They Sing the Wedding of God: An Ethnomusicological Study of the Mahadevji ka byavala as Performed by the Nath-Jogis of Alwar

In Rajasthan, India, a caste of musicians and mendicants, the Nath-Jogis, sing stories of kings who renounce their thrones to become wandering mendicants. They also sing of a god, Mahadeva, Shiva, who must abandon his world--renouncing life and reluctantly marry. In so doing, he establishes the very caste that tells his story. This book represents the first detailed ethnomusicological study of the music of this caste, examining how the existential questions of the sung stories--of the conflict between loyalty to families or communities and the transcending desire to renounce the material world--are articulated in musical performances in which the caste's own ethnography is inscribed. The book discusses the relationship between the performed repertoire and the caste's identity, outlining the contexts of performance and how familiar stories are effectively retold. It offers a transcription, translation and musical and ethnographic analysis of one performance, by Kishori Nath, and shows how the questions the performances project are not merely speculative acts of self-identification but also challenges to audiences to consider their own responses.