The migration of a text: the 'Indar Sabha' in print and performance

Abstract

The Indra Sabha appears at a transitional moment in the history of northern India, it was composed in 1853 by Agha Hasan Amanat (1816-1859), a poet attached to the court of Wajid Ali Shah at Lucknow. Wajid Ali Shah was a generous and creative patron of the arts and his reign left a brilliant legacy in the field of dance, song and drama. This study has traced the migration of one dramatic text through different languages , scripts, media and geographical locations. Although the ID is in some sense am exceptional work, there are certainly other pre-modern drams that had at least as long a life and as wide a diaspora, such as Prahlad, Harish Chandra, Laila Majnu.