Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance

Abstract

Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org Illustrations FIGURES 1-2. Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma in the village of Kuchipudi 3 3. Ramalingeshvara and Balatripurasundari temple in the center of the Kuchipudi village 15 4. Siddhendra's mūrti (image) in a temple in the Kuchipudi village 45 5-11. Vedantam Venkata Naga Chalapathi Rao donning Satyabhama's strī-vēṣam 60-61 12. Chinta Ravi Balakrishna as the sūtradhāra 83 13. Satyabhama addressing Madhavi 84 14. Madhavi and Satyabhama offer flowers to Krishna (performed by Yeleswarapu Srinivas) 90 15. Sasikala Penumarthi enacts Satyabhama 110 16. Vedantam Raghava as the sūtradhāra 112 17. Madhavi and Satyabhama 113 18. Madhavi wears Satyabhama's nose ring 115 19. Satyabhama combs Madhavi's hair 126 20. Author impersonates Krishna 129 xi Acknowled gmentsWriting is a performative act that demands collective labor in the guise, or vēṣam, of a singular voice. Although a monograph, this book would not be possible without the collective efforts of teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends. My Kuchipudi guru, Sasikala Penumarthi, first introduced me to Kuchipudi through her exquisite skills in performance. Chavali Balatripurasundari, the daughter of guru Vempati Chinna Satyam, deepened my knowledge of Kuchipudi through her persistent dedication to her father's legacy. Inspired by Baliakka's story, I dedicate this book to her.I am deeply indebted to Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, my incredibly generous advisor who has supported me throughout, from the start of this project to its finish. Joyce's intellectual insights, deep love of India, and commitment to her students are truly remarkable, and she has been the single force that has shaped my academic training over the years. Velcheru Narayana Rao has sparked my interest in all things Telugu since the day I met him. I am grateful not only for Narayana Rao's unbridled enthusiasm for reading Telugu texts, but also for his insightful observations and inspirational claims. My mentor at the University of Hyderabad, Anuradha Jonnalagadda, has been a guiding force through this project. Anuradha's expansive knowledge of Kuchipudi dance history is an inspiration, and she is the single most influential scholar of Kuchipudi dance to date. I also thank the other scholars who influenced the shape of this book, including Laurie Louise Patton, an intellectual tour de force who prompted me on the path of scholarly work in South Asian studies. Vasudha Narayanan, the authority on South India, has shaped the arc of my scholarship from dissertation to book. I am extremely grateful to Anne Monius for her ongoing support of my research and scholarly care...

Leisure and the racing of national populism

“…Veena Mani and Mathangi Krishnamurthy (Mani and Krishnamurthy, 2018) write on football and space (Sen, 2015) in the South Indian state of Kerala, where grassroots organising challenged the city corporation's and state government's aim to replace the football pitch with a slaughterhouse. While the fundamentalist Hindu national government (headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party) in India has pushed for neoliberal policies coded through the language of regaining Hindu rights, the protest by football fans shows a vibrant space of 'active citizenry' to resist top-down dictates during a time of increased Hindu, upperclass and upper-caste fundamentalism (Kamath, 2019). As Mani and Krishnamurthy show, critical analysis of national populism must account for g/local challenges and forms of protest.…”

Masculinities

“…I begin by examining ethnographies of masculinities in the global South. 2 Observing Kuchipudi dance in a Brahmin village in Andhra Pradesh, Harshita Kamath (2019) illustrates, by interjecting queer of color critique (Roderick Ferguson 2004;Johnson 2003;Reddy 2011) and Third World feminism (Mohanty 2003), how Telegu Brahmin men perform normative and hegemonic Brahmin masculinities that exceed Western epistemologies of masculinities. While patriarchy and femininity are crucial in theorizing masculinities, masculinities and femininities are neither monolithic nor only in relations of opposition to each other.…”

Nandanar: Visibilizing Caste in Bharatanatyam Performance

“…It has evolved over the years, and an excerpt of Gopalakrishna Bharathi's work is one composition which continues to be included in some performances. For more on South Asian dance forms, gender, and performativity, see (Kamath 2019). 12 I have chosen to provide pseudonyms for the names of performers and individuals mentioned in this essay in order to protect their identity.…”

“…13 For more on rasa and the Natya Shastra, see (Kamath 2019;Chatterjee and Lee 2012). 14 As a dancer and researcher, Nandanar is not the only character I have understood through these bodily nuances.…”