Epic

This is, as we have said, the heart of festival season in India.  Last weekend we were able to celebrate Dessara (or Dasara, or Navaratri) with one of Andi’s colleagues.  Dessara is a 9 or 10 day festival and is centrally a celebration of the victory of good over evil, although it is also much more than that. 

In eastern India, the festival focuses on Durga, a fierce warrior goddess who is often found fighting evil to protect the world.   

 

This week the celebration of Durga is a celebration of her victory over the buffalo headed demon Mahishasura.  As the story goes, Mahishasura had received a blessing that kept him safe from any male god.  Because of this, he was able to storm heaven and was about to take over both heaven and earth.  When Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma found out what was happening they were furious, both over Mahishasura’s coming conquest and their own impotence.  But their fury had its own power as it turned to light and, taking into itself all the power of the gods, gave birth to Durga, a goddess literally born of the fury and power of the gods.  Suffice it to say, Durga was a bad-ass and, as a female god, easily dispatched Mahishasura, saving the world from evil. 

In southern India Dessara is more directly celebrated through stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata where good is triumphant, although Durga does still get her own day.  One of the great traditions from southern India is to re-enact and elaborate on the stories of these epics with dolls, puppet shows, theater and dance.  For our own celebration we were invited to a doll display and puppet show and then to dinner to see a family kolu and share in the nights puja.  

The organizers of the doll display and puppet show didn’t allow photos in the doll display rooms, which is really disappointing because there is no way to accurately describe what we experienced.  The dolls, ranging in height from 1" to a couple of feet and made of wood, clay, or porcelain, were displayed throughout the rooms of a private house; but the house had been cleaned out of all furniture and decoration except for the dolls – so it was, if you can imagine it, 1400 sq ft of dolls displayed in every nook and cranny of the house.  I know – beautifully overwhelming!  There were about 40 main displays, each depicting a scene from the Ramayana or Mahabharata or a contemporary scene of good conquering evil (for example, there was a scene of Ghandi teaching in a park, as well as a very traditional scene of a wedding feast).  Each of these main scenes was staged on an elaborate set with hand carved and decorated trees and plants and buildings and water features and an overwhelming attention to the tiniest details of every story.  In addition to these main displays there was a whole collection of smaller displays: some depicting stories from one of the epics, some depicting stories from other scriptures, some depicting moments from everyday life, some merely collections of similar dolls (for example, there was a display of miniature garden gnomes), and some displays we couldn’t quite figure out even with the help of local and frequent visitors.  Our tour of the displays was made all the more impressive as we walked through the display with Andi's colleague's mother who was able to give us a running commentary on the displays, retelling each story and its importance.  It was an amazing experience of story telling to match the overwhelming display of dolls!    

After a tour through the doll display we made our way to an outdoor theater where there was a puppet show of scenes from the epics.  Even though we couldn’t follow the story too closely, since it was mainly for the kids we could follow along through their reactions.  And as an aside, watching scriptures that you don't know performed through puppetry in a language that you don't know and so can only understand by trying to follow by matching what is happening on stage to the reactions of kids might be one of the best ways to 'read' scripture.  It is, or was, a great experience of the physicallity, wonderment and crazy drama that religion at its fabulous best can be.

    Not the best photos ever, but Andi got scowled at and reprimanded for taking these, so it's the best we got.

After these public events, we made our way back to our host family’s house to share dinner and to see their doll display.  In addition to public celebrations, families will often put up their own displays, called kolu’s.  For the kolu, the dolls are again gathered together to depict scenes from the epics or contemporary life, but now, instead of being simply displayed throughout the house, they are displayed on tiers that are always odd numbered.  (After a lot of laughter, no one in the family could tell us why the display always has an odd number of tiers, only that it does.)  In our host's house, the display replaced the dining room table, taking over most of the front of the apartment.  

 It was so much fun hearing all the stories, especially when they were told by the kids, who had a flair for creativity when filling in the important details.   

After dinner Andi was invited to participate in the puja blessing for the night, which was an incredible honor, as was being able to share in the entire night.