An Archive of Their Own

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Freezing the Itinerant: Spirit, Spectacle, and Circus Images
• Finding Keeleri
• Spectres of Circus
• The Small Voices of History
• Imaging Memories
• Living to Tell the Tale
• Transnational Tales
• Borderline Memories
• Memory as History
• Canvas Cities
• The Lords of the Rings
• Burning Stigma
• Visuality and Seeing
• The Last Frame
• CHAPTER 1 Of ‘Elsewhere’: Global Histories
• Global Circus Histories
• Indian Circuses in Southeast Asia
• Language and Global Performers
• Nepalis, Africans, and the ‘Russians’
• Gloria and the Vanderwielen Troupe
• Nepali Acrobats
• African Performers in India
• Cossack Riding and the ‘Russians’
• Chinese Troupes
• Filippino, Burmese, and Indian Families
• From the Tours of Kamala Circus
• The Wild Animal Man Damoo Dhotre
• Kannan Bombayo’s Transnational Life
• Malabar Acrobats in Indonesia
• Yamuna’s International Tours
• CHAPTER 2 Embodied Craft: The Company Girls
• Female Bodies in a Circus Ring
• Gender Histories and Representation
• Out of Love and Out of Misery
• Battles in Tents and the Women Actors
• Women and Children
• Company Girls’ Quarters
• Training and Performance
• Livelihood, Survival, and Old Age
• Balancing Adventure and Thrill
• Fashion and Costume
• Sexualization and Gaze
• Child’s Supple Body
• Disciplinary Training in Physical Cultures
• Legal Ban of 2011
• The Subaltern Child Artistes
• CHAPTER 3 Subaltern Body: Tales of Toil
• Life Writing as History
• Personal History of Seven Bar Sreedharan
• Seven Bar and Chandralekha
• The Flying Trapeze
• Sandows and Body Building
• A Brief History of Juggling
• Artistes from Northeast India
• Performing ‘Disability’
• Clowning
• Raj Kapoor’s Joker
• The Circus Spectators
• CHAPTER 4 Behind the Rings: The Migrant Worker
• The Migrant Worker
• Tent Master Ratan
• Contract Labour and Inequality
• Ring Boys and Unskilled Work
• Big and Small Circuses
• Fire, Floods, and Covid-19
• Work Force and Bharat Circus
• Owners and Management
• The Circus Bazaar
• CHAPTER 5 Circus Animals into Human Histories
• The Junagadh Camp
• Anthropocentrism
• Legal Ban on Animals and Ethical Debates
• Bondage and Bonding
• Captivity
• Animal Performances
• Animal Exhibitions and Rights
• Human- Animal Relationship
• Entertaining Animals
• Living with Wild Animals
• Risking Life
• ‘Fearless’ Madhavi
• Krishnan and Gorilla
• Taming and Training an Animal
• CHAPTER 6 After-Word-Image
• At the Wonder’s Edge
• References
• Books and Dissertations
• Journals, Periodicals, and Working Papers
• Films
• Archival, Legal, and Private Collections
• Newspapers
• Internet Sources
• Interviews by the Author

Nisha P R

An Archive of Their Own

Photographs from Indian Circus

Chennai · Berlin · Bruxelles · Lausanne · New York · Oxford

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025012401

Cover photo: Gloria Vanderwielen, Great Bombay Circus, 1950s

Cover design by Peter Lang Group AG

ISBN 978-1-80374-891-7 (Print)

ISBN 978-1-80374-992-1 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-1-80374-993-8 (ePub)

DOI 10.3726/b22812

© 2026 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Published by Peter Lang India, Chennai (India)

info@peterlang.com - www.peterlang.com

Nisha P R has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.

Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION Freezing the Itinerant: Spirit, Spectacle, and Circus Images

Finding Keeleri

Spectres of Circus

The Small Voices of History

Imaging Memories

Living to Tell the Tale

Transnational Tales

Borderline Memories

Memory as History

Canvas Cities

The Lords of the Rings

Burning Stigma

Visuality and Seeing

The Last Frame

CHAPTER 1 Of ‘Elsewhere’: Global Histories

Global Circus Histories

Indian Circuses in Southeast Asia

Language and Global Performers

Nepalis, Africans, and the ‘Russians’

Gloria and the Vanderwielen Troupe

Nepali Acrobats

African Performers in India

Cossack Riding and the ‘Russians’

Chinese Troupes

Filippino, Burmese, and Indian Families

From the Tours of Kamala Circus

The Wild Animal Man Damoo Dhotre

Kannan Bombayo’s Transnational Life

Malabar Acrobats in Indonesia

Yamuna’s International Tours

CHAPTER 2 Embodied Craft: The Company Girls

Female Bodies in a Circus Ring

Gender Histories and Representation

Out of Love and Out of Misery

Battles in Tents and the Women Actors

Women and Children

Company Girls’ Quarters

Training and Performance

Livelihood, Survival, and Old Age

Balancing Adventure and Thrill

Fashion and Costume

Sexualization and Gaze

Child’s Supple Body

Disciplinary Training in Physical Cultures

Legal Ban of 2011

The Subaltern Child Artistes

CHAPTER 3 Subaltern Body: Tales of Toil

Life Writing as History

Personal History of Seven Bar Sreedharan

Seven Bar and Chandralekha

The Flying Trapeze

Sandows and Body Building

A Brief History of Juggling

Artistes from Northeast India

Performing ‘Disability’

Clowning