Recent scholarship has revealed that the representation of Karnatic music as a “classical” art form in South Indian society was a complicated process bound to the agendas of larger early twentieth-century nationalist projects in India. This thesis explores the notions of classicalness as they are enacted in Karnatic music society through the oral transmission process from guru to shishya, or disciple. Still considered one of the most important emblems of the “classical,” the gurukula (lit. “guru-family”) system has been transformed to accommodate more contemporary lifestyles and reinscribed within many other social and musical processes in South Indian classical music society. This thesis examines the everyday interactions between members of Karnatic music society, particularly the clapping of t?la during a Karnatic music concert and the musical exchanges between percussionists onstage during the tani ?vartanam (Karnatic percussion solo), as public performances reminiscent of the relationship between guru and shishya.

Previously presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Heidelberg, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [359]-389) and index.

The thesis called Education in the Hare Krishna movement aims primarily to gather information about the purpose, principles and methods of education in gurukulas of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) abroad and open research problems of education in Czech Hare Krishna movement. At first the text describes the background and theoretical concepts of education in the movement and its comparison with the original method of education vaisnava tradition. Further, the text describes a specific historical development and education form of ISKCON΄s gurukulas, the issue of child abuse and provides available information about the current form of education in the world gurukulas. The last part is focused on the project Gurukula Krishna΄s court in Czech Republic and reconstruction of failed efforts of Czech devotees dedicated to its inclusion in the network of schools and educational institutions of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the period 1995-1997 on the basis of unpublished archival materials. Key words Guru, gurukula, education, ISKCON, Krishna΄s court, Prabhupada, Rochford, The Hare Krishna movement, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, training