Performing Bodies and Physical Cultures

The ‘circus kalaris’ were established in north Malabar during the beginning of the twentieth century where a ‘new’ and ‘modern’ physical culture was shaped. It was undoubtedly a radical refashioning of a space, of kalaripayatt, that emerged out of the caste system and was sanctioned by its tradition. Circus kalaris were training centres where women and men from different communities got trained and went on to become renowned artistes. The chapter tries to look at how the ‘traditional’ physical cultures and the European acrobatic practices have been important in the making of an acrobatic culture of Indian circus. This chapter also looks into the influences of different indigenous medicinal systems such as Ayurveda and dietary practices.

Coda

This chapter discusses the 2011 Supreme Court ban on children and adolescent youth under eighteen from performing in Indian circus, and its aftermath. It also examines the various attempts within the community and government institutions to establish circus training centres at various points of time, as well as the idea of the ‘new circus’, which has been gaining popularity in the West over the last few decades.

Circus Workers and Trade Unions

Circus has always figured in the common sense as a place of extreme exploitation with dangerous working conditions, wretched living conditions, miserable wages, irregular working hours, physical and mental harassments, and insecure employment and life. But, strangely, if we look at the history of trade unions in India we would hardly find a circus workers’ union. This chapter talks about the Akhil Bharat Circus Karmachari Sangh organized under the Communist Party in late 1960s, which succeeded to an extent to establish a workers’ circus—owned, worked, and managed by the workers. The chapter also discusses the emergence of the only existing circus workers’ union in India now, the Indian Circus Employees Union, under the tutelage of Indian National Congress.

Introduction

Circus in the subcontinent is embedded with the arrival of the modern and the recasting of body and its caste and gender structures; new trans-cultural and transnational spaces that emerged with this itinerant entertainment; technologies of the tent; and the acquisition, taming, and training of animals whose past is deeply implicated in the history of hunting, wildlife management, and forest policies of the colonial and post-colonial states in India. Subcontinental regions such as Kerala and Maharashtra have rich histories of circus acrobatics and animal training that span over a century. However, autobiographies, personal histories, and memoirs are very rare. While looking at the history of Indian circus, the major challenge is the lack of archival sources, both public and private. Memories and memorabilia of the circus community have been rich sources for the author. The book explores some key moments and aspects in the different spaces of the circus in this part of the world, spanning over a hundred years.

Tenting the Circus

The itinerant character of the circus is best exemplified by tents. All life and work in the circus happens in and around various tents. The disasters related to circus also inevitably bring in the imagery of tents. In a sense, they have the twin facets of the carnivalesque as well as the dangerous. This chapter looks at the circus tent’s spatial economies and shifting technologies over the decades. Tents have been ubiquitous from the nineteenth century and were indispensable for a colonial state that was desperate to spread its tentacles.

Animals, Circus, and the State

Wild animals have always been an indispensable part of circus around the world. This chapter traces their trajectory from the ‘wild’ to the ‘submissive’. It also discusses in detail the attitudes of the colonial and post-colonial states towards animals in general and the changes over the period in relation to circus animals. This section examines such statist double standards focusing at the ban of wild animals in Indian circus by the environment ministry, which proved to be fatal to both circus people and the animals. This chapter also explores how the present ‘conservation’ ideas excludes and thus jeopardizes certain historical practices of animal taming, training, and performance.