Editing Mask (section)

====India/Sri Lanka/Indo-China====
Masked characters, usually divinities, are a central feature of Indian dramatic forms, many based on depicting the epics [[Mahabharata]] and [[Ramayana]]. Countries that have had strong Indian cultural influences – [[Cambodia]], [[Burma]], [[Indonesia]], [[Thailand]], and Lao – have developed the Indian forms, combined with local myths, and developed their own characteristic styles.

The masks are usually highly exaggerated and formalised, and share an aesthetic with the carved images of monstrous heads that dominate the facades of [[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] temples. These faces or ''Kirtimukhas'', 'Visages of Glory', are intended to ward off evil and are associated with the animal world as well as the divine. During ceremonies, these visages are given active form in the great mask dramas of the South and South-eastern Asian region.<ref name="Emigh-1996">{{cite book | title = Masked Performance | first = John | last = Emigh | publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]] | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-8122-1336-X}}</ref>