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- Title
"He Should Have Worn a Sari"
- Authors
Flueckiger, Joyce Burkhalter
- Abstract
This article relates the author's experience as she attended a performance of the oral epic, Candaini, in the Chhattisgarh region of central India in 1985. According to the author, the performance resulted in what she calls a failed performance. More than half of the audience walked away within the first hour and a half of what normally would have been a 5 to 6 hour performance; after another half an hour, only 20 out of approximately 150 audience members were still sitting in the performance clearing. Furthermore, many audience members verbalized discontent with the performance, both during and after the performance, although they did not specifically call it a "failure." Candaini is the story of the hero Lorik and heroine Candaini, both from the Raut cowherding caste. Each is married to someone else, but Candaini leaves her husband when she learns he is impotent. Back in her maternal village, she meets Lorik: they fall in love and, after some delays, elope together. In Chhattisgarh, epic performances usually center upon and elaborate various episodes leading up to and including the long, eventful elopement journey. Eventually, Lorik and Candaini return home and live with Lorik's extended family, including his first wife. But it is said that Lorik was never satisfied after his return and one day wandered off into the countryside, never to be seen again.
- Subjects
INDIA; PERFORMING arts; EPIC literature; PERFORMANCE art
- Publication
TDR: The Drama Review (MIT Press), 1988, Vol 32, Issue 1, p159
- ISSN
1054-2043
- Publication type
Entertainment Review
- DOI
10.2307/1145877