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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
masculinity (supposedly) casts him as a "safe" association for the young princess.
The Arthasastra makes reference to kusilavas in connection with the profession of singing and dancing, describing them as sudras. It decrees that the singers, dancers, actors, and story-tellers as well as their playhouses be banished from the villages lest their influence hinder the life of the people (Gupta 1991:96). This reference brings us back to the last chapter of the Natyasastra, where the author confesses how actors on earth came to be condemned as sudras: The sons of Bharata were well versed with the knowledge of the Natyaveda. But in time, they lost their sense of purpose, and produced a play in which the great sages were caricatured in unacceptable ways. The holy sages realized that arrogance (avinaya) and a false sense of pride had come upon the sons of Bharata. They became furious and cursed these actors to be born as sudras on earth. The Gods intervened and pleaded to the sages to revoke their curse so that the sacred art of drama as devised by Brahma may not perish with the fallen sons of Bharata. The sages blessed that the drama will not perish. Bharata convinced his actor sons to produce drama on earth and promised that their action would be rewarded eventually, "I shall make an end of your curse and you will no longer be despised by brahmins and kings" (Ghosh 1967: NS XXXVI, 64-67).
It is unclear to what extent the Laws of Manu were inculcated in actual practice. But their impressions are, nevertheless, seen represented in all aspects of social practice, including the oral and performative traditions, which in turn impressed upon the sociopsychological understandings of the people. Vasudha Narayan argues in her essay, "Women of Power in the Hindu Tradition" that the text, Manusmriti, has been over cited and claims that where as Manusmriti enjoyed limited reading, utilization and social application among the Sanskrit literate upper class only, the large part of the masses were governed by their own customs and practices based on local regional norms (1999:34). She, however, misses the point that the mythologies of the Puranas, stories from the Bhagavad Purana, the Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharta, and various local legends which deeply permeated the vast variety of oral and performative traditions followed by the masses, greatly reflected the socio-cultural gender ideologies set by Manusmriti, Dharma Sastras and the like. Oral and performative traditions have permeated the social, cultural and religious fabric of Indian societies all through known history, becoming important tools for the education of social and moral values, of history, of religion, of hierarchy, of gender ideology and more. Children have been exposed to these performance traditions very early in life and grow up being impressed upon, mentally, visually, and psychologically, by the social ideologies passed on by these oral traditions through centuries of numerous generations. Moreover, brahmanic and kshatriya religious norms and societal codes of honour were emulated largely by the socially upward bound castes with a yearning and expectation to be accepted and respected by the upper
class.
Bhakti theories advocating the performance of female impersonation as pathway to the union with God, sought to devalue similar possibilities for women. Female impersonation
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