“How can anyone laugh who knows of old age, disease, and death?” —Buddhacarita
This question, so solemnly posed by the young Buddha, first led Lee Siegel to examine the hitherto unexplored realm of Indian comedy. Laughing Matters is Siegel’s account of two intersecting journeys: a search for comic traditions created and preserved in Sanskrit literature and a journey through modern India in quest of a laughter that persists across time and culture.
Hearing a boisterous and bawdy voice from India’s past, Siegel has provided original and highly entertaining translations of Sanskrit literature that reveal a sparkling sensibility embedded in the texts. These translations are integrated with a detailed analysis of the types and structures of India’s mirth. Siegel develops an original theory of comedy and laughter, applying it to reveal the humor in the ancient works. Defining sacred and profane comedy and the “taste” and “erotics” of laughter, he delineates two main Indian categories of comedy—laughter at others and laughter at oneself—which are roughly parallel to the Western traditions of satire and humor. He examines these categories in all of their forms and functions: satires of manners, social satire, and religious satire; and human and divine comedy. Siegel concludes by presenting his perceptions of humor in modern India as seen through cartoons, movies, books, and social gatherings.
Laughing Matters is both a serious and a hilarious study of the Indian comic sense of life—a vision formed in the convergence of the bitter insight of satire and the sweet outlook of humor. Past and present, the contextual and the universal, scholarship and the picaresque, are all interwoven in this original treatise on the aesthetics of comedy and the psychology of laughter.
Lee Siegel is professor of religion at the University of Hawaii. He is the author of Vivisections, Sacred and Profane Love in Indian Traditions, and Fires of Love/ Waters of Peace.
Author(s): Lee Siegel
Edition: 1
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 1989
Language: English
Commentary: scantailor+ocr+toc
Pages: 528
City: Delhi
Tags: indian humor;hindu culture
Laughing Matters
Contents
Preface to the Indian Edition
Preface
Acknowledgements
Prologue
1. The Laughter of Ganesa The Comic Tradition in Ancient India: The Aesthetics of Comedy and a Psychology of Laughter
The Brink of Laughter: Comedy Sacred and Profane
The Taste of Laughter: Defining Comedy
The Erotics of Laughter: Degradation and Unmasking
The Causes of Laughter: Improprieties and Incongruities
The Rhetoric of Laughter: The Dynamics of Wit
The Degrees of Laughter: Misery and Mirth
The Acts of Laughter: Satire and Humor
Act One: Satire
2. The Laughter of the Sons of Bharata The Forms and Functions of Satire: Idealization and Degradation
The Overflowing Plate: The Forms of Satire
The Ass in Tiger’s Skin: The Objects of Satire
Something Fishy: The Laughter of Satire
Friends in a Corner: The Functions of Satire
F—ing Funny: The Vulgarity of Satire
The Age of Dullness: The Cosmology of Satire
The City of Dreadful Night: The Setting of Satire
The Triumph of Laughter: The Origins of Satire
The Frog Upanisad: The Persistence of Satire
3. The Laughter of Kali Satire of Manners: Affectation and the Degradation of Love
The Travesty of Love: The Sublime and the Ridiculous
The Mother of Harlots: Comic Kali
The Daughter of Joy: Women in Love
The Wife of Bhatt: Adultery
Pater Familias: Cuckoldry
Sons and Lovers: Men About Town
4. The Laughter of the Child Social Satire: Corruption and the Degradation of Righteousness
The Satiric Scepter: The Corruption of Kings
The Satiric Gavel: The Jobbery of Judges
The Satiric Account: Crooked Comptrollers
The Satiric Sword: Jittery Generals
The Satiric Scalpel: The Deceptions of Doctors
The Satiric Doodlebug: Astrologers Astray
5. The Laughter of Kama Religious Satire: Hypocrisy and the Degradation of Piety
Within the Whited Sepulchre: Religion and Hypocrisy
Behind the Holy Thread: Bathetic Brahmins
Under the Ochre Robe: Buddhist Bunko
Beneath the Saintly Nakedness: Jaded Jains
Beyond the Hallowed Ashes: Yogic Yahoos
Act Two: Humor - Scene One: The Human Comedy
6. The Laughter of the Weaver - The Fool: The Wisdom of Folly
What’s so Funny: The Foolish Fool
The Joke’s on You: The Wise and Holy Fool
Feeling No Pain: The Drunken Fool
Monkeyshines: The Allegorical Fool
A Scholars’ Conference: The Theatrical Fool
7. The Laughter of the Jackal - The Trickster: The Righteousness of Roguery
A Game of Tug-of-War: The Divine Trickster
A Game of Pachisi: The Royal Trickster
A Game of Chance: The Plebeian Trickster
A Game of Hide-and-Seek: The Animal Trickster
Act Two: Humor - Scene Two: The Divine Comedy
8. The Laughter of Krsna - The Preserver: The Seriousness of Humor
Peek-a-Boo Baby Krsna: Humor and Regression
Childish Things: Humor and Play
Benny Hill in Vrndavan: Humor and Sex
Blueboy and Pinkey: Humor and Love
Hare Krsna: Humor and Devotion
Dying of Laughter: Humor and Liberation
9. The Laughter of Siva - The Destroyer: The Ambiguity of Truth
Risus Populi Risus Dei: The Ambiguities of Holiness
Charades: The Ambiguities of Language
His and Hers: The Ambiguities of Sex
Funny Bones: The Ambiguities of Death
Black and White and Read All Over: The Ambiguities of Comedy
Epilogue
10. The Laughter of Kumara - The Comic Tradition in Modern India: In Search of Laughter
To Get to the Other Side: Finding the Field
Funny Business: Finding Texts
Life of the Party: Finding Methods
Cartoons: Finding Sources
Circus Acts: Finding Directions
Abhinava Rides Again: Finding Theory
Mad Laughter: Finding Out
Bright and Gay: Finding the Guru
The Last Laugh: Finding the Way
Bibliographic Essay
Bibliography of Indian Texts Cited
Illustration Citations
Index of Indian Texts and Authors Cited
Subject Index
Errata
