The Phallus and the Fire: Theatre Anthropology of Danda Nata

Contents: 1. Danda Nata: Toward Theatre Anthropology. 2. Danda Nata: Its Origin and History. 3. The Performative Rituals of Danda Nata. 4. Danda Nata: Ritual as Performance and Performance as Rituals. 5. The Mode of Performance in Danda Nata. 6. Danda Nata: It's Relevance to Contemporary Modes of Playwriting. 7. Danda Theatre Style and its Application in Contemporary Playwriting.

This is the first book published in India on theatre anthropology.  The book surveys the mode of performance and rituals of Danda Nata, a shamanistic theatre form of Odisha that originated in the 10th century B.C. on the basin of river Suktimati.  The study is multi-disciplinary and it touches the tangents of Saivite metaphysics, Nathism, Buddhism and Jainism alongwith archetypal psychology, symbolic ritology and postmodern performative elements of theatre discernible in this primitive theatre form.