Film on Holi

[Kumar at pixie.udw.ac.za]

Dear Colleagues,

Regarding the debate on Holi, I must say that it has been very thought
provoking to follow the debate.  Unfortunately Mr Rajgopal has taken the
word "chaos" personally and felt insulted.  This group is primarily drawn
from academics and the discussions or primarily of academic nature and even
when one uses categories such as "chaos", they are never intended as
personal challenges.  I think it is time we understand that academic
discussions can become so objective that they might often be far removed
from personal sensibilities.  Fortunately or unfortunately that is a fact
of our academic life.  All of us on this list are sensitive and sympathetic
human beings and do not wish to personally insult someone.  The problem
here is that Dr Narahari Rao et al are using the category as a critical and
analytical tool to understand what happens in the festivals such as Holi.
But on the other hand Mr Rajagopal has taken it in a non-academic sense,
they way we often chide our children "your room is chaotic, boy, you better
clean up!" and so on.  And I don't  think anyone intended to treat the
festival of Holi in that fashion.  The word "chaos" is used to objectively
describe the role reversals and other such phenomena in the context of the
festival.  In other words, in the context of the caste hierarchy which is
so orderly and that everyone knows who's who, suddenly in the context of
the festival (Holi) these ordrely roles are reversed.  How else can one
desribe it other than as "chaotic"?  In fact, in some Goddess festivals
(e.g., Gangamma, Draupadi) in the South the caste groups who occupy lower
status in the hierarchy  literlly mimic, redicule and imitate the upper
caste  groups.  And I group up watching these in my home town in Andhra.
Surprisingly, no one takes offense of these sudden "chaotic" role
reversals.  Every one seems to take it as part of the festival.  Speaking
of these role reversals, one of my colleagues when I was at Harvard did an
excellent study of the Ramanagar festival. His name is Bo Sax and is
currently teaching in Australia.  I have a feeling that he subsequenly
published the book.  But unfortunately I lost touch with him.  His study
might throw some light on the festival of Holi.  Does any one know what the
exat title of that book is (if it was published)?  The idea of role
reversal could be interpreted in two ways - a) that the members of that
society are in a subtle way reiforcing their caste ideology; b) that the
role reversal provides public escape from time to time to the groups in the
lower rung of the hierarchy without creating a situation of animosity
between upper caste and the lower caste groups.  It serves to function as
an excellent medium of releasing the caste tensions in the Indian society.
Well, I do hope, that Mr. Rajagopalan would understand that no one is
interested in personally rediculing him or the festival, it is just a
theoretical tool used to understand the meaning/s of the festival.

Cheers


Prtap Kumar
**********************************************************************
Dr. P. Kumar
Department of Hindu Studies & Indian Philosophy
University of Durban-Westville
Private Bag X 54001
Durban
4000
South Africa
Tel: 031-820-2194
Fax: 031-820-2160
Email: kumar at pixie.udw.ac.za

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Dr. P. Kumar
Department of Hindu Studies & Indian Philosophy
University of Durban-Westville
Private Bag X 54001
Durban
4000
South Africa
Tel: 031-820-2194
Fax: 031-820-2160
Email: kumar at pixie.udw.ac.za