Thread by @nrithyapillai

For many women with courtesanal pasts in the Hindu religion, association with brahminism and the Hindu right has provided some relief, they have sometimes been able to practice their art and achieve success as artists. Lata Mangeshkar is an example of this.

There are those who call her
"brahmin" &those that say she was from "devdasi"community. One needs to see it from the lens of the influence of Savarkar on her family, creation of gomantak maratha caste,her father's involvement in the nationalist project of Marathi natyasangeet..

The equations are no different today,for the left often reduces bahujan hereditary women to descendants of exploited victims of sexual abuse who were saved through reform.The choice to lean right,toward brahminic power has been a survival mechanism #LataMangeshkar

Here's an interview where Lataji speaks about her father Dinanath's( Yesubai's son) music with pride in marathi. Yesubai was from the gomantak samaj.
( Prof. Davesh Soneji shared this on his fb page)

In this video, we also hear about Dinanath’s recording of a Telugu kirtana as part of one of his natyasangit recordings (date unclear?)This is the Tyāgarāja kīrtana “nannu brova nīkinta tāmasamā” in Ābhogi.
Source Prof.Davesh Soneji

Obviously , this thread is only an attempt to understand her political persona through understanding of the history of cultural nationalism that is part of most art forms in our country! It is not justification of her political choices.