Ritual,Performance and Spirituality: Revisiting the Performative Cultures of Chaitra Parva and Purulia Chhau in West Bengal

Introduction

Chhau, ¹ a highly stylized masked dance-drama, is firmly rooted in the tribal, folk, and martial art traditions of Eastern India. During the formative era in a primitive culture, Chhau was ceremonially performed as a ritual dance, conveying the “conquest of fear through the anticipation of victory” (Pani, 1994, p. 146). At present, this performing art tradition has three styles named after the regions of the state where they are performed—the delicate and sophisticated dance of Mayurbhanj Chhau in Odisha, the lyrical and stylized dance of Seraikella (formerly a princely state in Orissa) Chhau in Jharkhand, and Purulia (Manbhum in the past) Chhau in West Bengal, which uses big headgear masks, vigorous acrobatic movements, somersaults and Jhumur ² songs. The dramatic basis is mainly collected from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas. Its knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation through proper training, profound practice, and the subsistence of oral tradition. However, all these three styles of Chhau culminate in a single village festival called Chaitra Parva, ³ or the Spring Festival, celebrated mainly in the last four days of the Bengali month of Chaitra and the first day of Boishakha, ⁴ (April 11–15, approximately). The Hindu month of Chaitra marks a seasonal overlap between Spring and Summer, celebrated as Chaitra Parva in honor of Shiva, the “Nataraja, Lord of Dancers, or King of Actors” (Coomaraswamy, 1918, p. 56), whom the Chhau performers worship. In the Trimurti (Bramha, Vishnu, and Shiva) tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is the destroyer because he removes harmful things and prepares a way for change through destruction. Still, in Shiva Purana, a part of Shaivism literature, Shiva is a Yogi and a Sannyasi who lives in the Himalayas.

Lord Shiva is worshipped during Chaitra Parva in the form of Ardhanarishvara, the “deity of resurgent Spring symbolizing creation and fertility” (Deo, 1973, p. 32), known as half male and half female, and a composite form of Hindu deity Shiva and his consort Shakti. The people in West Bengal, especially in Purulia, who are primarily agriculturalists, and whose livelihoods are dependent principally upon cultivation, worship Shiva as the God of Agriculture through various rituals, music, and dance performances and consider this time of the year for “acknowledging, celebrating, trumpeting the continuum of the life-death-life” (Khokar, 1981, p. 75). Jane Ellen Harrison (1913) rightly points out that in primitive times when the tribal people required sun, wind, or rain, they would call to convene and do a sun dance, wind dance, or rain dance to make it happen through some magical power. This manifestation existing between the primitive man and the forces of environment is seen through their dances and songs which are believed to “stimulate the beneficent forces of nature so as to induce plenty in crops” (Majumdar, 1944, p. 188) for sustenance. In similar ways, the ordinary non-Brahman householders of Purulia, including the Chhau dancers, adore Chaitra Parva as the primary foundation for worshipping Shiva and Shakti, the forbidding power of nature, seeking their blessing for rain which could bring fertility in the soil, ponds with fishes, and wives with children. These rituals of the Chaitra Parva, also known as Shiva Gajan (Ga for gram or village, Jana for the people), Charak Puja (a folk festival of self-sacrifice), or Bhakta ⁵ Ghora (spinning on a wheel by the devotees), were banned by the British Raj in 1864 (Kishore, 2014), yet, the people keep on persisting these rituals with severe austerity, renunciation, and self-mortification. These integral parts of their rituals and performances give them a sense of cultural identity irrespective of their ethnicity, castes, religion, and social status with “diverse social practices, beliefs, professions and languages” (UNESCO, n.d.).

Whenever we think about ritual, we tend to characterize and reflect on human nature, society, and culture. It is believed that ritual was present at the very beginning of humanity and played an “adoptive role in the course of both biological and cultural evolution” (Stephenson, 2015, p. 21). Gradually, ritual influences various performance traditions as a form of symbolism, communication, and a vehicle of transformation. In turn, performance, as an embodied process that produces and consumes culture, becomes the “constitutive of culture” (Bell, 2008, p. 116) and plays a vital role in the study of man (emphasis is ours). Drawing references to a series of rituals and performances, the present study explores the major events of the last four days of Chaitra Parva and its constitutive performing art of Chhau. Within this context, the existing literature works (Gargi, 1966; Khokar, 1981; Kothari, 1968) have mentioned that Chhau is performed during Chaitra Parva as a ritual dance form, from the perspective of the former princely state, Seraikella, and a very few extensive research studies have been conducted on Purulia Chhau and its ritual manifestations with Chaitra Parva.

Thus, the present study enquires about the people of the Purulia district in West Bengal and their cultural heritage to provide an empirical grounding to this study and hence contributing a major critical insight into the existing literature. It also introduces the background and context of the Hindu epics and focuses on the myth of Lord Shiva and the history of the Shiva temple at Lohoria in Purulia. Finally, through a synthesis of performative rituals, performances, and spirituality, the present study shows how the people find meaning, significance, and connection in those ritual rites and performances, which bind them together with a sense of cultural identity and belongingness.

Referring to the social and cultural perspectives and employing a qualitative approach as our primary methodological tool, we explore the interplay between ritual and performance, which takes place during Chaitra Parva at Lohoria in Purulia. This study is supplemented by the insights obtained through interviews with the local priests and the Chhau dancers of this region, informal conversations with the bhaktas, and documenting and analyzing rituals and performances. The close reading of the representation of Chaitra Parva and Chhau in a cultural landscape analyses ritual practices and performances to understand the various performative cultures and dynamics of ritual worship of the district of Purulia in West Bengal.

Purulia: Its People and Their Cultural Heritage

Jaina Bhagavati-Sutra of circa 5th century ad mentions that Purulia was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas and was part of the country known as Vajra-Bhumi in ancient times (Purulia, n.d.). In 1805, Purulia became a part of Jungle Mahals district composed of 23 parganas and mahals, and by 1833 Purulia came to be known as Manbhum when the pargana formation got dissolved. Finally, after independence, by an act of parliament in 1956, Manbhum was partitioned between Bihar and West Bengal and the present district Purulia was born on November 1, 1956. Geographically, Purulia is the westernmost district of West Bengal and lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the West and Ganges Delta on the East. As per the 2011 census, the total population of the district is 2,930,115, among which 87.26% are residing in rural areas, out of which Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe are 19.38% and 18.45% (Purulia, n.d.), respectively, whose predominant profession is the cultivation, and their primary crop is paddy, which requires much rain. However, a vast area of the region is infertile and upland, and a considerable margin of 29.69% of the total land is covered by social forestry and degraded forest as per the Satellite Imagery data (Purulia, n.d.). Due to the inadequate rainfall and hard humid temperature, which resulted in drought, scarcity of food, and famine, Purulia is often found to increase the chances of a slack season (January–June); thus, as a respite, the people worship gods and goddesses for rain, in various forms of ritual and performance for the primary agricultural season (July–December). Despite these adversities, this scarce agricultural belt is known for its rich cultural heritage, which binds people with their sentiments, joys and sorrows with the much-celebrated folk culture of Jhumur, Tusu, Bhadu, and, most importantly, a war dance form of Chhau. With the advancement of time and space, these folk songs and dances, especially Jhumur and Chhau create a “man-nature, man to man and man and spirit relationship” (Mahato, 2013, p. 58) which adds a “touch of beauty to the plain joys and sorrows of existence” (Bose, 1971, p. 71) among the people.

The people of the district are economically and educationally poor and have a low standard of life, yet they are vigorous and hard-working in their everyday lives. It has led them to believe in nature, myths, legends, and folktales that eventually give rise to village fairs and festivals. The emergence of religion in this region has a glorious history as old as the Pre-Christian eras. Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, preached his religion in this area around the 5th and 4th centuries bc (Bhattacharyya, 1972). Kapila Vatsyayan (1980) has also pointed out that during the second and twelfth centuries ad, both Buddhism and Hinduism were prevalent in this area. Nonetheless, Jainism and Buddhism flourished and declined over time; still, it was Vaishnavism that left its highest impact on this region during the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries ad. Ashutosh Bhattacharyya (1972) has emphasized the fact that it was Chaitanya, the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna, along with his followers who had passed through Purulia on their pilgrimage to Puri, the abode of Lord Jagannath, that resulted on the widespread of Vaishnavism. Gradually, the people adopted Vaishnavism, built temples, and shrines, and introduced Kirtan songs. The stories of the Ramayana have been included in performances because Rama was the embodiment of Vishnu, the God of preservation and supreme being in Vaishnavism. Finally, during the seventeenth century ad, Hinduism developed primarily among the indigenous feudal chiefs who introduced “ceremonial worships of Hindu gods and goddesses according to Hindu calendar” (Bhattacharyya, 1971, p. 7). Traditionally, over time, oral recitations of the Hindu epics of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas became an integral part of ritual worships, ceremonies, and folk performances such as Chhau. Thus, the inclusion of the Hindu epics into the repertoires of Chhau gave it a new sense of belongingness, which resulted in an inscription by UNESCO as “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” (UNESCO, n.d.).

The Hindu Epics

The ancient Chhau performances, which are not less than a 150 years old, used to have themes about the tribal heroes, their lives, and their hunting professions. That was when Chhau was performed during Chaitra Parva as Kap-Jhap or Sang (who dresses himself to represent another character), decorated by the leaves and branches of trees and painted with natural colors instead of masks. With the emergence of Hinduism, the stories of the Hindu epics gradually became a common medium for the people, and their ethics, morality, and integrity kept revolving around those epics. The availability of printing made it easier for the semi-literate elites to read those epics in their native language, Bangla, and in some cases in Sanskrit too, but it always remained oral in Chhau. As a result, Krittivasi Ramayana by fifteenth-century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, not that of Valmiki’s Ramayana, Kasidasi Mohabharot by the sixteenth-century Bengali poet Kashiram Das, not that of Vyasa’s Mahabharata, and a wide range of stories from the Puranas, especially Shiva Purana, were introduced into Chhau dance as its primary themes. A few popular themes from these three are from the Ramayana—Sitaharan (Abduction of Sita by Ravana), Raban Badh (Annihilation of Ravana by Rama), Meghnath Badh (Killing of Meghnath by Laxmana), Lab-Kusher Ghora Badh (Capturing horse by Lav-Kush); from the Mahabharata—Abhimanyu Badh (Killing of Abhimanyu in Kurukshetra), Kirat-Arjuner Juddho (Fight between Kirat and Arjuna), Kansa Badh (Killing of Kansa by Krishna), Ghatotkacha Badh (Killing of Ghatotkacha by Karna); and from the Puranas—Mahishasura Badh (Killing of Mahishasura by Durga), Sumbha Nisumbha Badh (Killing of Shumbha Nishumbha by Kali), Tarakashur Badh (Killing of Tarakasura by Kartikeya), Britrasur Badh (Killing of Britrasura by Indra), etc. However, it is essential to note that most of the Chhau performances begin with Ganesh/Shiva Bandana (Invocation to Ganesha/Shiva), which expresses mainly the glory of Ganesha/Lord Shiva.

It is noteworthy to mention that for countless ages, Chhau, as a ritual dance, was deeply rooted in Kurmali culture and performed during Chaitra Parva under the patronization of the rulers of Seraikella, a former princely state in the district of Singhbhum, in the north of Orissa in South Bihar, and it flourished during the patronage of Mayurbhanj royal house. On the other hand, Purulia Chhau was patronized by the Rajas of Baghmundi until the first quarter of the twentieth century, and then it was completely left to the artisans without any patronization. It was during the reign of King Madan Mohan Singh Deo (1870–1933) of Baghmundi, who had significantly contributed to the inclusion of Hindu epics in the Chhau repertoire and bringing masks into the performances. In the preliminary stages, masks were made of wood, and later, it was developed into masks made of paper pulp by the mask makers of Charida. ⁶ They have an excellent knowledge of these Hindu epics, which helps them to achieve resemblances in the natural expressions through their masks of mythological characters. Unlike the Chhau dance, the mask-making process is also handed over orally from one generation to the other. To represent various characters, the mask makers identify individual colors for specified masks, such as white for Shiva and Ganesha, red for Parashurama, crimson for Durga, blue for Rama, sky blue for Krishna and Arjuna, black for Kali and Asura (demon), and others, which correlate with the characters in the epics. Interestingly, apart from various folk performances, the knowledge of the Hindu epics is passed on to ordinary people through Mahakabya Patha or the recitation of the Hindu epics (see Figure 1).

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 1.

Recitation of the Ramayana in the Rama Temple at Lohoria.

This age-old tradition is found almost in every district’s rural and selected urban areas. This recitation is usually done throughout the year, but is primarily held during the month of Bhadra to Kartika (mid-August to mid-November) and Chaitra to Boishakha (mid-March to mid-May), when the villagers are free from their agricultural activities and find their leisure time listening to the stories the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas. These spatiotemporal recitations cum ritual processes can be located in the villages under a tree or in some Hindu temples. The stories are ceremonially chanted aloud by the village Pandits (Priests) or by the elders who have a hold over reading these ancient texts as if enacting the epic stories in real life and conveying the message of victory of virtue over vice. This tradition of Mahakabya recitation has made people aware of the stories staged in Chhau. Still, the vibrant and colorful performances always succeed in pervading an aesthetic appeal to the audience through the blessings of Lord Shiva, the Nataraja.

The Myth of Lord Shiva

In Manbhum culture, until the eighteenth century, the central focus of worship during Chaitra Parva or Gajan festival was Dharma Thakur. Dharma is mentioned in medieval Bengali narrative poetry, Dharma Mangal, and takes place in the thirteenth-century ancient text of Ramai Pandit’s Shunya Purana, “the story of the Origin of the World out of Nothing” (Ferrari, 2010, p. 27) and the scripture of Dharma Puja. The story of Dharma Mangal revolved around Ranjabati, married to Raja Karna Sen, who needed a son. Unable to bear children, Ranjabati then starts worshipping Dharmaraj, undertakes ascetic practices of Gajan, and sacrifices her life by throwing herself into a wooden plank. Because of her devotion, Dharma restored her life and Lausen was born. Later, Lausen proved his worth as a warrior and became a Raja. Moved by the conspiracy of the King’s ministers, Lausen had to sacrifice himself to Lord Dharma. Dharma then restored Lausen’s life because of the virtue of his self-sacrifice, and he then saved his land (Curley, 2008).

For a prolonged period, Dharma was worshipped as Sun God by the Bhumij, who had no traditions of their origin and were the descendant tribes of Mundas (Hunter, 1877). The Bhumij, along with Mura, Santal, and Kurmi, were rich in cultural affinities and took an interest in the performance of the Chhau dance. With the emergence of Hinduism in West Bengal, these tribes also adopted Hindu customs and culture. The mention must be made to the Kurmis, the cultivators, known today as Mahato, who are actively engaged with Chhau. Conversely, Shiva becomes the primary recipient of worship, where “Mother rather than the Father-aspect of Shiva is adored” (Coomaraswamy, 1918, p. 61). Thus, Chaitra Parva is also called Shiva Gajan; alternately, a second annual festival called Abar (again) Gajan also takes place in Boishakha (April–May), but with minor ceremonials and Chhau performances. As a result, throughout the Chaitra Parva, Lord Shiva and Shakti are represented as Ardhanariswara with a wooden plank studded with iron spikes (see Figure 2).

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 2.

The Wooden Plank which Represents Ardhanariswara Throughout the Chaitra Parva.

This wooden plank has been moved from one holy pond to the other and placed at the Shiva temple at Lohoria through rituals, worship, music, and dance. Lord Shiva is considered a Sannyasi, an ascetic, and a householder within this period. In Bengali Shiva Purana, the myth says that once Shiva stops caring about worldly affairs and sits on the mountaintop of Kailasha for contemplation. Because of his grievous austerities, the world is warming up, and he is “withholding his fertilizing power, so the world is unable to bear fruit” (Nicholas, 2008, p. 37). This severity is symbolic of Lord Shiva’s unreleased sexual energy, which causes unproductiveness for both the women and mother earth. Mother earth represents goddess Shakti, who nags her husband Shiva as irresponsible for His inability to feed His family, and later Shiva becomes a farmer for livelihood. Similarly, the bhaktas or devotees must undertake perilous austerities through renunciation and self-mortification to break the yogic Shiva’s contemplation and save themselves from His anger. On the other hand, this wooden plank, when taken to the households of the villagers, represents a ritual invitation and the arrival of goddess Shakti in the commoners’ houses. Therefore, all the rituals of Chaitra Parva are performed delicately, and an appease is made to Lord Shiva to break his ascetic life and bring back fertility into human lives and on earth. Therefore, a series of performative rituals help Shiva to transform into a farmer god, mostly observed for four days, including Falhar or fruit worship, Jagaran or night of awakening and Chhau, Bhakta Ghora or wheel ceremony, and Balidan or animal sacrifice.

Based on this context, this article analyses the Chaitra Parva rituals and Chhau performances held at Lohoria Shiva Mandir, a Hindu temple in Barria village of Baghmundi block, situated in the abode of Ajodhya hills in Purulia. However, the indigenous roots of this temple ritual and Chhau dance are found in the princely state of Odisha, and Lohoria is a later intervention, as old as 60–70 years when a local resident named Shankar Mahato founded this temple and started worshipping Lord Shiva, as confirmed by the priests of Lohoria during an interview in 2021. There is a belief among the Chhau artists of Purulia that Gambhir Singh Mura (1930–2002), awardee of Padma Shri in 1981 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982 for Chhau dance, recovered from a life-threatening stomach infection by the spiritual power of Lord Shiva of Lohoria. Finding no relief from medication, he took refuge in the Lohoria Shiva Mandir. After leading two months of ascetic life, Shiva appeared in his dreams and blessed him with a remedy. He was restored to everyday life, and since then, he had taken vows to quit his hunting profession and start performing Chhau annually in the temple of Lohoria during Chaitra Parva, and this story was confirmed by his son Kartik Singh Mura during an interview in 2021. Once he gained name and fame through his performance, other Chhau troupes of the nearby and surrounding villages also started participating in dance, believing in Lohoria Baba’s (father) blessings (Patra, 2019). Interestingly, all the Chhau troupes who perform during this festival do not charge anything financially, as they believe it to be the foundational place for devotion and earning blessings from Shiva for their personal and familial welfare in everyday lives. Thus, we primarily focus on these four-day extended worship of Shiva traditionally held at Lohoria during Chaitra Parva; first, because this is predominantly life-like in spirit and the central Shiva temple in Baghmundi block where all the ritual rites of Chaitra Parva take place, and second, Chhau performed annually at Lohoria is acknowledged by the dancers as the root of all dance forms in Purulia Chhau.

The Fruit Worship

The history of the Lohoria temple can be traced back approximately 60–70 years ago, when an ordinary farmer named Shankar Mahato was guided to worship Shiva in a dream, as informed by the priests of Lohoria during an interview in 2021. As a result, the Shiva temple, which is worshipped today, was once a dense forest; later, through ritual worship, it transformed into a proper Shiva temple. Generally, offering fruits to the gods and goddesses is common for the village people, and Shiva worship is also no exception. However, every god and goddess have their own symbolic and seasonal fruits to worship; thus, Lord Shiva is offered unripe mango or the fruit of wisdom, once offered by Narada in Hindu myths. During fruit celebration, unripe mangoes added with brown chickpeas and jaggery called Aam Falhar Prasad (see Figure 3), or God’s gracious gift, are offered to Lord Shiva.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 3.

The Main Ingredients of Fruit Celebration: Unripe Mangoes, Brown Chickpeas and Jaggery.

The day’s procession begins with the bhaktas or devotees, who at first horizontally lie down and fold their hands in front of the vertically placed wooden plank before a Tulsi pot, a sacred plant in the Hindu belief system. Then they start paring their nails, shaving their beards, and cutting their hair by the barbers as if they are emerging from a period of death or birth impurity (Nicholas, 2008). All the rituals associated with the wooden plank are done by the Pat Bhakta or the principal ascetic, who represents himself as Shiva in many rites, and he is accompanied by a Deul Bhakta or the ascetic of the temple, a representative bhakta of the whole community, and a Thakur or the priest who does the ritual processions. The following ritual is to march toward the abode of goddess Durga or Shakti, who resides a little far away from the Shiva temple under a banyan tree, a symbol of fertility, where she is worshipped and to be returned to the temple of Shiva. At the same time, the bhaktas chant the most famous magical mantra or refrain of the festival—Shivai Munibaro, ⁷ meaning the clan of Lord Shiva. Alongside, the bhaktas go to the holy pond for the ritual bath, and to arrange their bamboo-made basket of Prasad (the blessed food). In the late afternoon, once the fruit worship is over, the bhaktas take their basket of Prasad and distribute it among the children and the people around them. They also carry some of the Prasad to their home for the family members, which they acknowledge as having spiritual power. The last procession of the day takes place in the twilight and continues till midnight, and then they take the plank, along with two small bamboo sticks, into the house of Shankar Mahato, where the wooden plank is grounded under some paddy crops and lies in the Tulsi pot, which the priest worships. The priest then sprinkles the holy water on family members and chants the mantra—Shivai Munibaro. This ritual worship is taken to every village household, helps to drive away evil spirits, and brings prosperity to life through the blessings of Lord Shiva.

The Night of Awakening

The rituals of this day are a continuation of the last rite where the wooden plank is taken into the doors to doors of every household in the surrounding villages. This puja is carried forward in the morning by the two priests, a Mahato Bhakta and the Pat Bhakta, accompanied by the music of Dhak and Dhumsa, types of large and small drums, respectively, played by the Dom caste. The sound of Dhak and Dhumsa is most pleasing to Shiva and is also believed to be an instrument to awaken Shiva from His yogic slumber. The myth of this rite tells that, requested by Durga, Shiva has become a beggar to feed his family, and thus He moves from one house to the other for alms. Simultaneously, the bhaktas prepare the processions for the next day’s Charkhi Ghora or the wheel ceremony. First, the Gajan pole or the old wheel tree, made of sal (Shorea robusta), a hardwood timber kept submerged in a nearby pond throughout the year, was taken out by a large group of bhaktas and brought into the field of wheel ceremony. This is the only rite which required no ritual support except chanting the names of Shiva. Second, a 3-feet hole in the shape of a carved stone phallus or Linga of Shiva is prepared, and the Gajan pole (around 30 feet in height), along with a Charkhi or spinning wheel and a bar placed on its head, is stranded straight in the ground; a Machan-Khati or scaffolding of four bars is also placed along the same line. Third, all the bhaktas sat under an old banyan tree and started preparing their Poita or the sacred thread they would wear after their ritual bath in the evening.

Lord Shiva is usually found in the crematorium, where ghosts and goblins are His companions. As the Gajan bhaktas are about to become Shiva’s clan and ritually enter the world of rigorous ascetic life, they start playing with ash and dancing with the Gajan canes, charged with the music of Dhak, known as Bhakta Nach or dance of the bhaktas. Afterwards, they march toward the holy pond for the evening bath and ritual worship. In the midway, while the bhaktas wait for the principal ascetic to come after completing the rituals of Pat Ghora (journey of the wooden plank) and join them, a few bhaktas do some acts such as singing folk songs, solving riddles from mythology, and sharing their personal stories for their comic relief. Once Pat Bhakta arrives, he puts the wooden plank on the ground, and all the bhaktas prostrate in folded hands encircling the plank. Then they resume their journey with dance and music toward the pond through the village corridors, where newly born babies, children, men, and women lie upright in the middle of their path, waiting for the Pat Bhakta, carrying the wooden plank in his shoulder, touching with his feet to bless them (see Figure 4). This religious touch has a healing power that makes them free from evil spirits, and their diseases may go away through the spiritual power of Lord Shiva.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 4.

As a Procession of Healing Power, the Pat Bhakta Crosses Over the Children’s Bodies.

The wooden plank is then placed on the shore of the holy pond, and the newly joined bhaktas and the priest start worshipping it with vermilion, incense, wood apple leaves, rice, and lotus flower. The Patani, or principal ascetic, then takes the lotus flower (representing Shiva and Shakti), and the priest and the rest of the bhaktas start chants and mantras of Shivai Munibaro. The Patani jumps into the pond, places the flower underneath, drinks some holy water inside, and then comes out. Subsequently, a bhakta asks him from the backyard about the probability of rain this year, and the Patanai replies with the hope that it seems good enough for agriculture and livelihood. This instance signifies people’s spiritual belief in the blessings of Lord Shiva that their scarcity of rain in the upcoming times would be marginalized, and there will be a proper balance in the life–death–rebirth cycle. After the Patani’s holy bath, all the other bhaktas are allowed to have their ritual bath, then wear their white dhotis and red gamchas (synonymous with Shiva’s tiger skin), stand in a horizontal line with their Gajan canes, having sal pot in their hands filled with holy water, and then worship Shiva and Shakti. Afterwards, they are given the sacred thread, hanging from the left shoulder to the right arm, before undertaking the services of the gods. This is when the total number of the bhaktas, including the new and existing ones, is counted as 210 as of 2021.

Returning to the temple, the priests start a Joggo or sacrifice oblation commemorating Lord Shiva. Subsequently, the bhaktas are given a ring made of the sacred thread, placed on the fourth finger and a sip of holy water on the palm of the right hand. The priests then chant the mantras with the bhaktas in the name of Lord Shiva, and then they sprinkle the holy water into their heads. This ritual procession signifies that all the bhaktas are now officially to be entered into the lineage of Shiva; as they chant the mantras—aap gotra poritorja, Shiva gotra somorpita, meaning leaving the lineage of our ancestors, we dedicate ourselves as the clan of Lord shiva (authors’ translation). Equally important, a ritual Pradeep or oil lamp, made of a small mud pot containing ghee and a small Poita, is lit up by all, called Pradeep Ucchodan or light worship. The women also partake in this ritual after the men’s procession and transfer their lineage into that of Shiva. All these ritual lights are placed before the wooden plank and the stone of Shiva Linga, representing the union of Shiva and Shakti. The lamp’s flame symbolizes the continuous living presence of Shiva and Shakti, and both the male and female bhaktas have to take proper care of this lamp by staying awake till the morning so that it does not get extinguished. Besides, the garlands made of Gulachi (plumeria), Dumur (cluster fig), and Jaba (hibiscus) are placed on the head of Shiva Linga. On other occasions, such as during Maha Shivaratri, ⁸ Akanda (the crown flower), the colorful and poisonous flower, favorite to Lord shiva, is offered to Him for prosperity, peace, and stability of the society. These garlands represent the snake on the nectar of Shiva, symbolizing the resilience of Shiva, who drinks the poison in Hindu mythology. After this ritual procession, the bhaktas had to struggle a lot to get their ritual garland from the Shiva Linga, put it on their necks, and transform themselves into the clan of Shiva.

The Performances of Chhau

The performances of Chhau took their origin in the annual celebration of Chitra Parva when it was known as Kap-Jhap, or the dance of the folks with leaves, branches, and natural colors on their face. Later, it evolved as the folk dance of Chhau, having strong resonance with the performative aspects of Chitra Parva. On the night of awakening, at midnight, the bhaktas at Lohoria, dressed up with white dhotis, red gamchas, garlands on the neck, sacred thread across the shoulder, and Gajan cane in hands, after worshipping Shiva, come out of the temple and start dancing to the tunes of Dhak and Dhumsa. The main instrument for their dance is the Gajan cane, with a hank of red (Shakti) and blue (Shiva) thread, symbolizing Lord Shiva’s trident. Afterwards, they move on toward the Chhau dancing arena with their Bhakta dance. Entering the Chhau arena, the bhaktas continue their dance in forward, backward, and circular motions. The presence of the bhaktas and their dance with Gajan canes, lauding Shiva and Shakti, certainly transforms the commonplace of the Chhau arena into a ritual space for performance (see Figure 5).

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 5.

The Bhakta Dance in the Chhau Performing Arena at Lohoria.

The open-air dancing space, about 20 to 30 feet both in length and breadth, followed by a corridor of about 5 feet in breadth and 10 feet in length, connected to the green room of the performers, is used both as entrance and exit doors, and sometimes becomes a part of the leading performing arena. The musicians who include mainly players of Dhol (barrel-shaped drum), Dhumsa (huge bowl-shaped drum), Chadchadi (small cylindrical drum), Shenai (double reed pipe), and a modern Casio (an electronic musical instrument), usually sit at the top bottom of the arena facing the corridor. And around this arena, men, women, children, and the bhaktas sit to see the vibrant performances of Chhau that keep them entertained and awake throughout the night of awakening. The themes of popular religious stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas are the “short war dances performed today between dramatic segments of the Hindu epics, are a remnant of Chhau’s origin” (Richmond et al., 1993, p. 373). The audience is already aware of the stories to be enacted; still, with the help of the big headgear masks, costumes, music etc, the spectators consciously or unconsciously postulate images in their minds, which are performed as accurately as possible by the evocative power of the Chhau dancers. However, all the dance forms have to begin with the Ganesh Bandana, the God of beginnings (see Figure 6). Before Ganesha enters the dancing arena, the two Dhol players warm up the performing arena with their rhythmic music and a little bit of dance. The musicians then, along with a vocalist, who provides the mnemonic syllables and conveys the story’s plots to the spectators, greet Lord Ganesha to enter the performing space, and sanctify the stage. Ganesha, whose head is static with the big headgear mask, which “projects life in the form of rhythms, harmonies, movements” (Gargi, 1966, p. 170) and his mask and costume “effectively stylize the mythological character” (Pani, 2004, p. 114), begins his leg postures, hand gestures, and chest movements in the tunes with music, which itself is an act of worship. Through the mythological enactment of Ganesha, the representation of gods comes down to earth for a limited period to “secure the continuance of life for mankind” (Arden, 1971, p. 68).

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 6.

The Repertoire of Ganesh Bandana and the Beginning of the Chhau Dance.

This repertoire of Ganesh Bandana, also known as Shiva Bandana, is taken from one of the episodes of Hindu epics mentioned in Shiva Purana. To summarize this episode, it is found that once Lord Shiva, while going to sit for penance, appointed his two sons, Ganesha and Kartika, as guards so that nobody could disturb his penance. At the same time, Parashurama, the immortal, comes to meet his master, Lord Shiva. Ganesha and Kartika do not allow him to meet their father, and thus Parashurama fights with them and defeats them. After hearing the death news of her two sons, goddess Durga also starts fighting with Parashurama. Due to this, Shiva’s penance gets broken, and he comes down and defeats both Parashurama and Durga, but eventually brings back the lives of everyone and restores peace. Thus, this episode which glorifies the cosmic power of Lord Shiva, becomes the first theme of the Chhau dance performed during Chaitra Parva.

While the Chhau performances are going on, at around 4 am, the Pat and Deul Bhaktas, along with a few other bhaktas, go to the holy pond for Nishi Jal or peace water. This ritual in some other places is also known as Jatra Ghata (mud pitcher filled with sacred water), representing a cult of Shiva and Shakti. After ritual worship, Pat Bhakta takes the pitcher on reverse mode at the top of his head, folded with a red gamcha, and brings it into the temple. Then the sacred pitcher is carefully placed above the stone of Shiva Linga, attached with three bamboo poles in the shape of a pyramid, and the water starts dripping on the Shiva Linga (see Figure 7). Sunil Kothari (1968) describes this cult as when “Siva is dormant in the state of Shava (corpse), is roused from his Yoga-slumber and is made Siva by Shakti the mother” (p. 6). This water has regenerative power, bringing fertility to earth, families, and ordinary people’s lives. The water is also symbolic of the goddess Parvati, who sits on the top of Shiva’s head as the fountain of life, which can restore the lives of the dead. This could also refer to the agricultural rain for the upcoming rainy season, for which the people pray to Shiva, the god of agriculture. Finally, the women of every household take their oil lamp, hiding it inside a bamboo basket to keep the flame continuously producing light, and go to their homes barefoot. They placed this oil lamp in front of their household Tulsi Mandap, which they believed would bring prosperity by eliminating sorrow and suffering.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 7.

Nishi Jal, the Sacred Water Pitcher, is Placed Above the Shiva Linga.

The Wheel Celebration

The wheel celebration, locally known as Bhakta Ghora (spinning by the bhaktas), is directed at “world renewal” (Nicholas, 2008, p. 1) and a “fertility-compelling celebration” (Ferrari, 2010, p. 102) among the people of Rarh Bangla. This is the most critical day of Chaitra Parva because the bhaktas have to pass through profound ritual performances dedicated to Lord Shiva. The day begins at the point of sunrise at the sacred pond where the wooden plank is worshipped with usual precedents, and the bhaktas have their ritual bath and are ceremonially dressed up. Unlike the night of awakening bathing rituals, all the bhaktas stand together facing the East where the sun rises and fill their sal pot with holy water. The Priest chants mantras to worship Dharmadeva and Suryadeva, who is none other than Lord Shiva himself and sings the refrain—Shivai Munibaro. It is the Priest who “provides access to the divine cosmic world by means of his control and manipulation of ritual acts, gestures, words, and so on which effect the result of the ritual” (Richmond et al., 1993, p. 124). This performative utterance of the priest and the bhaktas is done three times with the tune of Dhak, then they flip down the sal pot on the ground, bend down their head doing salutation, and start their bhakta dance. Then the bodies of the new bhaktas are pierced by the elder bhaktas with hooks, chanting the Shiva mantra and dancing in commemoration. Simultaneously, Pat Bhakta lies on the wooden plank studded with iron spikes and simulates death (see Figure 8). This simulation has the spiritual power of the life–death–rebirth cycle, where the simulator is brought back to life by the blessings of Lord Shiva once he reaches the temple abode.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 8.

The Pat Bhakta Lies upon the Wooden Plank and Simulates Death.

The following important ritual performance is Ful Gundha or walking upon the fire (see Figure 9). This has been done primarily by the childless husbands or wives, as the devotees keep Mannat ⁹ or incentive vows to Shiva in the hope of bearing children. Some others swear in the hope of getting respite from various diseases or for prosperity in life. Before the devotees walk upon the fire, they go through a Dondi or a ritual of self-sacrifice, symbolizing “offerings of the self through the purification of the soul” (Sen, 2021, p. 84). In this process, the devotees, with folded hands and wet clothes after their ritual bath, walk upon the fire of logs and pieces of wood and pay homage to Lord Shiva. These vows are private between the gods and goddesses and the devotees, and these self-sacrifices are done before or after their fulfilment. In most cases, these requests are materialized into reality through some spiritual power; thus, this ritual of worship through self-mortification still persists in large numbers.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 9.

The Female Devotee Walks upon the Fire of Logs and Pieces of Wood.

Once the ritual of walking upon fire gets over, the bhaktas get busy with the arduous process of the hook-swinging ceremony. Interestingly, among the total of 210 bhaktas, only 25 bhaktas in the year 2021 are the recipients of the hook-swinging celebration because of their personal vows to Shiva. Since the bhaktas have come after Sun worship, they stand in queue before the wooden plank, representing Shiva, and wait for their turn to go for hook swinging. However, the first devotees to be swung is always the eldest community member among the bhaktas. The ceremony begins when the wheel bhakta is given a hard slap on his back by an experienced bhakta who pierces his skin with two iron spikes tied with Jute ropes. Simultaneously, all other bhaktas chant Shivai Munibora and begin the bhakta dance in unison, where the central dancer is the wheel bhakta, who is tied with anklet bells, a garland on his neck, and a ritual flag on his forehead and carries blessed food on his waist tied with a gamcha. Then he marches toward the playing space with dance and music, accompanied by his fellow bhaktas. Reaching the wheel ceremony site, which lies close to the Chhau dancing arena, the wheel bhakta and other bhaktas raise their dancing tempo. Then he hugs the Gajan pole and climbs up the ladder that connects to the Machan-Khati or the scaffolding, where two senior bhaktas tie him up with the T-shaped spinning wheel.

Afterwards, the wheel bhakta moves ritually, folding his hands in homage to Lord Shiva, dancing with the help of the music of Dhak and his anklet bells, and throwing the blessed food to the spectators who see him performing from the ground (see Figure 10). He spins generally three times, each in a forward and backward motion, with the help of the other bhaktas, who drive him from the ground using long ropes tied with the T-shaped Gajan pole. Next, he is made free of his spinning, climbs down, pours the holy water carried by his family members onto the ground of the Gajan pole, and lies prostrate in honor of Shiva. He returns to the temple by dancing, and his hooks are removed from his back, and he is given vermilion by the senior bhakta on the wounds and presses it hard on his knee. Similarly, all the wheel bhaktas carry out their ritual performances one after another, convene in the temple, and take the blessed food for their family members. With this, the main performative rituals of Chaitra Parva conclude, whereas only the ritual of animal sacrifice remains to be celebrated on the next day.

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 10.

The Mahato Bhakta Spins at the Top of the T-shaped Gajan Pole.

The Animal Sacrifice

The tradition of Balidan, or animal sacrifice, is an age-old custom of “propitiation or as thanksgiving” (Khokar, 1981, p. 77). However, this last ritual day begins with the bhaktas plucking out the Gajan pole from the ground and taking it back into the middle of the pond, where it remains as alive and strong as it is now throughout the year. Then all the bhaktas gather together outside the temple to cut their nails, beards, and hair for the second time during Chaitra Parva. The final ritual procession starts when the bhaktas put the mustard oil mixed with turmeric powder into the stones of Shiva Linga and Basudeva, an ardent worshipper of Shiva, and then the bhaktas ritually put the same on each other’s bodies. As the bhaktas are about to leave their ascetic life and return to their everyday earthly lives, they are rhythmically charged up by the music of Dhol and Dhumsa and perform their final dance of reverence (see Figure 11).

OPEN IN VIEWER Figure 11.

The Bhaktas with Their Final Dance of Reverence at the Shrine of Lohoria Temple.

The stone of Basudeva (see Figure 11), placed just above the Shiva Linga, is taken out from the temple for the last ritual bath. In contrast, the bath of Shiva Linga is done at the temple only because He cannot be removed as His roots are infinite. All the bhaktas then take their last rite of bathing at the pond, return with a glass of holy water, and pour it down on the stone of Shiva Linga. The final worship of the festival is done at that time, as the priests apply the holy tika made of sandal paste on the forehead and between the eyebrows of the bhaktas.

Afterwards, the concluding oblation rite is done by boiling rice in a mud pot, and the bhaktas distribute the popped rice among the children and the women devotees of the temple. The male uncastrated goats are then taken into the pond for bathing and returned to the temple shrine. The goats are offered the blessed food, and a tilak made of vermilion is put on its head, symbolizing sacrifice in the name of gods and goddesses. However, it is interesting to note that this animal sacrifice is not dedicated to Lord Shiva; instead, it is dedicated to Mahakala Bhairava, a fierce manifestation of Shiva. As a way of liberation, the goats, provided by the bhaktas and the ordinary people who had vows with this temple rituals and rites, were restrained into the Bali Katha (a ritual space for killings made of wood and paddy weeds), and prayers were recited before the animals were sacrificed. The principal and community bhaktas do this act of animal sacrifice, becoming the slayers for blood offerings. The blood is allowed to seep into the earth as an act of purification, and the meat is eaten by the bhaktas and the commoners as the blessed food, ensuring fertility for the life–death–rebirth cycle.

Synthesizing Ritual, Performance, and Spirituality

Ritually, the Chaitra Parva is a festival of 13 days, where the first 9 days are worshipped purely on a ceremonial basis. In contrast, the last four days are symbolically represented by four Yugas (world ages) respectively—Satya Yuga (age of truth), Treta Yuga (tree quarters virtue and one-quarter sinfulness), Dvapara Yuga (two-quarters virtue and two-quarters sinfulness), and Kali Yuga (one-quarter virtue and three-quarters sinfulness), is the one where we are living. These four days of Chaitra Parva can also be associated with four agricultural phrases of ploughing, seeding, harvesting, statis and nurturing, as Ferrari (2010) observed. Chhau performances which take place during this time “depict enactment and episodes of creation” (Muthukumaraswamy et al., 2010, p. 30), taken from the ancient Hindu epics of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas; for example, the mask character of Ganesha (see Figure 6) is seen as an incarnation of these four Yugas. However, neither Chaitra Parva rituals nor the performances of Chhau have any written authority; instead, these traditions, custom, ritual practices, and the dramatic narratives and storytelling of Chhau are determined by the local people and the masters of the particular field. Passed through oral cultures, these rituals and performances are done by the common folk having the “common core of traditions belonging to the group, traditions which help the group have a sense of group identity” (Dundes, 1965, p. 2). As part of social circumstances, this unique cultural identity is given stability through various rituals that “help people accomplish change in their lives, transforming them from one identity status to another” (Schechner, 2002, p. 81).

The spiritual beliefs of the people, associated with rituals and performances, which are interchangeably connected, help maintain order and harmony on earth and in the cosmos. This spiritual integration is seen when a common folk wears a Chhau mask on his head; he leaves his traditional everyday personality and transforms himself into the mythological character of the mask. Thus, the performer becomes a god, a goddess, or a demon based on the requirement of the roles in a particular Chhau repertoire. This spirit, which is conveyed through the mythological mask, determines the dancer’s gestures, postures, and movements, giving the dramatic performance a complete sense to the audience. Similarly, the spirit is found within the bhaktas or ascetics during Chaitra Parva, where they are seen not as ordinary men but as the men of Lord Shiva. With the blessings of Lord Shiva, they are given the spiritual power of endurance to perform the rites of passage in proper ways with utmost devotion and wisdom. This endurance is mostly seen during the day of the wheel ceremony, while the principal bhakta simulates death upon the wooden plank, and other bhaktas are pierced with iron spikes; even when the ascetics walk upon the fire, no blood is seen from the performers. There are two narratives regarding this spiritual healing—one group believes in bleeding as an actual offering. In contrast, the other believes in no bleeding as a proper way of performing rituals. However, while the bhaktas at Lohoria perform their ritual practices, they do not bleed. Still, when the hooks are removed from the back of the bhaktas and vermilion is being put on their wounds while pressing with the knees, a few drops of blood can easily be seen after their performance of the wheel ceremony. Ferrari (2010) analyses this idea of pain during Gajan as a “necessary experience confirmed through temporary dissociation” (p. 134), and the physical body is described as a “symbolic representation of the earth and site of an offering” (p. 146). Synthesizing these rituals, performances, and spirituality, we examined the roots of these various customs and found that this knowledge consciously or unconsciously comes from the multiple stories of the ancient texts, mainly from the Hindu epics. As a result, these mnemonic traditions of rituals performed during Chaitra Parva are primarily found in Shiva Purana, and the themes of Chhau are still at large incorporated from the mythological stories of the ancient Hindu epics.

Conclusion

The people’s everyday life in West Bengal is contained in its ritual ceremonies, songs, stories, proverbs, ballads, folk tales, and folk dances. The root of the Indian performance tradition is found in the epics of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas, and the folk-dance form of Purulia Chhau is not an exception. That is why we see the basis of Chhau dance intertwined with the performative rituals of Chaitra Parva, which works as the “cultural consciousness, that shapes the intangible element of Bengal’s folk performativity” (Chatterjee et al., 2021, p. 2). Although Kothari (1968), Bhattacharyya (1972), and Khokar (1981) opine that there is no direct relationship between Chaitra Parva and Chhau performances, but it is those performances which keep the spectators and the bhaktas awake and entertained from the night of awakening to the next day’s Sun worship and wheel celebration. The religious and spiritual sentiments of the Purulia people say that Chaitra Parva without Chhau is a festival improper. On the one hand, religiously, these dancers, through mythological masks, represent the gods and goddesses’ living incarnations and invoke and appease Lord Shiva for rain for the upcoming agricultural season. On the other hand, spiritually, the Chhau dancers usually experiment with their new themes and dedicate them to Shiva, the Nataraja, hoping that if the Lord of Dancers becomes happy with their performance, the troupes may get several calls for performance throughout the year. Looking at the demography and climate of the region of Purulia, especially during the agricultural season, these performing art tradition and rituals have become their source of new hope, invoking rain, which gives meaning and significance to their experience. In addition, both these performative rituals and Chhau bring a sense of anandam (Anand, 1968, p. 4) or bliss among the people, ascetics, and the gods and goddesses, which make a “bridge between real life and art” (Harrison, 1913, p. 45), inspired by religion. That is why, during Chaitra Parva, a series of performative rituals are celebrated in honor of Lord Shiva, asking for His regenerative benevolence for the well-being of the community, families, and individuals. They must go through intense austerities, enduring pain, suffering, and self-sacrifices, and lead an ascetic life throughout the festival. Thus, they find a connection in those ritual rites passed down to them from the lives and faith of their ancestors and make sense to the world.

By looking at these performative aspects of Chaitra Parva and Chhau, this study has examined these ritual performances as a mirror of society and the nation at large, which manifest “nation’s temperament, art, culture, simplicity, social status, customs and creed” (Banerjee, 1944, p. 11). Nonetheless, with the help of these rituals, performances, and spirituality, the stories of the Hindu epics, which do not have any inherited text, still stay alive in every aspect of the region through the storytellers, performing arts, and a few recent written compilations in native languages. Thus, the Hindu epics in Chhau have brought the performance-embedded messages of good over bad and virtue over vice, which is reflected in various rituals, performances, and spirituality. Most importantly, shared by the common philosophical and religious beliefs, these rituals and performances have established mutual trust, communal harmony, cultural memory, and everyday experiences among the people in Purulia.

However, due to the paucity of time, resources, and interruptions caused by COVID-19, we have only focused on the major events of Chaitra Parva and Chhau that connect and complement each ritual and performance with the other, and the minor events are excluded which we would be focusing in detail in our future studies. The ritual, performance, and spirituality are based on spatiotemporal settings, and their symbols, meaning, and significance could vary from region to region and from time to time. This line of thought would create opportunities for further research which is beyond the scope of this present study.