Blackburn. Rama Stories and Shadow Puppets

Today's free book is Inside the Drama-House: Rama Stories and Shadow Puppets in South India by Stuart Blackburn (1996); it is available online as part of the University of California Press ebook initiative: link. For the table of contents, check at the bottom of this post below the image.

Table of Contents

An Absent Audience

Rama Stories and Puppet Plays

Ambivalent Accommodations: Bhakti and Folk Hinduism

The Death of Sambukumaran: Kama and Its Defense

Killing Vali: Rama's Confession

Ravana's First Defeat: The Puppeteers' Oral Commentary

The Death of Indrajit: Creating Conversations

Rama's Coronation The Limits of Restoration

Three Samples of the Puppeteers' Commentary in Transliteration

Sample Commentary in Tamil Script

Main Characters in the Puppeteers' Rama Story