The Setting
WHICH NAVARÅTRA?
According to several Áåkta sources, the three hundred and sixty-day annual cycle is divided into forty nine-night periods, known as Navaråtras.1 Of these, four Navaråtras equidistantly placed around the calendar are promi-nent for Goddess worship.2 For instance, the Navaråtra that falls in the rainy season month of Áråvaœa (July/August) corresponds with a ten-day festival at the Nainå Devª and Cintpºrœª Devª temples in Himachal Pradesh.3 However, it is the spring and autumn Navaråtras that are traditionally the most popular for the worship of the Goddess.4 The spring or Vasanta Navaråtra, celebrated in the lunar month of Caitra (March/April), is characterized by smaller scale worship rituals and appears to be the older of the two.5 Villagers may make modest pilgrimages to visit larger, often urban, temples sites, and a jar form of the Devª is established and worshipped. The jar form of the Devª is rich in earthen and agricultural symbolism, suggestive of concerns with fertility (vegetative and human) among the rural classes. The autumn or Áåradiya Navaråtra, celebrated in the month of ÅÍvina with great visual pomp in urban centers, addresses a broader range of needs. The Durgå Pºjå, in particular, which is held during the ÅÍvina Navaråtra, elaborates upon the fertility rites found in the spring celebration, to which it then adds substantial martial and metaphysical elements. It strongly suggests that the ÅÍvina Navaråtra, and the Durgå Pºjå in particular, are evident examples of the Sanskritization of Devª worship.6 Sanskritization is the term coined for a variety of processes in which certain practices of the non-bråhmaœa classes are accepted by bråhmaœas. One method by which such practices attain legitimacy for the upper classes is by being prescribed in Sanskritic scriptural literature. San-skrit, and the acceptance by bråhmaœas, confers an enviable status on the reconfigured practice, which in turn filters back to the lower classes. The spring worship rituals to the Goddess that originated among the rural
agricultural classes percolated upwards to the warrior (kßatriya) and priestly (bråhmaœa) classes. In its urban setting, where large sums of money are spent by communities, the autumn celebration also affects the merchant (vaiÍya) classes of Hindu society.7 Thus all the classes of Hindu India are actively involved in the enterprise of Devª worship during the autumn Navaråtra.
A cycle of myths in wide oral circulation supports the aforementioned analysis. They tell how the north Indian prince, Råma, invoked the Devª in the autumn for help on the eve of his battle with the demon Råvaœa, ruler of the southern kingdom of La¡ka. Råma’s invocation was untimely (akåla), since the Devª was thought to be asleep in the autumn and was generally worshipped in the spring.8 The myth affirms the greater antiquity of the spring celebrations and the martial intent of the autumn celebration.9 Certain variants of the myth tell how Råma, the warrior patron of the ritual, commis-sioned as the priest the demon Råvaœa himself, a bråhmaœa, to perform the rite which would lead to his own demise.10 Since Råma, regarded as an incar-nation of the Vedic deity Vißœu, eventually slays Råvaœa, who is regarded as a devotee of the non-Vedic god Áiva, the myth highlights a number of tensions.
The southern, non-Vedic, Áaivite, and bråhmaœa elements are subordinated to the northern, Vedic, Vaißœavite, and kßatriya elements. And yet both Råma and Råvaœa participate in the Devª pºjå, forging a union between north and south, Vedic and non-Vedic, Vaißœava and Áaiva worship practices with kßatriya objectives and bråhmaœa ritual forms.11 Diverse classes, regions, and sects were united by common participation in the ritual of Goddess worship.
WHICH GODDESS?
During both Navaråtras, devotees crowd into virtually every goddess temple for darÍana, profound perceptual interaction with the Divine. Visits to major goddess temples are commonplace, but devotees also worship at smaller shrines, at sacred water tanks, at rivers, and at numerous goddess effigies constructed and established specifically at these times of the year. The god-desses in this vast array of locales are addressed by an assortment of names.12 Furthermore, even in a single pºjå, as the description of the Durgå Pºjå that follows clearly demonstrates, devotion may be addressed to goddesses in different forms and names. This profusion of images, epithets, and places of worship makes one wonder if only one or several devªs are the objects of devotion. Observation, inquiry, and a study of scripture and the litany of rituals provide the answer. During the Navaråtras, devotion is offered to the divine in its supreme aspect. Furthermore this sovereign form of divinity is regarded as feminine. I thus refer to the Navaråtras as times of worship of the Great Goddess rather than any goddess in particular. This worship is
con-The Setting 17 ducted through the medium of any of an astonishing assortment of chosen goddess images, epithets, or image clusters.13
When asked whom they worship during the Navaråtras, devotees refer to the Goddess simply as Devª, or on occasion, as Mahådevª (Great God-dess).14 Må (mother), Durgå (She who is Formidable), Caœ˚ª (She who is Fierce), or Må Durgå are the names they use most frequently to address the Great Goddess.15 These epithets again reiterate the motifs of fertility and martial success. The Great Goddess is regarded as the Cosmic Mother, creatrix, nourisher, and nurturer of the world, or as the regal warrior-goddess Durgå, whose many arms wield a host of weapons.16 The epithet Durgå is difficult to translate, primarily since it carries various shades of meaning. In the masculine, the term durga may denote worldly adversity (e.g., dangerous passages) or an unassailable fortification. The Devª thus aids one in overcom-ing difficulties and traversovercom-ing hardships, or is herself an impenetrable mystery and difficult to overcome.17 I have opted for the term “formidable” since it best conveys many of the diverse meanings of her epithet. Payne (1997 [1933]:6) suggests that Durgå “may be an aboriginal word, though it is gen-erally taken to mean ‘inaccessible,’ either as a description of the goddess herself or because she is pictured as the slayer of a demon [Durga] whom it was difficult to get at.” Durgå is often portrayed astride her mount, a great lion, or engaged in slaying the Buffalo demon, Mahißa (See Figure 1.1).
Although certain devotees may identify the Mahådevª with some other re-nowned goddess such as Kålª, Lakßmª, or Sarasvatª, the pºjås of these god-desses take place at other times in the year. Only the Durgå Pºjå occurs during the autumn Navaråtra, a feature that even leads many worshippers to use the terms Durgå Pºjå and ÅÍvina Navaråtra synonymously.18 My use of the term Durgå Pºjå is restricted to the celebrations, both domestic and com-munal, which occur mainly during the last days of the autumn Navaråtra.19
WHICH DURGÅ PU¯JÅ?
There are enormous variations in any given set of worship practices in the Hindu tradition. The Durgå Pºjå is no exception. I have observed numer-ous types of pºjå to Durgå celebrated within a stone’s throw of each other in homes, temples, and temporarily erected shrines (paœ˚al) in Banåras alone.
Two main types of Durgå Pºjå were most evident in Banåras, and I refer to these as the Bengali and non-Bengali.20 It is not my intention to compare these types of Durgå Pºjås. Instead, I have decided to focus on the Bengali style of domestic Durgå Pºjå since, as explained earlier, circumstances led me to study it. Furthermore, it appeared to me to be the most elaborate of the Durgå Pºjås that I had witnessed and encompasses most of the ritual elements
found in non-Bengali types of celebration. The Bengali style of domestic Durgå Pºjå is similar to the public (sårvajanªna) Durgå Pºjås celebrated by Bengali communities throughout India and has exercised a considerable influence on non-Bengali public Durgå Pºjås across the subcontinent. The presence of large, flamboyant, clay images, the most salient feature of the public non-Bengali Durgå Pºjås, is the most obvious element that has been derived from the smaller, traditional image cluster used in most Bengali Durgå Pºjås. The Bengali style of Durgå Pºjå draws on Vedic, Puråœic, and Tantric elements. However, the Tantric nature of the pºjå is the prime feature distinguishing it from the non-Bengali Durgå Pºjå. The non-Bengali Durgå Pºjå is essentially an orthodox (smårta) bråhmaœas’ Devª pºjå, also known as Vedic/Vaidik pºjå.21 Although Tantrism often appears in forms that con-tradict, and even outrightly reject, many of Vedic-Bråhmaœism’s normative features (such as caste and gender obligations), the Durgå Pºjå is an example of Vaidik Tantric ritual. It is clearly grounded in Tantric practices (e.g., purifications [bhºta Íuddhi], imprintments [nyåsa]) and offers many Tantric variants to Vedic procedures (e.g., establishment of the jar, sacrificial offer-ing). However, since it makes abundant use of Vedic mantras and ritual procedures whose performance is traditionally restricted to male bråhmaœas, it requires that the ritualist be adept at conducting both Vedic and Tantric rites.
DURGÅ PU¯JÅ IN BENGAL
The exact origins of the revival of the autumn celebrations of Durgå Pºjå are unclear. Ray (n.d.:141) claims that one Calcutta family’s pºjå dates to 1411 C.E., but the image of their Devª (called Caœ˚ª), who is depicted atop a lion slaying the demon, is not accompanied by her children and thus does not exhibit the entire array of deities we have come to associate with the Durgå Pºjå.22 In her exploration of the pºjå’s origins in Bengal, McDermott (1995) encountered a number of contradictory explanations. Certain sources attributed the origin to Kamsanarayan, a landlord (zamªndår) of the Tahebpur region of Rajshahi, in present-day Bangladesh. Upon assuming control of the zamªndårª in 1583, he is said to have held the pºjå as a substitute for an aÍvamedha, the great Vedic horse-sacrifice.
One detailed account of the pºjå’s revival in Bengal is provided by R.
Roy (1990).23 He claims that it was revived in the early seventeenth century by Lakshmi Kant, one of Bengal’s earliest known zamªndårs. Lakshmi Kant was the descendent of a certain Panchananda Shakti Kant, of the Sabarni lineage (gotra).24 Panchananda Shakti Kant, who had gained a title due to his bravery, fathered seven children. The seventh child, Shambhupatti, had a son
The Setting 19 by the name of Jio (Jiv). Jio’s daughter died on the feast day of Lakßmª Pºrœimå in 1570 after delivering a son who was named Lakshmi Kant, after the goddess.25 Lakshmi Kant’s grandfather, Jio, unable to care for the child, left him in the care of Brahmananda Giri and Atmaram Giri, two spiritual preceptors at the Kålªghå† temple in Calcutta.26 Jio left for Banåras to become a world-renouncer (sa£nyåsin) and eventually became famous under the name of Kamadeva Brahmachari. Meanwhile Lakshmi Kant, through dint of his efforts, educated himself and rose in prominence until he was the right-hand man of Pratapaditya, the king of Jessore, a small state in Bengal. According to the historian S. Roy (1991), Lakshmi Kant was adopted by Rånª Kamalå, the younger wife of Råja Basanta Rai (builder of Kålªgha† temple), and was brought up in their family home of Sursoona with a traditional education and military training (1991:198). He thus grew to consider Råja Basanta Rai as his “uncle.”
Lakshmi Kant’s “uncle,” Råja Basanta Rai, ruled the state of Raigarh in which was located the village of Barisha (Behala). Lakshmi Kant had estab-lished a court (H: kaca®i ba®i) there and had also built a place of worship called Åt Cala, after the distinctive eight pairs of pillars in its construction.
It was at Åt Cala in Barisha in 1610 that Lakshmi Kant and Råja Basanta Rai celebrated the first autumn Durgå Pºjå. According to S. Roy (1991:198), the first celebration actually took place there in 1585, with Lakshmi Kant serving as the priest for Råja Basanta Rai’s Durgå Pºjå.27 Although people normally worshipped the Devª during the spring Navaråtra, this celebration apparently set a precedent, and a few families began to follow the newly revived tradi-tion of autumn worship. After 1610 Lakshmi Kant’s family, who had now come to be known as the Sabarna Rai Choudarys, continued to celebrate the autumn Durgå Pºjå at Åt Cala. These pºjås used to be open to the general public, and the images were not disposed of after the celebration but reused every year.
R. Roy (1990) claims that the Durgå Pºjå of Lakshmi Kant and Råja Basanta Rai was a reenactment of the primordial act of invoking and wor-shipping Durgå out of time (akåla bodana) initiated by Råma for the destruc-tion of Råvaœa. Yet it is difficult to know with certainty what motivated the reestablishment of their Durgå Pºjå, and if it was, as is suggested, initiated in resistance to Mughal rule. The pºjå may well have been instituted as a demonstration of the burgeoning wealth and power of this particular family, although it is true that Bengali kingdoms of that period were engaged in rebellions against the Mughals.
The kingdom of Jessore eventually fell to the Hindu general of the Mughals, Man Singh, through an unusual turn of events. The Mughal em-peror Jehangir had come to power in 1605. Man Singh, his general, on his conquests from Delhi in the direction of Bengal stopped in Banåras and
became a student of Kamadeva Brahmachari (i.e., Lakshmi Kant’s grandfa-ther, Jio). In gratitude to his mentor (guru dakßinå), and as a means of undermining Pratapaditya’s support, Man Singh had given Lakshmi Kant, Kamadeva Brahmachari’s grandson, five pieces (pargana) of land. These were Khaspur, Magura, Colicatta, Baikant, and Anwarpur. Eventually the pargana of Hetelpur was also bestowed on him.28 Thus Lakshmi Kant be-came one of the major zamªndårs in Bengal. Together with Bhavananda of Nadia and Jayananda of Bhansbedia he became one of Bengal’s three tax collectors.29 Since Lakshmi Kant had grown up in Kålªghå† temple, he was familiar with the three villages, Colicatta, Sutanuti, and Govindapur that would later become Calcutta. They were part of his zamªndårª and were rather poor and poorly populated at the time. Through his association with Kamadeva Brahmachari, Lakshmi Kant, and others, Man Singh learned much about the geography and other characteristics of Bengal and was thus able to conquer the kingdom of Jessore, which had staged a rebellion. Man Singh’s trip to quell Pratapaditya’s rebellion in Bengal took place in1612 (S. Roy 1991:8).
On November 10, 1698, the villages of Colicatta, Sutanuti, and Govindapur were sold by the Rai Choudary family to the East India Com-pany, and those historic documents were signed at Åt Cala. These villages constituted the city of Calcutta and became the seat of British power in India.30 Like their predecessor Pratapaditya, the Bengali zamªndårs of the 1700s, such as Råja Krishnachandra Rai and Rånª Bhavånª, are said to have been well known for their resistance to Mughal rule (A. C. Roy 1968:356).
Råja Krishnachandra, who ruled the zamªndårª of Nadia from 1728–1782, and who was a contemporary of Rånª Bhavånª, also “played a glorious role in the evolution of Bengal’s society, art, and literature,” was “the most im-portant man of the period in the Hindu society of Bengal” (A. C. Roy 1968:361–362).
Maratha invasions of Bengal during the period from 1741–1751, kept the Nawab (Mughal Viceroy) Alivardi Khan occupied with the frontiers of the territory, allowing the British to gain in strength. When he was succeeded by the young and impetuous Siraj-ud-daula, the British found an opportunity to further their position by conspiring against the young Nawab (A. C. Roy 1968:396–397).31 In 1756 Siraj-ud-daula attacked Calcutta and defeated the British at their outpost there.32 The British recaptured Calcutta in 1757, marking the beginning of the deterioration of the British relationship with the Mughal empire and the former’s rise to power in India (A. C. Roy 1968:398). Al-though Siraj-ud-daula signed a treaty with the British, they conspired with Råja Krishnachandra and others to oust Siraj from power (S. Roy 1991:203).33 At the Battle of Plassey, fought in June of the same year, the British won a decisive victory over the Nawab, and he was subsequently murdered (A. C.
Roy 1968:400).
The Setting 21 It is significant that later in this very year, 1757, Råja Krishnachandra of Nadia and Råja Navakrishna (of the Rai Choudary family) of Shova Ba-zaar are reputed to have initiated grand scale celebrations of the ÅÍvina (September/October) Durgå Pºjå. These lavish celebrations obviously marked their own ascendency to power, in alliance with the British, against their Mughal overlords. While it is certain that these Durgå Pºjås did promote both Hindu religion and culture, it is not certain if the pºjås were primarily de-signed to sustain Hindu solidarity while stirring up sentiments against the influence of Islam. These “domestic” Durgå Pºjås were also open to the general public, as were the less grandiose celebrations that had been taking place since the pºjå of the Rai Choudarys almost a century and a half earlier.
However, it was these pºjås in the period of British rule that are remembered as capturing the public imagination and triggering the tradition that now flourishes in Bengal, Banåras, and throughout India.34
DURGÅ PU¯JÅ IN BANÅRAS
The grand celebrations of the Durgå Pºjå by the powerful zamªndårs in Bengal in the middle of the eighteenth century occurred not long before the construction of the Durgå Kuœ˚ temple in Banåras by Rånª Bhavånª, the wealthy zamªndår of Natore, and who, we are told, celebrated Durgå Pºjå with a grandeur commensurate with her status (Ghosh 1986:181). In the actions of Lakshmi Kant’s grandfather, Kamadeva Brahmachari, who left for Banåras to pursue the religious life, and in Rånª Bhavånª’s extensive patron-age of the Banårasi religious community, we note two examples of the close relationship between Bengali culture and the city of Banåras. Both figures’
behaviors acknowledge the eminence of Banåras as a religious center. Rånª Bhavånª herself played an instrumental role in the revival of Hindu worship traditions in the city in the wake of Mughal persecution. Bengali benefactors such as Rånª Bhavånª, who were involved in the Hindu revival in Banåras, and other Bengalis, who also went there to retire, brought their characteristic styles of Durgå worship to the city.
While the Sabarna Rai Choudary family is reputed to be the first affluent bråhmaœa family in the area of Calcutta, in time other powerful bråhmaœa and kåyastha families settled in the area.35 In fact, the “most eminent families of eighteenth century Calcutta were non-brahmins” (S. Roy 1991:10). Among the eminent bråhmaœa families were the Tagores, and among the kåyastha families were the Mitras.36 The oldest, and still enduring, domestic celebra-tion of the Durgå Pºjå in Banåras occurs at the home of the Mitra/Basu family in the Chaukhamba municipality. This Bengali family’s first perfor-mance of the Durgå Pºjå in Banåras took place in 1773 in the same mansion
in which it is currently held.37 That first celebration was a relatively small
in which it is currently held.37 That first celebration was a relatively small