the Film Guide
Transcription
the Film Guide
GTVEN TO DANCE: rNDIA'S ODTSSI TRADTTTON Fil-rn cuide Guide Preparation: Joseph W. Elder, with the assistance of Kyo Ladopoulos Date: 1993 (filned in Running time: 57 minutes Funding: National Humanj_ties, Madison Executive producer: 1983) Endowment for the University of Wisconsin_ Joseph W. ELder, University Wisconsin-Madison of Director/producer: Co-Director: Rina cill Co-Producer, Camera: Pramod Mathur Sound: Cheryl Groff Field Consultant: Writer: Purna Chandra Mishra Andrew McCord Graphics: Jonathan Mark Kenoyer Dancer, Narrator: Madhavi Mudgral Basic Research: Frederique ApffeI Marglin, Smith College, Wives of the Cod-t<ing: the New York: Oxford University presJ, Ron Hess 1985 Inquiries: Distribution office Center for South Asia 2O3 fngrahan Hall L155 Observatory Drive University of Wisconsin-Madison ltadison, Wf 53206 (608) 262-e224 (6OB) 262-32Os 2 SYNOPSIS (December 1993) The filn deals with the evolution of odissi dance, associated with the Temple of Lord Jagganath of Puri, in the eastern seacoast state of orissa. fn the past, a few highly select families rituallv married their younq daughters to Lord Jagganath. Their daughter3 hrere then trained as devadasis (female servants of the Lord, supported by the Temple) to sing and dance for trr-e Lord in the Temple. The British colonial adrninistrators mistakenly labeled the devadasis "temple prostitutes." Today, public pressure has ended the tradition of the devadasis. The filn interviews a few of the Iast remaining devadasis, noht in their sixties and seventies. We hear them describe how they were married to the Lord and what they experienced when they danced for the Lord. we meet gotipuas, boyi who dress as girJ-s and provide a more popular form of dance outsihe the Temple. And vre meet sophisticated, English-speaking conternporary perforrners of Odissi dance, who organize and attend odissi seminars and workshops and talk about self-fulfillment and art for art's sake. The filn captures the dynamics of an elaborate dance tradition undergoing not one -- but two -- reinterpretations of its essential features, and the complexities of women's roles within those changes. SUGGESTED USE Anthropology/Sociology of Religion Art History Comparatj_ve Religion Dance Hisr"J"lItilirnro.,= History of South Asia Literature Religions of South Asia Sociology South Asian Studies Womenrs Studies World Religions 3TNFORMATTONAL FOOTNOTES Note - The questions are a*anqed in the sequence in which the f il_rn presents the relevant rnaterial. 1' rs it true that the English word rjuggernautn comes from rndia? "Juggernautr'. is .an English corruption of the name of Lord Jagannath, the major deity_ of the teiple puri. one of the first Englishmen to visit the Puri tempre of at Lord Jaqinnatn was Lord Burton in 1633. Burton describei th:_ "wickedrlr and idolatryil associated with the worship of Lord ,tJagernat' and the zealous suicides associated with thJr,ord's cart festivar (apparently based prirnarily on second-hand sources). From Burtonrs description, dS weLl- as those of such i-7th century rndia traveLer=- i= Bernier and Bowrey, Europeans came to associatL the term rrjuggernautrf with Lord Jagannath's giant festivar_ cart reputedly crushing humans who willingly sacrificed themselves under'its wheels. rn time the word trjuggernauttt entered the English language meanins: "a massive inexorabl-e force or object that crushes whatever is in its pathri (Websterrs New Collegiate Dictionary , l. }TT). 2 - Who is Lord Jagannath? Jagan-natha in sanskrit means ,rord of the world., The worship of Lord Jagannath is associated with the geographical region around the town of puri in rndiars contemporary state of orissa. some scholars ber-ieve that Jaqannath was bnce -a trinar deity. rh" ;;;i that when the previous image of Jagannath aestioy"o twelve years and a nehr image constructed, only i.s members br a"rr"ry particular tribe are a]lowed to participate in'tne Lonstruction, rends support to this belief. According to one account, L9r9 Krishna, in one of his incarnations, was.killed by a hunter who left Krishni's body to rot under a tree. A pious person found Krish_nars body, cremated and placed the ashes in a box- some time l-ater the- ring of theit,r..rJ r.= informed of the sacred ashes in the box and r.= dit"cteJ nv--i"ra Vishnu to request the divine artisan, Vishwakarman, to make an image oi holy ashes- Vishvakarman agrreed, but on condition that out !h" he be left undisturbed until he had 6onpreteo the irnage. weeks passed. The king became inpatient. He found vishvakarman. vishvakarmnan was so angry at being disturbed that he refused to complete the irnage, leaving it a stump without eyes, handsr or feet. Lord provided the stump with large eyqs and a soul and served asBrahrna chief priest at the imagers conseiration. According to another tradition, the stump irnage of Lord Jagannath first appeared in a shrine in puri aio"na :oo c.E. The present temple hras erected around 5oo c.8., and then siqnificantry enlarged by a Ganga raja around 1200 c.E. According t;-B";t;;in walker: 4ItThe sacred enclosure of the ternple of Jagannatha at puri is 652 feet long by 630 feet broad, with a stone warl 20 feet hiqh surrounding it. It contains more than one hundred ternples and shrines, dedicated to Krishna, Vishnu, siva, the s.rr1:g;d and other deities. The tower of the main temple rises t; a height of 2oo feet, and inside stand the sacred images Jagannatha, and of Balabhadra (Bararana) and subhadri, the "i brother and sister of Krishna. The images themselves are,'noi' the words of B.K. Ghose, ,bulky, hideoG, wooden busts ,, more than outsize grotesque heads resting on stumps, with afns projecting forward horizontally rrofr the ears. A rarcre diamond gleams on the head of Jagannatha. pirqii*"'"tr!;"= fabulous gifts to the ternple retinug of 6rOOO priests, attendants, warders and guides, who are divided into 36 orders and 97 classes. There are different sets of attendants to awaken the gods, to dress them, to feed them, to put them to bed, and numerous bands of dancing girls to entertain them. A total of 2o,ooo men, Idomen and children work for or are dependent on the shrine.rt The Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduisrn, New York: Praeger, 1968, VoI. I (A-L), p. 4gL3 - 9that truttr is there to the report that pious pilgrrins ended their lives beneath the oncoming wheels of r,ora -.l.gannathrs chariot? The temple has a During the second day of the month of Ashadha (June-Jury, at the onset of the monsoon season) Lord Jagannath,s inage is tlfen from tl" main temple in Puri and placed in an especiilly-constructed giant, decorated wooden chariot nforty-five feet high-, thirty-five feet square, with sixteen wheels each seven feet in aianetei ...r' (Benjarnin Walker, Ibid. ) and is pulled about a mile to a smaller temple, where it remains for a week, before being returned. to the Jagannath in his chariot is accompaiied on this trip Iail.temple. by his brother, Balabhadra, and sister, subhadia, each of whorn i3 also drawn on a large chariot Pilgrims occasionally did voluntarily allow themselves to be crushed under the wheels of these chariots, perhaps in the belief that they would thereby attain immediate release (lqokgha) from the cycle of reincarnation. During these festivals, otfrer pilgrin deaths also occurred from trampling, heat exhausiion, epilernics, etc- Evidence suggests that during the annual chariot- festivai more deaths occurred through such accidents than through religiously-motivated suicides under the chariots, wheels. western critics of India or of Hinduism often exaqgerated the frequency and violence of these suicides, some of thern-hoping thereby- to iaise more support for christian missionary activities in rndia, f 4' lftrere do the words rdevadasin and nmaharitr come fron, and what does it mean to be a "nrioe oF*tn!"iod?,, Deva-dasi in sanskrit means 'female servant of the deity. r, Mahari is rhe word for deva-dasi in tne ioEi ?:tr".r;;d;;". Accordins ro the maharis interviEwa ror rhis iii;, when a girl rdas smalr her parenrs had rn order .o o5;.*:":rsll:_i some current mahari, who became tne ro sive her ff:i":rti"oi? ,'mother,, and beqan teaching her aernple sinqinq -r"a ritiiS-gi;i'= aa.ncing-. At an appropriate d9€ if the king of puri ' trr" girl ,'married,, Lord Jagannath in a formar and expensive "6;;a";;i,,&airrg-ceremony, -. during which the Lord's croth r^ras tied j"_ as 6muln a-nusnand,s would be tied to his wife il . T;'siii more-tvp]"ir- ;ddd c"remony;.cr_oth then oD, the girl was a mahari Frorn u.'-'brid" or tnl god. ,r A Mahari b/as considered especiarry ttauspicious', because sne courd never be widowed (since ner husba-nd,. r{as a god and hence rmmortar) - Throughout her lifel;;q-JJJannatn, sn" prace reo powder in the parting of her niir 1a sign of a married "Lura wbman),irra r,rear bangles and jewelry' she represenled_ a p"r*i.,"nt, transcendent state of whose f'-"E.'"" ar public i$:113";::"1""==?r:1*? ,ina r"itiiilvl 5- How courd parents, rike those of Hari Friya, give their daughter to a temple for adoption? There are several reasons why parents rnight give their daughter to a temple for adoption: (11 eovlrty. poo, daughter to a ternple to relier.lii"-""Liori" parents night offer their strain 6n their famiLv and possibly enhance the survi,r"i-"n""""s of (2) widowhood or widowerhood. A wiaow or the daughter herself. widower rnight offer a daughter for- adoprion oltuu=" of the diffi;;iii"= -oJsire or raising a chird in a singl6-parent horne. i3) I'Donatingn a diuqhier for spiritual benefit. to a tempre'ri= ber-ievea to earn merit the donors' (4) oesire for a son. Firstborn for daughters may have been gr-ven to a tempre in the hope tnJ-=ii"n an .6t ,orrr.a assure her parents the birth of a sgqnight make a vobr during. ti*"'oi(5) rur.fillment or a vow. a family (".g.., epidemic, illnessl etc ' ) to 'tdonatett a daughter to "-.Gi-= a iernpre in return for divine assistance in overconing tne cri.sis. llt", o.r"r"ori.g the crisis, the famiry was obligated to ndonate' a daughter to a temple. 5. What is Hari priya doing on carpera with her needle and thread? Hari Priva is preparing grarland for temple pilgrirns. 3 f 10w-er eilgrirns -purcha=" &;t'g'arlanos toi ;=; as offerings ro the temple deities 6 ' Ithat are the differences between the dance forms of Bharata Natyam' Kathak, and odissi that r.raonavi uudgal says srre studied? Each of these dance forms has its own origins, sets of basic bodily 6 movements, and movemencs and styles of gll'.reography. A somerirhat ' StatementbyadancerintheUnitea-Sfateqmirrht.}ra{-}ra+.-Lu.r:*":_.:: unired s€ates rnisht ,.I1 ?:::::1*, ll"rl:.,*"n:r:=-li:: rtr:laqcinrl lr Tnrli--\ ::,1"T-::11i**'il') ..,J ;;;;;'-;'";;":- ;;;' ;'#.il:: r Jii"""-*i;:;"'il.,u'":If,:l dan;^1i_o_.*:, ;t^-^^ . parallel n" Jn"t';;'il; G^-_. s_e:_ crirr _R. .rone= ,-;r"hi';: = ;:ff: , O.rO* Kendall Hunt, !97O, pp. 113-136. 7 ' How tlrlrical is it for a dance student to begin studying with a giuru's student before finarry studying witn th;-g..r.r, as in the case of lladlravi ltudgal? students of dance and music are generally identified as menbers of the giharana ('rhousehord') t-heir particular guru. since arr . students of the same guru berong "t to in" same grharana, it is not uncommon for a young student to begin studying affi; music with his/her giuru's student- After tnd y"""q stuaent hasorgrasped basic elements of the dance or nusic form and has shown the talent, s/he rnight "graduaterr to study aiiectry-ritr, the guru.some B' How sigrnificant is Hari Priya's statement to I.tadhavi ltudgal 'you dance outsider o' u"-_ stage. Tg you dance is art that and knowtedge. we [naharisJ danced onr] inside'th; ;;;;i., as service to God?tr Hari Priya is describing one critical between contemporary odissi dance ana ooissi dance as difference it was performed by maharis like herself inside the ienpte of Lord Jagannath. contemporary odissi dance (as performed by Hari priya) came into existence after a rg57 conferen-ce in Madra! and a l-95g serninar in New Delhi, attended by scholars and O.rr"".=, ,rdefinedrr the rnajor components of the dance. 9 ' rn what langruage are rlari kiya and Irladhavi uudgar conversing? Madhavi Mudgal (the contemporary odissi dancer) i= speaking -is Hindi, while Hari priya (the - manaii) speaking mostry oriya. . Nevertheless, there is enough overiap l"tw"Ln the rangruages so that the two hromen can generarry understand each other. 1O. Wtro are ttre Apsaras and Gandharvas (the trmyttric counterparts of the maharisn)? The Gandharvas were nythical heavenry mare musieians survived from vedic times as servants of Lord'rrror., the king who of gods. the The Apsaras hrere their female who were beautiful and libidinous, heavenry courtesans, "orrttt"rpirts, and rnistress;= ;;gods and men. The Gandharva-s and Apsaras hrere also considered to be divine dancers and singers. 7 11- r{ho is Btrarata, and what is his manual on theatrical arts? Bharata is a semi-legendary figure generarry considered to author of a famous early treatiie onin".performing arts. Thebe the Natya Sastra, as the work is cal-l-ed, was wriiten in sinskrit sometime between the 2nd and 4th centuries c.E. and has since-";;;;;;;" nurtipre revisions. The Natya sastra is a wide_ranging work covering poetry, drama, dance, nusic, criticisrn. Accordinq to regend, the work was Bharata's attempt"nd to i;;;iiXn'. vision of the Lord rndrars celestial court reproduce performing a drama. 12 ' vfhat are the likely rel-ationships between sculpted dance positions on temple warli and_ actuar postures assumed during the dance by contemporary odissi dsancersd The earliest sculpted representations of dancers who could be interpeted as- dancing in tlie odissi ;lyr" appear on the stone walts of the Konarak ternpre, constructed pre'sumably between ttre 13th and 14th centuries c-E- contemporary odissi danc6 instructors refer to those scurpted representations is noaeis of postures to be assumed by dancers during a dance performence. 13. Wtrat does Madlravi lludgal mean when rsculpture and _slre says, written te>rts describe fornal positions in oeis-si'But rh'thm and movement come through oral traOition -- from teacher t"-;lrd;A; The sanskrit texts and the. sculpted figures on tempre warls can at best describe.static positions assumed by dancers during the course of the dance (e-g., the squared-off chowka stance). The manners in which the dancer moves f5orn one poEition i"-lit" next must be created- rt is at these points that instruction from a giuru (i.e., t'rhythm and movementrr becone most irnportant, as can be seen in the guru's dance workshop) sequences. 14 - How have the dates been established for the building of the Jagannath tenple? The dates are based prinariry on royal inseriptions, recorded copper-plates or on stone, corrmemorating the adts or iings.-T;;pi;on inscriptions (de.scribing, royar donations) have also for ""3*pil-, been used. A series of pioninent puri attribute the iniciiptions building of the greal Jagrannath teinple toin king Anantavarman codaganga (1o78-r-r47 c-l'.) o?_tne c..,qfi dynasty. However, suggests that there was already a temf,te at that rocation evidence that the king renovated and enlarged. - ana ri.^ng Anantavarman codaganga's renovation plans had not been compreted before his death. 15- Wtrat does-I.ri-Friya mean wtren she says, rlte [ma]rarisl danced according to the time, the month, the year, and trre season?n The maharis' style of songi and varied within the same day between the rnorning (when they dance danced whire Lord Jagannath ate 8 behind a curtain) and the evening (when they sang before his shrine). In addition, the ritual duties of the maharies ,r..i"a according to the tirne intervals Hari Priya mentions (month, =".=o.,, and year). For example, the maharis sang a special set of songs the time of the chariot festival at the onset of the monsoon riins.at At this critical point in the agricultural cycle, Lord Jagannathis favor and the various symbolisms (procreative, sexual, rifeproviding:, water-associated, and fertility) of the mahari.s are most important. 16. Why do cooks inside the Jagannattr Temple prepare food, and why is the food ritually offered to Lord .laginnatn Uefore neing eate;l by hunans? Cooks inside the Jagannath Temple prepare food both for the 36 categories of tempre servants (who are supported, in part, by this food) and for the pilgrirns who come to the Temple. -Offering the food first to Lord Jagannath is related to the Hindu notion of prasad. Prasad means frthat which is given by divine favor. r' refers to food offered to a deity (often by priests in a ritualft setting) for blesing. Ttre deity 'ren joys'r the of fering (metaphysicalry) and, by doing so, blesses the food, imbuing if with divine favor. The food is- subseguently consumed by the tefrp].e servants or pilgrims, conferring blessing upon thern. L7 - rthat activities do non-Bralrnan priests perform in r,ord Jagannattr's temple? The most important non-Brahman priests in Lord Jagannath's Temple are the daitas. Daita is Sanskrit for rrdemon. rr fn Orissa it ref6rs to priests believed to be descended from the origrinal tribal worshippers of Lord Jagannath. These non-Brahman priests are in charge of most activities that require close contact with the inage of Lord Jagannath (for example, the daitas cook Lord Jagannathls food). when Lord Jagannath is rtsicktt every year just before the chariot festival, they alone can attend €o -hin. And during the navakalevara ceremony every twelve lrears, when the previous irnage of Lord Jagannath is destroyed and a new wooden inage is created, the daitas PlaY a central role in removing (and destroying) the old image, fashioning the new image, and tranJplanting l,or&;Jgannath's essence from the old to the new image. 18. Ifh.! night be the sigmificance of drawing the curtain before the shrine of r,ord Jagannattr while he is being fed, preventing hin fron seeing tlre dancing devadasi? Frederique Marqrin, in her book wives of the God: The Rituals of the Devadasis of Puri (p. 95 ff. ) suggests that the cuiiiin is drawn to separate the deity from the sexual impurity of the dancingr devadasi. The same sexuality that is key to the tife-rnaintaining auspiciousness of the devadasi causes her impurity and makes it necessary to shelter the feeding deity behind the curtain. The 9 mutual yet opposing forces of fernale sexualityrs inpurity and auspiciousness are thus "safely" in-orporated into the feeding ritual 19- what is known about the sari-binding ceremony wrrereby a girr who had been adopted and trained ny tne hanaris 1fo".*" a devadasi and was entitled to perform the iituats before r,ord Jagannathrs shrine? The devadasi ttmother't of the pr-e-puberty girl had to send a written -.=.ri-binding petition to the .Iirg requ"=iirrj in" The king's officers then chec-ked thd gir1,g knowledge ofceremony. singing and dancing and hgt original cqste (-devadasis not come from castes so 1ow they were forbidden to give water"""io to brahmans). After the facts htere found to be satisfa"tory, Ern auspicious date was chosen for the ceremony. on that day, the qirr ,o16 ,", bangres and cl-othes and had an initiatory ,.itr.- ('iinstrur".ri of r, thought, sacred sound, syrlabre, rq{d, or wnispeiJ-ln rr". ear by the devadasis' guru. she was then taken ""r=") to r,or* Jagannathrs by other devadasis, where they stood at the victoi'v vr"t"rv Tempre Gate (see #4 on . There, in the presence of the Ternple's chief priest, a cfoth hras'tied.rornJ qirlrs head by a temple servant- The c1oth r.= i piece of a sariine that had been Irrorn by the image of Lord Jagannath. i garlana (that had arso been htorn by the image of Lord Jagannath) wJs plae"d arornd the qirys neck' The girl then circumamburated the Tempre and returned to her home, accompanied by musicians .rJ,orn"r, doing the hula_huri (naking a hiqh-pitcnLo auspicious by raiii-nq their voices while. -moving ln-eir tongmes. r,apidry sound frorn one of the mouth to the other). At home,. tl" g.irl was -gieEeo by side a brahman who called on various deities to protecl the girl in her newpriest rol-e. The cloth was then untied from thl girt's-nead, and it and the garland It'ere placed in the home shrine. That evening Cn"-qiii ,.= taken to the palace to visit the king. She touched tn6 Xinq;s iea and l_ooked into the king's eyes. From that day the girl was considered to be a devadasi married to r'o-rd_forward, Jagannath- she courd now perform the danee ritual before Jagannath's shrine. gowever, onry after morning she attained puberty and participated in a large feast celebrating her aqe could she perform the eveninqi- singing ritual before coming of the shrine of Lord Jagannath. 20' wlto was Jayadeva, what is the Gita-Govinda that is attributed to him' and is thele any truth that he comlrosed the Gita-Govinda out of nis iove fortoa tne-story devadasi of puri? Jayadeva lras a 12th. century_c.8. Bengari poet, author of the Gita_ Govinda, a sanskrit poem -describi;d-li" legendary rlir""'o=t-#Krishna (Govinda) andtne virlage ;;it"; Radhi. rt fs irnpossi.bre to determine if there is any tiuth to the legend that Jayadeva composed the Gita-Govinda out of his love for a devadasi of puri 10 he married)- T99.v, €lS werr as in the past, odissi dancers frequently perform abhinlva. (story-"nr"i*"rt) -dance to the words of the Gita-Govinda set to rnusic. nefore trre snrine of Lord Jagannath, the devadasis performed only pure which nas no story line but is said to embody the quirity otaan&, iiingara -- or romantic love. (whorn 11 STMPLIFIED DTAGRAM OF LORD JAGANNATH'S TEMPLE AT PURI from Frederigue Apffel Margrin, wives of the God-King: , pp . l_7 6_7 _> E 1. Inncrs.nctumlbhion p*hariO Z 3, Gatc: f KttiHitrduan Ostcf 3tncium pkheriil (bihire th. tim. ot Neba Kalebrrc 4. victory, Vicrory Gsr. (/by, biiay. <tuar.l 5. Oanc]6 or audionc6 hall (ritt maedirt, itgsmoh'.nl olGaru<te (grrude 5. Thc Piller stamb|tal 7. Thofoodhalllbhogt maeSoptl 8. 9. The main northGrn ontranca to the main tsmpla. The platform whar€ the ling sits (brrrrruAr) lO- TempleofBimtlS t. Temple of thubanc$rari. Sar!sv.ti. 9e$hi, Savitri, Gayatrl. 12. T6mplo of Lektmi l3- Temgle ot th. 3un with im.g. I from Konaral 14- TemplcofthrSun 15. Mukti MelCepr '16. Wetcr-y'ay plrform (1bfe krida m'.ndtptl. 17- Thc pond of Rohini lFohlai tuqQel lE. Thctitchcn 9. Wcll in thc Gerdcn 20. Anorhcr wtll in thc arrdcn 21,22. Tcmprary struclure rt Thc Main Temple 23. Burial ground otiho lmrgo3 lkoiti Vaikhuntsl 2tl. Temple of Sitsli wfth it3 'gof d6n well' lsuna kuil 25. Martd nell3; swa€t shopi 26. Plccc whcra pilgrim3 cat mahaaraiid t 27-29 Plecagwhcrc mahEpradtd is sold 30- Thc bathing platform bedr) {snjne 31. Thc'ga:ing prvilion' lcihini mt4doptl l I Antfita I J 32. Thc pilter ottho sun, brought from tho sun tomglc of Konaral. laruet st.mbhal 3ii|. The main saliGrn gstG: Uon Gsto (sr'tnhrduirrf 3. Thc Twenty-two Stcar' (briJ, prhtir) 35. Thc'mccting prvillion' (Drrrtt mred'ryl 36. Pa:segc wey from th. kiich.n to thG mrin tamplc ut.d by th. coob to bring thc food for thc oftcring- uartr