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spokensilence9 's review for:
The Undoing Dance: You Will Be Seduced Completely
by Srividya Natarajan
The Undoing Dance by Srividya Natarajan is a story that is put in the midst of "Devdasi" institution in South India.
Though the book is in a fictional setup, the book does touches topics like anti - nauch moment during British India, and how the Devdasi's who were the temple dancers labelled as prostitutes and how did it all effected the whole profession.
Devdasi's are the Indian classical dancers who were very much respected for their contribution to the temple and their dedication towards the deity. Who are after coming to certain age are married to God of the temple they're a part of, and takes part in procreation, from high ranked priests and other influencers. The sex is merely a part of procreation that needs to be done to continue the devdasi system in the temple but nothing else for them. Sadly, this aspect had effected their whole institution and labelled them as common prostitutes.
Coming to the story, the protagonist kalyani belongs to one such misunderstood profession family who is influenced into marrying a man and later stumbles upon the parts of her past coming her way, each part equally effecting and keep reminding her about her past. Did she revealed her family profession to her husband? Did she went back to dancing? What is it that was haunting her about her past so much? All these questions are answered only when you read this book.
I always had respect for Devdasi's because of their involvement in the freedom struggle, after reading this book, the emotion I have for the whole institution is totally big then respect, it turned into admiration.
Author Srividya Natarajan herself is an Indian classical dancer and this book proves that along with being an excellent, godly aura depicting dancer, she is also an excellent storyteller.
It made me sad that this book is least picked/or not picked at all by the majority of readers, because I feel like this book definitely deserves more exposure for every word, every emotion, every perspective it depicts.
Though the book is in a fictional setup, the book does touches topics like anti - nauch moment during British India, and how the Devdasi's who were the temple dancers labelled as prostitutes and how did it all effected the whole profession.
Devdasi's are the Indian classical dancers who were very much respected for their contribution to the temple and their dedication towards the deity. Who are after coming to certain age are married to God of the temple they're a part of, and takes part in procreation, from high ranked priests and other influencers. The sex is merely a part of procreation that needs to be done to continue the devdasi system in the temple but nothing else for them. Sadly, this aspect had effected their whole institution and labelled them as common prostitutes.
Coming to the story, the protagonist kalyani belongs to one such misunderstood profession family who is influenced into marrying a man and later stumbles upon the parts of her past coming her way, each part equally effecting and keep reminding her about her past. Did she revealed her family profession to her husband? Did she went back to dancing? What is it that was haunting her about her past so much? All these questions are answered only when you read this book.
I always had respect for Devdasi's because of their involvement in the freedom struggle, after reading this book, the emotion I have for the whole institution is totally big then respect, it turned into admiration.
Author Srividya Natarajan herself is an Indian classical dancer and this book proves that along with being an excellent, godly aura depicting dancer, she is also an excellent storyteller.
It made me sad that this book is least picked/or not picked at all by the majority of readers, because I feel like this book definitely deserves more exposure for every word, every emotion, every perspective it depicts.