PWAssignment1

**Dealing with the Demonic: Strategies for Containment in Hindu Iconography and Performance**. By John Emigh. __Asian Theatre Journal__, Spring 1984. pp 21-39. 

 As an associate professor of Theatre Arts at Brown University with a wealth of personal experience traveling to conduct research, John Emigh provides the reader with a framework in which to place the containment of demonic forces in East Indian and Balinese theatre. He presents an overarching idea that Hindu theatre is drastically different from Western theatre in that the purpose is not interpreted as the pitting of “good” against “evil” but to contain, harness, and give play to the forces they contain. //Dealing with the Demonic: Strategies for Containment in Hindu Iconography and Performance// serves as an excellent contribution to the study of Asian performance. Our preconceived notions of good and evil are called into question by the notion of divine yet horrific forces present in this particular art form.

 John Emigh's piece is an exposition that attempts to explain strategies used in Hindu iconography discussed in the order of their understanding to Western civilization. He addresses that often in the Western world we think of good and evil as separate entities to be pitted against each other in an all or nothing struggle for either good or evil. In Asian theatre, the lines are often blurred. In order to emphasize these discrepancies, //kirtimukha// are described elaborately as demonic faces to ward off evil. In Orissa, visages of glory such as Narasimha are used. In Bali the Barong Ket serves the same purpose as the //kirkimukha// of India, used as protective icons in means of a paradox. In the authors words referring to Balinese theatre: “Like the //kirkimukha// icons, The Barong Ket manifests demonic and animalistic qualities in order to defend against the lesser manifestations of these powers” (pg 31).We are introduced to this concept very clearly as being something that is made possible by the use of artistic play. They are even compared to Romanesque church portals and to the gargoyles of Gothic cathedrals.

 As Emigh notes in his collection: “Theatrical and ritual encounters bear a great deal of physic weight in Balinese and Oriyan public life” (pg. 35). Indeed, Emigh’s work deals with two specific purposes in the world of theatrical expression. The first purpose is the presentation of mythological stories mimetically. This includes the actualization of a divine presence metaphorically through mimesis, in forms including //kathakali//, //yakshagana//, and Puralia //chhau// for example. The second purpose of expression in theatre is of a more sensitive and belief-based quality. It is believed that the divine presence themselves enters the body of the actor-priest using a mask as a spiritual conduit.

 In order to emphasize the immense preeminence placed on the theatrical performances discussed, Emigh provides us with in depth descriptions of the processes of performance itself. The process of trance possession is a A form particularly interesting to the author is //Prahlada Nataka//, a theatre form from Baulagaon, Orissa. In this particular form the divine presence is actualized by means of trance possession, while still elaborating upon a theatrical mythological story. An elaborate ceremony known as a //puja// is performed before the performance in order to welcome the spirit to inhabit the mask. This process is understood to be taking place by both the audience and the actors, and is extremely important in heightening belief in both the effectiveness of the mask as a spiritual pathway and the belief in its divinity. We are given vivid insights into the preparation of the mask for the performance and the performance by means of elaborating upon a theatrical mythological story, and it is again enumerated in the author's description of the Rangda and Barong Ket in Bali, Indonesia.

 Although the author seems somewhat unclear on the direct relation Western theatre has to this particular art form and even admits his uncertainty on the schematics of this form of theatre, his credence and accuracy of description make him difficult to be viewed as anything other than a credible and remarkable influence in the world of Asian theatre.