Diwali

Dussehra

The effigies of Ravana and Meghnada in the community park at Sheikh Sarai, south Delhi. Ravana and his companions are proceeding in a float atop a truck, and he is shown taking a swig from a Pepsi bottle: evil finds evil! The truck winds its way through the streets of Sheikh Sarai, a community in south Delhi; when it arrives at the local park, Ravana will be engaged in battle with Rama and be defeated. The effigies are burnt at sunset.

Though known by different Rama over Ravana, or the orces "good" over the forces of "evil". Large effigies of the ten-headed Ravana, the king of Lanka who abducted Rama's wife, Sita, and was subsequently vanquished in battle, are burnt as the sun goes down; on either side of him are the slightly smaller effigies of Meghnada, the son of Ravana, and Kumbhakarna, the full brother of Ravana whose name has become a household word in India for lethargy and laziness. (It is said that Kumbhakarna slept for six months and would then stay awake for a full day, no doubt to replenish himself.)

The festival lasts ten days, and most communities celebrate it with great fanfare. During the festival, the Ramleela, or the story of Rama, is enacted by professional dance companies and amateur troupes. On the last day of the festival, young men and small boys, dressed as Rama, his brother Lakshman, Ravana, and other players in the drama, proceed through the streets of the community as part of a float that is sometimes quite elaborate. Rama and Ravana engage in battle; Ravana is defeated.

Then Rama fires an arrow into the huge effigies of Meghnada and Kumbhakarna, stuffed -- as is the effigy of Ravana -- with crackers and explosives; finally an arrow is shot into Ravana's effigy, to the encouraging shouts of "Ramchandra ki jai", "Victory to Rama", and a large explosion ripples through the sky. In Bengal, Dusshera is celebrated as Durga Puja. Idols of the goddess Durga are worshipped for nine days, and on the tenth day immersed in a body of water, such as a river or pond. In Mysore, caparisoned elephants lead a colorful procession through the streets of the city.

Ganapati Festival 

The annual festival in honor of Ganesh or Ganapati, the elephant-headed deity who is known as the remover of obstacles and the god of auspiciousness, has been observed for at least 250 years, and perhaps at least since the twelfth century. It was at first an affair that lasted for two days or less, but by the middle part of the eighteenth century, in the reign of Madhavrao (1761-72), it began to be celebrated over six days. The modern history of the Ganapati festival dates back to 1894, when the Maratha politician and Indian nationalist, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, lionized as Lokamanya, or "Beloved of the People", gave it a distinct political face. Though the festival had largely been a private affair, where each family purchased an idol of Ganesh and then took it out in procession on Ganesh Chaturthi before immersing it in the river, pond, or tank, it had not been without its public and community aspect, since often several families joined in the procession, or otherwise pooled together their resources to buy a larger-sized idol. But one of Tilak’s achievements was to make the Ganapati festival the vehicle, so to speak, for the aspirations of the Maratha people as well as those of other Indians who desired independence from British tutelage. Henceforth, the Ganapati festival was to become a largely public affair.

The precise innovations introduced by Tilak consisted in making the Ganapati festival into a community-based enterprise. Subscriptions were collected on behalf of a residential area, market, or organization for the purchase of large idols of Ganesh, which were then placed on pavilions (mandaps) and made the object of collective worship. Secondly, whereas previously immersions had taken place on various days of the festival, Tilak sought to have all the immersions take place on the tenth and final day. Thirdly, various song-and-dance parties were attached to each mandap, and more often than not, the songs had strong political overtones. Fourthly, some of the mandaps were themselves made the site of political plays, and groups of young boys and men, who dressed in military uniform and shouted political slogans, staged marches in the community that was hosting the mandap. In this manner, Tilak sought to link the Ganapati festival to his political agenda, and as his newspaper Kesari openly editorialized (8 September 1896): "This work [of political education] will not be as strenuous and expensive as the work of the Congress. The educated people can achieve results through these national festivals which it would be impossible for the Congress to achieve. Why shouldn’t we convert the large religious festivals into mass political rallies? Will it not be possible for political activities to enter the humblest cottages of the villages through such means?"

Within two years, the Ganapati festival in its new form had been widely accepted across the Marathi-speaking parts of the Bombay Presidency, and Bombay, Nasik, Sattara, and other cities were to follow Pune’s example. But the politicization of the festival was to invite the attention of the British government, which though at first inclined to view the developments as devoid of much political significance, was soon to take the position that many of the active participants in the festival had little interest in religious affairs, but were certainly interested in fomenting political unrest. As long as the festival had been intended, as the British believed, to turn the Hindus away from Muharram, in which Hindu participation had not been an insignificant factor, they were not disposed to interfere; but when the festival took on "the character of an annual anti-Government eruption", to quote the words of the Bombay Police Commissioner in 1910, it was felt necessary to take some action. Moreover, the transformation of the festival was seen as an attempt by the Brahmins to regain their traditional leadership roles, and the British thought they also detected in this enterprise a glorification of the martial traditions associated with Shivaji and the Marathas. Consequently, by 1910, the Ganapati festival would be severely curtailed on the government’s orders.

In its present form, the Ganapati festival, which is best observed in Pune or Bombay (now Mumbai), retains to a very large degree the characteristics with which it was endowed by Tilak. The festival is observed for ten days, and immersions of the deity are carried out over the last twenty-four hours of the festival, and the honor of the last immersions, when immense crowds are gathered, falls to the most well-known or affluent communities. Pavilions are put up by various communities, residential blocks, streets, markets, wealthy merchants or industrialists, and organizations, and an image, usually quite lavish, of Ganesh is placed on each mandap. But political themes might predominate, as they did in 1999, when the sacrifice of the Indian soldier upon the heights of Kargil was repeatedly evoked. In one particular mandap in Pune by the name of "Vijay Maruti", an elaborate set featuring an assault upon one of the mountain tops where Pakistani soldiers had taken a commanding position provided the spectators with a ‘live’ representation of the conflict and the eventual triumph of Indian forces. Thus, once again, in the Ganapati festival the interests of the nation-state are conjoined with patriotism as well as devotion to the deity. Notwithstanding its politicization, the Ganapati festival is an extraordinary testimony to the public place of religion in Indian life, the liveliness of Indian communities, the splendors of street life, the strength of popular artistic and artisan traditions, and the glorious malleability of one beloved Indian deity.

Rakhi

The annual "festival" of Raksha Bandhan, which is meant to commemorate the abiding ties between siblings of opposite sex, usually takes place in late August, and is marked by a very simple ceremony in which a woman ties a rakhi — which may be a colorful thread, a simple bracelet, or a decorative string — around the wrist of her brother(s). The word "raksha" signifies protection, and "bandhan" is an association signifying an enduring sort of bond; and so, when a woman ties a rakhi around the wrist of her brother, she signifies her loving attachment to him. He, likewise, recognizes the special bonds between them, and by extending his wrist forward, he in fact extends the hand of his protection over her. The thread-tying ceremony is sometimes preceded by the woman conducting aarti before her brother, so that the blessings of God may be showered upon him, and this is to the accompaniment of her enunciation or chanting of a mantra, which may be in Sanskrit or one of the other Indian languages. In Punjabi, for instance, the mantra says: "Suraj shakhan chhodian / Mooli chhodia beej / Behen ne rakhi bandhi / Bhai tu chir jug jee", which can be roughly translated as follows: "The sun radiates its sunlight / the radish seeds / I (the sister) tied the rakhi / brother, may you live long." After the conclusion of the ceremony, she places a sweet in her mouth, and he might return the gesture. The brother bestows a small gift upon his sister, generally in the form of a small sum of money, such as Rupees 51, 101, 251, or 501.

It is doubtless possible, from a feminist perspective, to view raksha bandhan as another expression of patriarchal culture, however well-intentioned. It is, after all, the brother who extends his protection to his sister, and the woman who, in a manner of speaking, agrees to place herself under the protection of her brother. Against such a reading, one could well argue that the festival seeks to celebrate simply the affectionate ties between siblings of opposite sex, and that the brother-sister nexus is, comparatively speaking, innocent. This is scarcely to say that the relationship is devoid of power, or that there are not habitual practices and customs which define the relationship. But the real significance of raksha bandhan may lie elsewhere. Though it has been common in most societies for the woman to leave her natal home at marriage for her husband’s home, in India this is firmly entrenched as a social practice, and has often had undesirable consequences. Women who are subjected to harassment or life-threatening behavior on account of dowry by the husband’s family have often been reluctant to return to their natal home, and similarly parents are reluctant to take back their married daughters on account of the immense stigma attached to the return of a married daughter. There is ample evidence to suggest that the problem of dowry has unquestionably been aggravated by the social sanction placed upon married daughters residing in their natal home. Consequently, raksha bandhan can be viewed as an occasion for reasserting a woman’s ties to her natal home. The brother conveys a message to his sister that she has not been abandoned by her biological kin; similarly, the woman conveys a message to her husband’s family that she can well count upon her natal family to come to her assistance.

Though in principle raksha bandhan is an observance between biological siblings of the opposite sex, the practice often extends more generally to people of the opposite sex who are not biologically related, or who are not related as siblings. On raksha bandhan day, a number of women may tie the rakhi around the Prime Minister’s wrist (unless the Prime Minister be a woman), and similarly soldiers can expect to have women tie rakhis around their wrists. Thus, from ads placed on the occasion of raksha bandhan in the Times of India (Mumbai, 25 August 1999), col. 3: "Let’s break the traditions of Sisters sending Rakhis to their Brothers this time and approach the widows of Kargil Heroes with Rakhis to tie", and "Let us all send a Thread to our Brave Soldiers in Kargil so that they shred their Pakistan opponents. Satnam Kaur." Everywhere, especially in north and western India, females might tie a rakhi around the wrist of boys and men without sisters. A man might acquire a muh boli behen, that is a sister who in every respect is such except in biological fact; or a woman may tie a rakhi around the wrist of her male first cousin who is without sisters. Imagining a person of the opposite sex as a sibling is certainly one way of obscuring the problem of sexual desire, and Indian texts are rife with the observation that men should look upon women as their sisters and mothers.

Raksha bandhan is not entirely a pious affair, though sentimentality doubtless prevails. It has, thankfully, also become an occasion for some jest, humor, and mild ribaldry. Rakhi advertisements from the Times of India, Mumbai (25 August 1999), suggest that some men construe "raksha bandhan" truly as an occasion for taking their responsibilities as a protective brother seriously, as in this advertisement which deploys the familiar metaphor of the sheltering banyan tree: "Your Brother Banyan Tree will protect 5 branches Saroja, Vijaya, Laxmi, Thangam, Lalitha on auspicious Raksha Bandhan Day. A.R. Parshuram" (col. 3). A similar sentiment, with the sacred as its central trope, is expressed by this woman: "Dear Brother. Accept my blessing and affection through this sacred thread which tightens our relationship better" (col. 6). The supposition that a sister stands in place of a mother comes across in some ads: "Dear Sister Ruta, they say mothers couldn’t be everywhere everytime, so God made sisters. Ani" (col. 5), and "My Loving Sister, for me you’re like both mother & father. You’re next to God & your love is next to Divinity. Rays of your love & blessings enlivened me like Rays of the Ultimate. Symbol of love & sacrifice, I adore your feet today. Deeyech" (col. 7). But alongside the expression of these more conventional sentiments, one might consider the humor of the ad from one "Feh": "Dear Bro. Nirlek. You are the perfect Brother to have — good height, strong built, lots of money, and no brain" (col. 5), or the lampooning of India’s family planning programs: "Adarniya [Respected] Bachelor Padhanmantriji [Prime Minister] no solution for population control? Try popularising Raksha-Bandhan day all throughout India. Love. Joekar"