Hooked on tradition
A festival in rural Bengal, celebrated to usher in a bountiful harvest, is marked by some dramatic but bizzare rituals.
THE Charak and Gajan festival is to rural Bengal what Durga Puja is to Kolkata. Siva and Parvathi (incarnated as Kali) are at the centre of the celebration held on Chaitra Sankranti, the last day (April 14) of the month of Chaitra, which is followed by Poila Baisakh, or Bengali New Year. On the occasion, village folk atone for their sins and seek blessings for a bountiful harvest in the coming year, The three-day festival, also celebrated in Tripura and Assam, showcases some mind-numbing rituals on the last day.
In one of these, young men and boys, with hooks pierced into the skin on their backs, swing by ropes tied to a bamboo pole that rotates on the tip of a “charak tree”, which is any thick and tall tree trunk rising to the sky. The men do not go into a trance but say they are responding to the call of Siva. They chant his name as they are propelled round and round the tree trunk. They hug children to themselves, as a way of blessing them.
In another ritual, women lie on the ground, in a row, waiting to receive Siva’s blessings, which comes from Gajan Sanyasis who, said to be possessed by Siva, walk on the women.
Gajan, a portmanteau word from gram (village) and janasadharan (ordinary folk), is also when children and villagers paint their faces white, black, blue or red, dress up as Kali or Siva, and seek biksha or alms while breaking into dance, song or prayer. The extremely artistic face painting is done by villagers who have learnt the skill from their parents and who will pass it on to their children. It’s the kind of hereditary skill shown by the villagers who pierce hooks and spears on the backs and faces of men without spilling a single drop of blood.
Different regions of West Bengal have their own unique Gajan rituals. In the Kalighat area of Kolkata, for instance, sanyasis have a fire ritual where they tie a post or pole to their hips, which is then set on fire. They use dhuno or frankincense to fan the flames. The dance is done facing the temple where Siva resides.
In some villages, the men dance with human skulls and even partly decomposed bodies. Sanyasis pick up bodies and skulls, including those of children, from burial grounds, quite illegally. Often, they get the skulls before the festival and hide them outside the village. The use of skulls is believed to have its origins in tantrik Buddhism, later adopted by some Hindu sects.
At the end of these three colourful albeit gory days, rural Bengal considers that the new year has had an auspicious start. The villagers bring the Charak down, in anticipation of when it will rise again the next year. m