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Bhakti is a crucial concept to understand before engaging in devotional Hindu dance. In many instances, bhakti is often recognizable, since faith, love, and devotion pours from the individual’s heart frequently in thoughts plus actions. Shri Hanumanji undeniably provides a strong, extraordinary example of bhakti. Every thought and action of Hanumanji focuses on devotion for Shri Rama. Also, I point to the goals of devotional Hindu dance in this chapter. It is imperative for devotional Hindu dancers to pay attention to their way of being and interactions before, during, and after the dance. Contemplative dressing is vital as one prepares to dance. Abhinaya develops naturally through bhakti during the dance. Ethical responsibility plays a key role in the life of the dancer after the dance.

I present prerequisites for individuals who wish to be my students. These prerequisites develop from my ongoing self-study that explores pedagogy to teach about Hinduism through Hindu dance. Ekalavya and Guru Dronaacharya, in the historical Mahabharata (Chopra and Chopra, 2001; Dharma, 1999), provide an example of the importance of prerequisites. In addition, I discuss how dance students should prepare to learn Hindu dance, whereas viewers ought to prepare to view Hindu dances. Following this, I relate an introduction to the ethics of Hindu dance based on the Natya Shastra (BharataMuni, 2000) and introduce the language of Hindu dance as conveyed in the Abhinaya Darpanam (Nandikesvar and Apparao, 1997). Dancers may ponder upon developing dance choreography with this basic knowledge of Hindu dance in mind.

Due to the legacy of colonialism, the educational system of Hindu dance moved from the sacred teaching of dance to a Westernized approach. Many Hindu-based dance institutions adhere to a Western educational system that dismisses the sacred ethic of Hindu dance in a manner that disregards the traditional religious-educational system of Hindu dance. Current Hindu-based dance institutions that claim to maintain a tradition of Hindu dance focus on performing for stage commitments that emphasize culture rather than dance for devotional reasons, which was the intended purpose of Hindu dance, based on Hindu dance scriptures. In turn, viewers may perceive the dance as mere cultural entertainment. I consider it necessary to confront this by de-Orientalizing Hindu dance as I dance, especially among Hindus, for this project.

Edward Said pointed to the problem of Orientalism that develops when the West creates a fictitious imagined version of Eastern religion and culture. Said’s notion of Orientalism focuses on the general distorted representation of Eastern religion and culture by the West. Homi Bhabha extends Said’s notion of Orientalism to reveal the tension of the inevitable hybridity between the East and the West. Here, cultural practices develop in the space of hybridity with the intention to promote a feeling of coherence as opposed to with the objective to deform or distort religion and culture. Thus, the intention in a space of hybridity is often not to engage in Orientalism. Instead, the goal is to develop something new in a hybrid form. An opportunity arises in philosophy of education to adequately confront the problem of Orientalism that may develop in a space of hybridity. The author proposes a philosophical postcolonial framework that engages in a creative process that does not further Orientalism but rat...

The theological misappropriation of Christianity as a civilizing force occurs when individuals convert to Christianity due to deception that ignores the faith-based aspect of Christianity. The history of Western education in India illustrates the hidden curriculum that Christian missionaries employed to disrupt the Indian educational system. This unnerving pedagogy points to the need for a postcolonial theoretical framework that relates the inescapable hybridity of religion and culture where Orientalism has the potential to occur. To press the ongoing urgency of this discussion, I convey how the history of British India connects to my lived-reality as an American Hindu. Overall, I point to hybridity as a lived paradox of ambiguous conflict that embraces interfaith relations. I offer implications for Christian missionaries today to foster authentic interfaith connections without engaging in colonizing ideologies.

Homi Bhabha, a postcolonial scholar influenced by the work of Franz Fanon and Edward Said, indicates that identities stimulate a need to negotiate in spaces that result in the remaking of boundaries. There is a call to expose the limitations of the East and the West in an effort to acknowledge the space in-between that interconnects the past traditions and history, with the present and the future. This study applies Homi Bhabha's theory of hybridity to determine whether the term liturgical is appropriate to describe Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance. Presented are the elements of Kuchipudi dance and liturgical dance, and then contemplative dance is discussed as an appropriate medium in the space of hybridity between Kuchipudi dance and liturgical dance.

In the introduction of this project, I explained how my identity positions me in my self-study. I have a purpose in this world as a Hindu who uses Hindu dance to serve as an educator. It is almost as if my body is a vessel that the Supreme Being uses to teach about Hinduism. The Supreme Being gave me a purpose to fulfill as an interconnected part of this world. Once my purpose is fulfilled, I hope to attain moksha (liberation) and merge back to a Supreme Being.

The complexity of the Hindu epics is beyond the neat categories of history or mythology, fact or fiction, philosophy or religion. Yet, Orientalists attempt to rewrite the history of the Hindu epics to meet Western expectations, especially to fit into Western genres of literature, and destroy the religious epistemological framework of Indians, whether these Indians were Hindu or non-Hindu.