Storytelling

from

Hindu myths & folk tales

These stories contain characters battling for good or evil; there are gods and goddesses, kings and queens, demons and deadly monsters, animals with supernatural powers.

The great epics are richly interwoven, containing stories within stories and because India covers such a vast rural area there are many different versions of the same story.

The stories have always served more than one purpose: entertaining but also informing and educating illiterate people in how to live their lives, for their own best development and within a community.  There are lessons which can be learnt, however they are never overtly righteous – the story is the thing, magically capturing our curiosity and imagination through the simplest of the performance arts.

Typical inclusions are:-

·        The Churning of the Ocean - a creation story;

·        escapades about the popular god Krisna, as a cheeky child or an equally mischevious lover;

·        tales from The Ramayana, the kidnap of princess Sita by the demon Ravana and her rescue by prince Rama;

·        how Ganesha got his elephant head; 

·        how the river goddess Ganga came to earth;  

·        how the powerful goddess Durga seated on a tiger defeats the evil despot Mahisasura as he transforms from buffalo into new and more ferocious shapes.

To enhance the telling, Diana uses visual materials such as painted storycloths,  posters or the occasional puppet.

Sessions of up to1hour.  

Adaptations for any age, from nursery to adult.