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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schuster-Löhlau, Pauline, author.

Series:

Neuindische Studien ; Bd. 19.

Neuindische Studien, 0340-6385 ; Band 19

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Epic poetry, Tulu--History and criticism.

Epic poetry, Tulu.

Folk poetry, Tulu--History and criticism.

Folk poetry, Tulu.

Women and literature--India.

Women and literature.

India.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

viii, 244 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Leaving the country, I shall be free

Place of Publication:

Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020.

Summary:

The present volume examines how the Siri tradition of Coastal Karnataka serves as a source of identity. The Siri oral narrative (paddana, an indigenous genre of the Dravidian Tulu language) relates the story of an extraordinary Tuluva woman called Siri and her female descendants. Siri is a role-model for many local women, especially for those singing her story and performing as her mediums in the ritual context of the deified family's annual festivals. Combining and analyzing textual and ethnographic material, the connection between oral narratives and personal, social and cultural identity is explored in depth for the first time: Selected Siri texts are studied in regard to their representation of gender roles, caste-specific perspectives and the world view and ethos pertaining to Tulu culture. In addition, the female-oriented Siri tradition is compared to three other, more male-centered Tulu and Kannada oral texts (Koti-Cennaya, Koddabbu and Male Madesvara). The empirical data, particularly interviews, illustrate the Siri tradition's impact on the performers' life, personal and social identity. Altogether, the study stresses the tradition's value both on the level of the individual and the collective, such as its socio-cultural relevance as a normative text, sacred narrative and part of Tuluva cultural memory.

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-240) and index.

ISBN:

3447113723

9783447113724

OCLC:

1143647978

Publisher Number:

99984751909