UC Riverside

Inspired by the co-optation of religious mythological characters by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in India to mobilize support for their political agenda, Birth of a Hindu Nation: Representing Nation, Caste, and Race Through Mythology in Transnational Bharatanatyam Performance examines how Bharatanatyam performance in the South Asian diaspora engages with Hindu nationalism by using myth. How does Bharatanatyam both bolster and subvert Hindu nationalism through representations of the nation, caste, and race in mythological performances? I describe how epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana are “mythicized”, along with particular moments in South Asian history, to serve the Hindu nationalist project. Going beyond literary mythologies, I examine the mythicization of the Hindu nation and the model minority myth, arguing that the performance of mythology contributes to its political mobilization based on hegemonic representations of the Indian nation, race, and caste. I use ethnography and performance analysis to understand the reciprocal relationship between Bharatanatyam and Hindu nationalism. Drawing on the concept of “critical negativity,” I argue that Transnational Bharatanatyam practice can perpetuate Hindu nationalism through its insistence on Hindu supremacy in its repertoire, its exclusion of caste-oppressed people, and its propagation of South Asian anti-Blackness and caste-based gender norms. This project also seeks to find possibilities for Bharatanatyam interpretations of myth to subvert dominant expressions of gender, caste, nation, and race to create more inclusive spaces.