Periscope Why festivals are important for India
Festivals, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are the essence of social life in India. “Festivals connect us, fill us with enthusiasm and make us dream,” he said at Dussehra (victory) events in the capital as the country celebrated, though its diverse social communities, the victory of good over evil.
These were celebrated variously through “song, dance and drama” which, as the prime minister said, “are inseparably connected with festivals of our country”.
India has often been called a land of festivals, with people of its multiple religions, who speak its myriad languages and are born of its million cultural streams that define its unique syncretism, celebrate one festival or the other round the year, often giving the impression to outsiders that the country is on a perpetual festive/holiday mode. “In Indian culture, there was a time when there used to be a festival every day of the year – 365 festivals in a year – because a festival is a tool to bring life to a state of exuberance and enthusiasm, says Sadhguru, a spiritual leader with a global following. “A largely agricultural society, Indians celebrated everything - from the time of ploughing, to planting to weeding in a way that the whole culture was in a state of perpetual celebration.The gradual advent of invasion, colonialism, modernity and urbanization transmuted the pattern of festivity and today the culture of celebration has slowly diminished and is now only a fraction of the daily festivals
And these festivals are largely plural in nature and open to all faiths and it is not uncommon to find Sikhs, Muslims and Christians participate with gusto in Hindu festivals or Hindus participate avidly in celebrations of other communities like Christmas, Eid and Gurupurab. The secular values of tolerance, harmony and peaceful coexistence make Durga Puja - a festival celebrated by the Bengali community in Bengal and elsewhere in October - an inclusive festival, much like festivals elsewhere in the country.
One of the most popular pujas in Kolkata is at Mohammed Ali Park or at Munshiganj, a predominantly Muslim area in Kidderpore, usually organized by local Muslims. In an article in the Times of India, Shahid Ali, who is the priest at this Durga Puja, is quoted as saying, “I fast for a month during Ramzaan and I also fast for four days during Durga Puja to offer my prayers to Ma Durga.” In fact, the hair of the goddess carved in clay statues is a cottage industry dominated by Muslims while a Muslim girl was worshipped in a Kolkata marquee in one of the sub-rituals of the festival.
Festivals in India need to remain a cross-faith celebration and not exclusive islands of festivity. Since most Indian festivals are religious in orientation, there have been latter-day tendencies to keep them exclusive to the faith and keep out other communities that are seen as socially polluting or their mere presence a sacrilege. Nusrat Jahan, the Trinamool Congress MP in Bengal, was denounced by Islamists for “defaming” Islam when she danced at a Durga Puja marquee in Kolkata with her husband who is a follower of Jainism.
On the same day that Modi spoke, Mohan Bhagwat, the head of RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the ruling BJP and the Hindu nationalist fraternity, spoke in political terms in his annual Dussehra message, saying that the Sangh “does not mince words that India is a Hindu Rashtra (nation)”, but that does not necessarily mean being anti-Muslim.
The concept of majoritarianism or ethnic nationalism has been antithetical to the values of secularism enshrined in the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. As Dr B R Ambedkar, one of the architects of the Constitution, said: “Will India place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country? This much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost forever.”
Festivals are not just a way of cultural self-assurance but a road to national integration and in a global polity turning nativist and exclusionary, it is in the syncretic celebration of India’s festivals that the country must find its true redemption and remain an exemplar in multicultural coexistence for the world.
India has often been called a land of festivals, with people of its multiple religions, who speak its myriad languages and are born of its million cultural streams that define its unique syncretism, celebrate one festival or the other round the year, often giving the impression to outsiders that the country is on a perpetual festive/holiday mode