Hello Readers!

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is happy to be back with news on our work between January and April 2018. Scroll for exciting updates across our four programmes—Arts Research, Arts Practice, Arts Education, and the Archival and Museum Fellowships, along with events—a conference, film screenings, performances and more!

New Publications:
We are happy to present three new publications—ranging from a book on the art and history of Patachitra; the 1st edition of the annual publication in Kannada reflecting on the significant impact and reach of the IFA Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu (‘Learn and Teach’ in Kannada), to Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs, a photo-essay of the Baba Farid Mir Musicians Project! Read on for more on these exciting publications—you can either order your copy or read two of these publications online for free, right away:

Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal by Ritu Sethi, a visually rich and informative book on the history and evolution of Patachitra—literally, ‘painting on cloth’, provides an outline of this narrative tradition of pictorial storytelling and its multi-talented, polymath makers in Bengal and Odisha.
Please click here to order your copy for Rs 500/- (exclusive of courier charges) now!

This book is supported by Infosys Foundation.

Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal by Ritu Sethi traces the history and evolution of the narrative tradition of Patachitra (literally 'painting on cloth'). This book is supported by Infosys Foundation

Hejjegalu (‘Footsteps’ in Kannada) is the 1st edition of the annual publication in Kannada, reflecting on the significant impact and reach of the IFA Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu (‘Learn and Teach’ in Kannada), over the last year. A noteworthy overview of this programme and the larger story of arts education in India, this document will serve a vital resource and document for key persons and organisations in the field of Education in Karnataka—teachers, art educators, and policy makers. It has been co–edited by teachers and IFA Arts Education grantees Kaladhara S and Sadananda Byndoor. Please click here to browse through Hejjegalu and get a sense of Kali Kalisu projects, accompanied with rich illustrations!

Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs, a photo-essay with breathtaking visuals and compelling text, is one of the outcomes of the Baba Farid Mir Musicians Project. This is a culimination of our engagement with the Mir Musicians, which has spanned many years. Written by Rajkumar Rajak in Hindi, with a translation in English by Neha Chaturvedi and Kedar Dunakhe, Mir Silsila documents the journey of the project, the musical landscapes of the Mir villages in Rajasthan, and the poets and musicians of the Mir community. Please click here to read Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs in Hindi! The English translation will be available soon—stayed tuned!

This essay is an outcome of the Foundation-Administered Baba Farid Mir Project, undertaken by India Foundation for the Arts, with support from Infosys Foundation.

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As a Friend of IFA, your passionate support will bring to life projects that examine our pasts, enable us to make collective sense of our present, and dream of shared futures, together

Become a Friend of IFA and set out on an exciting journey with us, through the many worlds of the arts and culture, with an Annual Donation of Rs 5,000/–! As a Friend of IFA, you along with 400+ Friends of IFA, will experience the arts and culture through specially–curated events, engage in discussions and debates, and enjoy exclusive sessions on the arts and culture! Connect with artists, musicians, dancers, actors, researchers, filmmakers, performers, educators, archivists and fellow art enthusiasts!

To learn more write to menaka@indiaifa.org

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We would love to hear from you—write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org with any feedback or query.

Warmly,
The IFA Team

The Arts Research programme is now accepting proposals for the year 2018–2019!

The Arts Research programme at IFA supports research into the histories and expressions of artistic practices in India. Under this programme, scholars, researchers and practitioners receive support for projects that investigate marginalised or relatively unexplored areas; create spaces for dialogue between theory and practice; offer new readings and frameworks for artistic practices; and use interdisciplinary approaches to break new conceptual ground. At IFA we encourage projects in Indian languages other than English, in order to contribute towards discourse-building in multiple language contexts.

Programme Executive Tanveer Ajsi talks about the Arts Research programme
and how you can apply in the video above

For more information on the application process, eligibility requirements and other procedures, please click here! Please send your proposals soon—in any Indian language, including English! The deadline is June 30, 2018.

One of the grants from the previous year, which forms the ninth in the series, is on cinema:

Researcher David Farris will study the collapse of the celluloid film distribution infrastructure in India in the wake of digital distribution. The project aims to capture the dynamic and complex histories across multiple film industries in India, in a rapidly changing environment. The outcomes of the project will be an essay and a detailed set of notes on the present status of the film distribution system.

The Arts Research Programme for the years 2017 to 2019 is supported by Titan Company Limited.

The Arts Practice programme supports critical practice in the arts. It encourages practitioners working across artistic disciplines to question existing notions through their practice. We made four grants to artists and researchers to work on gender and sexuality; sound and water; identity and politics of the ‘refugee’; photography, territory and identity; and a musical instrument:

Photographer Abul Kalam Azad will revisit the ancient port cities of Tondi (Tyndis), Muchiri (Muziris) and Korkai in present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala to mount three exhibitions and organise interactive sessions with the local residents. This project is an extension of his earlier IFA supported project Men of Pukar, a photo-series, also supported by IFA. Drawing from descriptions on the lives of the inhabitants and landscapes of these port cities in the ancient Tamil epic Silappadikaram, this project seeks to revisit these sites of shared geographical and cultural histories, in an attempt to initiate conversations around identity and territory and rekindle collective social memory.

Visitors at Men of Pukar, 2017, Abul Kalam Azad’s photography exhibition at Nagarathar Mantapam in Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu in December 2017 PHOTO CREDIT: Arjun Ramachandran

Dancer and theatre artist Dayasindhu Sakrepatna will create a performance work titled Shiva that aims to explore queer identities. Based on personal experiences, this work will trace the story of a young man—a poet—coming out to his mother, through a series of letters and poems that express fear, conviction, choice, and a deep longing for his mother’s acceptance. The performance also seeks to draw on and challenge the tenets of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music, from a queer perspective. Imagined as an iterative creative series of performances, this process seeks to be a platform to trigger dialogues around themes such as alternative identities, relationships, gender, sexuality, masculinity, peer–pressure, and mob–violence.

New media artist Nandita Kumar will create an interactive sound installation and e–book using information gathered on the usage, wastage, and pollution of water in India. Tentatively titled Water.org, the work seeks to understand the politics around water resources in India and build awareness about the same.

Researcher and theatre practitioner Deepa Rajkumar will create a collaborative performance work exploring the identity and politics of the ‘refugee’. Anchored in a doctoral dissertation on Sudanese refugees, the performance will be built on individual and collective explorations and experiences of marginalisation, exclusion, borders, statist politics, ‘refugee–ness’, and ‘otherness’. It seeks to question dominant discourses on the refugee, challenging homogeneity, and, aspires to build human connections and inclusion. The work will be scripted, devised, directed, and performed by a collective of seven artists who come from diverse backgrounds—in theatre, movement, literary, and the visual arts.

Musician and songwriter Kavish Seth will create a musical instrument named 'Noori'. Exploring new dimensions in instrument design, materiality, and sound, this project aims to create two iterations of a fretted and non-fretted string and percussive instrument, with monophonic, polyphonic and microtonal possibilities, which will lead to performances.

The Arts Practice programme welcomes queries and applications through the year!

Programme Executives Sumana Chandrashekar and Shubham Roy Choudhury
talk about the Arts Practice programme and how you can apply in the video above

Please send your proposal in any Indian language, including English, soon! Visit our website for more information or write to shubham@indiaifa.org or sumana@indiaifa.org

The Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu, (‘Learn and Teach’ in Kannada), focusses on integrating arts with the curriculum in government schools in Karnataka. It attempts to achieve this objective through grants made to artists and teachers; and facilitating training workshops for teachers and block–level events for administrators.

In this period, India Foundation for the Arts received 37 Arts Education proposals, of which about 13 were shortlisted. These proposals were received from the districts of Haveri, Dharwad, Kalaburgi, Gadag, Shivamogga, Bangalore, Tumakuru, Davanagere, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagalur, Chamaraja Nagar, and Raichur in Kannada and English. Finally, seven grants were made to teachers and artists:

Teacher Geetha K H will conduct a wide–ranging engagement with 18 students of the Government Lower Primary School, Yelagudige, Chikkamagalur Taluk, Chikkamagalur District, to introduce them to Kolata and Kasuti Kale—two art forms of the Banjara community. The children will create performances and an exhibition and also learn to connect these forms with their curriculum subjects, primarily Mathematics and Science.

Teacher Jalajakshi K D will facilitate a wide–ranging engagement with sixth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Kolcharu, Sullia Taluk, Mangalore District to explore texts from their school syllabus and interpret them through theatrical performances in Kannada and English.

Teacher Ravichandra D will encourage students across grades of the Government Higher Primary School, Malkapura, Maski Taluk, Raichur District to explore texts from the school syllabus through the interpretation of folk songs in the region. This wide–ranging engagement will result in a publication and a folk theatre performance titled Janapada Sambhrama.

Artist Praveen will facilitate a wide–ranging engagement with eighth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Kukkarahalli, Mysore, Mysore District, with the public library and create a series of performances. The students will be encouraged to read and explore the library and their syllabus by accessing the short stories, novels, and poetry by writers mentioned in the ‘Further References’ section in their text books. Through this, they will be encouraged to develop and inculcate a culture of reading in making the library a familiar and friendly space for gaining knowledge.

Artist Sankannavar Shankarappa Ramappa will conduct a wide–ranging engagement with fifth, sixth and seventh grade students of the Government Higher Primary School, Mugali, Ron Taluk, Gadag District, to learn the original folk songs of Lavani and Geegi Pada, on subjects such as earth, water, health, freedom fighters, and national leaders, to create a series of performances. In addition, the students will be encouraged to engage in writing and singing select poems and stories from their text books in the style of these folk songs.

Artist Ramgiri Police Patil will facilitate a wide–ranging engagement with students from grades one to five of the Government Lower Primary school in Koganuru Village, Kalaburgi District. The children will be introduced to the cultivation process of tuver dal and trace its journey from ‘seed to market’ / agriculture to marketing under the project titled Togariya Kanaja Kalaburgi (‘Tuver dal Warehouse of Kalaburgi’). The project will involve a series of workshops which include visiting farmlands at the various stages of cultivation and encouraging students to illustrate their experiences through drawings and stories, which will eventually be showcased at an exhibition.

Artist Meeta Jain will conduct a wide–ranging engagement with students of the Government Primary School, Sulthanpet village, Devanahalli Taluk, Chikkaballapura district, to explore how their school can become a centre of reflections on local traditions, through activities such as plays, storytelling, and performances at the Kalyani or the sacred pond of the temple. This project, in collaboration with Jayant Gopal, is an extension of Meeta’s earlier project titled Sense of Placeness, also supported by IFA.

The above projects seek to involve the local language, knowledge, and art forms to enable a connection between the curriculum and lived experiences of the students. This ensures participation of the community within which the school functions and creates multiple stakeholders invested in the future of education.

A block level event at Maski, Raichur district introduced key stakeholders in Arts Education to the importance of arts-integrated pedagogies, in January 2018

Block event in Raichur district
A key block level event was conducted at Maski, Raichur district to introduce headmasters, teachers, and block resource persons to the importance of arts-integrated pedagogies from January 29 to 31, 2018. For this event, four headmasters, three block resource persons, five cluster resource persons, and 43 assistant teachers participated. Such events are held through the year in various parts of Karnataka by faculty members and resource persons of arts and education—many of whom have been associated with IFA, facilitated by our Programme Executive for Arts Education, Krishnamurthy T N.

Arts and culture trip to Bhopal / Madhya Pradesh
An arts and culture trip was organised for 26 IFA Arts Education grantees—24 teachers and two artists from government schools in Karnataka, to visit different arts and cultural institutions and sites located across Bhopal, Sanchi, Bhimbetka caves, from April 19 to 25, 2018. This trip was designed to introduce to and enable participants to experience an overview of the various stages and periods of the arts. We look forward to sharing details and experiences of this trip in our next newsletter!

The next call for proposals (from artists and teachers) for the Arts Education programme will open in the month of May 2018—stay tuned!

The Arts Education programme has been supported by Citi India since 2016.

The Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative seeks to provide practitioners and researchers with the opportunity to generate new, critical and creative approaches to reading, seeing, and interacting with materials in archives and museums. It is also invested in energising these spaces as platforms for dialogue and discourse, to create awareness and increase public engagement.

A conference on archives and museums at Goethe–Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

The highlight of this period was Archives and Museums—Old Routes/New Journeys: A Conference on Critical and Creative Approaches to Making Collections Public, at Goethe–Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan in New Delhi on March 07 and 08, 2018. This conference was organised in collaboration with Goethe–Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi and Ambedkar University, Delhi, supported by Tata Trusts and Titan Company Limited. The sessions were structured around discussions, presentations, and a live performance that explored ways in which materials in archives and museums have been and can be re-visited, re-viewed, re-activated, and re-imagined for the present and the future.

IFA has been awarding fellowships under its Archival and Museum Fellowship initiative since the last four years. The objective of this year-long fellowship duration is to give creative practitioners and scholars, the opportunity to re-search, re-view and re-use materials found in archives and collections, to create multiple narratives. The outcomes and knowledge that have emerged out of select projects were presented at the conference, along with presentations by other experts who have worked towards making archives and museums ‘live spaces’.

The conference brought together a host of practitioners and artists—32 speakers representing more than 25 institutions from all over the country, including a speaker from Germany. While ‘Day 1’ of the conference was dedicated to presentations made by creative practitioners/scholars and museum and archival specialists, and, practitioners that IFA has supported through its fellowships; ‘Day 2’ focussed on presentations made by a range of scholars and practitioners in the arts and culture, on the need to re-work and re-curate collections in museums and archives—to be able to re-think their past, present, and future.

The two keynote speakers were Rustom Bharucha (Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) and Susie Tharu (Former Professor, Departments of Literature and Cultural Studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad); and the special events that concluded these sessions were a conversation between historian Romila Thapar and Latika Gupta (Curator and Associate Editor, MARG Publications) titled Museums and Heritage: Past and Future on ‘Day 1’ and a documentary theatre performance by theatre actor and writer Anuja Ghosalkar—Lady Anandi—drawn from her personal archives, on ‘Day 2’.

Speakers, participants, and audience at the two-day Archives and Museums—Old Routes/New Journeys: A Conference on Critical and Creative Approaches to Making Collections Public, in collaboration with Goethe–Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan and Ambedkar University, Delhi in New Delhi in March 2018, supported by Tata Trusts and Titan Company Limited PHOTO CREDIT: (Images 1-10 & 12) Ashok Lote

We were delighted with the response, reception, and engagement of the audience; with 120 people in attendance on both days! An evaluation panel meeting was organised—to review and reflect on the IFA Archival and Museum Fellowships initiative and recommend ways of moving forward. The panel consists of Joyoti Roy (Arts and Museums Manager), Rustom Bharucha (Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), Naman P Ahuja (Curator; Professor, Visual Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Co-Editor, MARG Publications), Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Artist and Curator, Raqs Media Collective) and Sabih Ahmed (Senior Researcher, Asia Art Archive).

We look forward to sharing the video links to the sessions of this two-day conference—stay tuned!
For the Concept Note of this conference, please click here
For the Conference Schedule, please click here

New Museum Fellowships awarded

We are delighted to introduce you to the recipients of the two diverse Museum Fellowships and their projects—one in collaboration with the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bangalore (VITM) and the other, with the Archaeology Museum at Deccan College in Pune! The Fellowships with VITM, Bangalore are designed with the intention to develop dialogues and interdisciplinary practices between the fields of arts and science. The Fellowship with the Archaeology Museum, Pune is to enable curatorial work in the dual presentation of knowledge and objects:

Museum Fellowship with VITM, Bangalore

Curator Anupama Gowda and mechanical engineer Pavan Kumar will conduct research towards a programme titled ‘The Mystery–Gen Gadgets’, which will constitute the history and technological development of early gadgets. Their study will focus on the design history of these gadgets; the cross–cultural perspectives connected with the design, production, use, and disposal of these objects. The project will include an exhibition, workshops, and talks that will explore the role and future of gadgets in the contemporary moment.

Filmmaker and teacher Hansa Thapliyal and theatre person Jayachandra Varma will create short theatrical performances with younger members of the Hyderabad–based theatre company Surabhi Naatak Mandali. The project intends to make visible the scientific processes that are at work in the theatrical productions of Surabhi theatre and the diverse ways stagecraft is rooted in science, through the creation of a mini lecture–demonstration production at the VITM. This will be followed by a workshop led by young members of Surabhi for an audience in Bangalore; and, short YouTube videos made with children on science in Surabhi theatre.

Museum Fellowship with Archaeology Museum, Pune

Architect Alice Agarwal will conduct research towards the curation of a series of public events around the museum collections, with the intention of making the museum space a social one—that will encourage people to think, talk, communicate, meet, learn, and enjoy, The project seeks to create an experiential exploration of some of the museum galleries, a series of interactive events designed for an audience of all age–groups, an exhibition, talks, and an online presence that will aim to create a virtual community.

Announcing ‘Request for Applications’ for Archival Fellowships with CSSSC and Saptak Archives

This month of April 2018, we invite applications for Archival Fellowships with two unique archives. Two fellowships will be awarded in collaboration with the Archive at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) and two, with Saptak Archives, Ahmedabad, as well:

Archival Fellowships with Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Archive

The Two Fellowships with CSSSC, for a period of one year, are designed to support art practitioners and researchers to work with different textual and visual material in the CSSSC Archive. The deadline for this Fellowship is May 04, 2018.

We invite applications for two Archival Fellowships with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta from art practitioners and researchers to work with the textual and visual material in the CSSSC Archive

Archival Fellowships with Saptak Archives, Ahmedabad

The Two Fellowships with Saptak Archives, also for the duration of a year, are designed to support arts practitioners—curators, performers, and scholars (students or professionals of Hindustani Music)—to work with the materials in the Saptak Archives in innovative and original ways. The deadline for this Fellowship is May 15, 2018.

Please send your applications soon! Visit our website for more information or write to Suman Gopinath at suman@indiaifa.org

We look forward to introducing you to the recipients of these Archival Fellowships and their projects in our next newsletter!

The Archival and Museum Fellowship initiative for the years 2015 to 2018 is supported by Tata Trusts.

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We organise grant showcases that take the form of presentations, performances, panel discussions, film screenings and more, for multiple audiences across the country. These grant showcases help create dialogue and in turn, become exciting spaces of discovery and discussion. Our staff also participated in various open houses to talk about our programmes, projects and the vision of grantmaking and arts philanthropy. Below is an account of activities over the last few months:

Gender workshop and performance in Kerala

‘Gender and Sexuality in Performance’, workshops by dancer and choreographer Mandeep Raikhy were held at Rainbow Nest in Palarivattam, Kerala on January 20, 2018 and at Baithak –The Art House in Bhopal on April 15, 2018. These workshops were aimed at generating conversations around sexuality, desire and gender activism, raising critical queries about Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code constituted in 1861 that criminalises homosexuality. In addition, three shows each of Queen–Size, a protest performance in response to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, choreographed by Mandeep, were performed at Pepper House, Fort Kochi on January 21, 2018, at Conflictorium, Ahmedabad on March 24, 2018 and at Baithak-The Art House in Bhopal on April 14, 2018.

Mandeep Singh Raikhy received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

‘Gender and Sexuality in Performance’, a workshop by dancer and choreographer Mandeep Raikhy (Arts Practice grantee) was held at Rainbow Nest in Palarivattam, Kerala in January 2018, among other cities.

Film screening in Veeravaasaram

A film screening of Casting Music by filmmaker Ashok Maridas on the Savita Samaj and the legacy of the musical instrument Nadaswaram in Karnataka, in collaboration with the Nayee Brahmana Sangham Veeravaasaram Mandal was organised at the Rice Millers’ Association Hall, Veeravaasaram, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh on January 23, 2018.

Ashok Maridas received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Presentations on photography and sonic properties in Mumbai

Photographer Zubeni Lotha presented on her photography project Looking At the Tree Again at Studio Tamaasha, Mumbai on January 28, 2018. Zubeni’s photographs reinterpret and critique the Austrian ethnologist Christoph Fürer–Haimendorf’s images of the Konyak Nagas taken in 1936, and explored ways in which the daily life of the tribe can be portrayed and understood today.

Zubeni Lotha received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research Programme. This presentation was part of the Searching Cultures Series—a year–long collaboration between IFA and Tamaasha Theatre, presenting a selection of IFA grantee projects in Mumbai through 2017–2018.

Photographer Zubeni Lotha (Arts Research grantee) presented on her photography project Looking At the Tree Again on the Konyak Nagas at Studio Tamaasha, Mumbai in January 2018

Sound technician Umashankar Mantravadi presented on the sonic properties of the historic performance sites, Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh and Vadakkamnathan Temple in Kerala, at the School of Environment and Architecture, Mumbai on February 02, 2018. Umashankar was in conversation with his collaborator; curator and researcher Nida Ghouse.

Umashankar Mantravadi received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Theatre performance in Gorakhpur, Allahabad, and Agra

Playwright and director Abhishek Majumdar staged Muktidham, an Indian Ensemble production, based on the conflict between Buddhism and Hinduism in the eighth century—at Diksha Bhawan at Deen Dayal Upadhyay University in Gorakhpur on February 05, 2018; at North Central Cultural Centre in Allahabad on February 08, 2018; and at Sursadan in Agra on February 12, 2018. The shows were also accompanied by IFA Open House sessions by our IFA staff.

Arundhati Ghosh, Executive Director, IFA talks about our work and programmes at Sursadan, Sanjay Place in Agra in February 2018

Muktidham was selected and staged as part of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2018 (META) in New Delhi on April 13, 2018. It was nominated under seven categories (out of 13)—Best Play, Best Director, Best Light Design, Best Actor in a Lead Role (Male), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female), and Best Original Script, and the play received awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) by Kumud Mishra and Best Original Script!

Abhishek Majumdar received two consecutive grants from India Foundation for the Arts, for the production and dissemination of the project, under the Arts Practice programme.

Local arts festival in Kolkata

Artist, designer and arts manager Sumona Chakravarty along with collaborators Varshita Khaitan and Nilanjan Das of Hamdasti Collective, organised the second edition of the Chitpur Local Art Festival at the historic neighbourhood of Chitpur in Kolkata on February 24 and 25, 2018. The festival was designed to regenerate the lanes and bylanes of the locality through public art, addas (dialogues), music, films, walks, workshops, with projects and events held in community spaces such as libraries, heritage homes, craft studios, schools, and even the local police station, along Chitpur Road. The weekend brought together artists and local students, residents, and craft producers from the Battola neighbourhood of Chitpur Road, an erstwhile centre of printing, publishing, jewellery–making, jatra and other popular art forms.

Sumona Chakravarty along with collaborators Varshita Khaitan and Nilanjan Das of Hamdasti Collective, Kolkata, received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

The second edition of the Chitpur Local Art Festival at the historic neighbourhood of Chitpur in Kolkata conceived of by artist and designer Sumona Chakravarty (Arts Practice grantee), Varshita Khaitan, and Nilanjan Das of Hamdasti Collective, took place in February 2018

Presentation on a ritual performance in New Delhi

Graphic artist and researcher Sarita Sundar presented on her research on the Poothan Thira ritual performance of North Kerala at Studio Safdar in New Delhi on February 25, 2018. The Poothan Thira is traditionally performed during Velas or Poorams—festivals associated with temples, which also act as contact zones where cultures meet and clash.

Sarita Sundar received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme, made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

Graphic artist and researcher Sarita Sundar (Arts Research grantee) presented on her research on the Poothan Thira ritual performance of North Kerala at Studio Safdar in New Delhi in February 2018

Film screening, graphic art and interactive fiction presentations in Mumbai and Goa

Cinematographer and director Avik Mukhopadhayay screened his stop–motion short film, and, graphic artist, writer, filmmaker and researcher Madhuja Mukherjee presented sketches of her graphic novel—both of which based on Lubdhak, a novel in Bengali by Nabarun Bhattacharya at Harkat Studios, Mumbai on March 03, 2018.

In Goa, along with Avik who screened his film and Madhuja who presented graphic sketches, game designer Dhruv Jani presented on Somewhere, an interactive fiction set in a mythical city called Kayamgadh in colonial India. The presentations were held at People Tree Design Studio in Goa on March 05, 2018.

Avik Mukhopadhayay, Madhuja Mukherjee, and Dhruv Jani received grants from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme, made possible with support from Technicolor India.

Dhruv Jani (Arts Practice grantee) presented on Somewhere, an interactive fiction set in a mythical city called Kayamgadh in colonial India at People Tree Design Studio in Goa in March 2018

Presentations of photographs in Bangalore and Mumbai

Photographer Soumya Sankar Bose presented Let’s Sing an Old Song, a photo–series of Jatra artistes and their changing lives; and photographer Abul Kalam Azad presented his photographs, drawing on descriptions of the landscape and inhabitants of Poompuhar or Pukar in Tamil Nadu, from the ancient Sangam-era epic Silappadikaram (‘Story of the Anklet’) by the prince-turned-poet Illango Adigal. The presentations took place at The Park in Bangalore on February 19, 2018.

Soumya also presented his project in Mumbai at Project 88 on April 07, 2018; and as part of the ‘Searching Cultures series with Tamaasha Theatre’ at Studio Tamaasha on April 08, 2018.

Soumya Sankar Bose received two consecutive grants from India Foundation for the Arts, for production and dissemination of the project, under the Arts Practice programme.

Abul Kalam Azad received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Music performance in Pune, Phaltan, and Singapore

Musician, educator, and composer Shruthi Vishwanath presented, composed, and sung Vithu Mazha—Songs of the Women Warikari poets, a performance with Shruteendra Katagade on the tabla and Yuji Nakagawa on the sarangi, and poet Shrenik Mutha. Shruthi musically interpreted and brought into performance the abhangs of women warikari saints. The performance took place at TIFA Working Studios in Pune on March 03, 2018; at Sant Gnyaneshwar Mandir in Phaltan on March 06, 2018; at the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA) in Singapore on March 11, 2018; and at Global Indian International School in Singapore on March 12, 2018.

Shruthi Vishwanath received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Practice programme.

Musician, educator, and composer Shruthi Vishwanath (Arts Practice grantee) presented, composed, and sung Vithu Mazha—Songs of the Women Warikari poets, a performance with Shruteendra Katagade on the tabla and Yuji Nakagawa on the sarangi, and poet Shrenik Mutha in March 2018 in Pune

Film screening in Chennai

Filmmaker Jayakrishnan Subramanian showcased Palai—Landscapes of Longing, a metaphoric interpretation of Tamil classical poetry and artistic depiction of the desert landscape of Palai in Sangam literature. Juxtaposing the contemporary socio-political context of Tamil migrant workers in the Middle East and this ancient form of poetry, the film explores modern slavery, labour, and migration. The film was screened as part of the 6th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2018 at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai on April 15, 2018.

Jayakrishnan Subramanian received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme.

ARTS SERVICES
The Arts Services initiative at India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) enables corporates and organisations to support specific arts projects and experiences that we see value in, and which are close to their hearts. This initiative is not part of our grant programmes, but arises out of our impulse to connect supporters with artists in collaborative projects. It also enables us to raise more resources for our grantmaking.

This quarter we collaborated with a number of partners to offer various arts engagements. We organised for a donor, a mehfil of Hindustani music with two musicians Shri Koushik Aithal and Ustaad Sakhawat Hussain Khan and his troupe of the Rampur Gharana in Bangalore on January 27, 2018. Theatre actor and director Sharanya Ramprakash talked about her work and engagement with gender on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Biocon Limited, Bangalore on March 08, 2018. In addition, Bombay Jazz, a performance featuring jazz and theatre was organised for the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) in Bangalore on March 23, 2018.

Theatre actor and director Sharanya Ramprakash (Arts Practice grantee) talked about her work and engagement with gender on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Biocon Limited, Bangalore in March 2018

We will be happy to work with you on diverse Arts Services, which include the conceptualisation, design and management of arts courses, talks, and workshops and for different audiences. For more details on the Arts Services provided by IFA please write to menaka@indiaifa.org

CATALYST
Catalyst—Arts, An Inspiration for Excellence is an initiative that continues to bring to corporate houses, a wide range of accomplished artists from the worlds of theatre, literature, visual and performing arts, to share their creative journeys and pursuit of excellence. Catalyst also includes a version that can be customised to offer arts workshops along with talks.

Catalyst is a 12–month long engagement, with one session each by eight accomplished maestros including Nandita Das, Raghu Rai, Malavika Sarukkai, Aditi Mangaldas, B N Goswamy, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sanjna Kapoor, Romi Khosla, Arundhati Nag, Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya, Rahul Ram, Varun Grover, Benjamin Gilani, Ranjit Hoskote, and Astad Deboo.

For more details on Catalyst or if you would like to bring this programme to your company, please write to Joyce Gonsalves at joyce@indiaifa.org

SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre)
IFA continued its involvement in the SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre) programme, as a managing partner with Junoon, under the aegis of India Theatre Forum (ITF) throughout 2017-2018. The first of its kind programme in the country, SMART has received critical acclaim from the theatre community and created much enthusiasm and excitement in the field.

After two editions of the SMART course, last year saw the implementation of a series of one–day engagements in different parts of the country as Roadshows. These engagements pull together theatre groups and institutions from different regions to discuss major challenges faced, learn of innovative solutions to common problems, and introduce arts management in theatre.

During this period, SMART on Wheels (SOW) took place in New Delhi in February 2018:

A SOW Open House was organised in partnership with Barefoot, Jana Natya Manch, and Tadpole Repertory at Barefoot! Theatre in New Delhi on February 06, 2018. The team comprised of SMART core members Sanjna Kapoor of Junoon and Sudhanva Despande of Jana Natya Manch; along with mentor Neel Chaudhuri of Tadpole Repertory. Twenty-two participants from groups in New Delhi that work in schools and with children such as I-Entertainment, Yellowcat and Aagaaz Theatre Trust; NGOs and community-based groups such as Aagaaz and Octave; independent theatre companies Wings Cultural Society and Kaivalya Plays; members of the Serendipity Arts Festival; Studio Safdar / Janam; and individual participants such as Chakori Dwivedi attended the session. They shared key concerns in theatre making and administration. Ashish Paliwali of Barefoot! Theatre Company, New Delhi and a SMART 2015 alumnus, shared his experiences of being a participant in the SMART programme and how that has helped him beyond the programme.

To learn more about SMART, please write to us at contactus@indiaifa.org

MAATHUKATHE/CONVERSATIONS
We had one MaathuKathe/Conversations session this period! MaathuKathe (‘Conversations’ in Kannada) are monthly sessions where we open our office to the public and invite artists to perform, screen their film, read from their work, or talk about their projects and creative processes. These sessions are marked by invigorating discussions on the arts, culture and society!

This month in April, musician Rumi Harish (Sumathi) performed and spoke about his journey into Hindustani classical music both as an act of rebellion against his Brahmanical upbringing and of entering the worlds of feminism, queer feminism, trans feminism, class, and caste in relation to music, gender, and histories. He discussed his struggles and the dynamics in identifying as a trans person within the field of classical music.

For more details on Maathukathe/Conversations, do sign up for our emails here, follow us on facebook or Twitter for regular updates, or simply tune into our website at www.indiaifa.org/maathukathe

Musician Rumi Harish (Sumathi) regaled the audience at our office with his performance and journey into Hindustani classical music as an act of rebellion against gender, religion and caste this month in April 2018

Ongoing Events

For exciting upcoming events featuring grant showcases across the country, stay tuned! We look forward to seeing you at the following event—do spread the word.

Join us for an exhibition of three projects—Brahmanising The Brahmaputra: The Divine Feminine in Pre-Ahom Assam by Shubhasree Purkayastha; Interpreting Space: Naga Realm by Sayantan Maitra Boka, and Museums are Closed at Night by Desire Machine Collective on re-viewing religion and history in Assam; ethnographic display and representation of Naga culture; and the objects, history and role of the Assam State Museum respectively, at the Assam State Museum in Guwahati which opened on Saturday, April 21, 2018. Please check closing dates with the Assam State Museum.

These projects have been made possible with an Archival and Museum Fellowship from India Foundation for the Arts, in collaboration with Assam State Museum, made possible with support from Tata Trusts.

For more details on these events, do sign up for our emails here, follow us on facebook or Twitter for regular updates, or simply tune into our website at www.indiaifa.org/events

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Arts Research
Request for Proposals from scholars, researchers, and practitioners
[Deadline: June 30, 2018]
For more information, please write to the Programme Executive Tanveer Ajsi at tanveerajsi@indiaifa.org

Archival and Museum Fellowships
Two Requests for Applications for Archival Fellowships
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
[Deadline: May 04, 2018]
Saptak Archives, Ahmedabad
[Deadline: May 15, 2018]
For more information, please write to the Programme Executive Suman Gopinath at suman@indiaifa.org

Arts Practice
Request for Proposals from practitioners
[Open All Year]
For more information, write to the Programme Executives Sumana Chandrashekar at sumana@indiaifa.org and Shubham Roy Choudhury at shubham@indiaifa.org

Experience the Joy of Exploration. Become a Friend of IFA with an Annual Donation of Rs 5,000/– upwards!

Become a Friend of IFA and set out on an exciting journey with us, through the many worlds of the arts and culture, with an Annual Donation of Rs 5,000/–! As a Friend of IFA, you along with 400+ Friends of IFA, will experience the arts and culture through specially–curated events, engage in discussions and debates, and enjoy exclusive sessions on the arts and culture! Connect with artists, musicians, dancers, actors, researchers, filmmakers, performers, educators, archivists and fellow art enthusiasts!

To learn more write to menaka@indiaifa.org

To make your contribution online, click here (please do not use special characters ~,!,@,#,$,%,^,&,*,(,),., while filling the form)

To make your contribution by cheque, click here

We look forward to your support.

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We are happy to present three new publications—ranging from a book on the art and history of Patachitra; the 1st edition of the annual Kannada publication reflecting on the significant impact and reach of the IFA Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu (‘Learn and Teach’ in Kannada), to Mir Silsila – The Legacy of the Mirs, a photo-essay of the Baba Farid Mir Musicians Project! Read on for more on these exciting publications—you can either order your copy or read two of these publications online, right away:

Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal by Ritu Sethi, a visually rich and informative book on the history and evolution of Patachitra—literally, ‘painting on cloth’, provides an outline of this narrative tradition of pictorial storytelling and its multi-talented, polymath makers in Bengal and Odisha.
Please click here to order your copy for Rs 500/- (exclusive of courier charges) now!

This book is supported by Infosys Foundation.

Painters, Poets, Performers: The Patuas of Bengal by Ritu Sethi traces the history and evolution of the narrative tradition of Patachitra (literally ‘painting on cloth’). This book is supported by Infosys Foundation

Hejjegalu (‘Footsteps’ in Kannada) is the 1st edition of the annual publication in Kannada, reflecting on the significant impact and reach of the IFA Arts Education programme titled Kali Kalisu (‘Learn and Teach’ in Kannada), over the last year. A noteworthy overview of this programme and the larger story of arts education in India, this document will serve a vital resource and document for key persons and organisations in the field of Education in Karnataka—teachers, art educators, and policy makers. It has been co–edited by teachers and IFA Arts Education grantees Kaladhara S and Sadananda Byndoor. Please click here to browse through Hejjegalu and get a sense of Kali Kalisu projects, accompanied with rich illustrations!

This publication and the Arts Education programme are supported by Citi India.

Hejjegalu (‘Footsteps’ in Kannada) is the 1st edition of the annual Kannada publication, reflecting on the significant impact and reach of the IFA Arts Education programme. This publication and the Arts Education programme are supported by Citi India

Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs, a photo-essay with breathtaking visuals and compelling text, is one of the outcomes of the Baba Farid Mir Musicians Project. This is a culimination of our engagement with the Mir Musicians, which has spanned many years. Written by Rajkumar Rajak in Hindi, with a translation in English by Neha Chaturvedi and Kedar Dunakhe, Mir Silsila documents the journey of the project, the musical landscapes of the Mir villages in Rajasthan, and the poets and musicians of the Mir community. Please click here to read Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs in Hindi! The English translation will be available soon—stayed tuned! This essay is an outcome of the Foundation-Administered Baba Farid Mir Project, undertaken by India Foundation for the Arts, with support from Infosys Foundation.

Mir Silsila — The Legacy of the Mirs, a photo-essay by Rajkumar Rajak in Hindi. This project is supported by Infosys Foundation

Other Publications

Embroidering Futures: Repurposing the Kantha
In 2012, we published Embroidering Futures: The Repurposing of Kantha, edited by Ritu Sethi. This book traces this journey of kantha from its origins to its current avatar, through the tales and recollections of collectors, inheritors, designers and producers of this unique piece of embroidered cloth. The publication is now available to read online. Click here to read the PDF for free!

This book was supported by Infosys Foundation.

ArtConnect
We also have other interesting publications to offer, including back issues of ArtConnect, a magazine on the arts and culture and postcards showcasing our grantees' work:

Between 2008 and 2013, IFA published 13 issues of ArtConnect featuring lively, compelling writing and artwork across a host of disciplines and genres, from female impersonators in Company Theatre in Kannada; Marathi Little Magazines; the forgotten lives and songs of the tawai’if in Benaras; violence in Kannada cinema; gender and the Indian documentary; to the visual culture of early Urdu magazines! Please note that while each issue is priced at Rs 100/–, Volume 7 is Rs 150/– You can avail of special anniversary discounts on Limited Edition collections. All the proceeds from the sale of publications go back into grantmaking!

IFA Postcards
If you like the work we do, this set of ten IFA Postcards becomes a memento. Gift it to your friends and share and support the arts. These postcards, which feature a selection of exciting IFA projects, can be ordered at a nominal and suggested donation of Rs 200/– Your donation amount goes back into grantmaking. Order a set now!

To know more, write to contactus@indiaifa.org

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IFA: How did you become interested in the Raseshori Pala of the Sankirtan tradition and what led you to eventually study it?

Rekha: The first time I came across the Raseshori Pala was during my school days (in grade 10) in Imphal when the women who were carrying on the Raseshori performance at that point in time, performed at the death ceremony of my maternal grandmother—in the presence of a painting. As I came to know later, the painting was that of Raseshori—the Princess Bimbavati, daughter of Maharaja Bhagyachandra (1748–1799) of Manipur who initiated this tradition. My grandmother who was born into the Karta family, was a member of the Raseshori Pala, but had participated in the tradition only for a very short duration.

Coming back to the painting—its significance and symbolism—I must add that ‘her’ (Princess Bimbavati’s) presence was crucial for the performance. From what I have now learnt, a portrait of Bimbavati graces the Raseshori performance when it is performed outside temples. This portrait, it seems, is neither based on the living princess nor was it originally painted during her lifetime; rather it is an artist’s imagination of the woman known as ‘Shija Laioibi’, the ‘semi-divine princess-saint’. The acclaimed painter of Manipur, R K Chandrajitsana Singh, popularly known as ‘R K C S’, was mentioned at the outset as the artist who produced this work. He is himself of Karta (Bhagyachandra) descent, and his paintings of Bimbavati were depictions based on his imagination rather than a physical likeness of the living princess. There are other paintings of the princess by ‘R K C S’ but the one that is used in the performance is one in which she is dressed in the striped lower-wear (phanek) in the pink hues of the lotus and white cotton wrap over her shoulders, with cymbals in her hands. This has been described to me as the princess being dressed for the event of the Raseshori Pala performance. This painting, described as a ‘photo’ (the one that is currently in use is technically a photo of the painting), seems to have been reproduced by other artists—with or without certain changes. At the moment, I am yet to verify the name of the artist as the ‘photo’ does not bear the signature of the artist. For the women of the pala, the presence of the photograph is symbolic of her presence in the performance outside the temple. This 'presence' has been given more importance than the ‘photo’/painting or its reproductions or that of the artist himself.

Sometime after the demise of my grandmother, my mother, a school teacher, started participating in the performance. It was something quite unexpected—to find our strict mother move away from the usual routine of family and school life; to catch her humming Sankirtan tunes, preparing to participate in Sankirtan performance, and later on to venture on trips outside the state away from family. From time to time, I would hear my mother and her sisters (who are also part of the group) talk about the Raseshori with great affection. At this point I did not have much of an idea of what the Raseshori Pala was more than the fact that it was a Sankirtan group comprising women and that this group performed very selectively. Ironically, my interest in the subject piqued during my PhD research on the Lai Haraoba festival. During that period, I spent a long duration of time at home for my fieldwork that stretched over three festival seasons. The Lai Haraoba is a religious festival held collectively by the community and officiated by ritual practitioners (maiba, maibi, pena) of the pre-Hindu Meitei faith. The festival is held at neighbourhoods in honour of its resident umanglai deities who are revered as guardian deities. At its core, it is an elaborate set of rituals that is performed through the course of several days. Dance rituals constitute an essential part of it as also are the lore, music, beliefs that are central to the reclamation of the Meitei ethnic self.

When I was engrossed in following the Lai Haraoba, I spent a lot of time with many maibi (spirit mediums who are largely women) who served at these religious festivals. What was striking was that the maibis and the Raseshori Pala were at one level women of the Meitei society engaged in religious performance; on another level, they were distinctly different in so many ways. It was this stark difference that first drew my attention and interest.

Dr Ch Jamini Devi, secretary of the Shri Govinda Raseshori Pala Marup and early chronicler of the Raseshori Pal of the Sankirtan tradition, which was once a closely guarded tradition

IFA: Could you elaborate on the structure of this tradition in the royal household in Manipur and some of the changes that may have taken place over the decades/centuries? Please also tell us about the meaning and significance of this tradition.

Rekha: To understand the structure of this performance tradition, we need to shift the lens to look beyond the royal household and see how political power and religion come into play in the conception and practices of Manipuri Vaishnavism. In this interplay, descent groups and alliances play a crucial role. This is why it is important to remember that women were central to the equation. There were twists and turns and wars of succession that involved the direct line of descent from Bhagyachandra (Karta) and those of Narsingh in close quarters, as I will discuss. At one level, they could be seen as dynasties vying for political power but at another level, the two are also bound by kinship.

The history of the Raseshori Pala and that of Jalakeli Pala is intertwined with the reigns of the Meitei kings. Raseshori Pala was instituted during the time of Bhagyachandra (18th century) as a group comprising the daughters and granddaughters of the Karta descent, while Jalakeli was instituted during the reign of Narsingh (19th century) along similar lines of women of the Narsingh family. Jalakeli Pala was given a new lease of life with the coming to power of Churachand, who was appointed king when he was a young boy, following the defeat of Manipur in the Anglo–Manipuri War of 1891. A new section of people was introduced into the Jalakeli during the time of Churachand Maharaj. This was the mou pala which marks the inclusion of women married into the Narsingh fold. Instrumental to this development was Maharani Dhanamanjuri, the chief queen of Churachand, more popularly known as Ngangbi Maharani.

The significance of the Raseshori Pala is that it is the first women’s Sankirtan Pala. At that point, the sankirtan performance was basically the domain of men, and women were excluded from it. The setting up of the Raseshori meant a revisiting of the structures of the performance, to include women. The semi–divine status of Bimbavati seems to have been crucial in enabling this reworking. The reworking was not a substituting in the sense of women being allowed to sing these devotional songs initially sung by men, but the formulation of a Sankirtana specifically structured for the participation of these women. This inclusion was not extended to all women, but only to the women born to the Karta group and their daughters. What is significant is that while the women sing devotional songs, their singing is not complete in itself but part of the whole performance which can be divided into components or segments. Thus, the Raseshori Pala performance is as per custom, initiated by male singers and culminates in their presence, while the women perform in between. Two other unique features are the use of kortal (cymbals)—not otherwise sanctioned to women, and the inclusion of a short dance sequence in their performance. While the Jalakeli was also a women’s Sankirtan Pala, it is not a copy of the Raseshori Pala as it is markedly different in its structure. Neither the dance nor the kortal are part of the Jalakeli performance. These are significant points that push one to re–examine the structure of the Sankirtana performance, particularly with reference to the inclusion and the delimitations of women in this arena.

One might be tempted to say that there are the nupi pala now but as I have been informed, this goes back to the Raseshori Pala which initiated the inclusion of women. It is for this reason that the Raseshori Pala becomes significant in the Meitei Hindu world where the participation of women was structurally worked out. Yet again, we have to remember that both the Raseshori and the Jalakeli are both exclusive groups of women who are in close proximity to political power. It leaves us with the thought of women who are removed from this power structure and kin–based alliance.

The cymbals (kortal) (rear, extreme left) and the drum (Meitei pung) (centre front) are laid out for consecration at the pre-event ritual at the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple. Aesthetics and finesse are important hallmarks of the Manipuri Vaishnava tradition. This is reflected in the layout of a betel offering: the cutting and layering of the banana leaves to the number and size of betel pieces placed. In official events, the number of items and the cutting of the nut pieces may differ according to the status of the recipients

IFA: What have been some of your findings on the role of women in Manipuri society in the context of performative traditions, with a focus on the Raseshori Pala? Please elucidate also on how this tradition is carried forth and manifested—by way of conduct, etiquette and aesthetic and its social organisation—hierarchy and status—as you have highlighted in your project outline.

Rekha: This is not an easy question to answer but from what I have explored so far, devotional performances are a crucial part of the practice of Manipuri Vaishnavism. There is a variety of these performances, but in all of these, it appears that the active participation of women has been delimited. It is significant to remember that not only is the Raseshori Pala embedded in the power and hierarchy of the royal court in many ways, but, that its most important event is the yearly performance at the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple. One might be aware that the said temple is not just any temple—but the centre of the Hindu world of Manipuri Vaishnavism. It is the deity that was sculpted as a replica of the image that Bhagyachandra saw in his dream vision, and it is this deity that Bhagyachandra crowned as the king of Manipur and appointed himself as the bhandar of this king. To this day, significant attention is given to ensure that the Raseshori tradition, as passed down through generations in the strict sense, is observed in as much detail as possible. This includes the seating arrangement being earmarked in terms of rank and status in traditional hierarchy. This is also reiterated in the arrangement of the betel nut offered. In this respect, the movement of the sacred images from the interior of the sanctum sanatorium to the bhadrachakra in the open mandap is an important step for the Kartas to venerate its glorious past. This practice had been discontinued but was again brought back after the instituting of the Govinda Temple Board in 1972. There are only a few select events that are privileged with the presence of the sacred images gracing the bhadrachakra which is placed outside in the mandap, rather than the usual enclosure.

For the women carrying forward this tradition, the Raseshori tradition is as much a sacred religious tradition as it is about beauty, aesthetics and elegance. The lower–wear of the pink mayeknaiba phanek and white cotton wrap, with the fineries of jewellery and accessories are an essential part of the Raseshori tradition, as markers of refinement (ching–lemba). While for others outside the group, knowledge and tradition refer to the structures of its Sankirtan performance that is given prime importance, for these women it is a legacy and a responsibility that they carry on. It is a relation of affect and emotional connect. This is particularly strong in the case of the daughters of the Karta women—the second generation of women, whose association with the group goes back to nostalgic memories of their mothers being part of it.

Reverence is a compelling motivation in carrying forward the devotional tradition of the Raseshori Pala. In addition, elegance and beauty are quintessential to Raseshori women. Part of it is how they present themselves as carrying forward age-old ideals of refinement such as the simple white cotton wrap, the soft hues of the striped pink mayek-naiba (lower-wear), floral adornments, and jewellery

IFA: What does one understand by the scant studies conducted on the subject, including that of Dr Jamini Devi’s? What has your trajectory been like / or methodology in gathering information, in understanding the nuances of this tradition, while conducting interviews with Sankirtan teachers and performers and archival research?

Rekha: The dearth of literature on the topic is remarkable; more so because both the Raseshori and the Jalakeli are traditions that rest at the centre of the political powers and sustained through the royal patronage of the time. Also because it entails a reworking of the structural principles and theoretical base, it is striking that it had been relegated to the periphery. While one may remark on the scant literature, one also needs to remember its persistence as an exclusive tradition. It has remained a jealously guarded tradition so much so that in the past, majority of its own members had no access to the lyrics of the song. Dr Jamini recounts how she was reprimanded by her seniors for gathering and printing the lyrics to make it accessible. Her writings in newspapers and books on the Raseshori Pala have been very important. In the case of the Jalakeli Pala, the materials available for reference are even less. Smt Lakshmipriya, who has been actively engaged in it, is in the process of publishing her book, which would be an important reference. She is someone who is familiar with the tradition through her grandmother, Maharani Dhanamanjuri, and her mother, Maharajkumari Angousana, who are closely associated with the Jalakeli.

Given the lack of resources, I have relied on interviews of members, interactions with the group, besides attending their meetings, and going through their resources. Outside of the two groups, I have also consulted Sankirtan teachers and performers and particularly, Hindu scholars well-versed in the practices of Manipuri Vaishnavism. In this respect, I have been fortunate that pabung A Chitreshwar Sharma took an interest in the subject and gave me time to answer questions that I had. He is someone who has been deeply involved in the inclusion of the Manipuri Sankirtan in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Discussions with him helped me understand some of the nuances in the conception of Manipuri Vaishnavism.

I have also not been able to find much archival materials on the subject. Khomdram Surendra Singh, a retired personnel of the Manipur State Kala Akademi who was involved in documenting various aspects of the Sankirtan tradition, also points out that the State Kala, Sahitya Parishad, or the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy have not ventured too far in documenting the field.

Although resources seem scant, the topic has generated much interest. Considering that not much work has been carried out on this subject and because there is a timeline against which this study needed to be completed, a workshop was organised as a platform to initiate discussion on the specific issue of women in the context of Hindu religious practices in Manipur. It attempted to highlight that the once flourishing Raseshori and the Jalakeli traditions, are struggling to survive today. This workshop was made possible with the loving support and encouragement of the two pala groups, the resource persons, and all the participants who felt that it was a topic that needed to be taken up.

IFA: What is your understanding of the practice and documentation of devotion among women in India over the decades/centuries of both the Raseshori Pala and other similar devotional forms?

Rekha: I am acquainted with a few works that have addressed women in other devotional traditions. These have highlighted particular trajectories within these traditions. While the voice of women has been an important trajectory, the nature of its reception was also significant. One can say that neither is the structure of the Raseshori performance formuated by women, nor is the song sung by them. The exception to this is a paragraph of the song which is said to have been a prayer sung by Bimbavati. Thus, when viewed keeping this trajectory in mind, not much is offered to draw similarity. If there are other paths, I am yet to discover them.

The women are seated on a red cloth with legs folded together to the side for the entire performance. The white cloth placed in front of them is for the kortal that they use. The Raseshori performance is highly structured and the performance area is forbidden to all men with the exception of the drummers (though drumming is forbidden to women). The assisting women also have to belong to the leima-shija group that have a connection with royal lineage

IFA: How does your project contribute to the way(s) in which Hinduism and Vaishnavism are understood and interpreted—both historically and in the contemporary moment—in Manipur?

Rekha: I would say that it is a little too early to be able to answer that but I do hope that it would highlight the conceptualisation and practices of Manipuri Vaishnavism that are distinct in themselves. What this project entails is to approach this understanding through an exclusive performance tradition wherein women of a certain social status are the prime focus. Outside the state, the Manipuri Raslila is well recognised and Manipur figures as part of a pan–India Hindu world. This has perpetuated a discourse that overemphasises its Hindu elements while undermining the non–Hindu traditions and thus within the state, it has been met with strong reactions to the point of rejecting it altogether and rediscovering the traditions prior to the coming of Hinduism. Between these extremes, we need to remember that Hinduism in Manipur has its own historicity and complexities. And pivotal to this is how we understand the location of the Meitei king. As mentioned earlier, Shri Shri Govindaji Temple is at the centre of this conception. In common parlance, the word konung is a term that refers to this temple as well as the king’s palace and capital cities.

If Shri Shri Govindaji Temple is at the centre of the Manipuri Vaishnava world and the deity Shri Govinda the king of the land, then, Princess Bimbavati is his consort. Raseshori Pala is her legacy. It is her dedication to her Lord.

IFA: What have been the challenges that you have faced during this project? Please give details on these and how you have dealt with the same?

Rekha: As previously mentioned, the lack of resources was a key issue, but, in another way it was also a driving point for me as I started thinking about why so little is available on it. Given this limitation, I had opted to work with the women who are engaged in the group and its activities. However, it turned out more challenging than I had initially thought. Time was a factor. While I could meet them in groups in their meetings and practice sessions, it was difficult to carry conversations at length with them on such occasions. Meeting them separately was almost impossible as they would be tied with familial responsibilities, social obligations and work life (many women in the Raseshori Pala were either working or retired from service). Majority of the members were seniors at their own homes which meant that they carried on the responsibilities of family matters. Added to this is the fact they were often self–conscious about what they said or did not say. Hence, they preferred to have a few other members alongside during these conversations which was again delimiting.

This performance tradition is one that is situated in a deeply hierarchized world where codes of conduct and etiquettes of the traditional elite of the Meitei society hold a significance of its own and the transgression of which is taken as a slight. As someone removed from this world, many of these codes or their importance caught my attention. Not only is it hierarchized but it is also one with defined and marked boundaries of who is/can or isn’t/can’t be a part of it—this is in fact one of the points that the members hold as pre–eminently part of its tradition. I happen to be someone who stood just outside that boundary line. In that way, I was someone in proximity and yet not quite a part of their world—someone who could/would never be a part of that world.

In this respect, the process of organising the workshop and the event itself proved to be a learning experience. Initially conceived as a gathering for an interaction much in the way of a round–table, various details cropped up as the day drew closer. Such as from the venue, structure of the event and the seating arrangements to the protocols that are or aren’t to be followed. Considering that it is a performance tradition on which the deliberations are to be concentrated, and that this would necessarily be a part of how the workshop is carried out as well, the question we were faced with was how much of its ‘tradition’ was to be a part of the event? To what extent would ‘tradition’ be observed as courtesy, in for instance, the seating arrangement? Would it be in terms of rank and hierarchy as per monarchical system? Given the etchings of the traditional hierarchy, who would take the dais, and who would be the chief guest or guest of honour? If anyone in the direct line of enthroned kings were to attend, would the official red and white cloth be laid out for them? If an IFA representative were to attend, where would he/she be placed? In other words, the question placed before me was also to what extent do we maintain the formal traditional world and allow to be opened up for discussion to be able to understand the performance tradition and its underpinnings.

The Raseshori performance concludes with the aarti after which the images of the deity Raseshori and Radha-Krishna are brought back inside the sacred sanctum. Here, the women line up as the priests perform the rite

IFA: What do you understand from your study as a contemporary documentation of the Raseshori Pala of the Sankirtan tradition?

Rekha: It has been an interesting journey so far. At the start of the study, I was led by a curiosity about this tradition of women performing in the public realm. The fact that these women were exclusively drawn from a section that constituted the traditional elites of the Meitei society made it particularly intriguing as also the fact that, in the present times, it was the women themselves actively engaged in keeping it alive.

To me, as a researcher, what I see is a tradition that has been carried on to the present, that is the year 2018 with all that it entails, while for the women practitioners, it is a tradition of the 18th century monarchical Manipur which is an exclusive legacy left to them, the women descendants, by their forefathers. In other words, the point that is constantly stressed is the importance of maintaining the codes of conduct as it has been followed since its inception; ‘change’ can only be thought of in moderation, if at all. This is particularly intriguing given that records on the subject are scarce (aside from oral narratives of the women themselves or people associated with these women). Hence the question is as to how we understand change/continuity.

Again, while the women see it as an exclusive legacy, one has to remember that as a women’s Sankirtan Pala, it is a subject that has significance beyond the group—one, as a Manipuri Sankirtan tradition specially formulated for the participation of women of a certain status; and two, as a concern of women in general within the conception and formulations of Manipuri Vaishnavism. The first raises questions that are fundamental to the theoretical formulations in the practice of the said religion, while the second raises the question of gender within this construct and as such, it makes one wonder that though today the women are the custodians of this tradition, but was it always so? Intriguing as these questions are, I find the initiatives and the efforts taken by the Pala women (of both Raseshori and Jalakeli) to keep their respective traditions alive, particularly thought-provoking.

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