Dancing the Self: Personhood and Performance in the Pandav Lila of Garhwal

by William S. Sax

For ten years, William Sax studied the inhabitants of the former kingdom of Garhwal in northern India. Sax attended and participated in performances of the pandav lila (a ritual reenactment of scenes from the Mahabharata in a dance) and observed its context in village life. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with sophisticated reflection on the larger meanings of these rituals and practices, this volume presents the information in a style accessible to the uninitiated reader. Sax opens a window on a fascinating (and threatened) aspect of rural Indian life and on Hinduism as a living religion, while providing an accessible introduction to the Mahabharata itself.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Prabhat Gusain · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthropological critique of the traditional folk dance form - Pandav Lila of the western Garhwal Himalayas. The author has spent an impressive decade researching the projection of "self" by the native Garhwalis through the lens of the mythological epic Mahabharat's leading cast - the Pandavas. While the cultural necessity of the recurring Pandav Lila troupe has been on a decline in the new millennium, the societal appropriations and caste hierarchies that it depicts are still rigid and dominant in the backward life of Garhwal Himalayas.

I love the author's conclusion to his long travels and studies across Garhwal - "when i got here, I discovered that as far as most north Indians were concerned, the truly 'Other' form of life, was in Garhwal. After spending some time there, I discovered that local people thought of residents of wester Garhwal as 'Others' in all sorts of ways: religious, cultural, and sexual. When I travelled to western Garhwal, I found that similar things were said of those 'Others' who lived higher up the valley. And when I finally reached the end of the valley, the last human habitation, I found that even within that village, there were two factions, each of which was Other to its twin. In this hall of mirrors, Self and Other cannot be neatly distinguished."