A. Dhananjeyan: “Performing in the Peripheral Stage: An Enquiry into the Nature and the Role Ethnic Bilingual Nomadic Performers in Taminadu.”
This paper looks at the nomadic communities and their dialogue life with the sedentary communities of Tamilnadu. At least twenty nomadic communities with different kinds of occupations are living all over Tamilnadu. The very existence of these nomadic communities cannot be recognized properly by the large scale sedentary communities. But the nomadic groups or communities which exist in the outskirts of the caste based society for several hundred years were never confine themselves to a particular place but rather they move everywhere cutting across the boundaries of both rural and urban centers in the vast areas of Tamilnadu. Though these communities are found at their mobility continuously, they keep their social system and their identity intact. At the same time it cannot be denied that they have been influenced by means of socio-cultural elements of the Tamil sedentary communities. As they have to depend upon the former for their livelihood, they have designed their occupations depending upon the nature of the needs of the sedentary communities. In accordance with the above, their occupations such as performance, religious services, medical practices, divination, craft-making, lead-coating, begging etc, have been designed with the intention of getting the patronage of the sedentary groups. Hence, these cultural forms evidently have the influence of the religiosity, worldview, ethos etc., of the Tamil sedentary communities. In this context certain question arises with regard to the status of the nomadic performers in the social milieu of the sedentary communities and also the role of other cultural forms manipulated by the nomadic craftsmen, diviners, medicinal practitioners and trainers. The views expressed above will be seriously addressed and discussed extensively in this article. Performing in the peripheral stage: An enquiry into the nature and the role ethnic bilingual nomadic performers in Taminadu.
Biological Statement:
A. Dhananjeyan is Reader and Head of the Department of Folklore, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai, Tamilnadu. He is also Executive Director of Folklore Resources and Research Center, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai, Tamilnadu. His research interests include Oral Literature and Narratives, Oral History, Folk Music, Folk Religion, Nomadism and Marginal Performances. His major books are “Kulakiriyiyalum Meenavar Vazhakkarukalum (Totemism and Fishermen Folklore, 1996); Nattupura Patal Kalanjiyam” (A compilation of Folksongs, vol. 5, 2000); “Vilimbu Nilai Makkal Vazhakkarukal: Inavaraiviyal Aivu” (Folklore of Marginals: An Ethnographic Study, 2006); Recently, with Bala, he edited “Thamizh Kathai Patalkal” (Tamil Ballads, 2008).
