TEC-funded MPhil/PhD Student Abstract
| Title | : | Retrospect and prospects of the Indian classical dances in Indian Diaspora: The case of Mauritius |
| Student | : | PENTIAH Dayashree |
| Institution | : | FSSH, University of Mauritius |
| Level | : | MPhil - PT Year : 2009 |
| Supervisor | : | Dr. Jeevendiren Chemen. |
| Abstract | : | Over the last two centuries, Indians have migrated to every nook and corner of the globe. Even today, in the best of times, the waves of migration are still prominent with people in search of greener pastures. As the migrants are dispersed from one societal milieu to another, they enter a cauldron of a new cultural entity. The migrants feel the need to hold on or even redefine their bonds with the homeland.
Indian immigrants have judiciously carried with them their millennia old rich cultural heritage which they implanted with much fervor in their ‘recreated’ home. The age old traditions, culture and its practices are valued and nurtures and are representative of the diasporic identity. The maintenance of this identity allows them migrants to be cohesive.
In Mauritius, language has been a distinct ethnic marker and an effective tool for communication for the immigrants for quite a number of years since their arrival. But in course of time, the 4th and 5th generation descendents, through 150 years of their stay and contact with the local dominant communities and culture has led to considerable loss of the language. However the distinctive cultural practices have been retained with great effort. One of the cultural practices preserved is dance. The dance, whether classical, folk, social became for the diaspora a means of retaining one’s Indianness and also an expression reinforcing and asserting one’s ethnic identity in a multi- cultural tradition. Indian classical dance forms are codified art forms rooted in the principles of Natya Sastra- the oldest surviving text on stagecraft. The Natya Sastra which is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts encompasses theatre, dance, and music besides reflecting the deep Indian philosophy, aesthetics and spiritualism. Parents find it the most acceptable way of exposing their children to the culture and heritage of India. Preliminary literature review reveals that such a phenomenon is recurrent in most of the Diasporas across the globe including the Indian Diaspora. It is against this backdrop that this study is taken to understand how the various parameters of identity are changing and how the wave theory of immigration help us to quantify dance traditions, the pressures that cause dances to change and the new directions being taken.
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