Bhakti Sangit: The Art of Music in Vaishnava Tradition: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The significance of the performing arts for the study of Hindu religion has been emphasized in recent scholarship that counters the traditional emphasis on texts. For example, Vasudha Narayanan has issued the following recommendation: “The performers of music and dance, the transmitters of the religious traditions, speak for Hinduism. We should listen to them.”1 Susan L. Schwartz also stated that, “So central has the religious context been to understanding and achieving the goals of performance that it is possible to study the religions of India through her performing arts. The forms performance takes and the ways it is studied, learned, and experienced reveal ways in which religion may be understood in India.”