IFA@Bhopal: Myths, Similes and Memory Traces: Imageries of Abduction in the Ramayana Universe | December 20, 2016

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA)
in collaboration with
Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal
presents
Myths, Similes and Memory Traces: Imageries of Abduction in the Ramayana Universe
by
Roma Chatterji
December 20, 2016 | 04:00 PM | Rock Art Hall, IGRMS
Shymala Hills, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh - 462 013

Join us for a stimulating lecture exploring visual and verbal representations of the Ramayana, by Roma Chatterji. In this presentation, Roma will focus on Sita’s abduction, to understand the oral traditions and accompanying visual imagery of the Pradhan-Gonds of Madhya Pradesh.

The Adivasi community of Pradhan-Gonds use verbal imagery to express the many oral devices embedded in their re-telling of Valmiki’s Ramayana. These images come together as narrative sequences that explore the theme of abduction through protagonists that are multi-forms of Sita. And with the development of a painterly tradition among the community over the last 30 years, the abduction theme has become a popular subject for the painters as well. This presentation will compare the multiple explorations, to understand the power of the poetic images and representations, through time.

Roma Chatterji is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Her research interests include illness narratives, the sociology of art and folklore. She is the author of Writing Identities: Folklore and the Performing Arts of Purulia (2009), and Speaking with Pictures: Folk Art and the Narrative Imagination in India (2012, 2016). She is also the editor of Wording the World.

Roma received a grant to examine the ways in which modern forms of storytelling such as the graphic novel and animation, and their traditional counterparts such as the work from the Chitrakar community of West Bengal and the Pradhan-Gonds of Madhya Pradesh, draw from each other. The monograph will study how the art forms are turning to each other to expand their practices.

Roma received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts under its Arts Research programme, with support from Titan Company Limited.