Taste of Life: Festivals foster religious harmony
On August 24, 1937, a grand "Satyanarayana Pooja" in Pune united 2,000 attendees across religions and castes, promoting social harmony and inclusivity.
Pune: On August 24, 1937, at the spacious hall of Akbar Market at Manchar, a small town in Pune district, a grand “Satyanarayana Pooja” was organised by Sayyad Sultan Alisaheb Inamdar, the social leader, philanthropist, and proprietor of the AL Inamdar and Company. The hall was decorated with drapes painted by Ramchandra Bankhele. Carpets, furniture, and silver vases belonging to Inamdar added to the grandeur of the occasion. His manager, Babulal Parekh, was responsible for the religious rituals and the dinner afterwards. Around two thousand people, belonging to several castes and religions, including government and police officers, social leaders, and members of the traders’ community, attended the event. After the pooja, Hindus of so-called “upper” and “lower” castes and Muslims dined together.
Inamdar had established a school and a charitable hospital at Manchar. He was known to be an animal lover who donated generously to the animal shelter in the town. He offered scholarships for higher education to deserving students every year and helped farmers in distress. He was well-respected and hence, when after the dinner, he appealed for amity and unity between Hindus and Muslims, everybody listened. The Marathi newspaper “Dnyanaprakash” wrote that such religious and social functions that brought Hindus and Muslims together should be welcomed and organised everywhere.
It was not the first time that the newspaper had endorsed festivals as a means of religious harmony. On August 15, 1932, around fifteen hundred Hindus, belonging to various castes, were invited for dinner by members of the Muslim community in Ahmednagar. The occasion was Eid-Milad-un-Nabi, an important festival celebrating the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. Abdul Rahman Isabhai, Abdul Kadar Haji Abdul Gafur, Musabhai Chandbhai, and municipal councillor Mohammad Ibrahim Khudabaksh had organised the feast where vegetarian food was served to all. “Dnyanaprakash” was quick to laud the efforts of the Muslim leaders.
In the nineteenth century, Hindus and Muslims celebrated certain festivals together. Many Hindus participated in the Muharram celebrations in Mumbai, Pune, and elsewhere. But their number dwindled after Ganeshotsav gained prominence in Maharashtra.
However, there were some leaders like advocate AA Khan, a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly, who, in April 1938, endorsed Hindus and Muslims celebrating festivals together. He recounted how, in 1924, he had been invited to preside over a lecture in Pune during Ganeshotsav and requested members of both communities to celebrate each other’s festivals.
But louder than the calls for Hindus and Muslims to come together during festivals, were the appeals for Hindus of so-called “upper” castes to include the “untouchables” in festivities. The Satkarya Deva Samaj had declared that it busied itself with tasks such as “Hindu unification”, abolition of untouchability, cow protection, and promotion of physical education for all. Established in 1926 in Mumbai, it organised its first Ganeshotsav in Pune in 1931. On the ninth day of the festival, it organised a “Satyanarayana Pooja” where people from all castes were offered the “prasad”, the food specially cooked for devotees after offering it to God.
The “Satyanarayana Pooja” is a religious ritual dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, who is also known as “Satyanarayana”. The ritual gained popularity in Maharashtra in the early nineteenth century when the revival of the Hindu religion had gained momentum and the celebration of novel rituals was encouraged. Religious gurus like Narayan Maharaj from Kedgaon attributed to the ritual becoming prominent among the so-called “upper” caste Hindus.
Manuals, like the “Swayampurohit” published in 1920 by Motiram Wankhede from Varangaon in Khandesh, taught how to perform rituals without the help of a priest. The manuals empowered non-Brahmin families in Pune and elsewhere who could not find a Brahmin priest who would help them perform rituals, to carry out rituals like the “Shravani”, thread ceremony, and the “Satyanarayana Pooja”.
On December 8, 1935, “Satyanarayana”, a movie produced by Model Pictures Corporation and shot in Pune, was released in the Minerva Theatre near the Ray Market (Mahatma Phule Mandai). To mark the occasion, “Satyananarayana Pooja” was performed before the first show. According to Marathi newspaper “Kesari”, around five thousand people thronged the theatre to catch a glimpse of the actors and savour the “prasad”. The movie was a hit and further prompted families and social and religious organisations to perform the “Satyanarayana Pooja” on any and every occasion.
The pooja was mostly performed as a gratitude to god Satyanarayana, the remover of evil, after the successful completion of social and religious rituals. It was organised after weddings, thread ceremonies, or when someone passed an important examination or landed a job, or returned from a pilgrimage. Several Ganeshotsav mandals started organising it on the ninth day of the festival.
The “Roj Majoor Sangha”, the union of daily wage workers, organised “Satyanarayana Pooja” in the month of “Shravan” in Budhwarbaug. In 1936, they shifted it to the ninth day of Ganeshotsav. According to reports in “Dnyanaprakash”, the pooja was preceded by lectures by eminent leaders who later dined with the devotees.
A few mandals used the ritual to make the Ganeshotsav festival more inclusive. The Brahman Sabha in Mumbai had passed a resolution to allow Ganpati melas belonging to the so-called “untouchable” communities to perform during the festival. Taking a cue, in August 1937, it was decided that the Sarasvati Club would hold the Ganeshotsav on the premises of the Club temple situated at Modikhana, Poona Cantonment. Major Subhedar Raghoram Ghatge, additional bench magistrate, declared that the festivities would be open to people of all castes and religions. According to him, this move was aimed at the religious and social progress of the country. The Sarasvati Club, at least for the initial six years, organised the “Satyanarayana Pooja” during Ganeshotsav followed by a community feast.
One of the most prominent “Satyananarayana Poojas” during Ganeshotsav was held by the fruit and vegetable vendors of the Raey Market. It was held on the ninth day of the festival at 8 pm every year and was followed by dinner. At the “Satyanarayana Pooja” organised by the Vetalpeth Sitaladevi Ganpati Mandal, dinner would comprise dal, amti, and laddoo.
“Kheer” is the favourite dish of the “Mooshaka”, the vehicle of lord Ganpati. Families cooked it and offered it to the “Mooshaka” on the second day of the festival. Some Ganeshotsav mandals offered “kheer” to devotees after the “Satyanarayana Pooja”. Those mandals who could not afford to host a dinner or offer “kheer”, or laddoos to devotees hosted “Pansupari” after the pooja where betel-leaf with betel nut was offered to prominent members of the society. The rest were offered a piece of jaggery or some sugar with a piece of coconut.
It was customary for Marathi drama troupes to perform at venues like the Kirloskar Theatre during the ten days of the festival. Some of them would perform an “aarti” for wealthy patrons after the performances. On the ninth day, some organised a dinner party for well-wishers.
Ganeshotsav would fetch considerable profits to troupes and perhaps the parties were a token of gratitude for patrons. On “Anant Chaturdashi”, the last day of the festival, an extra show was added in the morning after which “aarti” was performed and the “prasad” was distributed among the audience.
People from far-off cities and nearby villages came to Pune during the last days of the Ganeshotsav and stayed to watch the spectacle of the immersion ceremony that would go on for many hours. Professor Kerunana Chhatre, the mathematics teacher par excellence, whose students included VK Chiplunkar, BG Tilak, and GG Agarkar, would have an open house on “Anant Chaturdashi” where hundreds would come to relish “dadpe pohe” or “dahi pohe” (curd and rice flakes), and “karanjis” (a sweet, deep-fried pastry stuffed with coconut and jaggery).
Devotees offered food to god on his way to the river. This was called “shidori”, the viaticum for the god and was usually wrapped in banana leaves. The mandals would arrange for small wooden carts that followed the idol where the “shidoris” were placed after they were put at the feet of the idol. Some families offered “watali dal”, while others offered “dahi pohe”. “Watali Dal” was made of soaked whole chana dal that was ground to a coarse paste, to which were added spices. The mixture was then cooked.
The purposes of offering food to gods range from the expression of pure devotion to the bartering for the fulfilment of a wish. The choice of food offerings and the rituals that precede often stem from syncretic culture and traditions that have survived political and social upheavals. These traditions, and food, bring and bind people together.
Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com
