Layout 3 - India Foundation for the Arts - IFA

Recommendations

Info

that she had surely heard at some time. As she came yet nearer, the music held her bound in its melody. The door of the hut was open. She looked inside. Someone who looked like a tapasvi, living a life of austerities, was playing the vinai. When she asked whether she was disturbing his practice, he said no. He had been waiting for her, he said. ‘Don’t you know me? I am Ravana.’ Startled, she stepped back. ‘I thought you died in the war...’ ‘This life is full of magic, is it not? When Rama demolished everyone in my palace, there was one bodyguard left. He pleaded with Rama to spare his life. And he then prayed that a friend of his should be returned to life. Rama did so, and told them both to flee before Lakshmana appeared. When they said they no longer had the strength to run, he gave them wings. They changed respectively into a kite and a parrot and flew away. This is a story that people tell. Could I not be that parrot that has been flying about in these forests? A parrot waiting for that moment when he would meet Sita once more. A tired old parrot.’ Imagining Rama – C.S. Lakshmi ‘Even now, this infatuation? I have seen so many tragedies. My life has been like a game of dice in which I am a pawn. I am tired. I am weary. I am more than forty years old.’ ‘It is then a woman needs a friend. To support her when she is distressed by her changing body. To serve her. To encourage her. To stand at a distance and give her hope.’ Sita sat down on the floor. Ravana went on, ‘I have never refused to give my friendship to anyone. Before the battle began, Rama wanted to make a puja. There were only two people in the world who could have conducted the puja for him. One was Vali. The other, myself. Rama had killed Vali with his own hands. So I was the only one left. He sent an invitation to me. I went to him. I did the puja as he desired. I blessed him and invoked his victory.’ Sita addressed him by name for the first time. ‘Ravana, words make me tired. Language leaves me crippled. I am fettered by my body.’ 101
102 ArtConnect: The IFA Magazine, Volume 6, Number 1 Ravana smiled. ‘The body is a prison. The body is a means of freedom,’ he said. ‘Look,’ he said, showing her his rudravinai. ‘A musical instrument that was created by imagining what wonderful music would sound if Parvati’s breasts, as she lay on her back, turned into gourds, and their nipples were attached by strings. It is an extension of Devi’s body. You lifted Shiva’s bow with one hand. You should be able to conquer this instrument easily. Will you try?’ ‘Will you teach me?’ ‘I did battle for you once, and lost. Would I deny you music? I will be your guru and give you lessons every day. Let the music break out of the vinai and flow everywhere in the forest. Don’t think of it as an ordinary musical instrument. Think of it as your life, and play on it. Here.’ He lifted the rudravinai from his lap and stretched it out towards her. ‘Leave it there on the ground,’ said Sita. ‘Why?’ ‘It is my life, isn’t it? A life that many hands have tossed about, like a ball. Now let me take hold of it; take it into my hands.’ So saying, Sita lifted the rudravinai and laid it on her lap. 2 Kamban’s text itself is a retelling of Valmiki’s text. But the final part of banishment of Sita, the Uttara-kanda, Kamban cannot bring himself to write. Uttara-kanda raises so many questions about Rama the man and the epic itself that many believe that it was not written by Valmiki and that it is a later addition by another author. Many houses do not even keep the last volume Uttara-kanda. The wonderful thing about a text is that it assumes different meanings at different stages of one’s life. Time ages a text differently. It develops layers. Layers keep getting added to a text in every reading. As one ages the text gets transformed with new meanings. At some point, the body becomes a text and the text begins to resemble one’s body. Like language one feels that the body too has layers. One suddenly asks oneself: Is this my body that has so many layers or is it the text? The body and the text become one, open to new meanings and new definitions and new readings and rereadings.
Page 2 and 3:
Contents EDITORIAL 3 READING VISUAL
Page 4 and 5:
IFA has collaborated with Adishakti
Page 6 and 7:
Reading Visuals: Timeless Voyages o
Page 10 and 11:
The divine messenger (Agnipurusha)
Page 12 and 13:
they sit in mournful contemplation
Page 14 and 15:
upon a blue-gold sky. Or elsewhere
Page 16 and 17:
his daughter in marriage. Dasharath
Page 18 and 19:
Reading Visuals - Gulammohammed She
Page 20 and 21:
It is difficult to summarise the na
Page 22 and 23:
There are numerous other sights tha
Page 24 and 25:
produces a rare form of intimate ye
Page 26 and 27:
Reading Visuals - Gulammohammed She
Page 28:
set upon a luminous red ground. In
Page 31 and 32:
Myth Retold: Variants of the Story
Page 33 and 34:
32 ArtConnect: The IFA Magazine, Vo
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52: 50 ArtConnect: The IFA Magazine, Vo
Page 69: Wayang Kulit: Where Ravana Dances i
Page 72 and 73: Wayang Kulit - Eddin Khoo the Javan
Page 74 and 75: I could explain what Malaysia is, c
Page 76 and 77: when a member of your family is suf
Page 78 and 79: Wayang Kulit - Eddin Khoo 77 Hanuma
Page 80 and 81: Wayang Kulit - Eddin Khoo 79
Page 82 and 83: Wayang Kulit - Eddin Khoo Ravana or
Page 84 and 85: closest to the audience is the most
Page 86 and 87: Wayang Kulit during the 1970s, 1980
Page 88 and 89: Wayang Kulit - Eddin Khoo Winged in
Page 90 and 91: the aim was to ‘museumise’ this
Page 101: 100 ArtConnect: The IFA Magazine, V
Page 105: 104 About IFA India Foundation for
show all

Layout 3 - India Foundation for the Arts - IFA

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?