Following Lines of Beauty

This chapter (along with Chapters 1 and 3) introduces the kōlam, a women’s ritual art tradition in Tamil Nadu, and outlines the author’s field research in India. The author found sacred marks not only on the thresholds of homes, businesses, and temples, but also on the foreheads of elephants and on pots and pans. The author relates what she learned from Indian women, a temple singer, a third-gender person, a Muslim student, elephant keepers, an astrologer, and many others. One key person in her research was the choreographer Chandralekha, whose work was deeply influenced by the kōlam. The author learned that men often dismissed the importance of the kōlam. The author recalls that although it was considered unusual for a single woman to travel alone through India as she did, she had only one unnerving encounter, which she describes in detail

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Beauty · Literature · Sociology · Tamil · Visual arts · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Diversity and Impact of Dance · History · South Asian Cinema and Culture