The arts and literature of India

Abstract

This special issue of the International journal of Hindu studies on India's arts and literature has been a delight to assemble. The authors of the essays collected here have produced exemplary studies of India's artistic and literary heritage. Their work deserves wide circulation. In the interest of brevity and to allow their essays as much space as possible, this Introduction will only hint at the content of the essays that follow. One theme that links all these essays is that artistic works are performances. David Gitomer's study of the raudra rasa, or furious emotional state, in poetics and drama highlights the gendered way in which this state is depicted in gastra literature. Laurie Patton's essay on the uses of poetry in Vedic ritual emphasizes the artistic and interpretive skill employed by the ritual performer. Michael Meister's review article on the National Museum of Art's exhibition of ancient Cambodian sculpture shows how Hindu cosmology was instantiated on the ground at Angkor Vat, its builders articulating in stone a vision of cosmic order. Alf Hiltebeitel's application of 'primary process' to the Mahabharata and Ramaya.na links those Sanskrit narratives with vernacular-language folk epics recited and performed throughout India. Mandakranta Bose's study of the hybrid performance genre called uparapaka shows it to be a mixture of drama and dance and clarifies the relationships among various subgenres. These articles, written by some of the finest scholars of India's literature, drama, and art, constitute this special issue of the journal. We hope that their work will provide for the reader new perspectives on India's civilization.