Performance Traditions of the Mahabharata in Tamil Nadu

ABOUT THE COURSE: In over 300 villages in Tamil Nadu, the Mahabharata is celebrated as a unique festival. The Epic is performed as village rituals, sung/narrated as a story, and enacted right through the night in a traditional masked theater form called the Koothu. It is an immersive experience of the Epic and entire villages relive the Epic for twenty days each year. Each family in the village contributes money for the festival making this possibly the oldest independent theater festival in the world currently.Intended audience: Students of Performance studies, students of Religious studies, sociologists, Mahabharata scholars.

Week 1:A Brief Introduction To The MahabharataA Brief Introduction To The Mahabharata Festivals Of Tamil NaduThe Idea Of The ChariotThe Custodians Of The Festival
Week 2:The Festivals As Total TheatrePotturaja And The Anti-War Nature Of The FestivalThe Birth Of Vyasa
Week 3:The Origin Of The Lunar Dynasty Chandra VamsamBirth Of YayatiThe Story Of Shakuntala And DushyantaShantanu And The Birth Of Bhishma
Week 4:The Birth Of Dhrithirashtra, Pandu And ViduraThe Birth Of Krishna
Week 5:The Birth Of DharmarajaGurukulam
Week 6:The Birth Of DraupadiHidimbi Kuri Or Hidimbi As Fortune TellerThe Killing Of Bakasura
Week 7:A brief introduction to Koothu as a theatrical form Vil Valaippu, or The bending of the bow
Week 8:Draupadi Kalayanam or The Marriage ritual of DraupadiSubhadra Kalyanam Rajasuya Yaagam
Week 9:The attempted disrobing of Draupadi and Krishna’s giftArjuna’s Tapas
Week 10:Kichaka Vadham or the Killing of KichakaKrishnan Thoodu or Krishna as the emissary of the Pandavas
Week 11:Aravan Kalabali and the beginning of the Great WarKarna Moksham or the Moksha of Karna
Week 12:Pathinettam Por or the Eighteenth Day’s WarDharmaraja’s Pattabhishekam and Ashwamedha Yaagam