Society

Sulphur And Antimony

A legal bar to a centuries-old ritual has hurt the sentiments of worshippers

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Sulphur And Antimony
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A “dangerous and barbarous” ritual, or a glorious practice, sanctified by time, tradition and religion? A battle is playing out around that touchy question in the ancient town of Shantipur in West Bengal’s Nadia district, where official efforts to literally take the fire out of a 600-year-old rite have ignited angry responses from residents.

For over half a millennium, or so the claim goes, Shantipur fastidiously and fearfully held on to a spectacular practice: On the night after Kali puja—celebrated on the first new moon after the October festival of Durga puja—idols of Kali were carried to the river Ganges for immersion on the bare shoulders of loincloth-clad men, in silent processions, bearing flaming torches. “This is an ancient tradition and unique to Shantipur,” explains Shri Raghunath Bhattacharjee, a scholar associated with the Agomeshwari puja, performed by the oldest worshippers of Kali in the area.

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Human skulls for worship at the altar. (Photograph by Sandipan Chatterjee)

As the story is told here, Shantipur, once densely forested, was the home of tantriks, who engaged, among other things, in human sacrifice; and later of bandits, who ardently worshipped Dakat Kali (or Daku Kali) as the goddess is still called here, emulating the tantriks by smearing themselves in blood and ash, and charging down to the river with their torches. Maintaining that the tradition dates back to Sarbha Bhoumya Agom Bagish, an early 15th century tantrik, Bhattacharjee says: “Nowhere else in Bengal or any other part of India does the immersion procession take this form.” He then adds pointedly: “It is believed that any deviation from this norm incurs the wrath of the goddess, and ill-luck will befall the people of the area.”

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His words are a less than subtle reference to the ban, apparently announced a few years ago, but enforced only since last year by the local administration, on the carrying of lit torches by the processionists, at the behest of environmentalists, and others who regard the practice as dangerous. Announcements were made over loudspeakers warning citizens of dire consequences if they participated in torch-bearing immersion processions. Justifying the action, Shantipur councillor Shyamal Chakraborty notes, “Many people brought to our notice the obvious hazards involved in carrying open flames, and the environmental risks...the burning torches are fed on hundreds and thousands of litres of kerosene, producing toxic fumes.”

But these opinions seem to be held by a minority. Apart from Shantipur’s priestly community and puja committees, who have an obvious stake in continuing the tradition, others too seem to resent the ban. “I have grown up witnessing this spectacular annual show,” laments Amar Nath, a 70-year-old local businessman. “In Shantipur, unlike in other parts of Bengal, it’s not Durga puja, but Kali puja and especially the immersion procession has always been special. As a child, I used to wait all year for the ceremony. It was a captivating spectacle.”

“When the entire world is choking on poisonous gases, why single out this tradition?” fumes Sumonto Modak, an active member of Shantipur’s community of weavers. “It is our heritage...why snatch this away from us?” Chandni Barik, a Shantipur housewife, sighs, “Call it superstition...but I now fear that some disaster or misfortune will befall us”.

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As for priests and pujaris, they have no hesitation in declaring the ban as blasphemy. “The scriptures have laid down certain rules and regulations. We can’t play around with these,” thunders Kumaresh Chakraborty, president of the Bombete Kali Puja Committee, who was arrested for defying the ban, and is now out on bail.

Other aspects of Kali worship continue to be observed here with gusto. For example, the list of must-haves for the worship of the Dakat Kali—who, unlike the more benign form of the Shyama Kali, is depicted as a blood-thirsty, flesh-devouring, evil-eradicating, terrifying entity—includes human skulls collected from crematoriums and burning ghats. You see them neatly lined up at puja sites.

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Nevertheless, for many of the worshippers, without fire, the ceremony is a pale shadow of itself. So the Agomeshwari Puja Committee makes do by lighting one symbolic torch for part of the way of the immersion procession. The hundreds of other Kali pujas in the area, too, have devised their own ways of propitiating the apparently fire-seeking goddess without flagrantly violating the law. For example, the organisers of the Bombete Kali puja have taken to lighting a multi-chambered torch at the feet of the deity before the immersion journey begins. At other places, lanterns are lit on the four hands of the deity and some processionists carry lit candles and matchsticks, and even incense sticks. Meanwhile, cases have been filed, and protests continue. Several members of an immersion procession applaud thunderously as Chakraborty declares, “With the blessings of the goddess, the tradition will one day return.”

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