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'Leaving the country, I shall be free' : the South Indian Siri tradition as a source of identity /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Schuster-Löhlau, Pauline (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020.
Series:Neuindische Studien ; Bd. 19.
Subjects:
Epic poetry, Tulu > History and criticism.
Folk poetry, Tulu > History and criticism.
Women and literature > India.
Epic literature, Indic > History and criticism.
Women > India > Karnataka > Folklore.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Illustrations
  • Note on transliteration and the spelling of Indian words
  • Abbreviations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • The Siri narrative and ritual tradition
  • Research on the Siri tradition
  • Methodology and theoretical approach
  • The importance and future of the Siri tradition
  • The intended purpose of this work
  • The structure of the study
  • Theoretical Framework
  • The conceptualization of "identity"
  • Post-modern models of individual and shared identities
  • Conceptualizing gender identity
  • Language, cultural and national identity
  • Conceptualizing cultural identity
  • National identity and language
  • The case of Tuḷuva culture and language
  • Conceptualizing identity in the Indian context
  • Post-colonial discourse, language and identity
  • Personal and collective identity in the Indian context
  • The conceptualization of gender in the Indian context
  • Defining and researching oral epic traditions
  • The epic genre and its scholarship
  • Towards a definition of "oral epics"
  • An outline of the research on oral epics worldwide
  • Different approaches to (oral) epic traditions
  • Research on Indian oral epics
  • Oral epic traditions in India
  • Oral epic traditions in the Indian context
  • The pāḍdana genre of Tuḷunāḍu
  • A brief history of the research on Tuḷu pāḍdanas
  • Oral epic traditions and identity
  • Memory, identity and culture
  • Folklore/oral traditions as a source of alternative historical narratives
  • Gender, identity and representation
  • Intersectionality as an analytical tool
  • The situation of (female) folk performers
  • Methodology
  • The Indological approach : the texts and their performance
  • The Siri tradition
  • The Siri narrative, or pāḍdana, tradition
  • The Siri ritual tradition
  • The Koḍdabbu tradition
  • The Kōṭi-Cennaya tradition
  • The Kōṭi-Cennaya pāḍdana
  • The Kōṭi-Cennaya worship tradition
  • The Male Mādēśvara tradition
  • The epic of Male Mādēśvara
  • The ritual context : the worship of saint-hero Male Mādēśvara
  • The oral texts selected for this study
  • The ethnographic approach
  • Ethnographic research in Coastal and Southern Karnataka
  • An example of my fieldwork in Coastal Karnataka
  • The research material collected and its use in this study
  • Analysis of Selected Tuḷu Oral Epic (Pāḍdana) Traditions
  • Oral epics as sacred narratives and sources of cultural identity
  • The creation of the land of the Tuḷuva and the Siri pāḍdana
  • The Siri pāḍdana as a prototypical Tuḷu epic?
  • The worship of local deities, devotion and lineage
  • Satyanāpura palace : notions of loneliness, family and home
  • Tuḷu-specific concepts and views (re-)presented in the Siri pāḍdana
  • Conceptualizing social and ritual impurity
  • The role of one's dharma and the concept of "attaining māya"
  • Siri as an example par excellence of Tuḷuva womanhood
  • Siri's source of power : the folk conceptualization of satya
  • Women's ability to bless and curse : the concept of poṇṇa sāpa
  • Siri's divorce and remarriage : a social innovation
  • Siri as mother : an exceptional image of motherhood
  • Siri : a symbol of ideal Tuḷuva womanhood, a rebel or an early feminist?
  • The construction of gender and caste identities in the oral texts
  • The representation of men and women in the Siri pāḍdana
  • Siri before the tribunal : women in a patriarchal society
  • Siri and Kāntu Pūñja : a mismatched marriage alliance
  • Harlot Siddu : the "loose woman"
  • Kāntu Pūñja : the "weak male"
  • Siri and the warrior-kings of Bōla : an example of fictive kinship
  • Sāmu and Siri : wife and co-wife
  • Gender, caste and cultural identity in selected oral epics of Karnataka
  • An inter-caste Tuḷu family setting : Malvedi's childhood at Kaccura palace
  • Notions of gender and caste identity : Malvedi's puberty ceremony
  • Conceptualizing the ideal wife : Saṅkamma embodying the pativratā
  • Coping with the stigma of barrenness : Sonne and Saṅkamma
  • Female and male heroism in Tuḷu culture
  • Sources of female power : the notions of satya and bhakti
  • Malvedi
  • Saṅkamma
  • Tani Maniga
  • Sources of male honor and power
  • Koḍdabbu, Kārayya and Billayya : the idea of a "virgin" birth
  • Koḍaṅge Bannārụ and Mōṭu Koḍapana : satya as a "male" quality
  • Kōṭi and Cennaya : superhuman ancestry and warriorhood
  • Oral Traditions as Sources of Individual and Shared Identities
  • The Siri tradition as a source of identity
  • Five case studies from Tuḷunāḍu
  • Kargi Shedti
  • Muttappa Mulya
  • Leela Shedti
  • Shyama Shetty
  • Kargi Mundaldi
  • Elements and patterns of a "Siri identity" or "Siri narrative"
  • The Siri pāḍdana as a normative text
  • Narrative ideal vs. social reality, exemplified by the situation of Dalit women
  • The Siri pāḍdana as a sacred and normative text
  • The performer's perspective on gender as shaped by the Siri tradition
  • Changes concerning the Siri narrative and ritual tradition
  • The Tuḷuva field-song tradition : a dwindling cultural practice
  • Changes and developments regarding the Siri ritual tradition
  • The decreasing number of women performers in the Siri ritual
  • "The Siri paradox"
  • Reasons for women's absence in the Siri ritual
  • The discourses on the Siri ritual tradition
  • Middle- and upper-class views and the idea of the "modern Indian woman"
  • The Siri performers' self-concept : doing the work of God
  • The media and the external perception of the Siri jātre
  • Gender, socio-economic background and education
  • The possible future of the Siri tradition
  • Findings and Concluding Remarks
  • The theoretical framework of this study
  • The analysis of different pāḍdana texts
  • The Siri pāḍdana as a Tuḷuva epic
  • Tuḷuva-specific concepts as represented in the Siri pāḍdana
  • The depiction of the epic figures in regard to gender and caste identity
  • Conceptualizing male and female heroism
  • The Siri ritual tradition and its female performers
  • The Siri tradition as a source of individual and shared identities
  • Concluding remarks
  • Appendices
  • The material collected during my research stays in India (2011-2018)
  • Overview on the empirical data gathered in the course of my fieldwork
  • Example of a questionnaire used during my fieldwork in 2016
  • Selected texts and translations
  • References
  • Blogs and Websites
  • Literature
  • Index.