Folklore, politics, and the state: Kutiyattam theatre and national/global heritage in India

In recent decades, scholars of South Asian folklore have increasingly engaged the politics of folklore, interrogating its role in a number of political agendas, but less has been written about the connection within South Asian folklore studies. This study makes a national and global intervention in the relationship between folklore and the state in South Asia. Through the lens of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre of Kerala state, it considers the role of expressive culture in both internal and external nation-building in postcolonial India. In so doing, the study traces state heritage discourse and practice over a 60-year period, exploring the production and reproduction of the Indian state’s role as arts patron and cultural educator, as well as a sustained state-level promotion of artistic continuity through creative adaptation and change.