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Accepted Paper:

The Courtesan's life as Art in the Viralivitututu, an 18th-century Tamil literary genre  
Indira Peterson (Mount Holyoke College)

Paper short abstract:

The 18th-century Tamil Viralivitututu genre counters the stereotype of dasi courtesans as avaricious prostitutes or spiritualized figures. Through its unique descriptive language and themes, and the courtesan’s pairing with the brahman as connoisseur, the genre celebrates the courtesan as artist, and her lifestyle (in the erotic and the performing arts) as art.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the Viralivitututu (VVT), 'Message sent through the virali singer', a Tamil poetic genre of the 18th- 19th centuries. I argue that the VVT offers important perspectives that counter the dichotomous stereotype of dasi (aka devadasi) courtesan performers as money-grubbing prostitutes or spiritualized figures. The brahman protagonist, a master of multiple arts, narrates to a virali his infatuation with a beautiful courtesan, and his financial ruin, asking the virali to plead his case with his wife. Despite the narrative of ruination, the VVT's portrayal of courtesans, who both danced at temples and entertained elite clients at their establishments, contrasts both with the depiction of courtesans as women of the court in other genres, and with the ambivalence and moral critique that fuelled later Tamil portrayals. The VVT celebrates the dasi as autonomous artist, and her lifestyle, encompassing both the erotic and the performing arts, itself as a high form of art. This portrait is achieved by pairing her not with the king, but with the skilled brahman as the ultimate connoisseur. Vivid, specific and localizing in ways that are particular to Tamil literature, the VVT's unique descriptions, language, and style serve as verbal images of the courtesan's artistry, and of the process of seduction itself.

Panel P29
Courtesans in South India: towards a revisionist cultural history
  Session 1