The paper entitled “The Charak Puja: Challenging caste identity and reclaiming god” aims to explore and analyse a religious festival called “Charak Festival” which is traditionally celebrated in the state of West Bengal, India. The charak festival has prevailed as an age-old tradition in different parts of West Bengal, however it’s entirely conducted or performed by the people of depressed caste groups. The paper will seek to investigate the caste dynamics while emphasizing on the causes and consequences of the festival. The methodology or research design which has been employed in the paper is qualitative research method based on narrative conversational method involving the utilisation of primary as well as secondary data. The argument which has been put forth in the paper is based on the qualitative analysis of the available data through which it has been established that Charak Puja ( festival) is solely performed by the depressed caste group through the act of several inhumane rituals which denotes their tolerance for penance and serves as an instrument of revolt to reclaim their right to worship as well as caste identity.
Keywords: charak festival, caste structure, depressed caste group, instrument of revolt, right to worship, caste identity
Introduction
The term “Charak” is the representation of the word “Charkha” which means Wheel and the term Puja refers to worship, thereby charak puja symbolise the worship of the circle or wheel of life and both men as well as women participate in the festival, although it’s the male worshipper, who tends to perform various inhumane rituals such as jumping on thrones/knives, swinging themselves over fire and especially hook swinging ritual in which individuals are made to swing around from a holy pole like a wheel rotating in circular direction, with the hope to earn God’s grace. Thereby, charak puja is regarded as the ceremonial or religious celebration of penance.
The charak puja (festival) is a religious and traditional folk festival which is celebrated on 14th April, which is a day before the arrival of Bengali new year which is on 15th April and it is primarily associated with the Hindu Religious Doctrine. The festival is found to be predominantly prevalent in the eastern Region of India especially in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Assam while the festival is also practiced in different states such as in Ranchi it is called as Bhokta Puja while in Maharashtra it is known as Bagad festival and in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh it is called as Sirimanu utsavam.
The charak festival is mainly celebrated by the people belonging to Depressed caste group ( Ati Shudras and Namasudras) especially those who are associated with agricultural work in order to earn the blessings of good harvest and prosperity by worshipping Lord shiva and Parvati which reveals that the foundation of the festival is based on caste structure or caste based hierarchies while it also challenges the brahmanical oppressors who introduced the archaic practice of banning the depressed caste people from worshipping the god or curbing their rights to worship. Thus, the festival serves as a medium or instrument through which the people of depressed caste group attempt to reclaim their caste identity as well as God.
Methodology
The methodological framework which has been employed in the paper is a branch of qualitative research methodology which can be termed as explanatory research method based on narrative conversational data collection technique. The foundation of the paper is based on primary as well as secondary data and the collected data has been analysed through narrative analysis followed by descriptive interpretation while the argument which has been put forth tends to explain the causes and consequences which determine the celebration of charak festival.
Observation
The charak puja represents the last rites or ritual worship which is a part of the Gajan festival that is celebrated every year in the month of April and tends to span for one week before the arrival of the bengali new year which is 15th of April and the festival comes to an end by 14th of April with the performance of a ritualistic act on the last day of the festival, called as the Charak Puja.
The Charak festival takes place on 14th April, a day before the arrival of bengali new year called as “Poila Boishakh” and poila refers to first and boishakh refers to the first month of bengali calender which also marks the emergence of harvest season due to which the charak festival is celebrated to worship, the Lord shiva and Parvati to be blessed with better harvest and prosperity. The Charak festival is celebrated in different parts of West Bengal, however it’s especially prevalent in village areas of several districts such as Pukurpara village in Bonhooghly, Mahismari Village in South 24 pargana, Santipur village in Nadia etc where it functions as a little tradition.
This festival is mainly celebrated by the people of lower caste group especially associated with agricultural workers, however due to the changing social structure of society and formal eradication of the caste system has resulted in the integration of the depressed caste group in the mainstream realm of society due to which the Charak festival did not remain confined to the village areas rather it has started to take place in various part of the several cities in West Bengal such as Kolkata ( near Kalighat Temple, latu babu chatu babu bazar Girish Park), Jaynagar Majilpur,Howrah (especially near Bagnan and Narna village ) etc.
Moreover, the festival is entirely associated with the people of depressed caste group and even the ceremonial rites of the puja are performed by them whereas traditionally it has been the Brahmins who were expected to perform all kinds of rituals and rites during any religious festival based on caste based hierarchies. Thus, the festival is administered, conducted or performed by the people of depressed caste group such as Bauri, Bagdi, Hari, Dom, or sudhra or ,namasudras and tribal community and the only role which the brahmin priest holds is the task of offering the first and the last prayer/ ceremonial worship to God during which the priests are guided by a religious headman belonging to the lower caste community.
Furthermore, there are various religious rites which is expected to be followed by the worshippers associated with charak puja and one of the important rite is the practice of intense fasting which starts a month before the arrival of charak puja and continues till the end of charak puja simultaneously there are various behavioral norms which are to be followed by the worshippers, especially men as they are the one who performs various acts of penance associated with this festival. The components of fasting are : (a) adherence to vegetarian diet and (b) consumption of boiled rice.
The behavioural norms are : (a) refrain from companion of their wives , (b) put on red color dress,(c) have bathe after going to toilet ,(d) spend the night at the puja Mandap i.e. worship altar ,(e) not allowed to leave without the permission of the religious head of their community etc.
Thereafter, the charak festival begins with the worship of cadaka/ Gurjan tree which is like a straight trunk or log of the tree (Dipterocarpus turbinatus), around 20 to 30 feet in height which looks like a long pole which is hoisted from the ground by everyone and firmly placed in the ground of worship and an Idol or a Mask is first attached to the top of the tree but most importantly, a bamboo or a long piece of wood or a wooden wheel is placed over the tree in a horizontal manner while forming a T shaped structure which is worshipped in the name of Lord Shiva and Parvati because it is predominantly considered as a holy symbol of Ardhanarishvara (composite form of the Shiva and Parvati) and such worship is practiced with the hope to be blessed with good harvest season and prosperity.
Moreover, a big procession as well as Charak Mela (fiesta) is held in which people especially belonging to rajbongshi caste tends to dress up as goddess kali or Lord shiva etc and they would play the role of a jester, in bengali language the term jester is called as “Shoung”, they tends to perform various acts accompanied by singing and dancing etc.
However, the final ritual act which constitutes the base of charak puja is known as the hook swinging ritual in which, the male worshippers pierce the back of their body with hooks which is followed by attaching or tieing one end of the rope to the hooks and the other to the horizontal pole or the wooden wheel placed above the holy tree, thereby hanging or swinging and rotating the individuals from the holy pole like a wheel (Charkha) and such practice of hook swinging ritual associated with charak puja is prevalent not only in West Bengal but also in other states among the lower caste group and different tribal community such as Santhals and Mundas of orissa and Jharkhand, Oraon tribe of Ranchi, Bhil and Gonds of Madhya Pradesh, Ceṭil Uṟcavam ritual in South India, Khaṇḍoba ritual of Maharashtra etc
Alongside, several other forms of ritual of penance are practiced by the male worshippers such as jumping on knives/thorns, piercing iron rod on body or tongue, walking on hot embers etc. Thus, such inhuman religious rituals are practiced by the worshippers in order to showcase their ability to endure extreme forms of pain as a medium to reclaim their right to worship, religious equity as well as caste identity. However, the ritualistic practices associated with Charak Puja are only performed by the people belonging to depressed caste because the puja itself is associated with their caste identity while the religious offerings ( Prasad) which are presented to the god is distributed and consumed by everyone irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and gender, moreover since the puja is performed in an open space or field due to which people tend to setup large fairs known as Charak fairs, surrounding the religious ceremonial pavilion. Therefore, such a secular form of participation in the charak festival serves as a deliberate move which challenges the caste based status quo.
Analysis
The Charak Puja is symbolically practiced to embrace the wheel or circle of life, which according to various thinkers, has resemblance to the movement of Earth.
In other words, according to various researchers and scholars, the charak puja marks the emergence of vernal equinox which represent the relations between the sun and the earth as the earth rotates like a Charkha (wheel) and on vernal equinox the days and nights become equal in all parts of the world because the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun and nd this period marks the emergence of Spring equinox and that is why earth’s movement is represented through the circular movement of Charkha during Charak Puja. The charak puja has been found to be commonly practiced by the people of lower caste or tribal community especially those who are associated with agricultural work and it becomes a part of their family legacy which is passed on from one generation to another, thereby the continuity of the festival remains intact.
Moreover, various theorist has put forth that the charak puja has been prevalent since time immemorial as various theorist has discussed about the ancient origin of this festival and regarded this festival as the tribal form of worshipping the nature or omnipotent God and further emphasized that the festival is conducted as a form of sympathetic magic which is carried out to worship the nature and to establish the relationship between the natural world and ourselves. Thereby, during this festival the individuals tend to worship omnipresent being or Lord Shiva through the worship of charak tree as a symbol of worshipping nature such as sky, plant etc to be blessed with better harvest, adequate rain and land fertility.
However, according to several theorist, the charak puja was found to be prevalent even during the period of colonial rule due to which the inhumane practice of hook swinging ritual associated with charak puja was severely criticised by the British rulers and it was banned by the britishers on the ground of immorality. However, individuals continued to practice this puja as a symbol of unity or representation of their caste identity.
Moreover, through the analysis of the first hand testimonies, audio visual references and the arguments put forth by various theorist, it has been established that the practice of charak puja developed among the people of lower caste community based on their desire to claim equal status as that of the upper caste group because during this puja the lower caste community tends to worship Lord shiva which was previously not allowed based on caste based restrictions imposed by the upper caste group on the people of the lower caste group which created generational trauma due to which they started developing the ritual of penance to worship Lord Shiva while placing the emphasis on the amount of pain or penance one can endure to earn the blessings of god as well as reclaim their right to worship. Therefore, the ritualistic performance of penance demonstrates their ability to endure sufferings which acts as a set of parameters to qualify themselves to the level of the upper caste brahmins during the period of charak festival. Thereby, the worshippers believe that the more they can bear or torture themselves the more they would be prone to receive the blessings of god and enforce their right to worship, however such understanding could stem from the generational trauma created by the brahmin dominated discriminatory structure of caste system which leads to the psychological issue called repetitive compulsion or re-enactment of the action or incident in which the individual keeps performing certain action induced by trauma for years similarly in case of charak puja, the people tend to perform the puja for generation after generation as a form of revolt against the oppressive pattern of caste structure and reclaim their religious as well as caste identity. Furthermore, in the field of sociology, the celebration of charak festival can serve as an adequate representation of the popular concept called “positive sanskritization” put forward by MN Srinivas whereby the people belonging to depressed caste tends to deliberately take up or inculcate in them the ritualistic practices of the upper caste to attain higher social status, however incase of charak Puja they do it as a form of revolt to establish their right to worship or religious equity rather than the struggle for caste based dominance in society. Moreover, the charak festival is followed by charak fairs where people coming from varying social backgrounds tend to participate while the religious offerings (Prasad) are distributed and consumed by everyone irrespective of their caste, creed, religious and gender identity, thereby promoting a secular form of cultural diversity.
Conclusion
In the pages of history, the hierarchical structure of caste system has persisted through brahminical dominance and imposed subservience of the depressed caste group and one of the major form of oppression and religious restriction which was imposed on the people belonging to depressed caste group was their right to worship because they were banned from worshipping the god or deity which was worshipped by the Brahmins or people belonging to upper caste group. However, such form of oppression was popularly challenged and opposed by numerous freedom fighters, philosophers, historians, social rights activists but most significant contribution among them was Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule and especially B.R.Ambedkar, they fought extensively to reclaim their right to worship and religious or caste identity as a whole simultaneously the charak festival serves as a medium of ritualistic revolt against the caste discrimination which has restricted their right to worship while the puja also involves the performance or act of penance known as hook swinging ritual and such form of act tends to cause severe pain on human body which demonstrates the ability of the worshippers to endure pain for the sake of reclaiming their religious right, right of worship and equity while challenging the discriminatory status quo established by the Brahmin dominated hierarchical caste system. Even Though, the right to participate in ritualistic acts of worship in charak puja is solely possessed by the people belonging to depressed caste group however apart from religious substance, the charak festival involves various frolicking activities followed by charak fair which is not restricted to people belonging from depressed caste group rather people from varying social background tends to participate in the festival fostering equity and inclusivity.
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Anuska Roy is a budding sociologist and has been associated with this discipline for 8 years and counting. She’s ideologically a staunch feminist and currently working as a social science teacher with an intent to develop a gender sensitized learning space within the school structure. She is quite passionate about exploring the domain of academic research work and also has profound interest in Film Analysis. She believes in this statement which Aristotle has famously said : “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”