Between History and Historiography: The Origins of Classical Kuchipudi Dance

Putcha, Rumya S.

doi:10.1017/s0149767713000260

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…These processes in the 19 th and 20 th centuries are foundational to the ways in which we understand Indian music (and culture). Impacts of brahmanic nationalism similarly shaped classical Indian dance (like Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi among others) and Karnatik music (see Weidman 2006, Soneji 2012, Putcha 2013) in other parts of India.…”

Section: Music Race Caste and Gender In The Making Of Indian Modernitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnomusicology Matters

Kölbl¹,

Sağlam²,

Hemetek³

2019

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and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) signified an increase in the prestige of ethnomusicology within the university.The ICTM Secretariat is located at the mdw's Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology, which has for decades been an important networking platform for the world's many different "musics" as well as for the various music-and dancerelated expressive forms that are situated outside the mainstream. Having brought the Secretariat to the department, Ursula Hemetek's research agenda-music and minorities-received more attention: this field of research has a great deal to do with sociopolitical relevance, and this agenda is actually a point of departure for the contents of this book.International ethnomusicological personalities were invited to the aforementioned symposium to discuss the field's socio-political relevance in light of current lines of ethnomusicological discourse, which are of considerable political significance. Most of the contributions which make up this book were submitted as articles specifically for this publication, and after a double-blind peer reviewing process they have now been published. It is amazing to see how manifold the ethnomusicological approaches can be that contribute towards influencing political and social realities: analysing philosophical paradigms or the potential power of music itself, the positioning of the discipline as university politics, the application of gender discourses, discussing the role of heritage and archives as well as indigenous ontologies, and of course applied ethnomusicology itself as a political intervention in the interests of social justice.Within the discipline of ethnomusicology, the links between scholarly research and socio-political realities are largely pre-specified by interpersonal relations in fieldwork. Fieldwork often implies the forming of personal bonds with individuals and/or groups-accordingly, ethnomusicologists are commonly involved with communities and the socio-political conditions surrounding them. It is the very nature of human relationships that creates the aspiration to socio-political change in a large amount of ethnomusicological research, as the articles of this volume clearly show.Hence, ethnomusicology matters precisely because of its involvement with individuals and communities. For ethnomusicological research to gain socio-political relevance, however, a certain political intention-a vision for the way in which political realities can be influenced-is crucial. This intention manifests itself in a wide range of forms-from political statements to applied and engaged approaches to cultural and political activism; however, always involving music and/or dance. All of these forms can be read as interventions of varying extents. Research that attracts attention and critically reflects upon hegemonic structures from a theoretical perspective may have different effects than research that is explicitly 'applied', or 'engaged' practically and whose very purpose is to "benefit the community" in a "people-centered" way...

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Section: Music Race Caste and Gender In The Making Of Indian Modernitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnomusicology Matters

Kölbl¹,

Sağlam²,

Hemetek³

2019

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“…Soneji (2012, 201) notes that "nationalists and elite philanthropists in Andhra Pradesh accorded a parallel status to a reworked version of the smārta Brahmin male dance tradition from Kuchipudi village, and not to the dance of the kalāvantulu." As both and Putcha (2015) argue, Kuchipudi paradoxically became a classical Indian dance tradition in the twentieth century through the simultaneous inclusion and erasure of devadāsī identity.…”

Section: Kuchipudi As CL Assicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although rarely mentioned in Kuchipudi circles today, it is evident that Kuchipudi brahmins frequently interacted with and borrowed from devadāsī dancers (Appa Rao 1958;Putcha 2013). 65 One of the most influential figures responsible for reshaping Kuchipudi dance through the framework of devadāsī performance is Kuchipudi village brahmin Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry (1886Sastry ( -1956.…”

Section: Kuchipudi As CL Assicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…47 His careful attention to the marginalized histories of devadāsīs provides an important corrective to practitioner histories of Kuchipudi dance, which overlook the significant role that courtesan women played in the construction of Kuchipudi as "classical" dance. Rumya Putcha's (2011Putcha's ( , 2013Putcha's ( , 2015 work analyzes the classicization of Kuchipudi dance in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in relation to the burgeoning South Indian film industry and key figures, such as Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry. 48 Indebted to and engaging the work of these four influential scholars, here I trace the transformation of Kuchipudi from a village in Telugu South India to a "classical" Indian dance tradition.…”

Section: Introduction Kuchipudi As Vill Age Kuchipudi As Dancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance

Kamath¹

2019

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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...

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“…Over the past sixty years, the standard narrative about kuchipudi circulated in government publications and, more recently, in Incredible !ndia tourism campaigns, Despite its purportedly long and exclusive tradition of training Brahmin men, the Kuchipudi demonstration at the first All-India Dance Seminar in 1958 was not presented by a Brahmin male dancer from the village in the dance-drama tradition; rather, it featured a lecture by a Telugu advocate-cum-scholar, Vissa Appa Rao, including a demonstration by a young woman named Maranganti Kanchanamala (Putcha 2013).4Neither ofthese representatives was from the village ofKuchipudi or related to the hereditary dancing families living there. Kanchanamala, a student of Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry (1886Sastry ( -1956, did not perform a traditional number, such as an excerpt from a dance-drama, but rather a potpourri of pieces that were openly criticized by the experts in the room as bearing no relation to the known Kuchipudi repertoire.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dancing in Place: Mythopoetics and the Production of History in Kuchipudi

Putcha¹

2015

yearb. tradit. music

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In the twenty-first century, the term “kuchipudi” refers to a style of dance, a South Indian classical genre which, to the untrained eye, is indistinguishable from its better-known cousin, bharatanatyam. After India achieved Independence from the British in 1947, kuchipudi came to be known as a dance style synonymous with the Telugu-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi's metonymic status reveals a broader logic of linguistic, geographically grounded identitarianism; indeed, the dance known today as kuchipudi is said to hail from a physical place called Kuchipudi, an otherwise nondescript fanning village located about fifty kilometres southeast of Vijayawadain central Andhra Pradesh (see figure 1).

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Between History and Historiography: The Origins of Classical Kuchipudi Dance

Abstract: Names set up a field of power.-Michel-Rolph Trouillot (Trouillot 1995, 115)

Cited by 20 publications

References 21 publications

Ethnomusicology Matters

Ethnomusicology Matters

Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance

Dancing in Place: Mythopoetics and the Production of History in Kuchipudi

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