Dancing the Self Personhood and Performance

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.

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Nāyakasya Kaveh Śrotuh Sāmānonubhavas Tatah	p. x
Dancing the Self	p. 1
Introduction The Performative Construction of the Self	p. 3
Prologue: The Mahābhārata Story	p. 16
The Sutol Pāndav Līlā	p. 20
The Dance of the Cowherd Pāndav Līlā as a Regional Tradition	p. 39
Hunting the Rhinoceros Pāndav Līlā as a Man's Sport	p. 64
A Theater of Hegemony Pāndav Līlā as a Rajput Tradition	p. 93
Violent Women Draupadi and Kunti in the Pāndav Līlā	p. 134
A Divine King in the Western Himalayas	p. 157
The Hall of Mirrors Orientalism, Anthropology, and the "other"	p. 186
Bibliography	p. 201
Index	p. 221
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Dancing the Self Personhood and Performance in the Pandav Lila of Garhwal

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