Garden and cosmos Opening celebration
Saturday, October 18. 10 am–8 pm
Sunday, October 19. 10 am–5:30 pm
Celebrate the opening of the exhibition Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur with two days of music, dance, storytelling, food, and children’s activities. The semi-desert region of Rajasthan in northern India is home to dynamic traditions of performing arts and oral history. Come experience one of India’s most vibrant regional cultures.
PERFORMANCE
Invocations of Ganesha:
Rupayan and Kalapriya
10:30 am each day
Freer steps and plaza (rain location, Sackler pavilion)
To inaugurate each day’s activities, Rajasthani dancers from the Kalapriya dance company of Chicago join musicians from the Rupayan ensemble of Jodhpur to invoke Ganesha, the diety who removes obstacles to all endeavors.
CONCERT
Music from Rajasthan: Rupayan in Concert
1 pm each day. Meyer Auditorium
Experience the songs and rhythms of Rajasthan with Rupayan, an eight-member ensemble direct from Jodhpur. Members of this ensemble of vocalists, folk fiddle (sarangi), double-flute, and percussion trace their lineages to the professional Langa and Manganiyar castes of Muslim musicians who served the Hindu Rajput courts for centuries.
Free tickets required.
STORYTELLING
Saturday. 3 & 6 pm
Sunday. 1 & 3 pm
Sackler sublevel 1
Who were the guests at Shiva’s wedding? What tricks did Krishna play on the village girls? Listen to storyteller Sushmita Mazumdar, a writer, graphic designer, book artist, and founder of Handmade Storybooks, tell popular tales of Hindu deities and their exploits.
IMAGINASIA FAMILY PROGRAM
Festival of Lights
Saturday. 4–8 pm; Sunday. 1–4 pm
Freer courtyard
Children participate in the festivities by completing activity books,
coloring woodblock prints, and making lanterns.
DEMONSTRATION
Bhajans Devoted to the Great Yogi
4 pm each day. Sackler sublevel 1
Hear the Rupayan ensemble of Jodhpur perform bhajans composed by Maharaja Man Singh (reigned 1803–43), the Indian ruler who commissioned many of the spectacular works in Garden and Cosmos. These
passionate songs praise the immortal ascetics of the hatha yoga tradition.
MUSIC
Songs for Diwali: Rupayan
Saturday. 7 pm. Freer courtyard
As the sun sets on the day’s activities, enjoy songs celebrating Diwali,
the festival of lights, performed by the Rupayan ensemble from Rajasthan.
FOOD
Saturday. 11 am–7 pm; Sunday. 11 am–5 pm
Freer courtyard
The Indian restaurant Nirvana sells specialties of northern India
throughout each day.
All presented material is copyright © Smithsonian Institution, 2008 except where otherwise noted. Above: detail, opening folio of the Nath Purana, courtesy of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust. Comments to Webmaster.
