Performing the Ramayana traditions : enactments, interpretations, and arguments / edited by Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Orientations and Beginnings: 1. The Ramayana Narrative Tradition as a Resource for Performance / Paula Richman -- 2. Thinking the Ramayana Tradition through Performance / Rustom Bharucha -- 3. The Story So Far...and Beyond: Ramayana Sa?k?epam of Nepathya / Introduction and Translation by Rizio Yohannan Raj -- Part II. The Politics of Caste: 4. Shambuk's Severed Head by Omprakash Valmiki / Translation by Aaron Sherraden -- 5. Recasting Shambuk in Three Hindi Anti-Caste Dramas / Aaron Sherraden -- 6. The Killing of Shambuk: A Retelling from a Director's Perspective / Sudhanva Deshpande -- Part III. Interrogating the Anti-Hero: 7. Ravana Center Stage: Origins of Ravana and King of Lanka / Paula Richman -- 8. Ravana as Dissident Artist: The Tenth Head and Ravanama / Rustom Bharucha -- 8a. Script of The Tenth Head / Vinay Kumar -- 8b. Script of Ravanama / Maya Krishna Rao -- Part IV. Performing Gender: 9. The Making of RamaRava?a: Reflections on Gender, Music, and Staging / Hanne M. de Bruin -- 10. Writing Her "Self": The Politics of Gender in Nangyarkuttu / Mundoli Narayanan -- Part V. Conversations and Arguments: 11. Reflections on Ramayana in Kutiyattam / David Shulman, Margi Madhu Chakyar, Dr. Indu G. with Rustom Bharucha -- 12. Questions around Ram Vijay: Sattriya in a Monastic Tradition / Sri Narayan Chandra Goswami with Parasmoni Dutta, Paula Richman, and Rustom Bharucha -- 13. Performing the Argument: Ramayana in Talamaddale / Akshara K.V. -- Part VI. Beyond Enactment: 14. Revisiting "Being Rama": Playing a God in Changing Times / Urmimala Sarkar Munsi -- 15. The Night Before Bhor Arti: Play and Banarasipan in the Ramnagar Ramlila / Bhargav Rani --16. The Challenges Ahead: Researching the Ramayana Performance Tradition / Rustom Bharucha -- Glossary -- List of Contributors -- Index.

"Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments, edited by Ramayana scholar Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha, scholar of Theater and Performance Studies, examines diverse retellings of the Ramayana narrative as interpreted and embodied through a spectrum of performances. Unlike previous publications, this book is neither a monograph on a single performance tradition nor a general overview of Indian theatre. Instead, it provides context-specific analyses of selected case studies that explore contemporary enactments of performance traditions and the narratives from which they draw: Kutiyattam, Nangyarkuttu and Kathakali from Kerala; Kattaikkuttu and a "mythological" drama from Tamilnadu; Talamaddale from Karnataka; avant-garde performances from Puducherry and New Delhi; a modern dance-drama from West Bengal; the monastic tradition of Sattriya from Assam; anti-caste plays from North India; and the Ramnagar Ramlila. Apart from the editors' two introductions, which orient readers to the history of Ramayana narratives by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban, Sankaradeva, and others, as well as the performance vocabulary of their enactments, the volume includes many voices, including those of directors, performers, scholars, connoisseurs, and the scholar-abbot of a monastery. It also contains two full scripts of plays, photographs of productions, interviews, conversations, and a glossary of Indian terms. Each essay in the volume, written by an expert in the field, is linked to several others, clustered around shared themes: the politics of caste and gender, the representation of the anti-hero, contemporary re-interpretations of traditional narratives, and the presence of Ramayana discourse in everyday life"-- Provided by publisher.