Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam
<p>My doctoral dissertation aims to study the Tukkhā songs of North Bengal composed by the Rājbaṃśī community in the Rājbaṃśī lect, a living tradition largely unexplored by the academic community in Bengal and beyond. My paper analyses language and practice, combining literary criticism with a...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
|
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1826309742930165760 |
|---|---|
| author | Bhowmik, R |
| author2 | Acharya, D |
| author_facet | Acharya, D Bhowmik, R |
| author_sort | Bhowmik, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>My doctoral dissertation aims to study the Tukkhā songs of North Bengal composed by the Rājbaṃśī community in the Rājbaṃśī lect, a living tradition largely unexplored by the academic community in Bengal and beyond. My paper analyses language and practice, combining literary criticism with anthropological research.</p>
<p>These songs were influenced by the esoteric devotional traditions such as the Buddhist Sahajayāna, Śaiva, Śākta and Vaiṣṇava traditions of north-eastern India. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in North Bengal (2017-2020) and documented and archived a number of songs (close to one hundred), interviews and audio-visual performances. My work focuses on the oral tradition (songs) and performative art and on the direct connections between the Rājbaṃśī living traditions, rituals and cosmology depicted in Tantric medieval literature.</p>
<p>My work explores mysticism and language, politics of an alternative imaginative space, which I examine as an expression of esoteric devotionalism in the context of the socio-historical and religious evolution of the Rājbaṃśī community. I assess the artistic and political implications of this literature through a close assessment of how it is performed in the present day. I have translated a corpus of these songs into English for the first time and majority of these songs have not been published before. These songs have created a powerful medium of their self-assertion of the historical consciousness of the Rājbaṃśī community, which has been subjected to political and cultural marginalization. This community has produced diverse genres of songs including Tukkhā, Bhāwaiyā, Tistābuṛir gān (songs for Tista river), songs for Satya- Pīr and Maynāmatī (related to the Nāth cult in Bengal), which are important documents of the cultural traditions of this community, thematically and historically in terms of content, literary value and performance traditions.</p>
<p>My thesis also explores notions of identity, marginality, subjectivity, and constructs a critical history ‘from below’ through the medium of literature of the Rājbaṃśī community. While studying the various metaphors used in the Tukkhā songs, the thesis will try to understand the various strands of heterodox religious ideas that were deeply imbricated in older Tantric traditions and how they were responded to, negotiated with, assimilated, and hybridized. The contours of Tukkhā, as a field and as a living tradition have been refigured and reinvented, while it has engaged with various socio-historical changes in historical, religious and political landscape of North Bengal. The metaphors contained in the songs reveal socio-religious and historical clues about the possible influences on these songs in the absence of substantial secondary sources of literature on the Tukkhā songs. My strategy was to connect the various strands of socio-religious traditions and their influences on the Rājbaṃśī community in constructing a preliminary history of the Tukkhā tradition.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:40:16Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:fb631481-1b8e-4ae6-98b9-37d9b5835b34 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:40:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:fb631481-1b8e-4ae6-98b9-37d9b5835b342023-04-14T09:47:39ZMystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgamThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:fb631481-1b8e-4ae6-98b9-37d9b5835b34MysticsMetaphor in literatureEthnologyMetaphorTantras--Criticism, interpretation, etc.Folklore--India--BengalAnthropology of religionTantric BuddhismMysticismMarginality, SocialMysticism in musicYoga in literatureTantric literatureAsianistsMysticism in literatureSouth Asia--Languages--Transliteration into EnglishCultureHistory in literatureWest Bengal (India)--Social conditionsPoetryHindu philosophy in literatureSouth Asian literatureIndigenous artsLiterature and folkloreSouth AsiaSouth Asian StudiesEnglishHyrax Deposit2023Bhowmik, RAcharya, D<p>My doctoral dissertation aims to study the Tukkhā songs of North Bengal composed by the Rājbaṃśī community in the Rājbaṃśī lect, a living tradition largely unexplored by the academic community in Bengal and beyond. My paper analyses language and practice, combining literary criticism with anthropological research.</p> <p>These songs were influenced by the esoteric devotional traditions such as the Buddhist Sahajayāna, Śaiva, Śākta and Vaiṣṇava traditions of north-eastern India. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in North Bengal (2017-2020) and documented and archived a number of songs (close to one hundred), interviews and audio-visual performances. My work focuses on the oral tradition (songs) and performative art and on the direct connections between the Rājbaṃśī living traditions, rituals and cosmology depicted in Tantric medieval literature.</p> <p>My work explores mysticism and language, politics of an alternative imaginative space, which I examine as an expression of esoteric devotionalism in the context of the socio-historical and religious evolution of the Rājbaṃśī community. I assess the artistic and political implications of this literature through a close assessment of how it is performed in the present day. I have translated a corpus of these songs into English for the first time and majority of these songs have not been published before. These songs have created a powerful medium of their self-assertion of the historical consciousness of the Rājbaṃśī community, which has been subjected to political and cultural marginalization. This community has produced diverse genres of songs including Tukkhā, Bhāwaiyā, Tistābuṛir gān (songs for Tista river), songs for Satya- Pīr and Maynāmatī (related to the Nāth cult in Bengal), which are important documents of the cultural traditions of this community, thematically and historically in terms of content, literary value and performance traditions.</p> <p>My thesis also explores notions of identity, marginality, subjectivity, and constructs a critical history ‘from below’ through the medium of literature of the Rājbaṃśī community. While studying the various metaphors used in the Tukkhā songs, the thesis will try to understand the various strands of heterodox religious ideas that were deeply imbricated in older Tantric traditions and how they were responded to, negotiated with, assimilated, and hybridized. The contours of Tukkhā, as a field and as a living tradition have been refigured and reinvented, while it has engaged with various socio-historical changes in historical, religious and political landscape of North Bengal. The metaphors contained in the songs reveal socio-religious and historical clues about the possible influences on these songs in the absence of substantial secondary sources of literature on the Tukkhā songs. My strategy was to connect the various strands of socio-religious traditions and their influences on the Rājbaṃśī community in constructing a preliminary history of the Tukkhā tradition.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Mystics Metaphor in literature Ethnology Metaphor Tantras--Criticism, interpretation, etc. Folklore--India--Bengal Anthropology of religion Tantric Buddhism Mysticism Marginality, Social Mysticism in music Yoga in literature Tantric literature Asianists Mysticism in literature South Asia--Languages--Transliteration into English Culture History in literature West Bengal (India)--Social conditions Poetry Hindu philosophy in literature South Asian literature Indigenous arts Literature and folklore South Asia South Asian Studies Bhowmik, R Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title | Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title_full | Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title_fullStr | Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title_short | Mystic utterances in Tukkhā songs of the Rājbaṃśīs: poetics, performance, and liberation through the mind-body amalgam |
| title_sort | mystic utterances in tukkha songs of the rajbamsis poetics performance and liberation through the mind body amalgam |
| topic | Mystics Metaphor in literature Ethnology Metaphor Tantras--Criticism, interpretation, etc. Folklore--India--Bengal Anthropology of religion Tantric Buddhism Mysticism Marginality, Social Mysticism in music Yoga in literature Tantric literature Asianists Mysticism in literature South Asia--Languages--Transliteration into English Culture History in literature West Bengal (India)--Social conditions Poetry Hindu philosophy in literature South Asian literature Indigenous arts Literature and folklore South Asia South Asian Studies |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bhowmikr mysticutterancesintukkhasongsoftherajbamsispoeticsperformanceandliberationthroughthemindbodyamalgam |