Doctoral Research Scholar

Gajan is a pre-harvest ceremony of the rural agrarian cult of Bengal and Bangladesh. It is celebrated in the last week of Chaitra (around mid-April) in the Rarh region of Bengal. Rarh Bengal carries rich folkloristic practices and narratives of Dharma, Shiva, Chandi, Manasa, and many other deities. In the district of Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, Purba, and Paschim Medinipur, there are folktales about Dharma gajan and Shiva gajan. ‘Gajan’ primarily means the ‘village people’ where ‘gaa’ means ‘gram’ (village) and ‘-jan’ means ‘janagan’ (people). This festival is being celebrated in the rural parts of Bengal where the antaja sampradaya, or the lower rung of the social hierarchy, are part and parcel of it. Etymologically the term also owes to the idea of gorjon (roar or shouting), as the participants during the rituals have to chant some holy mantras in high pitch. Generally, this festival goes on for four consecutive days, where rituals like kata jhap (jumping on thorny branches), agun jhap (fire jumping), barsi fora (body piercing), charak ghora (hook swinging) are being performed. In many parts of Bengal, the festival is also known as Charak Puja, as it is the most exciting and popular ritual. The participants are called bhakta or sannyasi, who went under strict discipline for the week of the festival, sometimes even for a month. The notions of dismemberment or self-sacrifice (krcchsaadhana) under specific ritualistic patterns are significant.

 

          My research focuses on the performance, history, and cultural politics associated with the festival. Using ethnography as a methodological tool, my work examines the intersectionality of historical determinism, ethnic appropriation, and performative utterance of cultural, social, and religious identity. Primarily taking a semi-rural village in West Bengal as a research site, I engage with participant interviews, participant observation, and other immersive research techniques.