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Book No. – 49 (History)
Book Name – The Concept of Bharatvarsha (B.D. Chattopadhyaya)
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1. The Issue
2. Festivities: The Orthodox and the Laukika
3. Samāja, Utsava and Governance
4. A Festival within a Festival
5. Conclusion
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LANGUAGE
Festivals as Ritual: An Exploration into the Convergence of Rituals and the State in Early India
Chapter – 6
Table of Contents
The Issue
- Discussions on early Indian rituals generally focus on what can be traced in various stages from the Vedic texts, which were appropriated by priests and committed to memory for oral transmission.
- Sanskrit-based rituals became the preserve of a sacred elite, with a significant portion of society excluded from access to the Vedas, bestowing special power on these rituals.
- The privilege to sponsor Śāstric rituals became a vital element in ritual performance, historically serving as a major source of social status legitimation.
- Rulers were expected to protect and sponsor the performance of these rituals for social stability and welfare.
- There exists a need to explore non-Brāhmaṇic, non-Sanskritic ritual practices among communities not governed by the hegemonic Śāstric tradition.
- Such exploration does not suggest a search for a homogeneous ritual space but an inquiry into interaction between Brāhmaṇical and non-Sanskritic rituals.
- Evidence of transformation exists where non-Sanskritic traditions became part of major ritual events across India, continuing even today.
- Some practices remained more local and merged into larger events in a modified form, while ritual space sharingoccurred between Brāhmaṇical ritualists and local practitioners.
- These interactions are of equal importance, illuminating different patterns of participation in the Indian religious process.
- A contradiction exists between orthodox and non-orthodox traditions, not just in social behavior but also in attitudes towards religious practices.
- Vedic rituals came to be regarded as orthodox and normative, with Gṛhya (domestic) and Śrauta (public) rituals being exclusive to those entitled to perform them.
- Community events and public spectacles, representing non-orthodox traditions, were intended to temporarily turn social arrangements topsy-turvy.
- These ritual subversions involved wide social participation, although they were often modified from their original forms by the time they were recorded.
- Political theorists and rulers were expected to adhere to orthodoxy as protectors of the social order, but in practice, they had to engage with marginal communities and ritual practices outside the orthodox sphere.
- While adherence to orthodoxy was normative, monarchs and theorists also had to engage with social, religious, and ritual practices of the public spheres and marginal communities.
- The essay argues that the original Sanskritic ritual system expanded by incorporating elements of theistic rituals like pūjā and that heterodox practices could converge with Sanskritic rituals.
- Tension existed in social contexts over domination, marginalization, and formalization of rituals, but both streams of ritual practice could integrate or exist as parallels within the same structure.
- This framework can be used to understand ritual spectacles and ritual politics in different parts of India today.