Translation’s Promise

Abstract Chapter 3 addresses the Kirtanottejak Mandal (Kīrtanottejak Maṇḍaḷ, Society for the Promotion of Kirtan), an organization founded by Bene Israel men in 1880 with the purpose of adapting and performing Jewish kirtans using Hindu models. Because of its origins in Hindu temple worship, the early years of Bene Israel kirtan were fraught with controversy, but the uproar gradually quieted down and kirtan became one of the most popular forms of performance among the Bene Israel for the next forty years. It was no easy task to generate a sense of Jewish authenticity through Hindu song, but the sociopolitical climate of the late nineteenth century made it a project worth pursuing. Performing kirtan helped Bene Israel people navigate the difficult task of connecting with global Judaism while negotiating a voice as a tiny minority within the Indian nationalist movement. Using the approximately forty kirtan texts published during the period in question, as well as oral histories and articles in Indian Jewish newspapers, this chapter charts how Maharashtrian Hindu theologies, sounds, and ritual practices were translated into Jewish devotional performance through kirtan. The author argues that debates around Jewish kirtan led to changes in its form that point to a deteriorating trust in what Deborah Kapchan calls the “promise of sonic translation” between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.