To the lamenters

[Prof P Kumar]

>
>Ah, "marketing the mystic East!" Perhaps these two would be so kind as to
>donate some amount of their record profits to South Asian language and
>civilization departments. Speaking of American musicians in India, I heard
>that our beloved Masala Mlecchas, the Spice Girls, want to throw a concert
>at Khajuraho.
>
>Regards,
>Anshuman Pandey

Speaking of the Spice Girls show at Khajuraho-- there has been a serious
objection made from the mainline Arti critics in India, not to mention the
religious leaders and others. Perhaps can we discuss the ramifications of
such criticism for academic study on the one hand and the public or lay
perception (mainly religious perception) on the other. The question that we
could raise is, is Khajuraho a religious centre or is it an art exhibit?
Does any one religious community have a "sole mandate" on it, or does it
belong to Indian art. A corrolary question is are Spice Girls doing art? Or
are they commercial entertainers? In other words, are Spice Girls claim the
space of Khajuraho as artists in  traditional sense or are they simply
using it for commercial promotion?

Any thoughts!!!

Pratap

Prof. P. Kumar (Head of Dept)
Department of Science of Religion
University of Durban-Westivlle
Private BagX54001
Durban
4000
South Africa
Tel: 027-31-204-4539 (work)
Fax: 027-31-204-4160 (work)
Email: kumar at pixie.udw.ac.za

Director of the 18th Quinquennial Congress of the IAHR Durban- August 5-12 2000
For more info on the Congress please see:
http://www.udw.ac.za/iahr