Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath: An Analysis and Translation of the Rajasthani Oral Narrative of Devn-ar-aya.nThis book offers a detailed study of the oral narrative of Shri Devnarayan along with the first English translation of this popular Rajasthani folk narrative. The narrative extolling the deeds of Lord Devnarayan is performed by itinerant singers during all night vigils in front of a 9-meter long, elaborately painted cloth scroll that depicts scenes and characters from the story. Aditya Malik uses the narrative to explore and ask a range of innovative questions relevant to the study of Indian folk culture and Hinduism as a whole: How is orality conceptualized and practiced? What is the relationship between spoken and visual signs? How do Devnarayan's devotees create multiple discourses concerning religion, community, and history within and though the medium of the narrative? Malik's analysis suggests that the narrative provides a framework for establishing linkages between different communities, past and present, spoken word and visual image, as well as contending religious ideologies. His interpretation is interspersed with excerpts from interviews with devotees and singers, other tales and texts, and observations from his field research that together invoke the worlds created by the narrative. |
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Ajmer avatāra Bābā Bhāṭ Bagaṛāvats Bāgh belonging Berībāj Bhagavān Bhāngījī Bhat Bhavānī Bhoj's Bhopā Bhūņā Bhūņājī Brahmā Brahman brother Chochū Bhāṭ cowherds cows Dev Mahārāj Dev's grace Devna¯ra¯yanfi Devnārāyaṇ devotees Dhārāpatī divine Dīyā Dīyājī elephant enemy epic father front gāv By God's Gaze and Poison give God's grace Goddess Gual Gujars horse Hukamārām incarnation Jogīs Kaļālī Kauravas kill king Līlā lineage lion Listen look lord maidservants Mājī Malwa Manu mare marriage Mātā's Medū Mother Nāpā narrative Nectar Gaze Nīmde oral paṛ parfi Pārvatī Patel Poison Breath Prince Puşkar Queen Pīpalde Rājā Rajasthan Rajput Rām Rāṇ Rāṇā Rāvjī Sāḍū Mātā Sāī Savāī Bhoj saying it gāv Simh singer Sirdārs speaks speaks.—mhe spoke Śrī Devnārāyaṇ Śrī Mahārāj story Suremātā tell there's three worlds tobā took Translation vāh sā vāh vāh victory village washerwoman wife worship