Project 88 is going to be a converging point for religions today. Two of the India Foundation for the Arts&rsquo; grant winners will be showcasing a duo of eye-opening acts &mdash; an audio-visual presentation on the study of Muharram tradition in West Bengal, and a lecture-demonstration on Surpanakha (Ramayana) through Kathak. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/nov/shurpanakha.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 333px;" /> Ashavari Majumdar performing her dance piece, Surpanakha Epsita Haldar, who has studied Muharram traditions, speaks of how her interest began, &ldquo;Years ago, I was drawn to a story that my father would tell me, the story of the defeat of the righteous, and a thirsty band of soldiers in the desert. Later, I discovered the story in the history of Islam &mdash; the battle of Karbala.&rdquo; She adds that for a section of Muslims, Imam Husayn&rsquo;s martyrdom forms an important part of their identity. The Shias, who are the biggest minorities within the Muslim community, grieve for this young man with passion. The well-known Bangla poet further relates, &ldquo;The community&rsquo;s piety is formed through the acts of listening and performing the sacred texts &mdash; the marsiyas and nohas,&rdquo; as she remarks how after attending many majlises, she found it to be &ldquo;like theatre where expressions and bodily functions during the performance are as important as the actual words.&rdquo; Explaining this unique presentation, she remarks, &ldquo;This is perhaps the first visual documentation of a traditional religious practice.&rdquo; While Halder asserts the Shia tradition, Ashavari Majumdar, who also hails from Kolkata like Halder, subverts Hinduism. &ldquo;I read Paula Richmon&rsquo;s Many Ramayanas &mdash; an anthology of essays on different versions of the Ramayana. With versions where Hanuman is not a celibate Brahmachari but a &lsquo;playboy&rsquo;, Sita is not the powerless female &mdash; I found it amazing that as far as the &lsquo;public&rsquo; is concerned there is only one official version of the Ramayana,&rdquo; says Majumdar While reading Kathleen Erndl&rsquo;s essay, Mutiliation of Surpankha, the sympathetic portrayal struck a chord with her. She is seen &ldquo;as a single woman who roams free in the forest, unprotected by any man &mdash; a rebel almost,&rdquo; which Majumdar takes as the focal point and divided her production into three sections. &ldquo;The first focuses on the brother-sister relationship, the second her relationship with Sita &mdash; a rival but also fellow victim of patriarchy and thirdly, where Surpanakha is a forest dweller, an erotic figure who at the same time is in search of spirituality.&rdquo; ON Today, 7 pm onwards AT Project 88, Colaba. CALL 22810066 / 99

Two talented artists from Kolkata are showcasing presentations on Surpanakha's many facets, and Muharram's never-before documented tradition

Surpanakha in Muharram

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Surpanakha in Muharram

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