Ritualistic landscape of bastar dusshera, Chhattisgarh/

Abstract

Rituals have played a significant role in the human culture. They are an integral part of our lives and may be secular or religious. Cultural landscape, combined work of man and nature, has always been a well discussed topic in the past. The two terms ritual and landscape are well defined and known to all but these two terms combine to form Ritualistic Landscape. The term came into being in Britain in the 20th century and the concept is mostly associated with archaeology in the western culture but has a much abstract and deeper meaning in India, associated with ongoing ritual practices. This thesis is an attempt to study one such ritualistic landscape in terms of the spaces associated, scales of the festival (rituals) involved and how can it be conserved and continued. Bastar is the largest district in the state of Chhattisgarh. It is majorly a tribal region. Except from some cities like Jagdalpur the region is densely populated with large tribal population. The region is naturally very beautiful and historically very important. It is the bearer of Chhattisgarh’s tribal culture and traditions. There are various tourist sites like Chitrakoot, Tirathgarh, Kutumsar caves, Kanger Valley national park etc. The Dusshera at Bastar (earlier known as Devi Jatra)1 is a rich and complex festival that celebrates the role of Goddess Danteshwari as the titular deity of Bastar. There are many layers of political and cultural significance embedded in this event that was initiated by the Kakatiya rulers in the fifteenth century. At one level, it can be seen as a ritual of kingship, marking the presence of the state in the life of the people of Bastar2 . There are remarkable social practices followed in the organization of this event spread over several weeks, involving and bringing together every community in the state of Bastar. The festivities involve the crafting of wooden chariots, the bringing together of deities from nearly every village, the procession that brings the goddess Danteshwari from Dantewada to Jagdalpur to be received by local deities and the people of Bastar. This thesis aims at mapping Bastar Dusshera’s ritualistic landscape, exploring the multiple layers in which it manifests in the urban form- the points of significance, associated spaces, ritual actors, agents, events and spatial transformation through primary observations, mapping both the dynamic and static; temporary and permanent markers and winding routes of the processions. The festival cycle is studied through its constituent events by studying how the participants and observers interact at a particular festive time. To understand this phenomenon spatially, the liminal stages of each ritual is also recorded in terms of spatial transformation. Ritual theories which elaborate upon the interaction between people, place, time and ritual have been studied to inform this exercise. The parameters that were deduced from this study have been used to analyse the ritual structure of the festival to understand the symbiotic relationship between the urban fabric of the Historic core of Jagdalpur city and the events of Bastar Dusshera. The major elements of the festival like the tantric rituals, offerings, chariot processions along with music, dance and enactments and various other rituals follow structures of their own which have been built into the festival's timeline through chronological progression. Though the exact dating of their origins has not been determined, yet, through records such as the Vamshavalis and oral narratives passed down among various communities - it has been concluded that Spatial Manifestation of Dusshera in Jagdalpur city, the Bahar Raini ritual was added much later to the festival (early 16th century), the two rath concept was added during the reign of king Veer Singh Deo in 1610 CE, the capital of the kingdom changed four times before it finally became Jagdalpur and the festival was ongoing all this while. This chronology of events is portrayed in the nature of the ritual events and the participants. While the older rituals have been historically celebrated by the indigenous people of Bastar, the later additions show the growth and development in the society and emerging inclusivity. Almost all rituals begin from Bastar royal palace and palace chowk and the procession mainly happens on a fixed, closed path except during Bahar Raini when the rath is stolen and taken to the jungle of Kumdhakot that it follows a separate, linear path. These chariot processions are a culmination of rituals, dances, music and various stationary elements and spaces like Dev gudis (resting place for gods), and important points on the way. Bastar Dusshera has been looked at through the lens of anthropology and religion studies before but has never been spatially mapped to define its ritualistic landscape5 . The spaces associated with the festival have always received mere mentions but no research into the character of these spaces and their relationship with Dusshera has been carried out, prior to this study. Besides ritual and socio-cultural mapping, efforts have been taken to record the edges of these ritual spaces and the various processional routes to understand the relationship between the built fabric and their contribution to the changing liminality of spaces. In certain rituals it was observed that the immediate surroundings of the space - the houses with balconies projecting outwards, over-looking the processional path with ornate windows become the frame while for some rituals, it is the people who are the frame - their movement defined by the Actors' movement - whether they are chasing after the actor, surrounding it or walking along with it. To understand the festival's structure, a detailed schedule of events, taking place simultaneously or otherwise, was prepared with the help of primary observation, site-based interviews, secondary sources and recordings of previous celebrations. Detailing this schedule - with essential questions of who the actors, participants,ritual space and ritual time led to information gaps which were then resolved onsite through primary survey which included physical documentation, interviews with the tribal groups who organise the rituals; local participants; experts; performers and officials who are involved with the festival. The next phase involved delineating the open-spaces, clusters and routes, spatially, through extensive mapping and graphical representation. These tools helped in identifying the spaces most essential to Bastar Dusshera and demarcating the ritualistic landscape of Dusshera in the city of Jagdalpur so as to understand the spatial relationship of the intangible with its surroundings and spatially analyse the ritualistic landscape of Bastar and to establish Dusshera as an intangible phenomenon that acts like an anchor to define the collective identity of the Historic core and the culture of the people of Basta.