Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India (South Asia Across the Disciplines)

329 Pages·2012·2.74 MB·English

by  Davesh Soneji

unfinished gestures
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unfinished gestures
Devada¯s¯ıs, Memory, and Modernity in South India
davesh soneji
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
Davesh Soneji is associate professor of South Asian religions at McGill University.
He is coeditor of Performing Pasts: Reinventing the Arts in Modern South India
and editor of Bharatanatyam: A Reader.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2012 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2012.
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-76809-0 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-76810-6 (paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-76809-0 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-76810-4 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soneji, Devesh.
Unfi nished gestures : devadasis, memory, and modernity in South India /
Davesh Soneji.
p. cm. — (South Asia across the disciplines)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-76809-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-76809-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-76810-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-76810-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Devadasis—India, South. 2. Devadasis—India, South—Social conditions.
3. Dance—Social aspects—India, South. 4. Prostitution—India, South.
5. Social change—India, South. I. Title. II. Series: South Asia across the
disciplines.
bl1237.58.d48s66 2011
306.6’94538082—dc23 2011020833
A portion of chapter 2 is a slightly altered version of an essay published in Davesh
Soneji, ed., Bharatanatyam: A Reader (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press India, New Delhi.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
for my family,
muttukkannammal, and
hymavathi AKKA

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: On Historical, Social, and Aesthetic 1
Borderlands
1. Producing Dance in Colonial Tanjore 27
2. Whatever Happened to the South Indian Nautch? Toward a
Cultural History of Salon Dance in Madras 70
3. Subterfuges of “Respectable” Citizenship: Marriage and
Masculinity in the Discourse of Devada¯sı¯ Reform 112
4. Historical Traces and Unfi nished Subjectivity: Remembering
Devada¯sı¯ Dance at Viralimalai 161
5. Performing Untenable Pasts: Aesthetics and Selfhood in
Coastal Andhra Pradesh 189
Coda: Gesturing to Devada¯sı¯ Pasts in Today’s Chennai 222
Appendix 1: Selected Documents from the Files of
Muthulakshmi Reddy 227
Appendix 2: The Madras Devadasis (Prevention of
Dedication) Act of 1947 235
Notes 237
References 271
Index 297
vii

acknowledgments
This book began as a string of paradoxical and aporetic thoughts around
the question of the disappearance of devada¯s¯ıs from the public life of
modern South India. Over a decade ago, I was fortunate to encounter two
women—R. Muttukkannammal and Kotipalli Hymavathi—who helped
me understand both the complexities and poignancy of women’s realities
in these communities, and in a very tangible way, forged pathways for the
creation of this book. R. Muttukkannammal of Viralimalai in Tamilnadu
has shown me limitless affection, openness, and generosity. She has also
been a teacher in the fullest possible sense. It was at the home of Kotipalli
Hymavathi in Muramanda, Andhra Pradesh, with the blessings of her ail-
ing mother, the late Kotipalli Manikyam, and her sister Kotipalli Sitaram-
alakshmi (Satyavati), that my work with women on the Telugu-speaking
kala¯vantula communities began. Hymavathi akka’s wit, humor, and self-
refl exivity run through large portions of this work. As a very small token
of my immense gratitude and respect, I dedicate this book to them.
This book would not exist without the contribution of two other in-
dividuals: Dr. B. M. Sundaram and Voleti Rangamani. Dr. Sundaram, one
of the most generous intellectuals I have ever known, has quite literally
“held my hand,” guiding me through the dense and often overwhelming
amount of cultural and historical data that constitutes the substance of
this book. His profound understanding of the history and technique of
music and dance in South India is simply unmatched and has never ceased
to bewilder me. Dr. Sundaram has also welcomed me into his family, and
his nurturing and highly sensitive presence permeates the pages of this
book.
My work in Andhra Pradesh would not have been possible without
the help, guidance, and warmth of Voleti Rangamani, daughter of the late
ix