RESOURCES FILM REVIEWS

well. The demonstration of information on the camel popu- Brazilian capoeira, which was Tales of Pabuji lation and defenses of Lanka part of the Durham exhibition, A Rajasthani Tradition and on its demon king, Ravana. seems somewhat out of place With Harmal’s information here. All in all, this video PRODUCED BY BHOPO PRODUCTIONS Pabuji defeats and kills Ravana should be useful for middle DISTRIBUTED BY FILMAKERS LIBRARY and brings the Lankan camels school, high school, and col- 124 EAST 40TH STREET home, a promised wedding NEW YORK, NY 10016 lege-level classes, because in PHONE: 212-808-4980 gift to his half-sister, Kelam. addition to showing exciting In “The Marriage of Pabuji” fighting sequences, it does give 1996 the hero attempts to avoid mar- 33 MINUTES. COLOR the viewer some idea of what riage and then escapes the the martial arts are all about. n marriage ceremony to keep his promise to protect the livestock of the goddess Deval. In the REFERENCES hose searching for final segment, “The Great Nicol, C. W. Moving Zen: Karate cultural connections Battle,” the wounded Pabuji and As a Way to Gentleness (New York: through art and litera- his mare are carried away in a Quill, 1982). T Reid, Howard and Michael Crouch- ture, especially teachers of magic palanquin. er. The Way of the Warrior: The world studies and Asian studies Framing each of the Paradox of the Martial Arts (Wood- classes, will welcome this short Pabuji segments, the video sum- stock, New York: The Overlook Press, 1995). but rich exploration of the marizes the ritual performance Rajasthan oral epic of Pabuji. of the bhopo, an itinerant priest The tales, not widely known who chants the epic in a night- beyond rural Rajasthan, are long session before his par, a based on an actual medieval cloth painting about fifteen feet TIMOTHY A. ROSS has been a Rajput prince, a younger son of long and four to five feet wide member of the Department of a younger son in what was to which functions as visual aid History faculty at Arkansas State University since 1965. He teach- become the ruling line of Jodh- and portable temple. Superim- es East Asian and world history pur. Throughout Rajasthan he posing puppet-like animation courses. His translations of two is seen as a Robin Hood-type Courtesy of Filmakers Library onto the traditional stylized novels by Chiang Kuei (1908– 1980), The Whirlwind and Rival hero born in the remote desert images on the par and onto Suns appeared, respectively, in village of Kohu. Although not son of Dhadal Rathor and a footage of contemporary village 1977 and 1999. accepted as a deity by higher- nymph he convinces to be his life, the video narrates the caste Hindus, Pabuji is widely wife after he steals her clothing epic while at the same time worshipped as a divine incar- while she bathes. She agrees to introducing and explaining the nation and patron protector of the marriage on the condition bhopo performance tradition. livestock and camel drivers that he will never enter her Expository segments provide a among herdsmen and others of chamber without her permis- glimpse of how contemporary rural Rajasthan. Sadly, this sion. When Dhadal eventually par are painted. Background important background informa- breaks his promise, he finds and narrative segments are set tion is barely hinted at on the their son, two-year old Pabuji, to traditional Rajasthani music video case. nursing a tigress. The tigress/ of the ravanhattho or spike- The narrator of Tales of nymph disappears after promis- fiddle, an essential part of the Pabuji mentions that the Pabuji ing her son to return as a mare, bhopo performance. epic has twelve books. Teach- complete with a tiger skin sad- Without considerable class- ers attempting to relate this epic dle, when he is twelve years room preparation, the video’s to the traditional form for epics old. In “How Pabuji Took rich and comprehensive approach of the West like The Odyssey Kesar Kalami” she keeps her may confuse viewers. For exam- Copyright-free illustration from the Treasury then discover that the video promise. ple, unless teachers have prepared of Japanese Designs & Motifs for Artists divides the narrative into five “How Harmal Went to themselves and their students for & Craftsmen Dover Publications, Inc. segments. “The Birth of Pabuji” Lanka” traces the journey of a discussion of ancient medicine, explains Pabuji’s birth as the one of Pabuji’s men to collect the use of opium by Pabuji’s

75 RESOURCES FILM REVIEWS

heroic companion Dhebo raises of footage from actual perfor- difficult classroom issues. Stu- mances and village life in A Voice of Her Own dents will also need to be Rajasthan will need to be Women and Economic informed about the tradition of explained separately from the heroic disembowelment. The narrative thread of the six hun- Change in Asia video does not explain compar- dred-year-old story. Without ative folklore traditions into source material to sort out geo- PRODUCED BY THE INFORMATION OFFICE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK which some of the actions of the graphical locations, names of 6ADB AVENUE hero fit, such as the exchange of characters, and cultural expecta- MANDALUYONG, METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES weapons in the final battle, and tions, students with some back- PHONE: 1-632-632-5898 only references or omits en- ground may tangle anything FAX: 1-632-636-2647 tirely many of the Pabuji tales, they know about religious DIRECTED BY ANDREA KALIN including the post-apocalyptic beliefs, especially concerning PRODUCER: MATTHEW WESTFALL final segment. Despite the Rama, Indian visual arts and DISTRIBUTED BY SPARKS MEDIA PRODUCTION issues raised by sati and blood Indian music, into the Pabuji 1997, 23 MINUTES. COLOR revenge, students will want epic. Students with no back- to know what happens after ground preparation may come Pabuji leaves the scene. away more confused than Background information enlightened. here do women fit organizations, the video paints for classroom use can be At the end of the video stu- into the pattern of a picture of growing awareness extracted from John Smith’s dents are asked to speculate on W rapid economic and limited progress in literacy comprehensive text, The Epic of what will happen as television change in Southeast Asia, and employment opportunities. Pabuji: A Study, Transcription becomes more common in rural where traditional values, illiter- The video opens with a and Translation (Cambridge India. Whatever the answer, the acy and enormous poverty collage of images depicting University Press, 1991). Smith filmmaker’s claim that this weigh heavily against new the dramatic societal and eco- provides information and video offers a rare chance to prosperity and increased oppor- nomic contrasts one sees in instructions on how to down- “catch history by the tale” as tunity? What share of the pro- these countries. The segment load the complete text of the this art form disappears over the ceeds do women receive in this on Cambodia begins with the epic at: http://www.bombay. edge of time is true. n region where they have been stark reminder that this nation oriental.cam.ac.uk/index.html. called “the speechless ones” is host to 8–10 million land- Information on the tradi- and where “ . . . poverty wears mines which claim over 300 tion of cloth paintings to which a woman’s face”? lives a month, and is clearly the par belongs and examples of NANCY TRAUBITZ conducts staff Educators should welcome still hampered by the dark development courses for Mont- such scroll paintings are at the gomery County Public Schools in this short film produced by the shadow of the Khmer Rouge pichwals Web site: http://www. Maryland and develops curriculum Asian Development Bank legacy. As the narrator elo- rajasthanweb.com/painting/pich for MARJiS (Mid-Atlantic Region which profiles the challenges quently observes, “The people Japan in the Schools) at the Uni- wais.html. versity of Maryland. She has par- and changes facing women are in passage from pain to Maps of Asia to help place ticipated in Fulbright Summer in three Southeast Asian memory.” With many young Pabuji geographically and his- Seminars in India and China. Her nations—Cambodia, the Philip- men dead, and institutions and most recent publication is a study torically related instructional of the uses of autobiography and pines, and Bangladesh. Since the intellectual community materials and model lessons are autobiographical fiction in Hidden filmmakers have been more decimated by the atrocities at the Asia Society’s Asian Messages: Instructional Materials for attentive to societies in East of the Khmer Rouge, Cambo- Investigating Culture, Barbara Education Resource Center K- Finkelstein and Elizabeth R. Eder, Asia, documentary footage on dian women carry the burden 12 Web site: http://www.ask eds. (Yarmouth, MA: Intercultural the role of women in Southeast of restoring their country. asia.org. Press, 1998). Asia is a welcome addition And reconstruction is just The epic of Pabuji and the to the educational archives. beginning. performance tradition of the The short eight-minute clips on Over half of the house- bhopo will interest teachers of each country highlight major holds are headed by women, literature, social studies, music, economic and social issues. most of whom cannot read or art and theater. However, for Through interviews with write. Telling words come most students the animation women in government, acade- from an illiterate woman early techniques juxtaposed with bits mia, business and self-help in the film. “If you don’t have

76 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999