“This project, titled Lal̩itam Varn̩n̩am Asuram,” says composer and singer Nakul Krishnamurthy, “undertakes a contemporary reimagination of the tale of Śoorpan̩akha, a mythological figure from Indian epic Ramāyan̩a, who was portrayed as a demoness for her dark skin and lower caste origin, and violently dismembered for professing her love to the upper caste protagonists, Rāma and Laks̩man̩a.”

In his interview with Daniel Spicer in The Wire 446, Krishnamurthy speaks further about the project, which takes the form of a new composition in collaboration with dancer and activist Nrithya Pillai, along with a supporting podcast, and is set to be shown at Glasgow's Counterflows festival in April.

The project is a continuation of Krishnamurthy's experiments in playing with the Carnatic structures in which he is trained. “The music takes three lines from the verse of Kharavadham, a story from musical dance form Kathakal̩i from Kerala, where Śoorpan̩akha professes her love, and the accompanying dance is a portrayal of the scene through the South Indian dance form, Bharathanat̩yam.”

Krishnamurthy interprets the traditional story as being relevant to the situation in India today. “The character of Śoorpan̩akha assumes significance in the current political climate in India”, he says, “where the dominant nationalistic forces impose a hegemonic Brahmanical narrative on the country’s pluralistic history in their effort to subjugate and marginalise dissenting, subaltern voices. Śoorpan̩akha becomes a symbol of resistance against such Brahmanical forces, and by humanising her and reclaiming her voice from the margins, there emerges a space of contestation which celebrates other modes of living that have been condemned to the periphery and gradually erased by Brahmanical patriarchy.”

Read Krishnamurthy's full interview in The Wire 446. Wire subscribers can also access the article via the online archive.