Each year, in the tantra Buddhist Himalayas and the Tibetan regions of the Republic of China, liturgical celebrations take place that include masked dances or chams.  In these public ceremonies where Buddhist Tibetan divinities are reincarnated in the bodies of dancing monks, a “holy clown” officiates and reigns over order and disorder even as he dedicates himself to many a prank.  The atsara, whose name derives from the Sanskrit acharya, meaning “spiritual mentor”, is often called a clown, fool or joker because of his banter and tomfoolery but the ambiguity behind this figure poses many questions. 

Nathalie Gauthard is assistant director of the Arts Department, director of the Ethnology and Live Arts programme and Lecturer in Ethnoscenology at the Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis.  She works for the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Récits Cultures Et Sociétés LIRCES EA3159 and is also President of the Société Française d'Ethnoscénologie  SOFETH.

> Read the presentation :  The Tibetan clown atsara :  figure of Indian otherness ?