Parampara, Pedagogy and Performance: Reading Spaces in the ‘Dhrupad Gurukul’, Palaspé

This paper intends to further the understanding of how a ‘tradition’ is formed through pedagogy – how ideas of continuity, change and knowledge transfer are addressed during the student’s period of learning in theguru shishya style of teaching that the ‘Bombay Dagars’ practice. This will be accomplished through an ethnographic exploration the nuances of the learning process and the particularities of the relationship that forms between the guru and the shishya. The paper studies the space of the manifestation of this phenomenon – the gurukul at Panvel and the metaphorical community space that forms around the ‘Chembur Dagars’. The idea of a “sacred space” of learning, pedagogy and performance, the articulation of narratives of tradition and the exploration of arts learning as an affective experience is something that this paper looks at. Through a description and analysis of the author’s experiences as a student in this community and also though interactions with other students and performers, the objective of such an education is arrived at. It has implications for the wider notion of art and continuity, and also of arts education in a broadly non formal space.