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- Convenor:
-
Bożena Śliwczyńska
(University of Warsaw)
- Location:
- Room 213
- Start time:
- 28 July, 2016 at
Time zone: Europe/Warsaw
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
The panel is intended for a discussion on various forms of Performing Arts connected with the ritual in the past and/or in the present. The papers should consider forms: - being a ritual sensu stricto, thus their performance was/is meant as the ritual as such, - being a part of the complex ritual.
Long Abstract:
The panel is intended for a discussion on various forms of South Asian Performing Arts (theatre, dance, music) connected with the religious ritual in the past and/or in the present. The papers should consider forms:
- being a ritual sensu stricto, thus their performance was/is meant as the ritual as such,
- being a part of the complex ritual actions.
The panel focuses on the performing forms mentioned above. However, the subject is question includes a discussion on a general idea of mutual relations between the performing arts and the ritual. It is high time for a deep and extensive survey-cum-analysis of the matter to be done. Both, the performing arts and the ritual context they (some of them) operate within, are in a constant change, rather rapid one. The modern circumstances of different kinds may completely alter and replace their ritual context as well as re-shape their traditional inner structure and framework. The papers should be original (not presented earlier) and based on written, oral or visual texts originated in the Subcontinent.
The tentative panellists:
M.Krzysztof Byrski (University of Warsaw, Collegium Civitas, Poland)
Aparna Parameswaran (Ammannur Chakyar Madham, Irinjalakuda, India)
Bożena Śliwczyńska (University of Warsaw, Poland);
thus the panel is partly open to new paper proposals.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Aditi Singh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Paper short abstract:
Critical assessment of the relation between rituals and performing traditions as expressed in the literary source― the Nāṭyaśāstra (Theoretical treatise on the craft of Dramaturgy, roughly dated to 2nd century CE, ascribed to 'Bharata').
Paper long abstract:
"Towards the end of the rite, the nāṭyācārya should break a pot in which sanctified water is kept at the centre. He should also hold high a lighted torch in which incenses should be sprinkled to blaze the sky. From the omens, one can decide whether the worship has got the desired effect." The Nāṭyaśāstra.
The rituals in the Nāṭyaśāstra were roughly separated on account of those that were to be carried out behind the curtain and others that were to be initiated after the curtain was raised and in front of the audiences. From the selection of a 'site' for staging a performance to exclusion of certain social figures (like the 'heretics', 'recluses', forest dwellers and even people with physical handicaps) on account of being inauspicious when the foundation for the construction of a play house was being laid; rituals formed an integral part in the various stages associated with performing arts in the text. What was the intention behind introduction of such elaborate rituals within the performing tradition? What are the ways and instances in which rituals have been introduced and discussed in the context of performative tradition? This paper hopes to problematize the very introduction of rituals within a performance as well as to delineate the mutual relations between the two.
Bożena Śliwczyńska (University of Warsaw)
Paper short abstract:
Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre is the only surviving form of the Sanskrit classical theatre. During the long history the Kūṭiyāṭṭam has established its very unique position as a part of ritual acitivities in Hindu temples in Kerala (South India).
Paper long abstract:
Kūṭiyāṭṭam is a sole surviving form of Sanskrit classical theatre. Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre tradition concerns not only staging Sanskrit dramas, but also solo performing sub-forms called Naṅṅyār Kūttu and Cākyār Kūttu. In the course of history the Kūṭiyāṭṭam (all its stage components) has established its unique position as a temple ritual (on an annual basis) in various Hindu temples in Kerala (South India). The Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre has developed its very own way of the stage presentation meeting all requirements of the ritual activities in the sacred performance place within the temples. A kūttampalam (a temple theatre) is one of five main temple buildings (pañca prāsāda). However, a purely aesthetic appeal of the stage art is not neglected at all. It may be said that both, aesthetic and ritual elements, are perfectly combined in the Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre and the very essentials of the tradition. Up to the mid twentieth century stage activities of the Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre tradition were confined to the temple premises. The moment of leaving the temples brought changes to the world of the Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatre that partly started operating outside the temple walls. In my paper I shall focus on the temple Kūṭiyāṭṭam performing activity that luckily still remains inside the temple walls.
Aparna Parameswaran (Ammannur Chakyar Madhom)
Paper short abstract:
The Naṅṅyār Kūttu is a solo stage form related to the Sanskrit classical theatre–Kūṭiyāṭṭam (Kerala, South India). The only subject of the Naṅṅyār Kūttu is a story of Kṛṣṇa’s life staged in many episodes. The Naṅṅyār Kūttu is still meant as a ritual in Hindu temples of Kerala.
Paper long abstract:
The Naṅṅyār Kūttu is a female artist solo stage form related to the Sanskrit classical theatre - Kūṭiyāṭṭam (Kerala, South India). The subject of the Naṅṅyār Kūttu is Kṛṣṇa's life(enacting is based on the text ŚrīKṛṣṇacaritam).The only figure on the stage is Kalpalatikā, a maid of Subhadrā (Kṛṣṇa'ssister). In the Naṅṅyār Kūttu an actress is free to transform her personage of Subhadrā's maid into many other characters (gods, demons, humans and even animals).Thus she is able to present Kṛṣṇa's life adventures on different levels and from various angles.
The great art of the Naṅṅyār Kūttu was preserved through the annual performances in the kūttambalams, or temple theatre buildings, in several temples of Kerala The Naṅṅyār Kūttu is meant as a ritual while performed in the temple premises (only in a few temples now a days). This unique theatre form is presented by actresses called Naṅṅyārs belonging to Nampyār families (temple musicians). The members of these families are only allowed to perform the Naṅṅyār Kūttu in the kūttambalam since it is the irreligious duty (kuladharma). Quite a number of dedicated Naṅṅyārs sacrificed their life to preserve and transmit the art of enacting the ŚrīKṛṣṇacaritam from generation to generation. Compared with the old style presentation, the Naṅṅyār Kūttu of the present is more developed due to essential additions that nourish the condense stage presentation of the past.The ritual of the performance has become much more elaborated.
Debanjali Biswas (Showtown History Centre, Blackpool)
Paper short abstract:
Historically Manipur’s Sankirtana evolved as an integral part of Vaishnavite rituals but in the twentieth century, the inherent aspects tradition has been taught, performed and popularised as separate entities such as congregational chanting, dance, percussive and music traditions.
Paper long abstract:
Sankirtana has gained prominence as an important cultural expression of the Northeast Indian Meitei community of Manipur. In 2013, Sankirtana was inscribed as an 'intangible heritage' by UNESCO. From 18th century, Sankirtana has been a vital component of Vaishnavite rituals and presently it is the most observable cultural contact of Meitei and Bengali traditions in performative music and ceremonial terminology. The ritual-performance encompasses percussive, congregational chanting, music and dance traditions. This paper discusses three components of the Sankirtana tradition, the first being the changes in the understanding of bhakti and darshan and how the relationship between the devotee and the deity is conveyed through congregational music. Secondly, the role of dance in a predominantly musical tradition is analysed by discussing the cholom style in Sankirtana. Thirdly, this paper aims to project how Sankirtana has enabled Manipur's Vaishnavite religious traditions to be recognised as a major performative tradition of post-colonial India. This paper takes a close look at historical sources and modern practices studied through a ethnography.
Tutun Mukherjee (University of Hyderabad)
Paper short abstract:
The paper will examine the ritualistic Chhau dance performance of the Mahishasuramardhini saga that presents a dialectics of the sublime and the grotesque, good and evil, power and the lack of it, in the role play of the victor and the vanquished.
Paper long abstract:
Rituals are symbolized through the expressivity of performance and provide the occasion and space for its perpetuity and possible variations. The annual enactment of the ritualistic victory of good over evil is the Hindu festival celebrating power and energy configured as the feminine warrior deity Mahishasuramardhini, or more popularly goddess Durga the slayer of the demon asura Mahisha. The ritual worship of power and energy as Durga is symbolized through different performative events, some running through nine nights of the festival. One such is the serial performance of Chhau Dance at Purulia, a suburban town in Bengal, performed through nine nights recounting the steady build-up of the battle and the epiphanic moment of the revelation of power leading to the vanquishing of the metaphoric evil. As the performance moves away from sacred spaces, it works not only on the level of literal meaning-making but overflows into political dialectics between empowerment and the disempowered. The performances entice the audience into their energetic vortex through the enactment of the eternal drama of the sublime and the grotesque, both invoking 'awe' in their own ways and the victorious finale is not without its subversive and subliminal pulls.
Katarzyna Skiba (Jagiellonian University)
Paper short abstract:
The paper questions the religious and ritual dimensions of Kathak as its allegedly essential features. It demonstrates the changes in Kathak art and praxis due to its relocation from courts and salons to modern dance schools and theatres, underlining the tendency to sanctify the dance.
Paper long abstract:
The paper aims to examine the phenomenon of sacralization of Kathak dance in the context of national identity formation. Focusing on the tradition of Lucknow gharana, it traces the transformation of Indo-islamic, secular performing arts patronized by nawabs of Oudh to the classical dance form, disseminated under auspices of Indian government among middle classes. The shift of hereditary performers to newly established national dance institutes and auditoria resulted in significant changes in artistic conventions, repertoire, and the system of knowledge transmission. In order to conform to new class of practitioners, sponsors and audiences, erotic aspects of the art have been cleansed or reinterpreted in terms of bhakti. Additionally, numerous devotional and ritual elements have been introduced into the new format and spaces of performance, as well as in the dance theory and training. The paper intends to demonstrate to what extent Kathak art has been refashioned as a representation of India's cultural heritage and its emphasized religious (Hindu) dimension in the course of the twentieth-century dance revival. It questions various theories on the religious roots of Kathak, and points to the ambivalence of śringara theme in traditional Kathak repertoire. Contemporary attempts to spiritualize Kathak (such as combining the dance with Sufism or yoga) are also considered as alternative to its 'Hinduization'. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork (interviews, observations) conducted in India (2013-2015) and performance analysis.
Maria Caterina Mortillaro (Università di Milano Bicocca)
Paper short abstract:
In the last decades in India some theologians and priests have tried to introduce Indian classical dance-theatre in the Catholic liturgy, even if the Vatican has not approved this form of inculturation. The paper explores the technical and theological problems related to this adaptation of the rite.
Paper long abstract:
In the last decades in India some theologians and priests have tried to introduce Indian classical dance-theatre in the Catholic liturgy with the same role of chants in western liturgy. Basically, they want to inculturate the Christian message into the Indian culture, on the basis of the Vatican II. However, there is a debate inside the Church on the appropriateness of introducing such elements in the liturgy. The real problem is, on one hand, the variability/invariability of the ritual; on the other, the possibility for the peripheral churches to challenge the power of Rome.
From a technical point of view, it is not simple to adapt to Christianity a performing art that was born in Hinduism. In order to make the dance fit in the Christian context, choreographers have introduced new gestures, called deva-hasta, to depict theological concepts and the characters of the Bible.
However, the complexity of the language of dance makes it difficult for the audience to decode the message and, at the same time, generates ambiguities. Even if the dancers perform on the tunes of songs and hymns, sometimes it is not possible to understand what the actor is doing. Moreover, dance can be a distraction for the assembly.
Another objection is that Indian classical dance-theatre (in particular Bharatanatyam, which is the object of my research) is an élite dance. Therefore, its adaptation cannot help the common believer to feel more at ease with a religion sometimes perceived as a foreign one.
Hanna Mannila (University of Helsinki)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the ritual aspects of today's kathak practice: What are kathak dancers' views on dance as worship and on the ritual gestures performed in the context of kathak? The paper is based on observations of kathak performances and interviews of kathak dancers in India in winter 2015-16.
Paper long abstract:
The popular narrative about the history of Indian classical kathak dance tends to emphasise its religious roots in the Hindu temples: The dance was seen as an offering by the performer to the God. However, kathak was also patronised by both Hindu and Muslim courts, where the Hindu concept of dance a ritual played a lesser role. There are legends about devout Hindu kathak dancers who performed in the courts of Nawabs - in that case the same performance might have been a religious offering by the dancer, but secular entertainment to the Muslim audience. Both these aspects - the religious and the secular - are still seen in performances: within a longer dance performance some sections are more and some less tied with the dance's ritual past. The emphasis on the devotional aspect depends on the choice of the performer or the choreographer. This paper examines the various ritual aspects present in today's kathak performances: firstly, kathak dance as worship and secondly, the ritual gestures performed in the context of kathak performances and practice. The paper is based on interviews of kathak artists and observations of kathak performances in Delhi and Ahmedabad in December 2015 - January 2016.
Anjan Sen (University of Delhi) Soma Sengupta (Department of Commerce, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi)
Paper short abstract:
From being a local ritual in a village in the margins of Delhi; burning of Ravana effigies on Dussehra has become a festival of national importance. The present paper analyses the integration of (Ravana Effigy-burning) with a performing art (Ram-Lila) associated with a major festival (Dussehra).
Paper long abstract:
Ramayana is among the greatest Sanskrit epic-poems in Indian literature; whose principal characters Rama and Ravana, personify good and evil in Hindu mythology. During Navratras, the story of Ramayana is enacted as stage-dramas (Ram-Lilas), which culminates with burning of gigantic effigies of Ravana on the night of Dussehra, symbolizing victory of good over evil. The present paper studies two inter-related facets of this performing-art in a ritual context.
Firstly, it studies how effigy burning, which began as an unknown local event; gradually become an integral part of Ram-Lilas. In 1960s, an old man living in Titarpur village, initiated community-level burning of effigies of Ravana on Dussehra. The event gradually gained popularity, as people in the surrounding localities gradually adopted the ritual, integrating it with Ram-Lila. Today, ram-lilas are incomplete and considered inauspicious, without the symbolic burning of effigies.
Secondly, the paper studies the lasting impact of this religious tradition on the local economy, and the associated value-system of effigy-makers or "Ravan-wallas"; for whom Ravana, despite being a demon, is no less than a god; as the craft associated with effigy-making, is their basic source of life sustenance. Titarpur is the largest centre for making Ravana-effigies in India. Effigies are made for a month before Dussehra; and the income generated is sufficient enough to sustain them for the rest of the year.
Therefore, an integration of a minor local event (effigy-burning) with a major performing art (ram-lilas), is today the sole source of livelihood for the people of Titarpur.
Michael Dusche
Paper short abstract:
All over India we encounter peculiar examples of dispute resolution where the “enforcement of law” is delegated to spirits such as daivas or būtas, devtas or jinns. In this paper I will argue that these spirits are efficacious social institutions in the mediation of justice.
Paper long abstract:
All over India we encounter peculiar examples of dispute resolution where the “enforcement of law” is delegated to spirits such as daivas or būtas, devtas or jinns. In this paper I will argue that these spirits are efficacious social institutions in the mediation of justice. To argue thus I claim that we can leave aside the question whether these sprits are “real” in the objective sense. It suffices to show that their existence is an intersubjectively shared belief. Such a belief is efficacious just like any other social institution whose reality is grounded in the intersubjective social world rather than in the objective world of science or the subjective world of experience. The efficacy of a spirit-based justice system lies in its “performativity” a notion that is tied to the concepts of the “illocutionary” and “perlocutionary force” attributed to utterances and ritual performances alike.