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Ryzhakova S. Sevā vs Tālīm: Students’ Domestic Service in the Music and Dance Traditions of India

Svetlana Ryzhakova
Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-8707-3231
E-mail: SRyzhakova@gmail.com

 

Download  |  Go to Issue #2. 2021

 

ABSTRACT. The practice of using students as domestic servants, who do the daily chores and serve the teacher and his family members, has long been widespread in India. The devotion of Indian students to their teachers is well known and is due to socio-religious norms, on the one hand, and general daily practices and the very atmosphere of different traditional educational institutions, on the other. At the same time, domestic and bodily services were often among the inevitable circumstances of learning. This article analyzes the custom of performing various kinds of service (sevā in Sanskrit) in exchange or in gratitude for learning (tālīm, an Urdu word derived from Arabic through Persian). The study examines motivations, techniques, and results of such services, as well as contradictions and problems that have become particularly aggravated today in connection with the global #metoo movement, which is gaining popularity and attracting increasing numbers of participants.

 

KEYWORDS: sevā, tālīm, service, teacher, student, artistic traditions, India

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2021-2(12)-161-174
УДК 392(540)

 

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