The Ritual Of Disguise

After Seminar - 1 I used the next few days to immerse in the concept of Maya. I read through literature and philosophers to decode the highly misunderstood Illusion concept. What constitutes Maya? Can I identify the traits and actions of Maya? If Maya is not an illusion what is it? These were a few questions I sought. What has finally emerged in truly fascinating? Below are my visual notes and consolidation after phase 1 of readings. VISUAL NOTES  CONSOLIDATION  SECONDARY RESEARCH 1) Myth = Mithya - Devdutt Patnaik 2) Reality, Art, and Illusion - Allan Watts. Source: Better Listen. https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/287020604/Reality-Art-and-Illusion 3) The Aims of Indian Art - Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Source: Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Winter, 1975). © World Wisdom, Inc. www.studiesincomparativereligion.com 

Many interesting insights came my way during primary research which was consolidated and presented during Seminar 1.   > The biggest insight has been the shift from the notion of Disguise to Adornment. In the living traditions that I spent time engaging with, masking was used to reveal. The artists used the word 'Alamkaram' meaning - Decorating. The purpose of disguise in these traditions is to decorate the Self. The adorning or decorating revealed new personas, and the experience was sought and created through this manifestation. I consolidated my primary research using this insight as to my cornerstone. I personally find the notion of decorating and adorning the Self as a truly beautiful concept. To me this space seems open and positive, I would like to expand this understanding for the rest of my study. > I also surfaced that an ecosystem supported the act of revealing -  the adornment, the environment, the guardians and time are all allies to this process. Ana...

Kannur ( Aatadappa, Koodali, Chovva, Pongotee Kaaavu) 7 February 2019 - 13 February 2019 I witnessed my first Theyyam as an 8-year-old child, and the memories of this ritual have remained with me ever since. Yet nothing prepared me for the grandeur of Theyyam I was going to witness this time around. I managed to watch 9 Theyyam's during my stay in Kannur, each one more spellbinding than the other.  In the 64 performative art forms listed in this country, Theyyam does not find any place, this is because Theyyam is not art, it is life itself. Theyyam, where a ‘Man becomes God’ is an act of purification not merely of the performer, but also of the community around him. It is this noble act of going beyond oneself that elevates Theyyam from mere artistic performance to a ritual. Theyyam thus can be understood as a feat of purpose, in which universal good is sought through Achaadakam ( discipline), Chitta (habits), Upasana (devotion) &  Ekagratha (...

Natyadharmi Koodiyattam Festival ( 3rd February 2019 - 6th February 2019) I spent 4 days at Trichur, Kerala attending the Natyadharmi Koodiyattam Festival. The festival was attended by many stalwarts of Koodiyattam who spoke and gave lecture-demonstrations about this ancient art form of Sanskrit Theatre. I spent my days attending lecture demonstrations, interacting with artists, academicians and observing artists preparing for performances. I watched many Koodiyattam performances over these days. Combined with the lecture demonstrations these performances answered many questions I had regarding how experience is codified in art. Koodiyattam uses only the eyes, hands to generate meaning and to transfer experience, through my 4 days at the festival I was able to generate many insights on how experience is generated in art.  Lecture demonstartion by Padmasri Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri Witnessing Disguise I had the immense good fortune of being allowed into the ...

I set off today to conduct my primary research. Much to my good luck, there is an annual Koodiyattam festival happening in Trichur starting tmrw. All the stalwarts of Koodiyattam whom I was hoping to interview are going to be at this one venue, giving lecture-demonstrations, followed by evenings of performance. I will be spending 5 days in Trichur interacting with them. Post this I leave for Kannur, to meet the Theyyam artists and folklore historians. I look forward to what the next few weeks have to offer. Prior to arriving at my travel plan, I made a plan of action for myself which divided my time between the various phases of this study - As my area of inquiry is enmeshed with various areas such as folklore, religion, history, sociology, etc, to keep myself within my area of interest I made a set of preliminary questions to guide and ground me through these 2 weeks - * An iteration on February 6th, 2019  As I completed my interviews conversations with the Ko...