Folk-classic continuum: Gender and liminality in Purulia Chhau

Abstract

This article attempts to raise the argument that performative Indigenous performance practices, which are not part of the ‘great’ tradition and have been valorized for articulating an authentic Indigenous voice, have not opened up to the accommodation of the ‘woman’s space’ within it. Using the data collected through interviews in rural Purulia, the article focuses on Chhau as a tradition of performance embedded in the folk-classic continuum and yet remains rooted in a characteristic inclination towards the classical over the folk. This is traceable in its historical development as a form and in its presentation of a classical content, primarily Hindu mythology. Foregrounding the fact that Chhau has essentially been categorized as a male dance form even though women are involved in most of the unrecognized labour that goes into the final presentation of the masked spectacle on the stage, it is clear that an attempt is yet to be made to account for the lack of allowance of the woman’s voice in the structure and content of the performative tradition. The result is an articulation of the tribal woman’s voice, herself doubly marginalized, in a performative tradition rooted in a liminal space, on the borders of the classic and the folk.