Dandaka – Vasantha Yogananthan

Dandaka is the fourth chapter of Vasantha Yogananthan’s long-term project A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary retelling of The Ramayana. A seven-chapter tale first recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana is one of the founding epics of Hindu mythology.

Since 2013, Yogananthan has been traveling from north to south India, retracing the footsteps of the epic’s heroes. Between fiction and reality, he deliberately blurs the lines through multiple aesthetic approaches: color, hand-painted and illustrated photographs are interspersed with vernacular images to compose the layers of this timeless story.

At the end of Chapter Three, Lakshmana cuts off Surpanakha’s nose. After seeing his sister disfigured, Ravana, the king of Sri Lanka, begins to plot his revenge. Rama and Lakshmana have no idea that their barbaric act – the mutilation of a woman – has sealed Sita’s fate. The fourth chapter tells of Sita’s abduction by Ravana. The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted through time. Dandaka mixes strips from a comic book version of the epic (published in the 1970s) with Vasantha Yogananthan’s photographs for this French / English language retelling, which is in hardcover and measures 24.5 x 30 cm and 112 pages, with 13 inserts.

See all chapters of A Myth of Two Souls:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7

ARTIST / AUTHOR

Chose Commune is an independent publishing house based in Marseille, France, which curates, edits, and produces artists books with a focus on photography and works on paper. Chose Commune is directed by Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi, co-founder with Vasantha Yogananthan. Images in Dandaka are by Vasantha Yogananthan. The accompanying graphic design is by Kummer&Herrman. Find more on Yogananthan‘s artistic practice on PhotoSouthAsia.

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