Students of English literature at Lalgola College in Murshidabad were treated to a brief violin recital by a teacher during a class on an ancient Tamil epic.

Somnath Chakraborti, an assistant professor, played raga Kurinci on his violin while taking a class on Cilappatikaram, a poem of 5,730 lines. Translated excerpts of the text have recently been included in the revised English honours syllabus for undergraduate students of the University of Kalyani.

The epic, centred around the tragic love story of Kannaki and Kovalan, is remarkable in its rendition of thinais (moods) and often shares a close connection with Carnatic classical music.

“There is a reference to raga Kurinci in the masterpiece by Ilango Adigal, which people of the hilly regions of Tamil Nadu would sing in the second century,” said Chakraborti. “I thought it apt to play the raga for a richer and more nuanced understanding of the text.”

Chakraborti has taken recourse to music while teaching other texts in class as well. He played the jhala portion of raga Yaman to explain to students the “pleasure” and “sacredness” of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan.

“The heroine of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Viola, is named after a musical instrument. The captain of the wrecked ship is her ‘mute’, again a musical device to suppress sound,” Chakraborti explained. “The Bard used musical metaphors to show how patriarchy would suppress a woman’s voice. Down the ages, music has been an integral part of literature. Otherwise, William Butler Yeats wouldn’t have compared Maud Gonne’s beauty to ‘a tightened bow’ in No Second Troy.”

The 43-year-old has been learning the violin since he was eight, first under the guidance of his father Dulal Chakraborti and later as a disciple of Paresh Acharya and Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury.

Chakraborti feels making students listen to the ragas mentioned can provide them with a synaesthetic experience.

His colleagues welcome the cross-disciplinary approach. “It’s a unique method, compared to conventional mode of classroom teaching. It not only brings out the richness of our cultural heritage, but also ensures a cross-cultural bond,” said Hazarat Ali Seik, assistant professor in education at the college.

Chakraborti’s students enjoy his classes and the musical interludes. “I could have never conceived something beautiful in the same manner as I did through his music,” Tofail Hossain, a first-year student of English, said.