SANKRANTI: THE HARVEST AND THE ANCESTORS
The Sankranti (sankranti) festival differs in numerous ways from the village goddess and Gairamma festivals though it shares many fundament- al elements that express hierarchical tribute and social interdependence. While the village goddess and Gairamma festivals are mobilizations of entire settlements to worship particular dieties, Sankranti is more centred on ancestors and caste groups. This is not to say that deities do not feature in these rituals. Rama is honoured by daily pujas and occasional bhajanas in the preceding month. At various times the shrines of village goddesses and balaperanțālu are the venues of fairs. Sankranti is notable for the broad range of its interpenetrating associations. It marks the beginning of the auspicious half of the year (uttarayana punya kalam or uttarayanam), celebrates the completion of the harvest, involves the annual honouring of the household ancestors, and includes the annual puja to domestic animals, occupational tools and vehicles.
We now describe the sequence of the main ritual events associated with Sankranti. It will be observed that far from being a single day’s festival, this is an entire season of ceremonies which extends from the end of November into early February. This is because the rituals are intimately linked to the rhythm of agricultural activities which intensifies over several months and reaches a climax with the harvesting of the crops. The major rituals leading up to, centring on, and following Sankranti consist of: the first harvest, pidantuta; the month of activities called nelaganta, preced- ing Sankranti and during which the harvest takes place; the three princ- ipal days of Sankranti itself, known as bhogi, sankranti, and kanumu; and the ensuing season of fairs, tirtham, beginning with Aripaka Revenue Village’s own Ravalamma Tirtham.
The first harvest ritual, called pidantuta, takes place toward the end of November at a time determined by consulting the astrological almanac or someone adept in its use. Different families perform it on quite differ- ent dates; there is no single specific day for all. On the chosen day, any male member of a household (even a young boy) takes a chicken to his rice field. He circumambulates the field with the chicken and repeatedly says the mantram (magical words), “pole, pole.” It is believed that these words cause the crop to increase. He stops, beheads the sacrificial chicken and drips its blood on to the field at a spot where he cuts the first three stalks of rice. These stalks with their ripe heads of grain are taken back to the village and offered first to his family ancestors in the god corner inside his house. The performance of pidantuța serves as the official auspicious beginning of the harvesting even if the actual work is done later on.
Nelaganta, the month preceding Sankranti, begins in mid-December when the Sun enters the zodiacal constellation of Sagitarius (dhanu). This is the start of the zodiacal ‘month’ of dhanu known as dhanurmasam. Dhanu month is considered sacred to Vishnu. In the same way that a person who dies during the lunar month of kārtika, sacred to Siva, is said to go directly to kailāsa, Siva’s heaven, a person dying during dhanurmāsam goes directly to vaikuntham, Vishnu’s heaven. The term nelaganja (‘month bell’) refers to the ringing of a bell at the Yatapalem Rama temple every morning. Strictly speaking, the term sankranti or sankramanam refers to the day on which the Sun enters a new zodiacal constellation. There are thus 12 sankrantis of each year. Dhanu sankranti is the beginning of nela- ganta and is followed by makara sankranti (makara, ‘Capricorn’) which is the day of the festival known simply by the designation ‘Sankranti’. In 1970, dhanu sankranti fell on the sixteenth of December which was caviti, the fourth and least auspicious day of the lunar fortnight. To avoid start- ing on the unlucky day of caviti, nelaganța was begun on the fifteenth. Nelaganta begins with a morning puja at the Rama temple. First, the Jangam půjāri puts new strings of mango leaves (toranam, ‘festoon of leaves’) over the temple doorways, freshly cow-dungs the temple platform, and applies elaborate auspicious muggu diagrams on it. Then several village Barbers and a Jangam begin drumming, each on their own distinct- ive drums. The Jangam pujari performs puja to Rama by breaking a coco- nut and lighting an oil lamp and incense. He lights a camphor flame (harati) as he rings a bell. Bystanders do a dandam gesture of salute to the flame and later receive prasādam from the offerings. This early morning puja with its drumming and bell-ringing recurs daily until Sankranti day. A fresh series of muggu diagrams is applied each time.
Another feature of the nelaganța period is a morning bhajana procession in which lively devotional hymns are sung by Gavara men to the accom- paniment of finger cymbals and a mridangam-type drum (maddili). The
and whose wife has died and her mother has come to live with him, his wife’s mother is the person who conducts a puja to honour his wife’s father. Both balaperanțalu and perantālu are specially remembered in the Sankranti household shrine pujas by Gavaras. Sometimes they are represented by a separate mark alongside the main turmeric- and vermillion-smeared panel on the wall forming the back of the shrine. These often resemble tridents, though in some cases they are represented by an additional turmeric panel. There is much idiosyncratic variation in the design of these which does not seem linked to family, clan, or caste.
Certain wealthier, important Gavara households employ a Brahman priest to conduct a worship of ancestors. The offerings in these Brahman- ical ancestor pūjas are also made on three or five leaf plates but are of raw rather than cooked food. This is because the Brahman priest, usually the one from Subbavaram who is utilized for marriages, takes this as part of his payment for performing the ceremony. The Brahmanical ancestor puja does not supplant the household shrine puja, however. Rather, it is in addition to the household shrine ancestor pūja.
Castes other than Gavaras have somewhat different practices on this day. Brahmans, Rajus, and Komatis conduct ancestor worship in the morning with the aid of a Brahman priest. Their household shrines, however, are only for deity worship and are never associated with family ancestors. This contrasts sharply with the usage of all the other castes in the village including the Carpenters. Brahmans, Rajus, and Komatis also commemo- rate anniversaries of the actual day of death of their ancestors. This was almost unknown among other castes, though some Gavaras claimed to perform a death anniversary ceremony with a Brahman. These were the same half-dozen or so who held Brahmanical ceremonies on Sankranti as well. Numerous castes dependent upon the Gavaras have their main house- hold shrine pujas either in the evening, such as the Malas, or on the next day, such as the Barbers. Washermen have no puja on either day and per- form their ceremony of worshipping the tools of their occupation (done by most castes on kanumu) several weeks later.
For the rest of the day in the village, castes dependent upon or subordi- nate to the Gavaras go around begging. This activity gives the Gavaras the ability to perform virtuous acts (punyam) of charity through giving away some of their wealth. Malas of Aripaka and Yatapalem and Madigas of Yatapalem cach have distinctive drumming and dance styles which they display while begging from house to house for husked raw rice. Barbers and Washermen are given a measure (kuncam) of unhusked rice as partial pay- ment in kind by their employers. This payment of annual salary is known as pedda jitam, ‘big salary.’ Barbers, Washermen, Settigollu, and Weavers all go round begging for small hand-outs of uncooked rice and fried millet. Another activity that always occurs on Sankranti day is the gathering of Gavara elders at the Yatapalem Rama temple. The Headman, Pan- chayat Vice-President, and prominent members of the Malla, Rapeti, and Saragadam clans as well as the most elderly men of other Gavara clans sit on a platform adjacent to the temple. A common topic of conversation among them is the state of the temple’s finances. The temple is also the site of a bhajana in the evening.
The following day is kanumu the highlights of which are the worship of occupational implements and a fair. The first activity is the taking of Yatapalem’s temple candelabrum to Kottapalem early in the morning for the collection of the annual temple levy. Every village Rama temple has its candelabrum, bhajana cettu (bhajana, ‘religious hymn’; certu, ‘tree’) which is moved about within and between villages acting as a kind of representative of Rama and of its home village.10 This large brass cande- labrum, topped with a hamsa, a mythical bird, is so named because of its multiple stems or branches each of which bears an oil lamp.
The Yatapalem temple candelabrum is taken to Kottapalem accom- panied by the temple’s Jangam pūjāri, a Washerman hitting a gong, and several prominent Gavara elders, particularly the Panchayat Vice-Presi- dent. Other Gavaras arrive later to join the bhajana singing and it is not uncommon to hear strong complaints if Kottapalem residents feel in- sufficient numbers of high-ranking Gavara elders are in attendance. As the candelabrum approaches, areas are purified and prepared with muggu diagrams a cross-hatch pattern on a cow-dunged circle-in front of selected houses. The candelabrum is placed down on these and the singing proceeds. Housewives of the neighbouring houses come to present their respects, doing puja and dandam gestures to the candelabrum, and pay their annual levy (canda) of 50 paise. This levy goes to the Yatapalem Rama temple. Residents of Kottapalem are not required to contribute to any other festival levy during the year.
The presence of the temple candelabrum in Kottapalem acts as though it were a statue of Rama, effectively giving darśanam-transferring bene- ficial influences by its presence and sight-via its movement through the streets of the settlement. The fact that it is like Rama also transforms the activity from appearing as though Gavaras are going begging from lower caste people. They are begging but the connotation is that they are subordinating themselves on behalf of Rama.” This turns their begging into an act of tribute. On their part, the inhabitants are also paying tribute, to Rama, to the Gavaras, to Yatapalem and its temple. And through these tributes, categorized as punyam, acts of virtuous charity, villagers believe the gods will act kindly toward them in the coming year.
Begging and charitable giving is also a major activity in Yatapalem on the morning of kanumu. The Jangam pujari goes around the village beg- ging. He rings his bell and blows on his conch-shell trumpet, stopping at houses of families which practise pakruti funerary rituals. At these, he chants in honour of the family ancestors. In return, he is presented with handfuls of husked uncooked rice. Harijans circulate in caste groups begging for cooked food. On occasion, Gavaras do not give it to them right away but rather emphasise their dependency by mildly taunting them and making them beg. Malas from Yatapalem and Aripaka, Madigas from Yatapalem and the neighbouring village of Bangarampalem (the latter come to the village to participate in joint festivities at Yatapalem in the afternoon fair) play on their distinctive drums-a large shallow disk- like drum for Madigas and a ceramic bowl with a drumhead type for Malas performing dances to the beat. In addition, Barbers and others circulate in a less ordered fashion, soliciting baksheesh from likely donors in order to buy sara, country rum.
In the late morning on kanumu, numerous castes perform tributes to the tools of their professions, which through the rituals are identified with their ancestors. Each caste performs its own set of ceremonies. Gavaras, for instance, do a puja to their bullock carts and worship their cattle. They decorate their carts with whitewash or turmeric dots and lines and drip on it the blood of a chicken which they have sacrificed. They smear the horns of their cattle with oil and turmeric and place fried rice- flour confection rings on their horns. These rings are removed from the horns and eaten as prasadam. In addition, women of some households, often those with members named after the goddess Lakshmi, perform a mahalaksmi devata puja which entails the lighting of two lines of oil lamps (one with eleven and another with five), the placing of five turmeric wads with vermillion spots on them, three leaf plates with food, incense sticks, bananas, būrelu, a coconut and other raw food items along the west wall adjacent to the household shrine. On the west wall is a turmeric patch with three parallel vertical lines in vermillion.
Carpenters (members of the Kamsali caste) place their tools at their household shrines. They wash and decorate their household imple- ments-grindstones and rice husking mortar-with muggus and vermillion dots. They put their hammers, chisels, anvils and other implements together on a muggu at the shrine and perform puja to them-by applying turmeric and vermillion, placing offerings of tulasi leaves, breaking a coconut and pouring its milk on the tools and the puja area, wafting in- cense, lighting a camphor flame, and doing dandam gestures of salute. Each Carpenter household performs a similar puja at the smithy of their nearby work area which is freshly spread with cow-dung water and elaborately decorated with muggu designs. Small panels of turmeric with vermillion dots (botlu) are placed on the back wall of the smithy’s hearth. Then a sacrificial chicken is washed with water and fed some of the sweet rice pudding (paramannam) offering at the household shrine. It is beheaded and its blood spilt on the tools at the household shrine and then outside on to the smithy. Household members next eat the meals that have been placed as offerings at the household shrine, thereby partaking as prasādam the food offered first to their ancestors. The Carpenters do not remove their tools from their household shrines until a ceremony seven days later.
The Oil Pressers (Telukula), perform puja to their oil presses and draught bullocks. Notable features of this puja include the application of a turmeric panel with vermillion horizontal lines and dots (similar to panels at household shrines) on the huge pestle of the oil press. Turmeric is also smeared on the legs of the bullocks. A string with a turmeric root tied to it is secured to the pestle and another to one of the bullock’s horns. A chicken is sacrificed and its blood is put on the pestle, the vat- like mortar, and the pressing-shed roof.
Barbers (Mangalis) do a puja to their tool boxes. The men of the Barber households place the boxes that hold their razors, scissors, mirror, and water cup together on an area in front of their houses that has been pre- pared with a muggu. The tool boxes have been decorated with smears of whitewash and vermillion. The Barbers perform a pūja to the boxes and sacrifice a chicken over them, placing its blood on each box. Every Barber immediately takes his box and places it at his household shrine where meals are next placed as offerings. Family members then make their meal of these food offerings.
Unlike other castes, the Washermen (Cakali) do not worship their work implements at the time of Sankranti or Kanumu. They do have such a ritual, known as ballala panduga, ‘festival of the beating stones’, but it is performed several weeks later (not on any fixed date). This ceremony resembles other castes’ worship of implements. They decorate the pots they boil clothes in and the stones they beat them dry on with whitewash and vermillion, touching them with the blood of a sacrificial chicken which is later cooked for a festival meal.
Weavers (Salis) and Settigollu (or Yatas) are castes which no longer practise their traditional occupations and have therefore discontinued worshipping the tools of their former crafts. In villages in which weaving is still a viable occupation, weavers perform a puja to their looms. Weavers also have a special caste festival at Telugu New Year (ugadi) when they celebrate rituals in honour of their patron sage, Bhavana Rishi. The Setti- gollu abandoned traditional methods of toddy-tapping due to the prohibi-
tion of the production of spirits imposed long ago but later rescinded. On the afternoon of kanumu day the villagers celebrate the Yatapalem Tirtham. This begins a cycle of fairs that lasts for three weeks into the beginning of February. The Yatapalem Tirtham exhibits most of the typical features of tirthams in the area. First an invitation is sent to the elders of Bangarampalem, a predominantly Gavara neighbouring village. The actual letter of invitation is sent from one panchayat president to another though signed, ‘the village elders’ (grama yajamānulu). At the site of the fair, in the square in front of the Yatapalem Rama temple, commercial stalls are set up. Next comes the ceremonial arrival and greeting of the guest village’s candelabrum procession. The Bangarampalem Rama temple’s candelabrum is taken in procession from that village by its villagers who wend their way along paths through the fields. The procession is accompanied by drummers of the Barber, Madiga and Jangam castes in addition to a Washerman who hits a gong with a stick. The Panchayat President of Aripaka Revenue Village, the Gavara of Mallolla Pakalu, welcomes the Bangarampalem pro- cession with drummers from Yatapalem. He presents the Bangarampalem Panchayat President with pan (killi, betel leaf and areca nut) and performs a puja to their temple candelabrum by breaking a coconut, lighting an oil lamp, placing offerings of bananas and coins, and lighting a camphor flame. The Bangarampalem candelabrum is then escorted to the Yatapalem Rama temple and set down next to the Yatapalem candelabrum.
Villagers gather in the square, excitedly showing off their new clothes which they have just removed from their household shrine offerings. Gavara elders sit on a mat at the temple observing the festivities somewhat aloof from the crowd. Among them are the Panchayat President, the Panchayat Vice-President, the Headman, the Sirsipalli Headman (a Rapeti clansman of Yatapalem and brother of the Panchayat Vice-President), and the Banga- rampalem Panchayat President and Headman.
Among the activities that take place are an active bhajana around the temple candelabra. The singers, from both Yatapalem and Bangarampalem, incorporate dance-like movements as they sing while moving in a circle together accompanying themselves with finger cymbals (talālu), to the music of a man on a drum and one playing a harmonium. At some distance from the bhajana is an active cockfight (kodi pandem). Lively betting goes on in the crowded circle of men who form an improvised ring. Meanwhile, a stream of housewives, representing all castes from Komatis to Madigas, arrives at the temple to present offerings to Rama. And along the sides of the square and the main street leading up to it villagers patronise market stalls selling such items as balloons, red toy sunglasses, tea, sweets, cigars, betel nut, vegetables, and fruit.12 In larger tirthams, gambling stalls are prominent with roulette-type canvas game boards painted with pictures of animals that are operated with dice or cards. In such larger tirthams rent for these stalls and gambling concessions is paid to the village.
The fair ends around sunset. The visiting village’s candelabrum departs in a procession with drumming, followed by the departure of the other revellers who return home for dinner. The day’s activities do not end here, however. In the evening, after villagers have their meals, there is a bhajana with the Yatapalem temple candelabrum in the Settigollu quarter of Yata- palem. Just as in the morning when the candelabrum was taken to Kotta- palem, an annual levy of 50 paise is collected from each Settigollu house- hold for the village Rama temple.
There follows on subsequent days a cycle of tirthams in nearby villages. The Yatapalem temple candelabrum is officially sent to eleven of these (see Table 29). Individual villagers might attend any or all of these and additional ones in villages where they have relatives. Apart from those at which attendance is important because of the official visit by the village’s temple candelabrum, the kind of entertainment being offered often influ- ences people’s decisions. The greatest lure for big crowds is the staging of dramas, drāmālu.
Throughout the period of fairs, handbills on brightly coloured paper that invite the public to village fairs with dramas are widely circulated via relatives and friends or at markets and along bus routes. In addition to offering bhajanas, stick-twirling displays, stick-hitting dances, and bullock cart races with prizes of gold medals, they proclaim the day, date, and time of well-known dramas, often listing the cast of characters with actors’
names.
Villages which are usually the scenes of the most heavily attended and popular all-night dramas tend to have wealthy individual patrons who stake claims to status in their village and the entire region by sparing no expense to sponsor troupes of highly skilled actors from as far away as Vijayawada.13 Gotivada, located between Aripaka Revenue Village and Subbavaram, is the site of one of the most popular tirthams in the imme- diate vicinity of the village. There, the president of the regional panchayat heads (the Panchayat Samiti Block President), a Kapu and owner of a local inter-city bus, annually sponsors a series of entertainments at the site of a monument in honour of his mother, who died an auspicious woman, and his father. There the entertainment consists of a burra katha (see Table 29), story-telling by a troupe of two men and one woman who accompany themselves on a drum with a string attached to the underside of its head and a stringed instrument; a vidhinaṭakam, an old form of traditional story apparently declining in popularity and only popular among older men, performed by three men and a boy who enact tales, such as Satyabhamakalapam that tells of rivalry between Krishna’s wives,
with virtuoso singing and accompaniment on the madilli drum; and a drama of the variety encountered in grama devata festivals. In 1972, comic intermissions during the drama were provided by the famous witty come- dian and recording star, the Dimili Thin Man (dimili poḍugu manişi). As can be seen in Table 29 there is a fair hosted by the residents of Yatapalem and Mallolla Pakalu three days after the tirtham at the Rama temple in Yatapalem. It is in honour of the gramadevata Ravalamma at the site of her temple south of the road between Mallolla Pakalu and Aripaka. While many activities at this fair such as bhajana, market, cock- fight, and gambling are commonly associated with all tirthams, there are certain features that are unique and relate to customs exclusively associ- ated with this village goddess.
For the Ravalamma Fair certain Gavara families and clans have special duties. The Ravalamma temple is whitewashed by a Saragadam man whose paternal grandfather financed the construction of the temple build- ing. The Surisetti clan of Gavaras expresses its special ties with Raval- amma by being responsible for paying the Madiga drummers and per- forming special puūjas to the brass horses of the goddess which are carried in procession by the Settigollu. The Settigollu of Kottapalem and Yata- palem jointly participate in this endeavour with four residents from each. settlement carrying each of the brass horses which are mounted on wooden carrying poles. During the morning and early afternoon before the fair the Jangam pūjāri and Madiga drummers go about the village begging. When it is time to initiate the fair, the horses of the goddess are removed from storage in the Yatapalem Rama temple, washed and worshipped and then taken in procession accompanied with drummers to the fairgrounds next to the Ravalamma temple. When they reach the temple the proces- sion circumambulates it and puja is performed to the goddess inside. The fair then takes place with Bangarampalem’s temple candelabrum next to that of Yatapalem. Though many Aripaka residents attend the fair and participate in its activities, the Aripaka candelabrum is not present.
After the fair ends when it gets dark, the two temple candelabra make a number of politically significant stops along their return route. The Yatapalem candelabrum is taken to Mallolla Pakalu for bhajana singing in front of various houses, particularly the house of the Panchayat Presi- dent, Malla Jogi Naidu. Only then does it return to Yatapalem. The Bangarampalem temple candelabrum is taken to the house in Yatapalem of the Gavara man of the Rapeti clan who holds the offices of Headman and Record Keeper of Sirsipalli, a Settigollu hamlet near Bangarampalem. Since Sirsipalli holds joint festival celebrations with the Gavara-dominat- ed village of Bangarampalem and shares its Rama temple, the Banga- rampalem temple candelabrum represents Sirsipalli as well. For this reason it makes a special stop at the house of the Sirsipalli Headman. Similarly, at the end of the Aripaka tirtham that takes place three days after the Ravalamma tirtham, Yatapalem’s candelabrum makes a stop at the house of a village office holder. The Yatapalem candelabrum which is set down beside the Aripaka candelabrum during the fair is taken to the house of the Village Record Keeper (karnam) before being returned to Yatapalem.
COMMENTARY ON SANKRANTI RITUALS: BASIC SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS AND THEIR REFERENCES TO OTHER RITUALS
The techniques of puja are those which we have encountered in other ritual contexts. Their repetition strengthens their validity and expands their range of multiple associations. For instance, we note that the use of turmeric and vermillion recurs in numerous contexts (e.g. to represent elders or dieties, or to consecrate offerings). We also observe the repetition of acts and concepts in puja, such as the use of muggu diagrams; the use of the dandam (namaskaram) salute; the offering of praise (bhajana songs); the lighting of incense, oil lamps, and camphor (hārati); and the eating of foods that have first been consecrated through being offered to deities or ancestors (the concept of prasadam). Processions of temple candelabra draw on the concept of darśanam, the transference of auspiciousness through sight or presence, which itself is part of a complex of ideas. encountered in other rituals which employ the notion of the influence of sight. Concepts of time-the importance of beginnings and the power of stars and planets that ‘rule’ different times-are similarly reiterated in Sankranti as the beginning of the astrologically auspicious half of the year.
Another feature of the Sankranti rituals is the recurrence of sequences of three. While the number three does not seem to have particular signifi- cance in itself, its repetition evokes correspondences between rituals on numerous levels. The main Sankranti festival is tripartite, divided into three days: Bhogi, Sankranti, and Kanumu. So little takes place on Bhogi that it almost seems as though it exists only to give a three-day structure to the festival. The entire festival season can also be seen as a series of three (though this is not explicitly conceptualised as such by the villagers): (1) the season of preliminaries (nelaganța), (2) the three focal days of Sankranti, and (3) the season of fairs. In the pujas at the household shrines too, we find sequences or quantities of three: three horizontal vermillion lines on the turmeric panel, three wads of turmeric with ver- million dots on them (moddulu), three leaf plates of food offerings, three clockwise circlings of the offerings with a camphor flame (hārati) etc. These tripartite structures suggest correspondences with life cycle rituals
and van Gennep’s classic three stages of rites de passage, namely, separa- tion, transition, and incorporation (van Gennep 1960: 11). The marriage rituals are divided into three main days, and funerary rituals can be con- ceived of as three stages the first concerned with the immediate disposal of the body, the second being the year-long transition into becoming an ancestor during which relatives are under the restrictions of death pollu- tion, and the third achieved with the installation of an ancestor or relative into the household shrine.
This leads us to consider other types of cross references between rituals. For instance, as a worship of ancestors, Sankranti is actually part of individual households’ and subclans’ life cycle rituals. The evocation of the memory of deceased family members can be quite poignant at the time of the Sankranti puja to the family ancestors. People, particularly women, become tearfully emotional when they recall and honour their departed parents, husbands, wives, and children.
At the time of the puja at the household shrine, family peranțālu receive special attention by having separate marks in turmeric on the wall. This enhances the ideology of auspicious womanhood and ultimately a whole series of beliefs about female roles in society. The ideology of the pēranțālu is further associated with Sankranti and the successful harvest through the distribution of turmeric and vermillion to peranțalu at the end of the first rice-cooking ceremony on tolivaram, the first Saturday after the begin- ning of nelaganja.
Perantalu and balaperanțalu are further linked with Sankranti through their shrines being the venues of fairs in the post-Sankranti season. Village goddess temples are similarly sites of such fairs. A further similarity between Sankranti fairs and village goddess festivals is the performance of popular operatic dramas. Both appear in the ritual context of fulfilment at the conclusion of the main worship.
Agricultural rituals are intimately linked to Sankranti since the latter is an expression of the completion of the harvest. The first rice harvesting ceremony leads directly to the first rice-cooking ceremony which is an integral part of the pre-Sankranti season.
SYMBOLIZATION OF HIERARCHY IN SANKRANTI
We now turn to consider the way in which the Sankranti rituals embody an ideology of hierarchical authority in various aspects of social rela- tions-relationships with ancestors (and hence, elders), political leaders, inferior castes, and superior castes.
The Sankranti rituals teach the lesson that well-being is closely associ- ated with submission to elders (both living and deceased elders are referred to by the same term, peddalu ‘elders’, ‘great ones’, or ‘big ones’). One gives thanks to them for the successful completion of the harvest and gives them precedence in enjoying its fruits. One takes one’s meals after they do, symbolically eating their leavings in the same idiom used to express hierarchy between people, such as between husband and wife. Even new items of clothing are first offered to them and Sankranti is the season when most new clothes are bought for the coming year.
In castes with hereditary occupations there is an additional identification of ancestors with well-being through their caste trade, which incontestably does derive from their ancestors. In the pujas on Kanumu day, direct symbolic links are made between a caste’s occupational implements and its members’ household shrines. For instance, Carpenters put a shrine-like turmeric panel on their smithies and place all their moveable tools into the household shrine. Barbers do the same. The Oil Pressers, who cannot move their vats, apply a turmeric panel with horizontal vermillion lines on the pestle, identical with the panel on the back wall of their household shrines. Further links of hereditary occupations with ancestors are made by placing the blood of a sacrificial chicken both on the tools and at the household shrine, as is the practice for Carpenters and Barbers for instance. In addition, the meal made from this sacrificial chicken is eaten at the household shrine.
Political authority is expressed in a number of ways in the Sankranti celebrations. First, there is the ostensibly informal gathering of Gavara elders at the temple platform on Sankranti day, to discuss temple finances etc. This echoes the gatherings of elders on other major festival occasions. Their somewhat aloof presence is a testimonial of their being in control.14 There are fewer opportunities for the active assertion of such authority during Sankranti since it does not have the large processions and emotion- ally charged crowds of the village goddess and Gairamma festivals. The post-Sankranti fairs are contexts for such authority to be in evidence, however. And sponsorships of dramas sometimes serve as important legitimators of status.
The movements of the temple candelabra are frequently modes for expressing political relationships. Yatapalem elders who go with the can- delabrum to Kottapalem to exact the annual dues for the Yatapalem Rama temple are thereby asserting their paramountcy over its inhabitants. The invitation and taking of village temple candelabra is also an expression of political authority. It is noteworthy, in this respect, that invitations seem to have been sent primarily to the Panchayat President. It is difficult to assess whether this was because a new Headman had yet to be appointed after the death of the old one or whether it was an indication of the superior authority of the President as a representative leader of the village. This is a significant question since the post of Headman was much older
than the relatively recently introduced Panchayat system. The temple candelabrum is involved in the expression of political rela- tionships in one more way. When the temple candelabrum is brought to the house of a political office holder who lives in another section or settle- ment of the village, it is a sort of tribute to him, a public acknowledge- ment of his position. Thus, when the Yatapalem candelabrum is in Ari- paka for the tirtham it is specially taken to the house of the Village Record Keeper. When it goes to the Ravalamma Fair it makes a special stop in Mallolla Pakalu at the house of the Panchayat President. In a similar way, the Bangarampalem-Sirsipalli candelabrum is taken to the house of the Yatapalem Gavara who holds the official Sirsipalli Head- manship.
Castes dependent upon the Gavaras go about the village in stylised, institutionalised begging on Sankranti, Kanumu, and fair days (i.e. fairs held in one of the settlements of Aripaka Revenue Village: Yatapalem Tirtham, Aripaka Tirtham, Ravalamma Tirtham). Those who serve priestly functions, such as Jangams, are paid in uncooked foodstuffs while occupational and labour castes (Barbers, Washermen, Malas, Madigas) are given handouts in cooked food. Carpenters are notably absent from this begging since they consider themselves to be the highest caste. While some poorer Settigollu might go begging from Gavaras, the Malas and Madigas go begging from Settigollu. In addition to being a time of beg- ging, Sankranti is also an occasion on which many service caste house- holds receive part of their annual payment from their employers in the form of payments in kind. A final feature of the Sankranti festival that makes it an occasion for expressing the unequal relations between castes is the behaviour at fair-ground gambling stalls. Though it is not an inten- tional effect, farmers’ conspicuous spending of cash cannot help but emphasise differences in wealth between castes. Amounts equivalent to a hired labourer’s daily wages are flung down with abandon.
SYMBOLISATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE IN THE SANKRANTI RITUALS
Interdependence is a recurrent theme and feature of the Sankranti rituals. It is particularly important in the social relations between the sexes, within and between castes, and between villages.
The interdependence of the sexes is most clearly evidenced in the indis- pensable role of women in performing the domestic pūjas and preparing food offerings. The muggu decorations in the courtyards and the pūjas at the household shrines are done exclusively by women. Even in the pūjas to occupational implements which are performed by men, wives frequently accompany and assist them.
Sankranti is also a time when married daughters return for a reunion with their parents. Sons-in-law generally accompany them in the first or second year of their marriage. The convention of hospitality to the son- in-law is sometimes a source of tension. Popular magazines published in cities satirise the coming of the son-in-law at Sankranti in their cartoon section. In these, sons-in-law hint they want all sorts of costly things which the father-in-law cannot afford but is also not supposed to refuse. Such tensions, however, are not much pronounced in the village context. Rather, the festival is a time of family reunions with members who live outside the village.
The Sankranti worship of family ancestors is an occasion on which members of the pollution-sharing sub-clans identify with each other by virtue of their sharing prohibitions on doing puja at their house shrines if one of their members has recently died and has not yet been placed among the ancestors. At another level, members of the same caste display unity with each other by synchronizing their various pūjas, whether household or occupational ones. It is a notable feature of Sankranti that different castes perform their pūjas at different times of the day and some even on differ- ent days. Furthermore, certain specialist castes (such as Barbers and Car- penters) do their occupational pujas as a unit at the same time. For ins- tance, the Barbers all put their tool boxes together in front of their houses. Only one chicken is sacrificed and its blood is dripped on all five of their tool boxes.
The entire Sankranti season is replete with occasions on which castes participate together in the ritual activities, for example the Jangams acting as pūjāris, the Barbers and Harijans (Malas and Madigas) drumming, the Washerman gong-beating, and the Settigollu carrying brass horses. Admittedly, only a small number of castes recurs in different contexts, namely Jangams, Barbers, Washermen, Settigollu, Malas, and Madigas. These are, with the exception of the Jangam who acts as a pūjāri, castes that are unquestionably inferior to the Gavaras and also, incidentally, among the castes that eat domestic pork. Castes higher or roughly equal to Gavaras have no special indispensable ritual role. Carpenters, whose caste status is ambiguous, are notably absent. Oil Pressers claim to be in a status not much lower than the Gavaras and are among the same castes that prohibit the eating of domestic pork.
Apart from their special ritual jobs, these dependent castes are promi- nent in house-to-house begging. While begging is an acknowledgement of inferior status, it also entails assumptions about interdependent obliga- tions-that the welfare of poorer, dependent castes is considered to be the responsibility of the higher castes.
An expression of the interdependence of settlements can be discerned in the movement of bhajana groups and temple candelabra. The me lukolupu singers of Yatapalem go to Aripaka and Mallolla Pakalu on the morning of Sankranti day because they feel they are part of the same village. The maintenance of such contacts furthers the feeling of interconnection which would otherwise only remain on a theoretical plane. In a similar way, Kottapalem demonstrates its ties with Yatapalem by paying tribute to Yatapalem’s temple candelabrum on Kanumu day.
The interdependence of neighbouring villages finds expression in the season of fairs. Invitations are sent between settlements and villages, for them to bring their temple candelabra and jointly participate in bhajanas. Thus, the movements of temple candelabra should be viewed as expres- sions of ‘diplomatic relations’ between villages. In the cycle of fairs, Yata- palem’s temple candelabrum goes to Aripaka and six neighbouring villages (Bangarampalem, Adduru, Tekkalapalem, Rayapuram Agraharam, Gali- Bhimavaram, and Gotivada).
It is curious that there does not seem to be a principle of reciprocity since only Bangarampalem attends Yatapalem’s fair. This is partially ex- plained by the fact that Yatapalem’s fair is held on a major festival day, Kanumu, while people in other villages still have their own celebrations to attend and relatives to entertain. Furthermore, the degree of participa- tion by other villages is correlated with the scale of the fair. The scale of a fair depends on whether or not its inhabitants sponsor an all-night drama. Attendance is far higher when there is a drama on the agenda. Some villages are known for staging dramas of higher quality than others and attendance varies accordingly. The decisive factor in quality seems to be monetary expenditure, the ability to hire a professional troupe or at least professional lead players.
The apparent ‘prestige’ of a village’s fair is correlated with wealth and expenditure. However, such expenditure is not necessarily correlated with overall village wealth. For example, Adduru, a Velama-dominated village, has poorer lands than Yatapalem and Aripaka, but its fair is far more widely attended. Rather, it depends on rich individuals who act as sponsors, such as the Headman of Bhogapuram or the Panchayati Samiti Block President in Gotivada. Information is not available on the financ- ing of the Adduru fair. If it is not paid for by a single wealthy patron it is possible that the whole village is motivated to contribute in order to enhance their village’s prestige. They might be particularly keen on this precisely because of the village’s mediocre wealth and relative isolation between several hill ridges.
All of this still does not account for the fact that Yatapalem’s temple candelabrum goes to Aripaka’s fair but not vice versa. Here we must suspect caste status and settlement rivalries, though these are not other- wise overtly expressed.
Rivalry and tribute : society and ritual in a Telugu village in South India by Tapper, Bruce Elliot