• Devi Girish Chandra

This paper ‘reads’ Gollakalāpam and its practise as ‘social text’. The effect of power relations - exclusion, inclusion and marginalisation against women in the society was also mirrored in performing arts tradition. This in turn moulded and structured the art forms to illustrate the way these aspects construct, devise and provide insights into the performances as ‘social texts’. Gollakalāpam is a text of resistance that questions the gender issues, caste-class hierarchies and elevates the suppressed castes as well as women. It appears to have evolved as the result of a popular response to the social problems of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The thrust of Gollakalāpam as a social protest and satire is to serve as the voice of women, through which they attempt to eradicate the discrimination based on class, caste and gender. As performance, Gollakalāpam provides a space for the lower castes and women to raise their voice against the social discrimination. The gender issues and power politics of the privileged class can be clearly perceived in the appropriation and suppression of the social frustration of the lower castes through the performance of the dance and also in its text. The other major issue the text addresses is the gender inequality that is prevailing in the society. It takes an important turn where the text substantiate a rebellious Gollabhāma and the performance portrays female impersonification of Gollabhāma (the role was enacted by men in women attire). Even when Gollakalāpamis said to have reflected problems faced by women, the submissiveness being the nature of women is portrayed throughout the text. In the graph of the text, one could notice sudden change in Gollabhāma’s attitude from rebellious to polite. At the end, the text as well as the performance graph portrays a sudden change in Gollabhāma’s attitude from rebellious to polite. Also, one can perceive the appropriation of divinity in both text and performance where concluding statement asserts that the golla community is the one which traces the lineage of Lord Krishna.

• Gollakalāpam • Gender issues • Divinity • Power politics • Appropriation • Performance

"“Re - imagining Gollabhama as a woman of resistance” ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 8, page no.1521-1530, August-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2008196.pdf

"“Re - imagining Gollabhama as a woman of resistance” ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 8, page no. pp1521-1530, August-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2008196.pdf