Indian Artistic Communities and Trance Practices:Local Traditions of Gujarat, Assam and Kerala
The paper provides a comprehensive comparative cultural and anthropological study of Indian artistic communities - dynasties of musicians, dancers, actors, performers of epic legends playing ritual drama, martial arts masters. A peculiar common Indian feature is the combination of three factors in their activity: artistic skills passed during regular training; religious service (most artistic activities are in one way or another devoted to certain cults and/or turn out to be part of ceremonies) and skills of controlled trance, specific psychophysical states, which in this case include on-stage reincarnation and the ability to impact spectators. The ethnographic material obtained during the expedition helps to trace the social and psychological features of some dynasties of artistic communities.