Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North IndiaUniversity of California Press, 2023 M12 22 - 354 pages The nautanki performances of northern India entertain their audiences with often ribald and profane stories. Rooted in the peasant society of pre-modern India, this theater vibrates with lively dancing, pulsating drumbeats, and full-throated singing. In Grounds for Play, Kathryn Hansen draws on field research to describe the different elements of nautanki performance: music, dance, poetry, popular story lines, and written texts. She traces the social history of the form and explores the play of meanings within nautanki narratives, focusing on the ways important social issues such as political authority, community identity, and gender differences are represented in these narratives. Unlike other styles of Indian theater, the nautanki does not draw on the pan-Indian religious epics such as the Ramayana or the Mahabharata for its subjects. Indeed, their storylines tend to center on the vicissitudes of stranded heroines in the throes of melodramatic romance. Whereas nautanki performers were once much in demand, live performances now are rare and nautanki increasingly reaches its audiences through electronic media—records, cassettes, films, television. In spite of this change, the theater form still functions as an effective conduit in the cultural flow that connects urban centers and the hinterland in an ongoing process of exchange. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993. The nautanki performances of northern India entertain their audiences with often ribald and profane stories. Rooted in the peasant society of pre-modern India, this theater vibrates with lively dancing, pulsating drumbeats, and full-throated singing. In “/DIV |
Contents
CHAPTER TWO Situating an Intermediary Theatre | |
CHAPTER THREE The Landscape of Premodern Performance | |
CHAPTER FOUR Authors Akhārās and Texts | |
CHAPTER FIVE Kings Warriors and Bandits | |
CHAPTER SIX Paradigms of Pure Love | |
CHAPTER SEVEN Womens Lives and Deaths | |
CHAPTER EIGHT Melody Meter and the Musical Medium | |
CHAPTER NINE Conclusion | |
Epilogue | |
Appendixes | |
Sahgits | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Agraval akhara Alha Amar simh Amar Singh arthat audience bahr-e-tavil Banaphar Banaras basant Bombay British brother century Chand chaubola Chiranjilal Natharam classical dacoit dance Delhi Dhola doha epic female folklore gender genre Gopichand Govind Harishchandra Hathras hero Hindi Hindu Hindustani husband Indal Indarman Indarsabha India Indian Theatre Kanpur Kavi kd bydh Khatri Khyal king Laila larai lavani Lila literature lith lovers Lucknow Machhla Mahoba Majnun male marriage Mathura Meerut melodies meters moral Muralidhar Muslim narrative Nath Natharam Sharma Gaur Nauank Nautanki nineteenth North Indian Parsi performance Phul Singh Phulan plays poets popular culture Pradesh princess published Puran raja Rajasthan Rajput Rani Ranjha region role romantic romantic love Sangit sangram sexual Shrikrishna Khatri Shyam Press simh singers singing Sngt social songs stage story style Sultana Svang texts theatrical tradition troupe Udal Urdu Uttar Pradesh virangand Virmati wife woman women yani yogi