Inchoate in Kota? Contesting Authority through a North Indian Pageant‐Play

Through an examination of a disputed north Indian pageant‐play, I show how subversive activity can transform existing structures of power while always remaining culturally informed. Thus the power of a hegemony does not lie in its ability to define a consciousness within the boundaries of which all resistance takes place. Rather, a particular dominant structure defines a center from which contestation develops. It defines a point of departure for resistance, not the extent of its universe. [hegemony, resistance, heteroglossia, Hindu nationalism, Ramlila, north India]