Early last December, Awaaz, a South Asian publication on campus, organized a launch event for its second issue. The event was unremarkable in some respects—it was attended by about 100 people, enjoyed a few moments on Bwog, and included, like other South Asian-themed events, free samosas and a performance by a prominent South Asian dance group. What was striking about Awaaz’s launch event was, in fact, its content—a small group of actors from the campus drama troupe Nazaara walked onto a makeshift stage in Lerner Party Space and performed, for 40 minutes, a seventh-century Sanskrit comedy called “Bhagavadajjukiyam” (”The Priest and the Prostitute”).
In the play, a bhagavan (“holy man”) exchanges bodies with an ajjuka (“courtesan”), in order to teach his student, Shandilya, a lesson. The holy man thus becomes a courtesan, and the courtesan a holy man, leading to hilarious chaos and confusion. The play is no light farce, however—it ultimately equivocates the two seemingly incompatible lifestyles and compels the audience to reconsider its own expectations and prejudices. Ther …

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