhallisgarh's Christians thali the New author). Testament.