Weaving together history, literature, ethnography, and ethnomusicology, Davesh Soneji's impressive work, Unfinished Gestures, showcases the heterogeneity, hybridity, and ingenue of India's devadasi artists in the colonial period and beyond.
This book examines the colonial and postcolonial history of devadasis—creative and often contentious figures who have worked as temple dancers, courtesans, entertainers, and key participants in social rituals, political campaigns, and diplomatic events in South Asia. Soneji diverges from the traditional scholarly preoccupation with devadasi temple performance, turning instead to the colonial Tanjore courts and urban salons of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Chennai to explore the diverse lives, performance aesthetics, and performance genres of these artists. Devadasis inhabited innovative, cosmopolitan, and secular frameworks of performance, cultivating hybrid embodied aesthetics and linguistic and lyrical interpretation as a part of their evolving art. Soneji chronicles the rise of moral discourses and “reform” programs focused on these women, leading to the...
