Staging Divine Longing through Disguise: The Theft of the Ring Play in the North Indian Rasa-lila

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the study of disguise in North Indian religious drama performance. The core of the thesis involves the analysis of the theme of (dis)guise in devotional Classical Hindi (Brajabhāṣā) drama called Rāsalīlā, from North India, foregrounding its textual, performative, and theological dimensions. While Rāsalīlā has been studied as a devotional dance-drama rooted in the Vaiṣṇava bhakti movement (devotional movement in the 15th-16th century CE), the specific genre of chadma-līlās (plays of disguise) has not received sustained scholarly attention. This study examines how disguise functions as a dramaturgical device in the Mudariyā Corī Līlā (the Theft of the Ring play) to communicate complex theological concepts within the living performance tradition of North India.