Figure 4.1 Old woman in sari, India. Photo: Dianne Osborne.
This chapter explores the vast range of beliefs within India, the sounds and smells of India and the extraordinary colours and textures that pervade the country’s various religions. India’s major religion, Hinduism, has a pantheon of gods and goddesses whose symbols reflect various functions and manifestations of the one supreme and eternal Divine Absolute. The individual gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are manifestations of the One, but they are only three among thousands.
The population of India reached 844 million people in the 1990s, 83 per cent of whom are Hindu (Kennett 1994:140). Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists all coexist throughout India, as well as smaller offshoots of Hinduism, specific groups such as the Hare Krishna, and vestiges of tribal religions in northern India. There are also individual holy mendicants, such as the sadhus, as well as those who practice extreme forms of bodily privations and austerities. India is a rich and colourful country for religious diversity, religious dress and body decoration. Where orthodox religion plays a greater role, dress codes are strict. This chapter will cover, specifically, the clothing pertaining to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and peripatetic holy men such as the sadhus.
There are a multitude of ways throughout India to express beliefs through dress and adornment, the most basic principle being that one dresses according to one’s caste, gender, social status and age group. Clothing fabrics vary from exquisite gold brocades, shimmering silks, and jewelled, beaded and mirrored cottons to basic plain, monochromatic cottons. In India, dress extends from humans to animals, especially elephants, as well as temples, altars and vehicles; even statues of deities are daily bathed, dressed and adorned with elaborate care. Colours and textures mingle with the sounds of jangling gold, silver and glass bangles, anklets with bells, long earrings, toe rings, nose rings, and necklaces. Incense from temples, those quiet refuges from the noisy world outside, float out into the hustle and bustle of crowded streets with their smells of food, marigolds, cow manure, urine and body odours, all of which tend to seep into the fabrics of wearers’ clothes.1
Men’s dress in India can be roughly distinguished in the major religions as the white kurta-pyjama, vest, cap, and beard of the Muslim; the white dhotikurta, topknot, bare feet and clean shaven face of the Hindu; the colourful baggy jurta-pyjama, turban, curly shoes, and full beard and moustache of the Sikh; the stitched grey suit of pants, jacket and hat of the Parsi; and the Christian man in Western-style dark suit with no particular haircut or facial hair, who is generally hatless (Shukla 2008:45). Among Hindus, there is no special dress for religious festivals or other festivities; however, on occasions such as these, all who can afford it put on richer and better clothes than those ordinarily worn.
Turbans once defined a man’s caste, class and region all over India, but now most men go bareheaded, except in Rajasthan, where a turban’s colour and folding indicates class, caste or trade, and among the Sikhs, whose main region is in the Punjab, north of Rajasthan, and who wind up their long hair beneath their turban.
The most ubiquitous dress for women throughout all of India is the sari,2 which evolved its system of folds and drapes over a long time. Its accompanying garments—petticoats, blouses (coli/choli) and underwear—were introduced by British missionaries. All over India, shops sell an enormous variety of saris, made of silk, cotton, georgette, organza, chiffon, crêpe, and taffeta, as well as synthetic materials such as nylon, acrylic and polyester (Shukla 2008), all in an amazing splash of colour and textures, such as block prints on silk and tie-dyed cotton saris, and often shimmering or catching the eye through additional embellishments such as sequins, beads and mirrors.
The most common type of sari worn today in India is a mass-produced synthetic one which came about with the introduction of textile mills and power looms. With five metres of fabric to be wrapped, pleated, tucked and draped, with no or very few safety pins or other devices to hold it in place, the sari requires expertise and much practice for it to be worn with elegance and aplomb.
Attention has to be given to the folding of one of the five metres of cloth into pleats that are tucked in at the waist to fall softly over the lower half of the body, and to the positioning of the drape across the breasts and over one shoulder, with the pallu, or free end of the sari, falling gracefully down the back. The whole cloth usually has a border on either side which gives the pallu, the decorative end piece of the sari, and the hem a contrasting and defining look, the colours often picked up in the blouse. An additional strip of cloth can be sewn on to the inside of the hem to give weight and strength to the border.
Underneath the sari a petticoat is worn, which is a simple long skirt tied with a drawstring, usually not visible unless the woman is doing chores. The blouse is close fitting and short, leaving a bare midriff, with sleeves reaching almost to the elbow. The whole ensemble, with the addition of bindi, earrings, necklaces, bangles and sandals, creates a vision of statuesque feminine elegance. While the total lower half of the body is hidden, the upper half reveals the arms, midriff and the neck and face. To wear a sari is a sensual experience, as Banerjee and Miller (2003:25) write:
The two shoulders and the two breasts are touched by the garment in quite different ways. The right shoulder can remain untouched by the sari, while the left bears the weight of the pallu. The right breast feels the pressure of the pleats of the pallu pulled across the bosom, whereas the left one feels strangely exposed, covered from the front but visible from the side. The right side of the waist is hot from the pleats passing over it, but the left side is uncovered and cool.
As well, various fabrics create different sensations on the skin. A soft silk or chiffon feels different than a cotton sari that has been starched with homemade rice or a sari with a prickly gold border that scratches the skin. The woman’s movements and the way she walks in a sari are determined by the five metres of fabric remaining in their proper place; the length of the stride is kept in check, and one arm is constantly ensuring that the pallu remains over the shoulder or in its position of covering the breast, and the pleats have to remain in place. As the actress Deena Pathak expressed:
Other clothing is on you, but it is not with you. But the sari is with me. I have to constantly handle it. I just can’t let it lie. The whole thing creates movement and one is moving with it all the time. That is why the pallu is not stitched. And that is the grace of the sari. (Banerjee and Miller 2003:23)
A woman’s sari is intimately linked to its wearer. One old woman commented:
Now I have a fever and don’t feel good so I don’t feel like wearing my new sari […] This old one feels much better as it is soft and old, and it’s light. In general it is better to wear old saris when doing housework since it is soft and you know where it is. A new one is crisp and you can’t control it and tie it around your waist, and then it might catch fire in front of the hearth. (Banerjee and Miller 2003:28)
Figure 4.1 Old woman in sari, India. Photo: Dianne Osborne.
The sari is dynamic, versatile, and constantly moving and is an integral part of the wearer’s life. It is truly a living item of apparel that has numerous functional and practical uses. The pallu in particular has a multitude of uses: wiping away sweat, cleaning a child’s face, helping to lift hot vessels in the kitchen, cleaning spectacles, protecting the head and face from the hot sun, filtering out smoke or smog by covering the face or for wiping a table.
One Indian woman living in America reminisced about the rustle and smell of the sari:
A silk sari has a smell when you open it, and when I open my own saris and get that smell I get very excited. It makes you homesick. That smell stays when you walk and you pull the pallu and you get that smell. There is the fragrance of jasmine, rose, and henna.
When I imagine a sari, I always imagine nice silk saris. With a beautiful color and border… a combination of border, material, color, and the designs. I don’t know, when we put on the saris and the jewelry, it’s like a romantic mode, yeah you are in honeymoon. When you wear a very nice sari and you dress up and that whole thing, your mind is very different, like you are in a dream world when you put it on. (Littrell and Ogle 2007:124)
Another woman remembered the smell surrounding the ritual nature of caring for her hair which added to the overall impression of the sari’s elegance:
When I was a girl, my mother would put oil in my hair and wash it and braid it and put flowers in it … Sundays, everybody puts oil in their hair, waits for one or two hours and goes for shampooing. It was a ritual kind of thing—almost a ceremony. Everybody, my sisters too, would put oil and then one by one you would go to the bathroom and your mom or somebody would help you shampoo. Once you got into the bathroom the whole body would be massaged with oil. When you came out the skin would feel soft, the hair would feel soft. (Littrell and Ogle 2007:124)
Indian women generally have thick, long, shiny, healthy and beautiful hair. Babies’, heads are more often than not shaved on their first birthday so that their first hair can be given as a gift to God, and their heads are massaged with sandalwood to encourage thick regrowth. Girls are often seen massaging oil into each other’s scalps. Body hair however is regarded as very unattractive and is either plucked or shaved.
Some women’s ‘religious sensibility,dictates their wearing a sari according to days of the week and their association with certain deities; for example white on Monday for Siva, red on Tuesday for Mahavir. Colours thus worn make a sari ‘auspicious’,(Banerjee and Miller 2003:51). However, a woman is more likely to select materials and colours that suit her complexion. The sari becomes a rite of passage for girls who don one for the first time, and a woman might be presented with a sari on the birth of her first child. The iconic sari of motherhood in Bengal is white with a red border.
There are geographic variations in the way a sari is draped, wrapped and tucked. In some places, women of a particular subcaste are distinguished by their sari style; in a village in Madhya Pradesh for example, women of one subcaste wear only printed saris, a variety that is forbidden to another subcaste (Banerjee and Miller 2003). There is a profound distinction between pure and impure in Hindu cosmology, and the fear of pollution is strong. Bodily fluids such as saliva, semen or blood are considered highly polluting, and anyone with an occupation that necessarily involves direct contact with any of these substances is ranked at the bottom of India’s hierarchy. While in the West secondhand clothing is acceptable to wear, and even sought after by the budget-conscious or those looking for something different, secondhand clothing in India is looked upon with great suspicion, as it is associated both with the fear of pollution and extreme poverty. As well, given the numerous functional uses of the sari, such as wiping off sweat, a secondhand sari is not seen as an option for the majority of Indians.
The saris and scarves of the Rajasthani women in the northern provinces of India are particularly vivid, contrasting with the arid sandy landscape. The saris, both decorative and practical, are intricately woven or embroidered and are the subject of many Rajput love songs. When the sun becomes too strong, the long scarf can be pulled down and used as a sun visor or wrapped around the body if the weather becomes a little cooler. Rajasthani women also wear masses of jingling, shining jewellery: bracelets that almost cover their arms, glittering ring noses and anklets that make sounds as they walk.
A visit to a textile shop in India is like entering Aladdin’s magic cave; the colours and fabrics are incredible, and when a customer arrives in a shop, one or two male sellers can end up sitting behind a pile of exquisite layers of fabric that reaches to their chests. The party of a bride-to-be might spend several hours in the one shop as the shopkeeper throws swaths of colours and textiles one on top of the other to encourage the bridal party to select something for the entire bridal party.3
In the ancient world, cotton, wool and silk cloth from Benares (Varanasi) called kasikuttam, kaseyka or simply kasiya, was famous the world over for its fine texture and softness. Banaras is famous for its silk brocade. The cloth in which Buddha’s body was wrapped after his death came from Banaras and was said to have been woven so fine that it could not absorb even oil. The heritage of excellence of Banarasi fabrics is evident in the saris, whose distinguishing feature is its zari work—gold and silver threads woven into patterns. In earlier days, the threads were made of real gold and silver, making them prized possessions. Now, synthetic gold threads have taken their place.
Jewellery such as earrings, bracelets, necklaces and ankle bracelets are worn, and noses may be pierced and a stud-type jewel or a nose ring added. As well as their visual éclat, some items of jewellery, particularly bangles and anklets, are remarkable for their sounds:
If you’re wearing bangles … they make certain sounds. So, I always like the glass bangles, the more traditional. They break very easily, so I started buying metal ones, but they don’t make the sound like a glass bangle. I always like to wear long earrings. It [all] has to move. You can feel something moving. Something that enhances the contours … The bangles showing your wrist, a little bit, even if you have a small bracelet. The anklets, I loved when I got married. And that lets you know that there is a new bride in the house. (Littrell and Ogle 2007:123)
Women wear their hair parted in the centre and usually braided. If they are married, they smear red make-up into the parting of their hair. Women may wear a tika (a dot of turmeric powder or other coloured substance) on their foreheads as a symbol of their religion. On a man, it is referred to as a tilak.
Tika is usually made from red vermillion paste, white sandalwood paste or ash and can be used to denote religious sects, roughly divided into two main groups: three horizontal bars indicate the person is a Shaivige (follower of Shiva), whereas vertical stripes indicate a Vaishnavige (follower of Vishnu). The central stroke on a Vaishnavige’s forehead is usually red, representing the radiance of the goddess Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu in his incarnation as Natayan. The small dot which women and girls place on their foreheads is known as a bindi. These are usually bought ready-made from the market and have become a fashion accessory, with every imaginable shape and colour to match the occasion.
Hindus4 are born into a complex caste system which consists of four main groups: Brahmins (priests and theologians), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), Vaisyas (merchants, traders and farmers) and Sudras (craftsmen and workers). These are subdivided into myriad hierarchical jati, or groups of ‘families’. Beneath the four main castes are the Dalits, formerly known as Untouchables. Hinduism contains no single doctrine, nor does it have a single founder or teacher.
The principal concepts of Hinduism are reincarnation, the caste system, merging with ultimate reality, living a moral life and attaining moksha, the escape from the cycle of continuing reincarnations. Hinduism contains pantheons of gods and goddesses, which are fundamentally symbols that depict various attributes, functions and manifestations of the one supreme and eternal Divine Absolute, the cause and foundation of all existence. Hindus acknowledge many deities but usually devote their prayers and practices to one or a few, and this may depend upon context.
Hinduism does not impose rigid beliefs and practices on any of its more than 800 million followers; instead, each person follows a path to selfrealization in a number of ways: worship, chanting, devotional surrender, service, yoga, meditation and self-knowledge. Rituals and Hindu philosophy draw upon a large collection of philosophical literature and scriptures that include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad-Gita and the epics Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. Traces of Hinduism go back around three thousand years, yet while beliefs and practices vary widely across the continent, there are some commonalities among which are the notions of reincarnation (samsara), conduct or action (karma), appropriate behaviour for one’s station in life (dharma) and the pervasive caste system.
There are festivals and ceremonies associated not only with gods and goddesses but also with the sun, moon, planets, rivers, oceans, trees and animals, and the streets of India are continuously full of people, sounds, smells and a riot of vivid colours. Dress widens its parameters in India, extending from humans to clothed, painted and jewel-bedecked animals, especially elephants, as well as to the brightly painted statues of deities to be found within glittering ornate temples, where the sounds of chiming temple bells are often heard, converging with the smell of incense, golden marigold blossoms and hot bodies. Ochre red is a favourite colour for smearing idols and deities in all parts of India.
Visually attractive dress is important not only for presenting a beautiful body to human onlookers, but also to nonhuman onlookers. Divine spirits called Murtas are said to reside in stone, wood or metal images called murtis, receptacles into which a deity can be embodied. The concept of darshan (Sanskrit) means seeing and being seen by the gods; it is the two-way gaze between devotee and deity, the moment of communication with a god during the act of puja (worship). Therefore, to go into a temple improperly attired might displease the gods and shows disrespect. The clothing, jewellery and sweet, clean smell of the devotee are all mirrored in the offerings that are given to the murtis, who are equally bestowed with flowers, rings, bangles, bindis, hair ribbons and small amounts of food and sweets to please them. In the winter, they are suitably clothed to keep them warm, and at certain times of the year, they are dressed in new clothes (Eck 1998; Shukla 2008).
The section of the body considered to be the focus of a woman’s beauty is the eyes, and the naturally large dark eyes of Indian women are greatly enhanced with black kohl. Even babies are regularly decorated with black kohl around their eyes. Many infants are adorned with amulets tied with thread around various parts of the body, namely the neck, waist and wrist, to ward off malevolent spirits and to deflect the evil eye of jealous humans.
A Hindu wedding is a lavish and colourful ceremony that is the occasion of the most dazzling display of dress that one could find anywhere in the world, with exquisite gold-brocaded saris, shimmering silks and fabrics heavy with sumptuous jewels, beads or sequins. A bride wears a colourful sari, often red and gold (symbolizing happiness), and her hands are decorated with intricate lace-like henna patterns. She wears an extensive array of jewellery, ranging from layers of bangles, nose rings, earrings, gold necklaces, anklets, toe rings, bindi (between the eyes) and heavy make-up. The bridegroom traditionally wears a white or brocaded outfit, topped with a colourful turban. During the ceremony, the bride and groom exchange garlands of flowers which they wear around their necks.
Figure 4.2 Henna hands and bangles, India. Photo: Dianne Osborne.
Henna is used extensively as a form of body adornment known as mehndi and has been practiced for thousands of years throughout India, Africa and the Middle East (Fabius 1998; Batra 1999). The paste that is applied to the body is made from the crushed leaves of the henna plant (Lawsonia inermis). Fresh henna leaves have no odour, even when crushed between the fingers, but powdered henna has an earthy, clay-like smell. The tiny delicate flower has four petals, with a long slender stamen at the centre. When it blooms, it emits a sweet fragrance like jasmine and rose. For centuries, perfumers have made much use of the scents that can be made from the flower’s oil.
When applied to the skin, the colour produced by the henna plant is a variation of reddish brown. Depending on the skin tone, skin type, body temperature and other factors, the colour might appear as any one of the following: light orange, dark orange, reddish brown, cafe-au-lait brown, tobacco brown, chocolate brown or burgundy, and sometimes even crimson red. Body designs using henna paste vary according to culture and religious beliefs.
In India, henna is used extensively during a woman’s preparation for her marriage. It is thought very auspicious if the henna stain remains on the body for some time after marriage, as it indicates that the mother-in-law of the bride will look favourably upon her. The deeper the colour stains into the skin, the longer the love between the couple is supposed to last. Hence, a good mehndi application is almost a prayer to the gods for everlasting love and a successful marriage. Designs vary; some are applied so finely and intricately that they give the appearance of delicate lace. A yellow turmeric paste, haldi, is often applied to the groom’s body, and he might wear a red dye tika on his forehead. In India, a custom is to hide the initials of the new husband within an intricate henna design on the hands and feet of the new bride. After marriage, bright red in the parting of a woman’s hair indicates that she is a married woman (Batra 1999).
In the south and eastern territories of India, in places such as Pondicherry, Chennai (Madras) and Calcutta, henna is not available, and people are not familiar with mehndi practice. Instead, eastern Indians use a reddish ink called alta for decorative purposes, and they paint only bold simple designs. Southerners use the bark of sandalwood trees to make a yellowish-brown paste, which is also used for decorative painting of tilaks or bindis between the eyes for prayer purposes.
The three main practices of death rituals in India are cremation (the archetypical practice for death among Hindus throughout India), burial and ‘outside disintegration’,also referred to as sky burial, as the body is left outside for circling vultures to strip the flesh off the bones. Hindus view cremation as most spiritually beneficial to the departed soul because, as the astral body tends to have a lingering attachment to the corpse, burning the body within twenty-four hours of death enables the soul to begin its onward journey as soon as possible (Kramer 1988).
At the onset of death, the eldest son and other relatives put water into the dying person’s mouth, preferably water that has been taken from the sacred Ganges River. When the person is declared dead, the body is washed and anointed, the hair and beard (if male) are trimmed, the thumbs are tied together, as are the big toes, and the body is dressed in new white cotton clothes. If the deceased is a woman who has died before her husband, she may be wrapped in red cloth, indicating her married status and the auspicious state of having died before becoming widowed (Hertel 2009). A lamp is kept burning throughout the mourning period. The chief mourner, usually the eldest son, has his head shaved to show that he is in mourning, and leads the way to the cremation site, carrying a clay pot filled with burning incense, and is followed by mourners bearing a bamboo stretcher containing the corpse.
Death is not hidden in India, and any tourist to India may see a corpse being borne on bamboo stretchers decorated with flowers through the streets and alleyways to the ceremonial funeral pyre. This is especially likely in the holy city of Varanasi, a popular tourist destination, where it is almost impossible not to see cremations at any one of several ghats along the river. Upon reaching its destination at one of the ghats, the body is burnt on a pyre in full public view. To die in Varanasi is to be liberated; even people who die and are cremated elsewhere try to arrange for their ashes to be sent to Varanasi for immersion in the waters of the holy Ganges.
Upon returning home, mourners take a purification bath, and an oil lamp is lit in the place where the body had been lying, to light the way of the deceased’s soul. During the following day or days, mourners return to the cremation site to collect the ashes which are then deposited in a river, ideally the Ganges, to await reincarnation. During the days of impurity following a death, food restrictions are adhered to, and house cleaning is abandoned. Men of the household stop shaving and cutting their hair, and all family members refrain from cutting their fingernails and toenails for a period of ten days, after which they all undergo water purification by bathing, and the house is thoroughly cleaned (Hertel 2009).
In earlier times, a widow would be expected to mount the funeral pyre of her deceased husband, burning in the flames with him while she is still alive. The term suttee (sati) describes both the ritual and the woman herself. The sati at the funeral was often dressed in her marriage robes or other finery. Bangles symbolize the married state, and the ritual moment when a wife breaks her bangles signals her entry into the inauspicious state of widowhood. These bangles remain unbroken on the woman performing sati, indicating that she continues her wifely status, denying separation from her husband even at death (Hawley 1994).
Symbolic of the act of sati, a simple hand held up with palm facing the viewer and with intact, unbroken bangles, is depicted on stones and shrines throughout Rajasthan and other parts of northern India. Shrines to the sati are decorated and venerated annually by her descendants, and the sati herself is regarded as a goddess, having performed the ultimate service of loyalty and self-sacrifice for her husband. When a woman performs sati, she becomes a satimata, literally ‘sati mother’, and is regarded as a local deity who primarily protects members of her family lineages. The chunari, a rite that solemnizes the death of a sati, takes place twelve days after her death. Chunari is so named because of the long piece of cloth that is placed on the ashes of the sati in the course of its celebration.
While sati has always been the exception rather than the rule in Hindu life and is now illegal, it nevertheless occurred even as late as 1987, when a nineteen-year-old widow, Roop Kanwar, dressed in her red wedding dress, died on the burning funeral pyre of her deceased husband in Rajasthan (Hawley 1994).
Extreme pain appears to form a sacrificial role in India in other ways, as will be seen in the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, practiced in some parts of India, and exported to places such as Singapore, where a two-day Hindu festival is held annually.
Thaipusam5 is a Hindu festival where men, women and boys practice self-mortification and austerities as they fulfil their vows to Hindu deities. The festival is held in honour of Lord Subramaniam, a son of Lord Shiva, in his aspect as Lord Murugan. Subramaniam is one of the major gods in the Hindu pantheon and is considered the personification of youth, virtue, bravery and power. What began as a simple festival to celebrate the triumph of good over evil has become a visual and startling display of physical mortification, with devotees fulfilling their vows to Lord Murugan. The reasons for undertaking the ordeal are varied: to thank Lord Murugan for having overcome an illness, for a woman having found a husband or having become pregnant, for having helped in difficult exams or for good fortune and a better life.
To prepare for the rigours of Thaipusam, devotees purify their bodies and their minds by refraining from alcohol, cigarettes, sexual intercourse and any contamination, such as contact with a menstruating woman, for forty-eight hours prior to the festival. They eat only a vegetarian diet, sleep on the floor and do not shave or cut their hair. They must not use any utensils which others have touched. There must have been no recent deaths in the family; otherwise, the pollution of death will cling to them. Thaipusam is a visible display of religious agony and ecstasy and a demonstration of love, devotion and gratitude to the deity.
The most outstanding item of dress worn by devotees during the festival is the kavadi, or ‘burden’, which in its most extreme form consists of a large metal frame with several arcs and dozens of flexible metal wires piercing into the flesh of the penitent, acting as a bizarre parabola. Supported by four metal rods that hold the frame in place and attached to the body by a belt, the silver needles or spikes seem to criss-cross underneath the frame, finding one end in the flesh of the kavadi bearer.
Such a frame is also decorated according to the special preferences of the wearer, some with peacock feathers (in honour of the bird upon which Subramaniam rode), palm leaves, flowers, pictures of various deities, strings of wooden or plastic beads or bright plastic flowers, tassels, bells and anything else that devotees may see fit to carry as part of their offering. The frame is so heavy that thick, soft pads are placed on each shoulder to help bear its weight.
Silver needles or spikes, usually topped by a trident, may be used to pierce the tongue and cheeks; limes or small, round metal pots may be hooked into the flesh of the thighs, upper arms and other parts of the torso with fishhooks. Such an elaborate and penitential kavadi may weigh up to thirty kilos. Men, women and boys may carry a kavadi that is not as extreme as the above version, but it is mainly men who subject themselves to the physical rigours of flesh piercing (Hullet and Roces 1981:70).
Slightly less torturous forms of kavadi do not incorporate the large metal frame but are nevertheless strongly punitive. Devotees might have small silver containers of milk or have oranges or limes suspended from their chests and backs with fine silver hooks that resemble fishhooks, piercing the skin deep enough so that the hooks may hold the weight of the containers or other objects. The kavadi vary in size from a brass jug of milk carried on the head and a light smattering of pins and needles inserted in the flesh to the extreme elaborate metal cage construction described above.
Figure 4.3 Limes hooked into skin at Hindu Thaipusam festival. Photo: Getty Images.
Different parts of the face might be inserted with hooks and spikes and decorated with delicate, linking chains. Like slim spears, the spikes are inserted horizontally through one cheek and out the other cheek and/or inserted vertically through the tongue. A silver trident, the symbol of Shiva, often forms one end of the spike that pierces through one cheek into the other. Once the needle is inserted, the trident is added for extra effect. Others might wear clusters of small needles over their whole body or walk the pilgrim trail wearing sandals with nails (Hullet and Roces 1981:71).
To endure these ordeals, the devotee maintains a complete fast twenty-four hours before donning the kavadi; then, dressed only in a yellow loincloth, he undergoes ceremonial purification and is smeared with sacred ashes to the accompaniment of prayers and clouds of incense. The combination of all these procedures induces a trance-like state intended to alleviate the pain. The kavadi is then attached to the penitent’s body, the spikes, needles and fishhooks inserted, and he is ready for the pilgrim walk.
The atmosphere in the streets is charged with energy, colour, movement and the combined smell of rancid coconut oil, fragrant incense, sweating bodies and food. Crowds of supporters and onlookers chant, sway and shout their support; bright multicoloured Indian saris flutter about everywhere, and the streets are lined with festivalgoers and tourists.
Having walked the pilgrim route, the devotee prostrates himself before the statue of Murugan and then bathes in milk. He eats, and then the kavadi, the needles and the hooks, are carefully removed, and sacred ash is applied to the wounds. Although the bleeding is surprisingly negligible, there is still some blood flow. Once the Thaipusam is over, all who took part in the festival once again go about their normal lives until the next Thaipusam festival.
Sadhus6 are India’s itinerant holy men, thin ascetics, often with matted, dreadlocked hair and thick beards, who have surrendered family and social responsibilities as well as material possessions to pursue their spiritual search through meditation, devotion, the study of sacred texts and pilgrimage. Belonging to many different sects, their basic premise is devotion to a god, invariably Lord Shiva, and renunciation of physical pleasures which may lead to self-mortification.
Having renounced the world and its earthly pleasures and having turned their back on society and its rules in an effort to find moksha (salvation), they spend much of their time in meditation and prayer, moving from one place of pilgrimage to another or from one major festival to another. One thing they have in common is that they all long for union with the divine. Many sadhus are seen in the city of Benares (Varanasi), which has long been regarded as the city of Shiva Vishranath, the Lord of the Universe. Many engage in the constant repetition of the name of a god, or a powerful mantra can be internalized and synchronized with one’s breathing so that the utterance of the prayer lasts until death.
Sadhus willingly endure great hardships and scorn clothing. Some appear red-eyed from the ritual smoking of hashish, and they may carry tridents in obeisance to Lord Shiva. It has been said that meditation hermits can be so lost in their meditations that birds sometimes build nests in their hair. Some have never cut their hair, and it reaches well beyond the length of their bodies; others, however, shave or remove every particle of hair from their bodies or leave merely a tuft of hair at the back of the head. The way they wear their hair is as different as their apparel. Some wrap their heads with cloths or flowers, and some might wear turbans; some have beards and moustaches of different lengths and styles. Some wear marks on their foreheads that depict symbols of their beliefs; some practice harsh austerities such as standing on one leg for so long that the muscles in the other leg wither away.
Figure 4.4 Three Sadhu men, India. Photo: Lynne Hume.
Celibacy is the most important austerity practiced by sadhus. According to yoga metaphysics, sexual energy is the main potential source of spiritual energy. As an aid to mental control of sexuality, restraint and even physical punishment is sometimes employed. A langoti, a type of chastity belt made of wood or steel, is permanently worn by some sadhus. This austerity is usually undertaken for a minimum of twelve years. A dhoti sometimes covers the langoti. Displays of physical strength can be demonstrated in curious ways, such as lifting weights with the penis, sometimes weighing up to thirty kilos, also demonstrating the sadhu’s transcendence of sexuality. The aim of this exercise is not to enlarge the penis but rather to desensitize the penis, to destroy its erectile capacity. Shiva is represented by the phallic linga (Shukla 2008).
A holy man might smear his body with vermilion powder, considered auspicious; others cover themselves from time to time in ash or ochre. Their feet might be barefoot or encased oddly in something very modern, such as a pair of canvas runners or old boots. Some carry a colourful cloth satchel that contains their very small possessions.
Many sadhus wear necklaces with beads that may be made of seeds called rukaraksh (‘the tears of Shiva’)and astrological rings. Through prolonged bodily contact, these ornaments are said to improve the physical and mental health of the wearer, including the relief of heart problems, high blood pressure and tuberculosis. Any rukaraksh necklace bought in Vishvanath Gali increases in power because of its association with the main temple, dedicated to Shiva in Shiva’s own city.
Figure 4.5 Sadhu man, India. Photo: Dianne Osborne.
The Naga (naked) sadhus, or ‘warrior-ascetics’, belong to a large and prominent Shiva sect. The Nagas used to be extremely militant, fighting with rival sects, as well as Muslims and the British, and this warrior-like past is now visible in their display of weaponry: sticks, spears, swords and the trident, all of which nowadays have a symbolic function. Many Nagas still walk about India naked, even high up in the icy Himalayas. In their nakedness, they are said to control and inhibit sexual vibrations, retaining sexual energy to mystically transform its power into psychic and spiritual power.
Another type of sadhu comes from the small and obscure Aghoris sect.7 Sometimes referred to as the ‘crazy’, god-possessed sadhus, they might emulate the most extreme characteristics of Lord Shiva as the conqueror of death, frequenting cremation grounds, smearing themselves with cremation ashes and sometimes wearing a garland of skulls and bones. The Aghoris willingly transgress all ascetic and Hindu taboos, believing that a reversal of values will enable them to gain enlightenment more quickly. While all sadhus are supposed to be vegetarian and teetotal, Aghoris eat meat and drink alcohol, often from a human skull, and eat the flesh of dead animals found in the street; they also might abuse people with foul obscenities. Stories abound of their eating excrement and the putrid flesh of corpses, drinking urine, engaging in ritual intercourse with menstruating prostitutes on cremation grounds and meditating while sitting on a corpse.
Sikhism8 was founded in the fifteenth century in the Punjab, a part of northern India which is now in Pakistan and where the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple, is located. In the Punjabi language, ‘sikh,means a pupil or follower, and ‘guru, is a title for a respected religious teacher. Sikhism began with Guru Nanak (1469–1539), born of Hindu parents from the Kshatriyas caste (soldiers and rulers) in a village called Talwindi. From childhood, he was attracted to both Hindu and Muslim saints, and as an adult, he began to preach the message of unity of both religions. His teachings included the radical view that both the caste system and the ritual worship of gods in the form of murtis (icons or idols found in temples and Hindu home shrines) should be rejected. Sikhs use terms such as accolade or service to describe the respect that they pay to the gurus and other revered humans.
While Sikhism is monotheistic, it retains the Hindu idea of karma, that actions from one life affect the next life, and rebirth, with the soul moving through cycles of births and deaths. The goal of all Sikhs is to build a close and loving relationship with God through living a pure and honest life (kirat karni), meditating on the name of God (nam japna) and sharing through charitable work (vand shakna). They also believe that people of different races, religions or sex are all equal. The teachings of Guru Nanak were incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs, comprising the teachings of the ten gurus from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind. The fifth guru, Guru Arjun, built the Golden Temple at Amritsar which became the holiest of Sikh shrines.
Their high moral character, courage and loyalty is symbolized by wearing the five ‘Ks’: kesh, kangha, kirpan, kara and kachera. Kesh means ‘uncut hair’; Sikhs do not cut or trim their hair or shave and they wear turbans from about the age of eleven. The kangha is a small wooden or ivory comb, a symbol of cleanliness. The kirpan is a short sword or dagger reminding Sikhs of their duty to fight against evil and to defend righteousness. The kara is a plain steel bangle symbolizing one God and one truth, without beginning or end. Kachera are warrior shorts now worn as underwear; they symbolize leaving behind old ideas and following better ones.
The long hair is tied up in a rishi knot (joora) over the top front of the head, considered to be the solar centre for males (farther back on a woman’s head), and covered with a turban, the bana, the primary identifying dress feature of the Sikhs, albeit not one of the five ‘Ks’. The rishi knot stems from the idea that a rishi was someone who had the capacity to control the flow of energy and prana in the body. The rishi knot assists in the channelling of energy in meditation. If one cuts off the hair, there can be no rishi knot. A female Sikh may wear a chuni (chiffon scarf) across the head, under the chin and across the shoulder.
The ‘k’ item of clothing that is not publicly visible is the kachera (kacha, or ‘breeches’), hidden as it is under the outward visible garments. Its functions have been variously described male protection, soldierly duties, control of the penis, and abandoning effeminate submissiveness or Hindu customs and superstitions (Singh 2004). The original form of the kacha, a thick, coarse cloth with many folds, especially in the front, provided a cushion that protected the most vulnerable part of the male body from any enemy blow in hand-to-hand combat. Sikh scholarship has focused on the kacha as a particularly male garment, but Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, taking a feminist approach to the kacha, argues that this undergarment is also important for women. Etymologically, kacha is related to kacch, which means ‘underarm’. In Punjabi, the expression kachh vicu varna (literally ‘stuck to an armpit’) is used frequently to denote closeness between couples. Thus, the kacha, she argues, binds Sikhs in love and is in opposition to male dominance. By telling his Sikhs, both men and women, to wear the kacha, Guru Gobind Singh, in a very basic and innovative way, eliminated sexual difference (N.-G. K. Singh 2004).
Figure 4.6 Sikh man holding child, India. Photo: Dianne Osborne.
During Guru Gobind Singh’s time, Mughal aristocrats or Hindu Rajputs were the only ones allowed to wear ornate turbans, to carry weapons and to have a moustache and beard. The turban then was a sign of nobility and respectability.
It was in this context that Guru Gobind decided that all Sikhs should take up the name Singh (‘lion’) or Kaur (‘princess’),boldly and fearlessly wear their turbans and carry a sword, which effectively made his followers see themselves on a par with the Mughal rulers.
The Sikh turban over uncut hair is a sign of a Sikh’s complete commitment to live in complete accordance with the teachings. It is usually five metres of cotton cloth (coincidentally the same length of material as a woman’s sari) and is considered to be much more than a mere covering of the head; the wearer gains a feeling of clarity and readiness for whatever the day may bring. The Sikh woman also wears a turban and may add a chuni (chiffon scarf) draped over her turban that extends across the shoulder and under the chin, which is said to protect the grace of the woman and to indicate that she is not sexually available.
Turbans come in every color and pattern, but there are three colours most commonly worn: white, deep blue and saffron orange. White turbans are said to be worn to extend the aura and the person’s projection. Royal blue or navy blue are the colours of the warrior and are common among Sikh ministers, especially in India. Saffron orange represents wisdom and is commonly worn by Sikhs worldwide. Black turbans can represent surrender of the ego. Other colours of turbans do not have any specific significance associated with them (sometimes it is just a case of fashion, of matching a turban to a business suit, for example).
Some modern busy Sikhs, who do not want to take the time to wrap the turban around the head, resort to a ‘Blue Peter’ Pag, a prestarched turban which is tied round the head and left to dry. Once dry, the starched turban retains its shape and can be worn like a hat. Sikhs who reject the starched turban regard this practice as pure laziness and, more importantly, that the starched ‘hat’ detracts from the daily turban wrapping as a spiritual practice. One young man expressed it in this way: ‘It feels fresher to tie it every day—it doesn’t feel old, like three-day old boxer shorts’(J. Singh 2010:214).
Regardless of the circumstances or the type of employment or activity, a Sikh keeps his or her form and identity as a Sikh. Clothes are modest, immaculately clean and exemplary of the identity and character of a soldier-saint. Today, many Sikh practices are identifiable with Hindu practices, and intermarriages between the two communities are common. However, the Sikh community has its own unmistakable identity, and although Sikhs constitute less than 2 per cent of the Indian population, they are a visibly distinct element within the total Indian religious traditions and Indian society.
Jainism11 as a religious tradition was established in India about the same time as Buddhism, circa 500 BCE. Like Buddhism, Jainism rose against what some regarded as the corruption of the interpretation of Hinduism. The underlying philosophy of Jainism is the renunciation of worldly desires and the idea that self-conquest leads to perfect wisdom. Today, Jainism has more than three million adherents in India and finds wide acceptance because of its philosophy of sympathy for all living beings. Only a small minority of Jains renounce the world to pursue the ascetic path fully, but these are the most visible in appearance.
The focus of this religion is complete nonviolence, ahimsa, and the purification of the soul by means of right conduct, right faith, right knowledge and noninterference in other beings, spiritual paths. It is only through ahimsa that one can escape samsar, the cycle of rebirth. The cardinal doctrine of ahimsa, non-harm to any living creature, leads some Jains to wear thin muslin masks over their mouths to prevent them from accidentally breathing in small insects or to abstain from eating after dark in case insects should accidentally fall into their food and die. Some sweep the ground before them as they walk to avoid inadvertently treading on small creatures (Vallely 2009).
The notion of nonviolence extends to cloth or material made by harming or causing the death of any living creature: leather and skin for example which of necessity means the death of an animal and silk production which entails the killing of insects. Because of their strong commitment to not harming any living creature, many Jains do not wear anything made of silk, as it results from killing silkworms. In the caterpillar stage of the silk moth, the silk is secreted as a liquid from two glands in the caterpillar’s head. For the production of silk, cocoons, still in their pupal stage, are placed in boiling water, which kills the silkworms and begins the process of unravelling the cocoons to produce silk thread. If allowed to develop and live, the silkworms would turn into moths and chew their way out of the cocoons to escape, resulting in much shorter and less valuable silk strands. Approximately fifteen silkworms are killed to make a gram of silk thread, and ten thousand are killed to make a silk sari.
However, there is a type of silk that does not involve such harm. It is called ahimsa silk, also known as peace silk, because it is produced without actually killing the silkworms.12 Ahimsa silk production waits until after the moths chew their way out of their cocoons, thus allowing them to live. However, because of the chewed-through strands, less of the silk is useable for textile production.
Jainism’s practice of nonviolence extends even to plants and the decoration of images of the Jinas (known as ‘crossing-makers’ because they made the ‘crossing’ from the material to the spiritual realm, from bondage to freedom). Any natural products such as flowers are only used if they have dropped from the plant naturally and not plucked; the buds of the flowers are not removed from their source. When making a garland of the flowers for the images, a needle is not used for stringing them together. The images themselves have to be cleaned with great care and handled with respect. While using a brush to clear the things stuck to the images of the Jinas, it should not make even the slightest noise. The flowers, the decorations, and the smearings which are used for various parts of the images should not be allowed to fall to the ground. In case they do fall down, they should not be used again, and they should be kept on a clean plate. If saffron is rubbed onto the idols, it must be done with a closed mouth, and when the saffron has been applied, the hands should be washed (Vallely 2009).
Jains who are neither monks nor nuns are referred to as ‘householders’, or lay Jains. They attempt to follow the doctrine of nonviolence in their lives but are not as strict in their adherence of this doctrine as are Jain monks and nuns, since complete ahimsa is not possible in everyday life. Some harm is inevitably done while preparing food, cleaning, walking, driving and other daily activities. While monks inculcate the virtue of total nonpossessiveness, householders merely minimize or limit possessions and are not attached to them. Some forms of employment are not possible for any Jain however, such as butchers, fishermen, arms dealers and even mill owners or wine merchants. They are also strict vegetarians.
Jains are divided into two major sects, the Svetambara (meaning white clad) and the Digambara (meaning sky clad, or nude), the division coming about mainly on the basis of dress and the interpretation of religious texts. Each of these sects is also divided into subgroups. Both groups accept the basic Jain philosophy and the precepts of nonviolence but disagree on details of the life of Mahavira, Jainism’s spiritual founder, the spiritual status of women, whether monks should wear clothes, rituals, and which texts should be accepted as scripture. The philosophical differences between the groups mostly affect monks and nuns or the very pious.
Jain monks practice extreme asceticism and like other holy men take to the road completely nude or wearing a simple loincloth. Svetambara monks wear simple unstitched or minimally stitched white clothes and carry a begging bowl and a brush to remove insects from their path; they might also have books and writing materials. A loincloth which reaches up to the shins is called a cholapattak, and another cloth that covers the upper part of the body is called pangarani (uttariya vastra).
A woollen shawl that passes over the left shoulder and covers the body a little above the ankle is called a kämli. They also might carry a woollen bed sheet and a woollen mat to sit on. Those who wear clothes have a muhapati, a square or rectangular piece of cloth of a prescribed measurement, either in their hand or tied on their face to cover the mouth. They also have ogho or rajoharan (a broom of woollen threads) to clean insects around their sitting place or while they are walking. The use of wool is one of the areas of controversy within Jainism for, although taking the wool from a sheep does not incur violence per se, it may result in inadvertently harming the animal during the shearing process.
The Digambara sect is more austere and is said to be closer in its ways to the Jains at the time of Mahavira. Digambara monks believe that one can only lead the life of a true monk by having no worldly possessions and by demonstrating indifference to earthly emotions such as shame. They live completely naked, have no possessions, not even begging bowls, and so can only receive gifts in their cupped hands. This practice may vary among different sects of Jains, but the essential principle remains the same: to limit needs. They bestow their blessings on all, and some put vakshep (scented sandal dust) on the heads of people as they bless them. Digambaras believe that women cannot achieve liberation without first being reborn as a man, mainly on the premise that women cannot live a truly ascetic life because it is impractical for them to live naked. Digambara nuns are therefore clothed.
When a person renounces the worldly life and all the attachments and is initiated into monkhood or nunhood, the man is called Sadhu, Shraman or Muni, and the woman is called Sadhvi, Shramani or Aryä. Their renunciation is total, which means they are completely detached from social and worldly activities, instead spending their time engaged in activities for the purpose of spiritually uplifting their souls and guiding others.
At their initiation, they take five major vows: absolute nonviolence, absolute truthfulness, absolute nonstealing, absolute celibacy, absolute nonattachment. The sadhus or sadhvis should not even touch a member of the opposite sex regardless of their age; absolute nonattachment means they do not possess anything and do not have any attachment for things they keep for their daily needs. There are strict rules of behaviour about what food to eat, when to eat it and how it is prepared, as these can involve violence in some form; for example the cooking process involves violence in the form of fire and food preparation involves vegetable chopping, and sadhus or sadhvis do not want their own needs to be a part of the violence of another person.
They travel from place to place by walking, always with bare feet, no matter how uncomfortable this might be so that they can avoid crushing the bugs or insects on the ground. They do not stay more than a few days in any one place except during the rainy season, which lasts about four months, so as not to develop attachment for material things and the people around them. After receiving initiation, Jain sadhus and sadhvis do not cut their hair or shave their heads nor do they use a barber. Once or twice a year they pluck off their hairs or the hairs are plucked by others. This rather painful activity is called keshlochan, or loch, and is considered one kind of austerity because the pain associated with it is expected to be borne stoically and in a calm manner.
There are a variety of ways to be Jain, and while the ascetics form only a small portion of the large population of Jains, they highlight the focus of the Jain religion, which is nonviolence. Some contemporary young Jains might combine compassion with activism, protesting against the environmental crisis or world hunger (Vallely 2009:328). The focus still remains on nonviolence towards all beings, including oneself, and the eradication of suffering. Within the Jain population, like all other religions, there are degrees of adherence to strict principles, depending on the reality of engagement of individuals in a modern world and on the necessities of daily living in that world.
The religions covered here are but a small part of other religions, sects and numerous small groups focused around particular guru-style figures or holy people in India, as is the now worldwide religion of Buddhism, which is the focus of the next chapter.