Berkeley South Asian History Archive: Literary Histories

Berkeley/Bay Area South Asian art, Music, and Literary history

[1893] "A high-caste Hindoo artiste who is visiting San Francisco admits that he does not like or understand the music of Europe and America," insisting that these instruments played together "create the most bothersome noise." [The Indianapolis Journal, December 17 1893, The Sunday Journal, p 12, col 5, "About People and Things"]
[1894] Purushotam Rao Telang, a Brahmin from Bombay, had his views on cross-cultural music and arts widely covered in the press. He came to attend the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. In the long and fascinating first article (Jan 21), he describes the history and state of Indian classical music, talks about the sitar and veena (beautifully illustrated in the paper), argues for Indian superiority ("India is the oldest civilized nation, the Vedas are the oldest hymns, and Sanskrit…the oldest human speech"), and shares his views on Western music ("my ears have been pained"), and proposes a world congress of musicians. A week later (Jan 28), he's quoted in the same newspaper expanding on the same themes: his discomfort with some Western music ("I have heard some of your great singers who sounded like jackals howling"), a thoughtful attempt at describing the basics of Indian classical music, and the proposed World's Congress of Music. One week later (Feb 4), he explains further, sharing his views on the state of Indian classical music, women actors, and more. [SF Call, Jan 21 1894, p8, "Universal Music"; Jan 28 1894, p22, "With Other Ears"; Feb 4 1894, p17, "Brahmin Music"]
[1907] An English language production of the Sanskrit play The Little Clay Cart, translated by Arthur Ryder, was performed at the Greek Theater featuring non-Indian actors, a real live elephant, and an invocation by Indian student N.C. Chakravarti. Production staff intended to consult Swami Prakashananda, in addition to Indian students at UC Berkeley.
[1910] At a jubilee celebration at UC Berkeley, where students and faculty put on multiple days of celebration, "The float of the Hindu students will portray a shrine of Serasaty, the Hindu gooddess of education. The float will be reproduced with faithfulness as to details." ["Jubilee Spirit Regnant in Berkeley," San Francisco Chronicle, May 17 1910, p5]
[1910] Inayat Khan, musician and Sufi teacher, performed Hindustani classical music at the Vedanta Temple in San Francisco, where he met Swami Trigunatita. [The Genesis of Sufism in the West by William Rory Dickson, ch 2, page 75]
[1911] Paris Opera performed "Lakme" at the Valencia Theater (235 Valencia, San Francisco). No South Asians were involved. [San Francisco Chronicle, Nov 19 1911, p. 42, "Stars in Opera Score a Success"]
[1914?] Arthur Ryder's translation of Shakuntala was performed in Berkeley at the Greek Theater.
[October 1915] The Hindusthanee Student Association stages "The Conquest of Kama (Desire)" musical play at the Berkeley High School auditorium, as a fundraiser for India relief, in response to famine caused by World War I . The play was based on Kalidasa, while about a dozen songs, mostly from Tagore, have been added. S.N. (Surendranath) Guha directed. The young professor was a UC Berkeley grad (BS 1913), director of the Abu Hossain Dramatic Club of Los Angeles. The Hindusthanee Student Association teamed up with American friends to form the Indian Famine Relief Committee. One paper notes that Guha and his associates did a number of performances of the play in Los Angeles. [Oakland Tribune, 29 Sep 1915, page 11, column 4, "Death is War's Gift to to Hindus"] [https://www.saada.org/item/20110903-313] [The Hindusthanee Student, October 1915, page 18, "Sanskrit Play"]
[1916] Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in 1913, passed through the Bay Area. He spoke on "The Place of Literature in Human Progress" at the Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco on October 2, and did readings from his works at the Columbia Theater on October 5. Patrons for these events included President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of UC Berkeley and President Ray Lyman Wilbur of Stanford, both of whom invited Tagore to speak at their universities. He also did another event for a Japanese audience, with the help of a translator. On September 29, Dhan Gopal Mukherji gave a lecture on Tagore at the Paul Elder Gallery at 239 Grant. (SF Chronicle, 9/21/1915, pg. 3, "Bengali seer to lecture October 2"; 9/24/1916 pg. 26 "Bengali poet will talk on literature"; 9/27/1916 pg. 4 classified ad; 9/28/1916 pg. 8, "Bengali poet to lecture"; 10/1/1916 pg. 36, "Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali Poet, at Palace")
[~1916] Dhan Gopal Mukherji, a student at UC Berkeley and then Stanford, wrote three books: Rajani, Songs of the Night; Sandhya, Songs of Twilight; and Laila Majnu, a musical play. All of these were published by Paul Elder and Co. in San Francisco.
[1917] Ananda Coomaraswamy visited the Bay Area, and was hosted at a dinner by Arthur Pope and others, where a UC Berkeley student "Mr. Deb" played the veena. [Oakland Tribune, July 1 1917, page 43, column 1]
[1917] A White musical event includes a performance (reading?) of Tagore's short story, "The Hero," from "The Crescent Moon." [Berkeley Daily Gazette, November 22 1917, p2, "Music to be Given for War Relief Funds"]
[1918] The allegation was made by some sources that Tagore was involved in the Hindu-German conspiracy. (This is, of course, patently ridiculously.) These British documents guess Tagore wasn't part of the conspiracy.
[1919] Indian painter Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin passed through the San Francisco Bay Area on his way back to India, per an interesting article about him and his work. [Oakland Tribune, 29 June 1919, page 11, column 1, "A painter from Hindusthan…"]
[1919] Indian musician "Babu Kall Sarkar" was to perform in San Francisco, at the Print Rooms at 540 Sutter. Sarkar, from Calcutta, was apparently a vocalist and instrumentalist, part of the staff of the Maharaja of Kasimbazar (Cossimbazar). The article mentions that he's often played in Gwalior, Mysore, and Jaipur, and was the music director of the 1911 Durbar. [SF Chronicle, Oct 19 1919, pF4, "East Indian Music Offering Promised"]
[1920] Berkeley's Tamalcraft club held an event on Hindoo art and music, featuring Sant Rad Mandal as one of the spakers. [San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Oct 1920, page 1, column 3, "Hindoo Art Will be Theme at Tamalcraft"]
[1921] The de Young Museum exhibited a collection of Indian items, include Hindu gods in various media. (Vishnu, Sita, Vithoba (sp?), Arjun, Kanooji (sp?), and Hanuman, etc.) [SF Chronicle, May 9 1921, p2, "Park Museum Collections Augmented / East Indian Idols Attract Visitors"]

[1929] Rabindranath Tagore passed through Berkeley in 1929. There's an iconic image of Tagore with Indian students at UC Berkeley, published in the September 1929 issue of India & Canada.
[1938] Uday Shankar performed in San Francisco's Opera House on Feb 20, 1938. He was slated to perform two solos, "Grandharva" and "Kartikeyya"; his partner Simkie was to dance "Ramachandra," and other members of the company included brother Robindra. [Oakland Tribune, Feb 20 1938, p. 39, col. 3, "Uday Shan-Kar Recital Billed Across Bay Today"; San Francisco Examiner, 16 Feb 1938, p. 20, "Hindu Dancers Will Give 2 Programs"]
[~1956-1957] R. K. Narayan wrote much of the novel The Guide while living at Hotel Carlton in Berkeley. He describes this in chapter 4 of the book The Dateless Diary: My American Journey. ["Narayan Sees the World Through Malgudi and Its People," May 25 1989, page 6]
[1967] Purna Das Baul and a troupe of Baul musicians performed in a Berkeley back yard. There's a lovely photo in the Berkeley Barb. [Berkeley Barb, 9/22/1967, pg. 4]
[1978] The Berkeley school district received a grant to teach Punjabi in schools, possibly as part of a bilingual education program. They hired Parveen Sandhu for four months. According to one commentator, the federally funded experiment was a failure, in part because professional Indian and Pakistani families didn't see the need to be included within ethnic studies. ["The Bals - Spearheading Bilingual Education for the Indian Community", India West, 15 May 1978, p19] ["Dismal Future Forecast For Indian Heritage", India West, 3 July 1979, page 6]