South Asia in the spotlight

Early last December, Awaaz, a South Asian publication on campus, organized a launch event for its second issue. The event was unremarkable in some respects—it was attended by about 100 people, enjoyed a few moments on Bwog, and included, like other South Asian-themed events, free samosas and a performance by a prominent South Asian dance group. What was striking about Awaaz’s launch event was, in fact, its content—a small group of actors from the campus drama troupe Nazaara walked onto a makeshift stage in Lerner Party Space and performed, for 40 minutes, a seventh-century Sanskrit comedy called “Bhagavadajjukiyam” (”The Priest and the Prostitute”).

In the play, a bhagavan (“holy man”) exchanges bodies with an ajjuka (“courtesan”), in order to teach his student, Shandilya, a lesson. The holy man thus becomes a courtesan, and the courtesan a holy man, leading to hilarious chaos and confusion. The play is no light farce, however—it ultimately equivocates the two seemingly incompatible lifestyles and compels the audience to reconsider its own expectations and prejudices. There is plenty of intellectual fodder here for students of religion, literature, philosophy, the history of ideas, and anyone interested in South Asian culture. With so few groups currently offering this type of intellectual engagement, a group like Nazaara, Columbia’s only South Asian drama troupe, plays a vital role in campus life.

Awaaz’s event, produced once a semester and also called Nazaara (meaning “viewpoint” in Hindi and Urdu), not only increases awareness of South Asian theater, but also provides a rare opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of South Asian culture. While every Columbia student learns about Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, Nazaara members provide students with a platform to witness and to participate in the rich tradition of South Asian theater—from well-known works like Kalidasa’s “Shakuntala” to the many excellent plays, ancient and modern, that receive no mention in history textbooks. Columbia students are uniquely equipped to appreciate these plays through comparison with their Western counterparts—and for the literary and entertainment value of the plays themselves.

For the team of actors and crew, Nazaara offers an immersive and instructive experience, through the performance and presentation of a South Asian play. In comparison to Greek drama, where scholars must speculate on many aspects of performance, South Asians left excellent accounts—the “Natya Shastra,” for example—of the performance and theory of theater. By engaging in this tradition and situating it in a modern performance setting, Nazaara’s actors and crew develop a deeper understanding of the play and the culture surrounding it. Ideally, ideas cultivated in a Nazaara play could influence the production of a wide array of performances on campus, including dance and music events. For example, a nuanced understanding of rasa (“the essence of an emotional state”) could increase the appreciation of not only South Asian theater and literature, but also popular art forms like Bollywood films and music.

Few, if any, groups on campus focus on the theater of a single culture in the way Nazaara does. However, Nazaara’s aims are consistent with general trends among South Asian groups at Columbia. Over the last years, these groups have dramatically increased their level of interaction with the Columbia student body. CU Bhangra now offers free dance classes to any student interested, no experience required. The Hindu Students Organization hosts lively discussions on Hindu religion and culture. Moreover, South Asian groups are increasingly willing to engage in conversation regarding pressing political and social issues, and Awaaz has played a vital role in promoting original dialogue on campus. Nazaara offers a forum for Columbia students of a myriad of backgrounds, to interact and engage with each other through the universal medium of drama.

This semester, Nazaara will present a performance of Vijay Tendulkar’s “Kanyadaan,” a modern play drastically different from last semester’s comedy. Tendulkar, whose writing career spanned British rule and independence, and bore witness to the abolition of the caste system as well as India’s rapid modernization, has been one of the country’s strongest voices. “Kanyadaan” (literally, the “giving away of a daughter”) tells the story of a politically progressive Brahmin family in India, whose daughter Jyoti wishes to marry a Dalit (“untouchable”). The play contributes directly to Nazaara’s twin goals—it raises awareness about the sheer diversity of South Asian theater, while compelling its audience to ponder difficult questions about culture and caste in South Asia.

Columbia students have long demonstrated that they are interested in gaining access to the primary texts and materials of non-Western cultures. In the years to come, Nazaara will serve this interest by producing compelling South Asian dramas on ideas and issues that matter, both to South Asian students and to the Columbia community at large.

Abhijit Najaraj is the president of Awaaz and a Columbia College senior majoring in classics. Mansi Mehta is the secretary of Awaaz and a Barnard College junior majoring in English.