Call for Book Chapters

Title: Becoming A Human-Animal: Interpretations of the Therianthropes in the Folk Arts of India

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Editor: Thakurdas Jana, Department of English, Bhatter College, Dantan, India

About the Book

More than ten millenniums before the Darwinian argument of relating human beings with other natural organisms, the existence of animals within the human psyche had been experienced by the upper Paleolithic men and visualized in either the San rock arts of Southern Africa or the rock arts explored in the districts of Nawada, Jamui, Nalanda and Gaya of Bihar and Giridih and Kodarma districts of Jharkhand in Eastern India. The Paleolithic practice of imaging therianthropes is also continued at present in the use of animal masks in different ritualistic performances done by the various tribes all over India like the Bison Horn Maria tribe at Bastar in Chattisgarh or the Rajbangshis at Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal. The development of therianthropic gods like Dionysus, Echidna, the Centaur of Greek mythology, the Fauns in Roman mythology, and Narasingha and Ganesha in Indian mythology are archaic to heal the human world from various diseases, and natural catastrophes. The South African archeologist David Lewis-Williams interpreted the emergence of these mythological gods with animal organs as a part of human transformation from a somatic being to a non-somatic being, an altered state of consciousness practiced by the Shamans in the Paleolithic age. This proposed book aims to investigate the archaic imagination of the deities of Hindu mythology and define them not as imaginary gods but as figures of shamans in their altered state of consciousness.

Scope and Themes

The proposed book seeks contributions that explore the following themes, though not limited to them:

• Archaic evolution of therianthropic imagery in Indian folk traditions.
• The cultural and religious symbolism of therianthropes in various communities.
• Comparative studies of therianthropes in the folk arts of various Indian regions.
• Narratives and myths associated with therianthropes in Indian folklore.
• Modern interpretations and adaptations of therianthropic motifs in contemporary folk arts.
• The role of therianthropes in dance, theater, and other performance traditions.
• Pashu Nritya of Odisha
• Puliyattam in Tamil Nadu
• Pulikali in Kerala
• Huli vesha or Pili vesha in Karnataka.
• Keelugurrum dance of Andhra Pradesh
• The Chhau dance of Purulia district, Gambhira of Maldah in West Bengal
• Garudan Thookkam of Kerala
• The Bhotia dance, or ‘dance of the dead’, performed by the Bhotia tribes in Uttarakhand

Important Dates

• Full Chapter Submission Deadline: 30th April, 2025
• Notification of Acceptance: 30th May, 2025

Submission Guidelines

Citation style: Chicago Style Referencing

Word Limit for Each Chapter: 5000-6000 words

Please submit your proposals via email to thakurdas0901@gmail.com

Contact Information

For any questions or further information, please contact:

Thakurdas Jana.

Email ID: thakurdas0901@gmail.com.

WhatsApp: +91-9734162479

Looking forward to your contributions to this exciting and scholarly endeavor!