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DissertationFinal.pdf (1.41 MB)
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3DEnvironment.jpg
(175.33 KB)
3DInspirations.png
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3DModel.png
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3DModelFragments.jpg
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AlasaCAP.jpg
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Anatomizing.jpeg
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CAPReflections.docx
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CamaraCAP.jpg
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DalamalikaCAP.jpg
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Darpana.png
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DarpanaCAP.jpg
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Delving.jpeg
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FCurves.png
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FacialCapture.png
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Gesture.png
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Gesture.png
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GunthanaCAP.png
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IterationI.mov
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IterationII.mov
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IterationIII.mov
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KetakibharanaCAP.jpg
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Krishna.png
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MahariChauka.png
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ManiniCAP.jpg
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Mardala.png
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MardalaCAP.jpg
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MatrmurtiCAP.jpg
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MeenaDanda.mp4
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Mocap1.png
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Mocap2.png
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MugdhaCAP.jpg
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MugdhaCAP.jpg
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NarthakiCAP.jpg
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NupurapadukaCAP.jpg
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Opening.jpeg
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OutingMahari.mp4
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Outwarding.jpeg
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PadmagandhaCAP.jpg
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Radha.png
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Raising.jpeg
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RupasreeMohapatraMahari.jpg
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SentientMahari.png
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Situating.jpeg
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Stone-Texture.jpg
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SuhagNaliniDasMahari.jpg
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SukasarikaCAP.jpg
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ToranaCAP.jpg
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VinyasaCAP.jpg
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sukasarika.png
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torso.png
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ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Mahari Out: Deconstructing Odissi
Author Info
sarkar, Kaustavi
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1499694454160469
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2017, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Dance.
Abstract
I surface the artistic lineage of the Maharis or temple dancers marginalized in the history of the eastern Indian classical dance style called Odissi by focusing on the mediation of Mahari ritual performance within the embodied knowledge of contemporary Odissi practice. I position my investigation in the field of Practice-as-Research evidencing my research inquiry through praxis—theory imbricated in practice as defined by Practice-as-Research scholar Robin Nelson. Imbricating critical cultural theory and movement practice, I examine Mahari praxis within an interdisciplinary investigation combining religious studies, sexuality studies, technology studies, dance studies, and South Asian studies. The Mahari danced in the Hindu temples of Odisha, the state from which Odissi originates, from the twelfth to early twentieth century. Mythically, she descends from the Alasa-Kanya, female sculptural figure adorning the temple-walls of Odisha. Being ritually married to Jagannath, the Hindu male deity presiding over Odissi dance, she had a sexual life outside of social marriage within circles of the indigenous elites. Although, Odissi is premised on Mahari ritual performativity in front of Jagannath to establish historical continuity, it does not acknowledge her creative practice for her alleged links to prostitution. I redress the appropriation of the Mahari in Odissi technique, by reimagining her in my choreographed Odissi movement and in its subsequent digital mediation as 3D data using motion capture technology. In solo and group choreographic works and their virtual adaptations, I explore the Mahari’s ritual performance in the temple alongside examining her mythical associations in ancient and medieval temple-sculpture. In an intermodal inquiry spanning live dancing, digital visualization of live movement, and stone sculpture, I highlight the unacknowledged aesthetics of the Mahari tradition within the Odissi body by discovering the twisting movements of the Mahari in my practice. Bringing poststructuralist theories of deconstruction together with technological and improvisatory measures of deconstructing my embodied practice, I argue that the Mahari performativity creates a potential to subvert the conservative horizon of Odissi. In my innovative methodological maneuver, multiple registers of mediation—historical and technological—co-construct Mahari embodiment across stone sculpture, 3D data, and the live dancing body enlivening the ever-elusive Mahari in her aesthetic, social, sexual, and historical complexity, and reorienting Odissi’s patriarchal center occupied by Jagannath.
Committee
Norah Zuniga-Shaw (Advisor)
Karen Eliot (Committee Member)
Mytheli Sreenivas (Committee Member)
Pages
205 p.
Subject Headings
Dance
Keywords
Odissi
;
Mahari
;
Derrida
;
Ritual
;
Postructuralism
;
Abhinavagupta
;
Digital Humanities
;
deconstruction
;
Kelucharan Mohapatra Style of Odissi
;
Motion Capture Technology
;
Practice-as-Research
;
Choreography
;
Alasa-Kanya
;
Sculpture
;
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
sarkar, K. (2017).
Mahari Out: Deconstructing Odissi
[Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1499694454160469
APA Style (7th edition)
sarkar, Kaustavi.
Mahari Out: Deconstructing Odissi.
2017. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1499694454160469.
MLA Style (8th edition)
sarkar, Kaustavi. "Mahari Out: Deconstructing Odissi." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1499694454160469
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
osu1499694454160469
Download Count:
5,222
Copyright Info
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.