Homepage of Lakshmi Amman

Hello, my name is Lakshmi Amman, and I'm a 16th century Southern Indian dancer playing in the SCA. These pages have been floating about the Internet for quite a few years now. Just recently, I've relocated to Generalism.Net, the web system of Bhairavi, and the gallery of the SCA India yahoo group. All of these are wonderful sources of information about medieval Indian and how to recreate it in the SCA.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. Along with relocating the site, I've also moved email addresses. I'm now online at gmail, where my user name is bethlakshmi. If you have any questions on the site, feel free to shoot me an email.

Resources - My general tactic is to use the Web for getting a clue and then books for "real" research. Since any idiot can write a web page (just look at me!) I find that books get you a lot more respect in the research world. I also use the Web for online shopping and chatting with my friends in Indian studies.

My links - written in April 2001, I suspect this has a few bad links on it. And there's a ton of stuff out there now that hasn't made it to this old page.
My Bibliography - Want to be as geeky as me? Well now you can! Here's a listing of the books I own as of 12/01/2002. It's ordered by category and annotated, so that maybe ot hers can prioritize their book buying obsession and learn from my experience...

Museum Trips - It's my new thing - when I got to museums, especially ones far away from home, I bring my digital camera and a notepad and if they let me take pictures I do. What follows are my notes from various museums.

Cleveland Art Museum - As part of my Pennsic trip for 2003, I took a day and went here. These are my photos from the Museum's regular collection.
LA County Museum of Art - When I went to a trade show for my company in December 2003, I stayed the weekend and checked out the cool stuff in LA. Since one of my favorite art books is published by this museum, I had to go and see it.

Court Baronecy - I was proud to receive a Court Baronecy at Pennsic 2003. Here's a site about it, and about all the wonderful work my friend Nicolette did to make a set of Baronial stuff that goes with my persona.

Roxane's Choli - a gold-embriodered choli blouse made for Roxane Farabi I,who was queen of the East in 2002.

Dance Resources - I've been working out some research on Indian abhinaya movements and what texts document what movements. Someday, I hope to have a whole map of at least the Natya Shastra, but as of yet, I have only hands and face.

Facial Expressions - from my class at Pennsic 2002. This needs more updating now that I have a TON more information from many, many more books.
Hand Positions - these are called "Mudras" in Indian dance and iconography, and are the cornerstone to expressing the meaning in a dance that focuses on storytelling and expression.

Painted Box Project - This is documentation for a box painting project I embarked on in 2001-2002.

Wax Resist Projects - My attempts to recreate block printing as we see in textile remains from Fustat, Egypt. That's a site with many export textiles from India (in theory).

Wax Resist Prints - In the Spring of 2002, I did my first experiment with this specific process - I made favors for an A&S competition and then entered one in the actual competition - the ultimate in reuse!
Kingdom Saris - Summer of 2002 - These are gifts from the East to the Kingdom of the Outlands - two saris (a his and a hers) in silk, wax resist block printed with heraldic motifs. The blocks were designed and carved by me.

Sari Pages - I've got a couple here... Saris are one of the many options for Indian personae. Most of the stuff here is somewhat general - if you want specifics on a specific time and place, I can happily provide info on South Indians, particularly female, particularly dancers. If you have a passion for another time and place, or sewn garments, I can help redirect you... I've got "connections". :)

Indian Textiles - This is an overview of the types of textiles I've found and collected as saris for my collection.

Sari Wrapping - It's my hope to over time start to develop a set of pages about how to drape some of the stranger, historic sari wraps that are not part of the current popular sari fashion. I agree with Chantal Boulanger and the Institute for Draped Clothing that draped clothing is hard to preserve and protect, because it is clothing made by the wearer at the time of dressing. Without the knowledge to wrap a sari, it is simply a rectangle of cloth - not a garment.

Fishtail Sari Wrap - This is a very popular way of putting on a sari. It's highly documentable and seen in a number of times and places, and on both sexes. It's not the one and only way of wearing a sari, but it's the one that I prefer and answer a lot of questions on. If you have questions that aren't answered by this page, PLEASE mail me! Instructions like this are a constant work in progress - the page was born from all the questions folks have asked me, and it will only get better when I know about other problems folks are having.
Vijayanagara Era Drape NEW! - My own take on a style of drape in a picture from the Vijayanagara Empire. The drape is seen worn by women in Southern India, during the Vijayanagara Empire, which runs from the 14th century to 1565.

Chalukya Biyari Information - Several years back, the SCA_India yahoo group did a High Authenticity dinner focused on the Chalukya Era - Southern India, 10th-13th century. To support the event, I put together a collection of pictures and descriptions of clothing and jewelry from this time period. Our head chef, Madhavi, wrote some companion information on the food, and our head of decor, Asim, put together some general ambiance information. All of that is here, with the link starting at clothing.

Scroll for Bhairavi - Bhairavi, a friend of mine, just got an Order of the Burdened Tiger and the Powers that Be let me make a scroll for her with the help of Yevsha and Nicolette. Here's a page about it!

Elizabethan Fun - Truly, I don't do Elizabethan persona or garb. But on occasion I like to tiptoe into the realm. A number of my friends are from this period, and I really enjoy the embroidery. So here's my forays into a "foriegn" realm.

The Napkin Project - This is a brief article on my part in the February 2002 Carolingian event "La Fe ste A La Tour Du Lac", which is described in the article, along with my part in runn ing a project to make table linens. It also mentions my attempt at a late-period Elizabethan gown.
Mistress Morwenna's Hat - a blackwork embroidery had I made for my friend Morwenna.

My latest endeavors have been to couple studies in Bharata Natyam