INSIGHT

An Unholy Festival
Sanjay Tiwari

labour. This article is based on my three years observation of Holi celebrations in Charthari. A Village and Its People

In a number of Indian festivals, the rituals and practices alienate different sections of society and even exploit them. Such is the case with the Holi celebrations in Charthari village in Uttar Pradesh where the dalits and women bear the brunt of the hard work that goes into observing the occasion but are not permitted to participate in the enjoyment. This raises questions about interpretations of Holi as the carnivalesque churning of social hierarchies.

The author would like to acknowledge the help of Senjooti Roy. Sanjay Tiwari (sanjay.tiwari@ceeindia.org) is with the Centre for Environment Education, Lucknow.

he oft-proclaimed assumption that the celebration of Holi loosens socially rigid structures and that people forget their socio-economic differences to enjoy the festival of colours, is farcical. These assumptions are merely attempts by the India Shining middle-class brigade including the youth for equality groups to hide the ubiquitous exploitative practices associated with our festivals, more so in rural society. Our cultural practices manifested through the celebration of various festivals and rituals are also well-dened systems to keep the majority of society alienated and exploited. In rural society, the jajmani relationship (whereby the lower castes perform service for the upper castes and receive grain in return) plays a crucial role in the celebration of festivals and rituals, where the roles and duties of service providers are very well dened. The service providers from the lower caste groups are kept from participating or enjoying such celebrations, even though all the labour and skills would have been provided by them and that too, free of cost. Thus in rural society, the upper castes and classes do not bother to involve the marginalised sections in their celebrations nor do they show any interest in knowing their stories or participating in their festivals and rituals. To understand the deep-rooted biases and to witness the subjugation of lowercaste groups in celebration of festivals, one must visit the village of Charthari, tucked in the innermost eastern fringes of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and bordering Nepal. Festivals at Charthari bring out the distinct boundaries that divide its society along the lines of caste, gender and class. At such times gender-based oppression and discrimination forcibly keep women out of all things especially fun and enjoyment in the name of honour and tradition while extracting a great amount of unrecognised hard
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In order to understand the festival, it is important to understand the history, demographic features, role and importance of the various social institutions of this village. Charthari is a gram panchayat situated in Mithwal block, 22 kms from the district headquarters of Siddharthnagar. According to Garia (2008), The district was carved out in 1988 from Basti and was named after Prince Siddharth, the pre-enlightenment name of Buddha, as he spent his early years (till the age of 29 years) in Kapilvastu, which lies within the territory of this district. In spite of the huge potential in terms of a fertile terai belt, this is one of the most backward districts of the country1 with no central or state university or quality educational institutes within it or even in the neighbouring districts, an abysmally weak healthcare system, an underdeveloped economy devoid of any large industry and a very poor network of civil society groups. Charthari is predominantly a brahmin village followed by the scheduled caste (SC) Chamar families and some families of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) which include Nai, Barhai, Yadav, Arakh, Kahar and a family each of Gosain and Lohar. There are around ve ex-zamindar families who along with other brahmin families are the politically, economically and socially dominant caste groups in the village. Almost all the agricultural land, huge mango orchards that surround the village and other natural resources within the gram panchayat are owned by this caste group. In fact these families still have many bighas of land in nearby gram panchayats, thereby increasing their dominance and power manifold. It is said that during the 18th century, there was a famous Sanskrit school at Jeeva (a village nearby) and a young brahmin pandit who wanted to study Sanskrit came here from Patti Daleelpur in Pratapgarh district, UP (at present, the place cannot be traced). When this
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youth reached Charthari, he married a local brahmin girl whose family was very rich and prosperous. After marriage, the youths entire family migrated from Pratapgarh and started living in Charthari on the property of the brides family. As the family had only one daughter, the property was eventually inherited by the grooms family and gradually this family broke up into several families. Soon the equations within the brahmins changed based on the control over property and they split into two groups. The youths family with more property was regarded as the nau aana pattidar, and native brahmin families who had less property were termed the saat aana pattidar. This nomenclature based on the groups landholdings still exists in Charthari. Both the groups also have distinct gotras (clans). The two groups fought often over property and the saat aanas were more powerful due to their larger numbers. As a strategy, the nau aanas approached a community of ghters (not much information is available about the history of this community) known as Pakadiha to ght on their side and also helped them settle in the village. This community was believed to be from a lower caste and initially inter-dining was prohibited with them. Gradually through the process of Sanskritisation they became a part of the village and were assimilated into the brahmin community. This group settled down in a separate area known as the Pakadiha tola (a tola is a habitat) and even today they are considered as inferior brahmins. The nau aanas became zamindars and thus more powerful and dominant. Later on, apart from these brahmin groups, one more community of brahmin priests came and settled in this village and as of now they too have split into different families. Thus within the brahmins there are ve distinct subgroups based on economic power and social status. Not much is known about the history of the Chamar and OBC families. The lower caste groups do not remember much of their history but they do remember the exploitation meted out to their kind by the upper caste groups in the past.
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From the history of the village, it is clear that this village is socially stratied along the lines of caste and that even within the brahmins there are various class dimensions. Religion and Ramlila The villagers are very religious and kirtans and bhajans can be heard on music systems supported by inverters every morning and evening. There are three main temples along with other several small places of worship. One of the temples, the Kuber Nath mandir, even has marble ooring which shines brightly if viewed on Google Earth. This is a recent development, thanks to the initiative of a devotee earning handsomely in Delhi. Just 20 metres from the temple is a tola of a lower caste group, with makeshift houses and no sanitation facilities. Another temple, Samay Mata ka Sthan, has become famous for warding off evil spirits and other diseases which are most probably forms of mental illnesses. The yagya, a nine-day event organised during Ram Navami, has become an annual feature and the self-declared purohit (priest) of the temple earns handsomely as a result. The village also has its own Ramlila mandali (troupe) which is very old and famous in the region. This mandali performs the Ramlila annually and without exception all the major roles are played by the brahmins while the evil and not-so-important characters are left to the brahmin children or adults from the OBC families. Thus only a brahmin boy can become Ram and an OBC adult can be merely part of the vaanar sena (army of monkeys) or act as one of the rakshas (demons). A nautanki group is roped in every year to perform llers in terms of dance, songs and enacting of short dramas, during the nine-day event, and the female characters (royalty) like Sita, Surpanakha, etc, are played by the nautanki male or female artists. The dalits are merely part of the audience and are never allowed to perform. For the last two years, the local Member of Parliament Jagdambika Pal has made it a point to visit this important Ramlila. At the end a procession is taken out on a dummy pushpak vimaan (a mythological

vehicle used by Ravana), but like the Lakshman rekha which prohibited Sita from stepping out of the boundary created by Lakshman, this procession is prohibited from crossing the jaati rekha (caste line) of the Babhan Toli (habitat of brahmins) and entering the chamtolia (habitat of Chamars) created by the brahmanical mindset. The village was earlier a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but now, one section of the brahmins continues to support the BJP while the other has aligned with the Samajwadi Party (SP). The dalit families support the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and while they are fully aware that the brahmins can no longer impose restrictions on their access to temples they do not visit the temples very often. The village boasts of a number of graduates, postgraduates, engineers and doctors but all of them are brahmins. Around 15 villagers have joined the Indian Army, taken up teaching jobs or have found government jobs while one is in the Indian Forest Service (IFS). But again, all of them are brahmins. Only one individual from the Chamar community holds a government job, that of a forest guard. Of late, some students from the OBC families are pursuing graduation and engineering courses but this number has still not crossed the single digit. There is not a single graduate from the dalit community. History of Exploitation The village has around ve ex-zamindar families who are the most powerful and dominant group. One often hears of exploitative stories of the past decades when these families forced many of the OBC families to migrate to other villages or to shift their homes to other areas, and occupied their property. There is a great class difference between the exzamindar families and the other not-sowell-off families from the brahmin community. In the past, many brahmins from poor families used to work as cooks or as helpers in the zamindar homes. Historically, these families were also exploited by the zamindar brahmin families and this had forced the youth from the poor brahmin families to migrate to
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Mumbai in as early as the 1930s and start working in the textile mills there. As a result of this traditionally acrimonious relationship between the two classes of brahmins, a silent tussle continues between the ex-zamindar brahmins and the emerging lower middle and middle-class brahmins. Due to the exploitation and lack of employment opportunities, the dalit and OBC youth also began migrating and were initially guided and supported by the brahmins who had already settled in Mumbai. Gradually, the scale of the migration increased and in spite of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) the youth and middle-aged male members from the lower class brahmin families and OBC and dalit families migrate to Mumbai, Delhi, parts of Gujarat and now also to southern states to work in exploitative conditions. Most of them come to Charthari to celebrate Holi. Celebrations Begin The oppressive caste system is well integrated and embedded in Hindu rituals and festivals and Holi is no exception. Instead, year after year Holi celebrations are becoming much more complex. Apart from negatively affecting the environment, the celebrations also increase the ecological footprint besides exploiting the lower caste groups and women. The Holi fever starts with the celebration of Basant Panchami and from this day onwards, the prosperous brahmin families start inviting the fagua mandali (in these parts Holi songs are also known as fagua songs) or Holi mandali to their homes, where the mandali sings for nearly two to three hours at the hosts venue, generally after dinner. In turn the host has to arrange for tea and snacks and other facilities like lighting and, of late, a sound system. The mandali generally consists of 10 to 12 youth members from brahmin families who are well-versed in Holi songs and who also act as mentors to the adolescent youth who follow their music meticulously. This informal but closed group ensures that the genre continues under the patronage of brahmins. The audience consists of the male members of the
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host family and other male members generally from the brahmin families. As patriarchy is very strong, women and girls cannot be seen in the audience and even the female members of the host family remain in purdah merely hearing the songs from inside the house. If they wish to watch the mandali performing, they have to look through the gaps in the windows or doors. The performance continues for a month until the day of Holi. The jajmani system plays a key role in each of the festivals and rituals celebrated here and the mechanisms developed under it take away even the meagre benets that the service providers might receive. The jajmani relationship, as dened by Mayer (1993), is the exclusive property right possessed by a member of an artisan or servant caste to serve a specic patron family and Karanth (1987) says that under jajmani relationship, exchange of goods and services exists between the specialists on the one hand, and the patrons who own the land, on the other and such patrons are also members of specic castes with a superior ritual status. In this village, apart from helping in cleaning the patrons houses, a day or two prior to the burning of the Holika pyre, the women from the barbers family visit their respective jajmans house (patron brahmins house) and apply uptan or bukwa (a paste made up of turmeric, mustard, etc) on all the female members of the house. The dried paste removed from the body is thrown into the Holika pyre to be burnt along with other waste from the house. It is believed that this helps to ward off the evil spirits and diseases. The Kabeera Songs There is a common venue to the northeast of the villages outskirts where the communal Holika is burnt. At least one family member from each household attends but the privilege is again limited only to the brahmin and OBC families. With the burning of the Holika pyre starts the freedom to use vulgar and abusive language and even make explicitly sexual gestures. A highly vulgar genre of songs known as Kabeera geets belted out at this time.
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A Kabeera song generally starts with Kabeera sa ra ra ra and will have some vulgar rhyming. To cite one example: Kabeera sa ra ra ra Imli ki daar lacha lach fari hai, Andar Chodau Bahar Fauj Khadi hai Kabeera sa ra ra ra Kabeera Sa ra ra ra (The branch of the tamarind tree is full of tamarind, you are getting fucked inside and the army is waiting outside, Kabeera Sa ra ra ra). Not much information is available about these songs or even about why such vulgar verses are termed Kabeera songs. No community is spared this form of vulgarity. However, the degree of vulgarity is manipulated and the most obscene comments and songs are targeted at the OBC and dalit families while the ex-zamindar families are almost exempt from this insulting tradition. One important aspect is that the brahmins can be as abusive with the OBCs and Chamars as they want by merely saying Bura na maano Holi hai (do not take offence, it is Holi after all) but they cannot/would not tolerate the role reversal. Also while the brahmins of the village try to suppress this kind of vulgar comments and behaviour throughout the year on the pretext of values, mores, norms and other social institutions, they sanction exhibition of vulgarity on this day. On Holi, early in the morning the youth again assemble at the place where Holika was burnt the previous night, collect the ashes and go around the village shouting abuses and vulgar comments and singing Kabeera songs. After this around 9 am the Holi players known as toli or mandali start assembling at a commonplace like the old v illage well, and the Holi celebrations begin. Social and class-based differences are conspicuously visible in each of the rituals. In the rst ritual, a dholak (musical instrument) is tied to the waist of a barber who is expected to roam around with the Holi mandali the entire day. The mandali also uses manjeera (a musical instrument). The mandali sings ve Holi songs while circling the well and one or two individuals lead the singing while the others provide
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the chorus and continue circling in a particular rhythm. After singing and playing the ceremonial Holi at the well, the mandali visits every brahmin and OBC house throughout the day. The mandali members are accompanied by other male members from the brahmin and OBC families who go inside each house to sing and play holi in the inner courtyard of the house and then proceed to the next. In houses with no inner courtyards, the mandali sings and plays outside. Visiting OBC houses is just a mere act as the mandali sings not more than one or two Holi songs and hurries on to the next house. The mandali does not visit the chamtolia.2 If a particular brahmin family is traditionally rich, the group will stay there longer singing more the fagua songs and if a brahmin family even though respected, is economically or politically not powerful then the group will leave after singing just one or two songs at the house. It is believed that in the days past a majority of the brahmin families were poor and their houses had no inner courtyards. They could not afford to offer snacks or thandai (a drink made with milk, bhang (cannabis) and dry fruits) to the mandali visiting their house. Therefore, the mandali did not spend much time at these houses despite most of the mandali members belonging to the lower class brahmin families. On the other hand, the ex-zamindar families were rich and powerful and their houses had big inner courtyards. They also arranged for feasts for the mandali. Also many brahmin families depended on the ex-zamindar families for nancial assistance and hence, the mandali as a courtesy (and also under pressure) spent more time and sang more Holi songs at these houses, which slowly became a trend. Of late, there is resentment regarding this practice amongst the youth and the mandali , whose members generally belong to the lower middle class brahmin families. They silently oppose this trend but do not dare to break the shackles. However, this very same group is blind to the more robust discrimination that they inict upon the dalits in their village during Holi celebrations.
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At around 4 pm the celebration enters the last stage. The mandali arrives at one of the ex-zamindar families home that still maintains its zamindari lifestyle and lives in a huge mansion. All the male members of the village assemble in the huge inner courtyard to watch the grand Holi being played. Women from lower caste groups also come here and assemble on the rooftops from where they get to see the mandali playing Holi. Even today, although the numbers have reduced, people from nearby villages continue to visit this house to watch the grand nale of the Holi celebrations. From here, the mandali moves to the Shiva temple where they sing before winding up. Till this time, the barber continues roaming with the group with the dholak around his waist. The revellers return to their homes to bathe and with this the big exploitative day comes to an end. Earlier, this evening bath used to take place in the village pond but that practice has been stopped. While the entire village is engrossed in celebrations, the dalits are engrossed in their daily work. Holi is just another day for them and only their children can be seen playing with colours or with pichkaris (water guns) for some time of the day. Holi and Women As with all other festivals, Holi also means much more work for the women. The tiring week comes to a halt with the preparations for the nal day, i e, the day when everyone plays with colours. This day starts with women getting up very early in the morning, preparing food items and sweets such as gujhia and maalpua and then preparing the coloured water to welcome the Holi mandali. When the mandali comes to the house, all the women of the house hide in their rooms or take shelter on the terrace. From these hideouts the women throw water on the male members playing Holi. Buckets of coloured water prepared in advance are poured on the mandali who continue to sing and dance At the same time, the male members of the house greet all the men who come to the house by applying abeer (a kind of dry colour) and offering paan (betel leaf) and nowadays even packets of guthka

(avoured betel nut). As soon as the mandali leaves the house, Holi is over for the female members and they are again absorbed in cleaning the house. Unlike cities, due to the purdah, women and girls here do not go out and play Holi with each other. If permitted at all, they can play with each other inside their houses, which seldom happens or they play with small children who might visit the house. There is no system of women socialising by visiting each others houses and sharing greetings and sweets as happens in middleclass urban societies. Conclusions The celebration of Holi in Charthari is illustrative of the reality that caste, gender and class remain one of the important socio-economic dimensions of our festivals. Festivals are merely opportunities to maintain the oppressive and exploitative status quo such as the jajmani relations. Such celebrations really cannot be termed festivals.
Notes
1 2 http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/ taskforce/inter/inter_reg.pdf Nomenclatures such as Chamtolia given to habitat of lower caste groups is itself manifestation of caste-based oppression as the brahmin toli remains Babhan Toli but the Chamar Toli becomes Chamtolia.

References
Garia, P S (2008): Baseline Survey in the Minority Concentrated Districts of UP (Report of Siddharthnagar District), Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow (Supported by Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India). Karanth, G K (1987): New Technology and Traditional Rural Institutions, Case of Jajmani Relations in Karnataka in Surinder S Jodhka (ed.), Village Society (103-117), (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan), (2012). Mayer, Peter (1993): Inventing Village Tradition: The Late 19th Century Origins of the North Indian Jajmani System Modern Asian Studies, May, Vol 27, No 2, pp 357-95, Cambridge University Press.

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