The Problematic History of Lavani

Sydelle Dsouza

TYBA

Shravan Gurav, https://worldartcommunity.com/items/Tamasha-1/ 

The popular folk dance of Maharashtra, Lavani, is a combination of music and dance which is performed to the dholki drum. The nature of Lavani dance is mostly seen as sensual, but it also deals with religious and social issues. These issues are expressed through songs. Lavani has been divided into many parts. It has two distinct performances, one by ‘Baithakichi Lavani’ and another by ‘Phadachi Lavani’. In Baithakichi Lavani, the Lavani is performed in private chambers between selected crowds. In Phadachi Lavani, the Lavani is performed on stage in public. Women are the main dancers, but sometimes male dancers participate in Lavani. Male dancers are led by the main performer and are called ‘nat’. In this article, I aim to analyze Lavani through the lens of feminist theory and Weber and Gilbert’s theory of social class.

Feminist theory aims to examine inequalities and inequities along the lines of ability, class, gender, race, sex, and sexuality. Feminism has evolved from the analytical study of inequality between the sexes to a more distinct focus on the social and performative constructions of gender and sexuality. When we think about Lavani, we often have images of women singing and dancing while men enjoy the performance. But this is just one part of the folk dance. In many parts of Maharashtra, Lavani flourishes as an art form that is performed by cross-dressing men. In some rural areas of Maharashtra, men frequently perform Lavani, despite the fact that this practice may seem radical and gender-bending in urban spaces. Lavani has few alternatives for sexual emancipation because it is founded on numerous forms of caste and gender dominance. But it provides numerous performers with a place of dignity and freedom. Due to its disputed political and social standing, many groups of individuals are free to appropriate the dancing form. Cross-dressing Lavani entertainers frequently experience homophobia and harassment based on their sexual preferences. The male dancers acknowledge that the play gave them fresh life, but they still had to deal with taboos. They are sometimes mistaken for transgender people or gay males. While performing, they receive utter adoration from the audience, but as soon as they leave the stage, things change. A lot of them still find it difficult to inform their families that they are Lavani dancers. However, they require cash to survive. There is also the happiness and fulfillment they experience as dancers. They are nothing like regular men, but they receive love, adoration, and dignity as Lavani dancers. It's a dizzying sensation. There are also men who want to hang on tightly to their identity as straight male performers, arguing that they are only crossdressers, notwithstanding how radicalized this form claims to be on numerous levels. Several LGBTQ people have expressed their certainty that a performer belonged to their community in the past, but they received no confirmation from the performer. The constant juggling of their identities, which are, in a sense, non-conforming, is a result of their fear of being judged in a heteronormative culture. Liberal feminists believe that men and women should be given equal opportunities. For example, people belonging to the LGBTQ community should be given a safe and non-judgemental platform to express their identity. It’s high time that we learn to accept people for who they are, irrespective of their gender, caste, class, and race.

Dalit art forms will always depict the performers' lives as ones of exploitation and oppression. Lavani appears as a representation of the average person's everyday desires. The Peshwa era is when the majority of the exceedingly sexual Lavani was written. An examination of the erotic Lavani of the time reveals that it was created as a popular form and evolved into one of the ways that women from lower castes constructed their sexuality. In the Lavani, lower caste women's bodies were designed to either pique or satisfy the desires of upper caste males. In order to appropriate the work of women from lower castes through the institution of slavery, this building was essential to the pre-colonial Peshwa Empire. According to Weber, factors such as education and occupational prestige determine class hierarchy. The class structure, according to him, consists of three factors: wealth, prestige, and power. Weber emphasized the importance of owning the means of production, including businesses, but he also pointed out that holding a senior position within a firm or profession may also be used to gain social and economic power. In the same way, the Peshwas, who belonged to the upper caste, had a higher position in society, and so in order to fulfill their desires, they exploited the people of the lower castes, especially the women. 

American sociologist Dennis Gilbert was influenced by Max Weber's theory of class and identified six distinct classes in the country: the capitalist class, upper-middle class, middle class, working class, working poor, and underclass. A social class known as the underclass is made up of people who are unable to escape poverty due to high rates of unemployment, a lack of education, or other types of marginalization like homelessness. People may fall into the underclass if they work in careers that are stigmatized. People belonging to the Dalit castes also fall under the category of the underclass. The majority of Lavani performers were members of the Dalit castes of Bhatu, Kalwat, Kolhati, Mahar, Matangi, and Dombari in Maharashtra. However, the composers were male Lok Shahirs, who were primarily from Maharashtra's upper castes. The majority of the Baithakichi Lavani entertainers were from the Kolhati caste, whose livelihood was dance and entertainment. Due to the caste system of the Brahmanical order, the daughters in these societies were required to support their families only through sexual encounters and entertainment. In reality, the Brahmanical caste concept divided sexual labor in addition to ordering a division of work. 

The old touring groups of Lavani dancers and the theatre troupes were on either side of the Sangeet baris. These were made up of women who were still fighting to maintain their sole source of income. They were in charge of both their lifestyle and their finances. But because of the negative effects of the Peshwa monarchy and contemporary culture, these dancers were reduced to nothing more than gaudy prostitutes. The whole caste issue complicates the debate on respectability as a lens through which we interpret the creative form. Ambedkar urged his followers to abandon all their antiquated customs, including traditional caste work like Lavani, which was viewed as vulgar, demeaning to female performers, and at odds with the idea of development. The Dalit discourse connected this caste-based performance to the denial of respectable work to the Dalits by situating it in the history of Brahmanical sexual exploitation. Dalit feminists’ claim that this labor facilitates easy access to Dalit women's bodies through the labor that they are forced to undertake but do not want to do.

A sanitized interpretation of the dance gave rise to the contemporary Lavani that you see on TV. However, the varieties of Lavani performed on these channels typically include well-known music written for Marathi and Hindi films. Lavani may have received significant attention through reality dance shows on Marathi and Hindi networks. These are preferred over Lavani's ancient compositions, giving the art form a new aesthetic.

 

References

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Kadapa-Bose, S. (2019). Lavani: The return of cross-dressed male dancers. Thehindu.com. Retrieved 22 September 2022, from https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/dance/lavani-the-return-of-cross-dressed-male-dancers/article30048825.ece. 

Kulkarni, D. (2019). A few cross-dressing male dancers are changing the way lavani is perceived in urban Maharashtra. Scroll.in. Retrieved 22 September 2022, from https://scroll.in/magazine/910229/a-few-cross-dressing-male-dancers-are-changing-the-way-lavani-is-perceived-in-urban-maharashtra. 

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