Tamil Christian Keerthanai

Tamil Christian Keerthanai or kīrttaṉai. (Keerthanai meaning Songs

of Praise) are devotional Christian songs in Tamil. They are also

referred to as "lyrics" (a genre term) by Tamils in English.

A century ago, this term would have immediately conjured up the names of

three lyricists who formed the Triumvirate of Tamil Christian poets:

Vedanayagam Sastriar of Tanjore, ], and ]. Other well-known composers from the early 20th century are

Rev. V. Santiago, John Palmer, Mariyaan Ubidasiyar, G. S. Vedanayakam

and L. Ponnusuvami.

These are mostly a collection of indigenous hymns written by Protestant Tamil Christian poets. A few of them are translations of Christian hymns

from other languages. They use the kīrttaṉai form that includes the

classical karnatak raga (mode) and tala (rhythmic cycle) designations for each song. Some of these ragas and talas are followed in Church practice, while from the 1940s, other kīrttaṉai were adapted to simpler Western style tunes in major scale that more easily facilitated the accompaniment of organ.

These hymns were written in the early stages of Protestant Christianity in India by composers such as Vedanayakam Sastriar who worked under the German Lutheran missionaries in the Tanjore area (likely the 1780s on). They were first published for broad use among the Protestant denominations and mission societies in 1853 by the American Congregational (ABCFM) missionary Edward Webb, in the hymn book titled Christian Lyrics for Public and Social Worship. Webb and eight of his catechists spent a couple months learning the songs from Vedanayakam

Sastriar and then transmitted them orally throughout the towns and

villages of the Protestant missions. Today these hymns are widely used in worship services by the Tamil Churches belonging to the "main-line" or traditional denominations. Some of the more popular hymns include "Mangalam Selikka" (used during wedding celebrations) and "Ellam Yesuve".

These Keerthanai's have many sections such as the advent or birth of Christ, these would be sung during Christmas services usually starting from December 1 to 31. 'Aadhi thiruvathai" meaning holy word of yore and

'Arasanai Kaanamal Iruppome' meaning, 'Can we live without seeing our

king?' are popular beautiful Tamil hymns. And then there are beautiful funeral songs such as 'Devane naan Umadandayil' or 'Lord, all my heart desires to be closer to thee' are consoling songs of death that bring out the gospel, we live in this world to make us worthy to go to our Lord and so, there is no need for sorrow. There are songs too, for the crucification of Christ such as 'Kurusinil Thongiye'.

Translations from English hymns to Tamil are called Paamalaigal, these too were effectively done by the above mentioned heralds of Tamil Protestant lyrics or hymns. Though very popular among the aged and veteran Tamil Protestant Christians, now, people want to be in vogue and

adapt recent songs that say the same message in a very simple fashion.

They mostly have a lot of repetitions and do not have the aesthetic literary or musical love that is evident in Keerthanais. Another special

feature of Keerthanais or Keerthanaigal in Tamil is the use of lovely

ancient Tamil words that are hard for present day Tamilians to understand. These mostly have the traces of ancient Brahmin language as the lyricists were mostly Brahmin converts, other belonging to the various casts and Hindu religion most prevalent in Tamil Nadu.

They have stood the test of time and remain the classics, the measuring rods to current day songs and poems.