The 2004 Indian Cultural Festival gets underway tomorrow in Hsichi's Dream Community, with music, dance, art, handicrafts, lots of authentic Indian cuisine, a puppet show and Kathakali performance. In short, organizers say, it's going to be a complete Indian carnival.
The Indian Music Center and the Wei Gin Yuan Musical Instrument Museum are sponsoring the event and, with the financial backing of the Indian Tourism board, the Indian's Association of Taipei, Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council for Cultural Affairs, no expense has been spared to create a festival that organizers hope will become a major yearly attraction.
"We hope to not only provide an exciting opportunity for people of Taiwan to experience colorful Indian culture, but also to promote the interaction between peoples of the two countries," said Jeffrey Wu of the Taipei Indian Music Center.
Topping a long list of must-sees is a Kathakali performance, India's classical dance drama that employs colorful
costumes and symbolic make-up combined with highly stylized movement, postures and mudra, or expressive gestures, to convey its message. In Kathakali, the actors neither sing nor say lines, but let the Malayalam music narrate stories taken from famous Hindu epics like the Mahabaratha, Ramayana or Bhagavadgita.
Tomorrow's performance is taken from the Bhagavadgita and tells a story of Jayanthan, the son of Lord Indra. The story is set in a time when the three worlds were ruled over by the demon Narakasura, who orders his maid, Nakrathundi, to go capture the damsels of heaven.
On her way back with the captured damsels, Nakrathundi happens upon the young Jayanthan and is smitten with his good looks. She devises a plan to take him as her husband by disguising herself as one of the damsels she's just captured. She appears before Jayanthan and dances for him.
"You must marry me!" Nakrathundi tells Jayanthan.
"Heavenly damsel, I will not marry before my father tells me, so please go away," the filial Jayanthan replies.
As Nakrathundi moves to embrace Jayanthan, he sees through her disguise and chops off her nose and breast.
The moral may have become muddled over the centuries, but the music the story is set to remains wonderful.
If you miss the music, you can at least take a gander at some of the many instruments used to create it in an exhibition at the Core Pacific Living Mall (
At the end of tomorrow's activities there will be a lucky draw for two round-trip tickets to New Delhi sponsored by China Airlines.
Festival activities begin at 11am tomorrow at the Dream Community, located at the intersection of Chungshing Rd and Huchien St. in Hsichi (
A viewer's guide to Kathakali
● An oil lamp is a must in Kathakali performances as it is a devotional drama. The flame represents the presence of the goddess Kali.
● Make-up is an interesting an important part of the drama and is used as a sort of color-coding for the characters:
● Pacha, or green make-up, denotes good, noble or royal characters.
● Black make-up indicates characters that are hunters or demons.
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