Indian Performing Arts, History, and Cultural Movements

Natya Shastra

The oldest Indian treatise on performing arts, written in around 200-500 BC, and influencing performing arts in India throughout history, "fifth veda", and reinforce roles of caste and gender, sets up dynamic between courtisian (the ones who performed), dance master (the ones who taught cortisone), and patrons (who cortisone performed for)

Bharatnatyam

Classical Tamil dance, expressing South Indian Hindu themes, courtisian who perofmred were called devadases, attached==hed to temples sometimes, performed dances on particular religious occasions, could develop their own ealth, , once initiated as a cortison they would receive something in ec=xchange for promising to dance, like land or rice, sometimes engaged in intimacy, British launched contagious diseases acts, leading these dancers to be registered as prostitutes, but push to develop a national performing art for India led many women to prusue this dance form and elevate it as India's national dance, but pushing couritsians out of the performing space

Kathak

North Indian classical dance original from travelling bands, taught by males, eprformed by cortisans called dawaifs, perofmrers and masters of etiquette, had notable patrons in cities that they lived in, Muslim

Zia ul-Haqq

Military officer and sixth president of Pakistan from 1978-1988, tried to make Pakistan more stringently Muslim, targeting women's rigts and premaritcal sex

Raja Ravi Varmi

Artist who mixed South Asian and European themes in the latter half of the 19th century, depicted Mother India

Bharat Mata (Mother India)

National personification of India, beginning with the Indian independence movement

Tawaif/Devadasi

Courtisans of two major forms of classical Indian dance

Thanjavur

Dancemasters and courtisians developed bahratnayam, hybridized princely state and local court culture before becoming British, whose culture was

Filkhana

Elephant stables?

Shikar

Big game hunting, practiced by locals and British colonists

Dakshin Rai

Deity of South India, tiger-demon

Goddess Durga

Hindu mother-goddess, depicted with eight arms and riding a tiger, opposes demons

Husnai Bai

Singer and independence advocate who fought against SITA, creating a petition against it and arguing that it violated the rights of sex workers

Muziris Papyrus

Papyrus paper documenting trade between India and Rome

All India Radio

National Indian radio station, spread information, culture, and propaganda, and was a source of national pride

The Durbar

Assembly for the coronation of the Empress of India created during the British royal tour of India

Amrita Sher Gil

Hungarian-Indian painter who blended European artistic styles with Indian themes

Shubas Chandra Bose

Indian nationalist and independence leader who was famous for authoritarian ideas and alliances with axis powers

Indira Gandhi

Nehru's daughter and the second Prime Minister of India

Nizam of Hyderabad

Ruler of Hyderabad, an extremely wealthy princely state in India, which had extensive industrialization and was invaded by India after independence

Maharaja Hari Singh

Hindu ruler of the mostly Muslim Kashmir and Jammu, wanted to keep Kashmir and Jammu independent, but eventually joined India

Kashmir and Jammu

Center of conflict between India and Pakistan, princely state that was mostly Muslim but ruled by a Hindu

Shaikh Mujib ur-Rahman

Lahore

Largest city in Punjab that has a large Muslim population

Ajanta

One of two great temple complexes that depicts early depictions of Hindu goddesses depicted in the nude and not seen as immoral, as opposed to modern depictions of Goddesses in the nude, which is frowned upon,

Abanindradath Tagore

Painter who painted "Mother Bengal", which was adapted to Mother India

Manmohan Singh

Indian economist and Prime Minister of India who contributed to economic reforms in 1991 and liberalization

Wajid Ali Shah

Nawab of Awadh who patronized and contributed to Kathak

Sunderbans

Mangrove forest where there are a lot of tigers, where Dakshin Rai and Bon Bibi came to be because survival took precedence over religion

Turani Mughals

Mughals from Turkic Central Asian regions who held major roles in administration, contributed to Kathak

Kamathipura

Red light neighborhood in Bombay that was targeted by law enforcement and intended to be relocated until sex workers fought against relocation policies

The Brahmaputra River

River that goes through Assam and Bangladesh, its heavy flooding leads to major displacement, leading places like Assam to be extremely diverse

Satyagraha

Philosophy of non-violent protest used by Gandhi

Liaquat Ali Khan

First Prime Minister of Pakistan, established administration and policies of Islamic democracy

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Urdu poet who wrote about India, Pakistan, and was a proponent of socialism

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Indian Prime Minister, helped transform India's economy, founded the BJP, and led right-wing politics in India

Naxalites

Leftist insurgents in Bengal who have been fighting a conflict with the Indian government

Ahom

Ethnic group that largely populates Assam, Assam was historically multi-ethnic because of movement

Bhadralok

Educated upper-and-middle-caste elites who assisted in native rule under the British