Seated on a white masnad bolster without props, instruments, or scenery, one or two dastangos conjure entire cities, sorcerers, trickster-hero Amar Ayyar, and courtly debates solely through vocal modulation, Persianate Urdu prosody, and poised hand gesture. 1
After falling silent following the passing of Mir Baqar Ali in Delhi in 1928, Dastangoi was reconstructed and revived from forty-six-volume Naval Kishore Press lithographs in 2005. 1
