Abstract
This article is an attempt to look at the practices and discourses of gendering the body within the site of a particular dance form—Mohiniyattam. Mohiniyattam is considered to be the classical dance form of women of Kerala. It is understood as a ‘feminine’ or lasya style of dance, based on its use of body movements. Currently, Mohiniyattam is being represented as the heightened version of the ideal Kerala/Malayalee woman’s identity and femininity through tourism advertisements, films and other popular representations. This article traces the process of gendering which had gone into the reinvention of Mohiniyattam in the 1930s. It tries to see whether the reinvention of Mohiniyattam was a reimagining and refashioning of the Malayalee woman’s identity. It also reads how training the body for a dance form overlaps with instructions for disciplining the female body to be ideally feminine. It is interesting to see how Mohiniyattam produces, defines and sustains a gender ideal for a regional feminine identity through bodily practices. The effort is to see how the dancer’s body and her movements are constructed, and how it spills over into the shaping of female bodies within a particular culture and history.
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Notes
- 1.
I am using the word ‘enforced’ in the sense of ‘to compel to behave in a certain way’. By enforced femininity I mean a conscious way of constructing a particular effect of femininity. In the case of Mohiniyattam I feel that the body training of the dancer and the rules and regulations prescribed for the dance form focus mainly on constructing and sustaining a particular kind of feminine ideal. Justine A Lemos in her website mentions about her forthcoming book project Transforming Lasya: The Woman Dance Cultures in Kerala, were she says that Mohiniyattam forms a “(self-enforced) femininity” for the dancers of Kerala (http://www.justinelemos.com).
- 2.
Natyasastra is an ancient treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music in India, supposedly written by Sage Bharata during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India. It is considered as the base text for all Indian art forms.
- 3.
The Hindu religious text Bhagavata narrates the story of the churning of the ocean by Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons) to secure Amrita (nectar). During this process god Vishnu took the form of Mohini, an enchantingly beautiful young woman with bewitching glances and seductive smiles to charm the asuras. Thus without even a protest from asuras, the devas secured all of the nectar for themselves. Another story is that of king Rugmangada, in which Brahma (the creator) sent a beautiful young woman called Mohini to test the king’s devotion. Mohini is usually shown in temple sculptures and paintings as a beautiful young woman with her garments seductively clinging to her hips but on the point of falling away and sometimes with male admirers clustered about and gazing in fascination at the sensuous young lady.
- 4.
‘Padams’ are a genre of lyrical songs within the Indian classical music tradition used especially for dancing and they usually depict the love and longing of the heroine.
- 5.
Based on the interviews I conducted with Kalamandalam Satyabhama (in 2010 December) and with other teachers and BA and MA students of Mohiniyattam at Kalamandalam from 2010 to 2013.
- 6.
E.J. Hobsbawm and T.O Ranger in their 1983 book The Invention of Tradition use the term ‘Invented Tradition’. They argue that ‘traditions’ which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented.
- 7.
Hastha Lakshana Deepika, authored by an anonymous scholar, is considered as a treasure house of information on hand gestures for dance. It describes 548 hasta/hand gestures for dance.
- 8.
The state of Kerala was officially formed on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganization Act of the Indian government by combining Malayalam speaking regions, namely Malabar of the Madras State, and the former princely states of Cochin and Travancore. In 1938, Kalamandalam, located in Thrissur, was situated within the geographical limits of the princely Cochin State.
- 9.
All the translations from Malayalam sources in this article are done by the researcher herself.
- 10.
C.P Kalyaniyamma in the article “Anukaranabhramam” in the women’s Journal Lakshmibhayi (March–April 1915) talks about an article by P Raman Menon B.A. titled “The Craze for Imitation” where he says that women of Kerala, due to the craze for western dance and music, are ignoring indigenous songs and dances like Thiruvathira and Mohiniyattam (Devika 2005a, p. 39).
- 11.
Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) was an Indian painter from the princely state of Travancore. His paintings are considered to be the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art. Varma is most remembered for his paintings of beautiful sari-clad women, who were portrayed as very graceful.
- 12.
Breast cloth struggle happened in nineteenth century south Travancore where women who belonged to the Channar caste protested for equal right to wear the blouse. Only upper caste women were allowed to cover their breasts in Travancore. The Kallu Mala Samaram/Stone Necklace agitation was a movement by lower caste Pulaya women in 1915 at Kollam, Kerala (erstwhile Travancore) where they asserted their right to choose to wear or not to wear certain ornaments. Pulaya women wear not allowed to wear gold or other precious metals. They were allowed only to wear heavy stone necklaces. They threw away the stone ornaments during this agitation.
- 13.
On August 1, 2011, A.P.M. Mohammad Hanish, Director of Public Instructions of Kerala issued ban on cinematic dance being taught or performed in Schools of Kerala citing the reason that it exploits children.
- 14.
The term ‘Devadasi’ literally means ‘female slave of God’; practically they were women who were dedicated to the temple for a life time as ritualistic dancers, often subjected to sexual exploitation by the priestly class. In nineteenth century India, nationalism and the simultaneous exuberance for the construction of a national identity led to social movements relating to the Devadasi. These social movements were of two categories: reformists/abolitionists and revivalists. The existing studies on classical dance in India have revolved mainly around the reformists/abolitionists and revivalists debates.
- 15.
Lavani is a folk dance form, performed by women of the Maharashtra state of India.
- 16.
‘Bar Dance’, as the term is used in India, refers to dancing by ‘modestly’ dressed women in bars as an adult entertainment in front of a male audience in exchange of money. In 1995, the Maharashtra state ordered a ban on bar dance. The ban got lifted in July 2013.
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Kavya Krishna, K.R. (2016). Gender and Performance: The Reinvention of Mohiniyattam in Early Twentieth-Century Kerala. In: Bhaduri, S., Mukherjee, I. (eds) Transcultural Negotiations of Gender. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2437-2_12
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