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Shruthi Rajasekar
Shruthi Rajasekar Music
Vox in Krishna (from Feasts of Christmas)
Written for Christmastide, this poignant and moving interfaith work centers the grief of mothers who have lost children.
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Feasts of Christmas
SATB a cappella
In December, some denominations of Christianity mark the Feast of Holy Innocents, also known as Childermas, to mourn the death of children – children in the Nativity story as well as children whose lives have been lost through senseless violence. Shruthi Rajasekar’s Vox in Krishna draws from the Christian Book of Matthew and the Hindu Bhagavata Purana to center the grief of those children’s mothers and to share what is foretold: that one day, the evil that took their lives will be vanquished.
Composer’s Notes
The title of this piece, “Vox in Krishna,” is as much a reference to the original Latin “Vox in Rama” as it is a nod to the dasavatara of Vishnu. The Latin text is connected to the Feast of Holy Innocents. Meanwhile, in Hinduism, Krishna is recognized as an avatar of the god Vishnu – another of His avatars is the deity Rama.
In “Vox in Rama,” Rachel’s voice is heard in the town of Ramah mourning the senseless death of her children which, in the Biblical Book of Matthew, occurs at the hands of the jealous and fearful King Herod. The origin story of the Hindu god Krishna is uncannily similar: a voice prophesizes that the child of King Kamsa’s relative will one day vanquish him. Out of, again, jealousy and fear, the King imprisons his relative Devaki and her husband Vasudeva, and each time a child is born to them, he slaughters it. Their eighth child, Krishna, escapes and ultimately ends Kamsa’s reign of terror.
– Shruthi Rajasekar
Text
A voice is heard weeping
Rachel, Devaki’s children
They are no more
Herod, Kamsa
Killed the children
But Rachel, Devaki:
Know that
Kamsa will be no more
He will be no more
– Adapted from Matthew 2:18 and the Bhagavata Purana, Canto 10
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