Taste of Life: Politics of inclusion in Makar Sankranti celebrations

Religious beliefs and rituals play an important role in individual and group behaviour. They can lead to exclusion and make people feel disgraced.

At Aitavade Khurd near Satara, on Makar Sankranti in 1935, Maratha women of the village participated in a public assembly. They had never attended a public function before where men not from their households were present. Mrs Anandibai Kodolikar, who was invited from Pune, spoke to them about the importance of hygiene in the kitchen and childcare after “tilgul” was distributed. She hoped that more such assemblies would be organized in the village on festivals like “Vatapournima” and “Nagpanchami” where women could be a part of the audience.

This assembly was praised for its inclusion of women by several organizations in Pune like the Hindu Navayuvak Sangha during the annual “tilgul” function. “Tilgul” is a candy made of sesame seeds and jaggery and is given typically by elders to youngsters on Makar Sankranti.

As the sun begins its journey north (“Uttarayana”), Indians gear up to celebrate the festival of harvest with fervour. The days of the “Uttarayana” were reckoned auspicious during which thread ceremonies and marriages were celebrated. Cooks and water-bearers from nearby villages and cities came to Poona a day after celebrating Makar Sankranti to seek employment during the season.

The Marathi newspaper “Kesari” mentioned on January 9, 1900, that a group of wealthy men from Poona were planning to travel to Bombay to bathe in the sea on “Makar Sankranti”. It noted that few “respectable” Brahmin men from the city had been visiting Bombay for the holy bath for several years and that year the number had increased in recent years.

On the day of Makar Sankranti, Hindu men went to the sea, accompanied by a Brahmin priest, to bathe; there they rubbed their bodies with a paste of sesame seed and milk, the favourite grain of the sun, and washed themselves in the manner prescribed in the holy “shastras”. The priest then repeated certain prayers and ended the ceremony by receiving a gift of money for himself. After returning home, they invited Brahmin men, and presented them with cups of bell metal filled with sesame seeds and money, according to the ability of the “Yajman” or the worshipper host; some presented copper pots, new dhotis, umbrellas, etc, and the whole family received benediction from them. After this ceremony, they had lunch, which consisted of laddoos made of sesame seeds and jaggery. They wore new clothes, gold and other ornaments, and visited the houses of their friends and relatives, distributing “tilgul”. “Tilgul ghya, god god bola” was the traditional greeting that meant “have some tilgul, and talk sweetly to me throughout the year”. These words carried the essence of sharing, warmth, and harmony.

In Pune, Brahmin families gave importance to the donation of certain objects on Makar Sankranti. Hemadri, the author of the encyclopedic work “Chaturvargachintamani” (13th century AD), suggested cow be donated to a Brahmin on Makar Sankranti to achieve prosperity. “Shivarahasya” suggested applying a paste of black sesame seeds and bathing with warm water, after which the man of the house went to a Shiva temple to light lamps with sesame oil and donated money to Brahmins.

Married women bought small earthen pots and filled them with wheat, pieces of sugarcane, turmeric, cotton etc. These pots were donated to Brahmin priests. Newlywed women were made to gift sesame oil, cumin seeds, salt, and cotton to women from the household and neighbourhood.

Migrants from Konkan carried their own set of rituals to Poona with them where women entered their neighbours’ kitchens on Makar Sankranti and cooked rice on their stoves. They also left a coconut in their kitchen.

The second day of Sankranti was named “Kar”, and was generally celebrated by married women giving small gifts to each other like a “khan” (fabric for a blouse) and Indian jujube berries.

These rituals were exclusive to married women. Widows who had remarried were not given “tilgul” and even if they were, women took care to see that they did not come too near them.

The “haldi-kunku” ceremony, an important part of Makar Sankranti, was a social gathering where married women exchange “halad” (turmeric) and “kunku” (vermilion powder). It was a patriarchal tradition of celebrating married life by wishing a long life for husbands. In the early 1920s, Municipal Marathi Schools in Poona started organizing “haldi-kunku” ceremonies for female students, a custom that was soon mimicked by several other schools. Reports in Marathi newspapers like “Dnyanaprakash” and “Kesari” indicate that these ceremonies, probably stemming out of insecurities created by modern education for women, preached the importance of motherhood and domesticity.

In Maharashtra, newlywed women are adorned with “halvyache dagine” (ornaments made of “halva” - a candy of sesame seeds and sugar) on their first Makar Sankranti after marriage. Many organisations like the “Arogya Hitasanvardhak Mandal” organised “halva” competitions where women made portraits, jewellery, figurines, and carpets from “halva”. While the organizers claimed that these contests were meant to recognize the talent and skills of women and to make them self-reliant, only married women were allowed to participate in these contests.

Men attended “tilgul” ceremonies organized by socio-political groups that used the occasion to preach about religion, caste, and country. This gender segregation was challenged by some organizations in the 1930s when men and women came together for “tilgul” ceremonies. However, so-called “lower castes” rarely participated in these public functions.

Patriarchy is inherently related to caste. The principles of so-called caste-based ritual purity and pollution had long been used to exclude, humiliate, and suppress the “untouchables”. The “Harijan Sevak Sangh” in Pune had decided in the early 1930s to celebrate important Hindu festivals like “Makar Sankranti”, “Holi”, “Gudhi Padwa”, and “Vijayadashami” with people belonging to the so-called “lower castes”. It would celebrate “Sankranti” by organising processions with the help of some Hindu nationalist groups.

The mostly politically driven movement of Hindu unification launched by Hindu nationalist groups saw the coming together of organizations of all hues and shades of political and religious ideologies. The inclusion upheld by them did not go against their reading of the “Dharmashastras”, leaders promoting the “upliftment of the untouchables” would declare, as they did at a conclave held in Kolhapur in December 1937. In the “haldi-kunku” and “tilgul” ceremonies organized by them, men and women of all castes were welcome.

Newspaper reports and articles published between 1920 and 1947 indicate that hardly anyone questioned if such ceremonies were capable of bringing about the overall betterment of the situation of the so-called “untouchables” and speeches made rarely hid the condescence of the so-called “upper castes” in letting the “untouchables” practice the Brahminical rituals. These rituals were used to assimilate different castes under one umbrella to further political causes.

Some, like the “Nirashrit Sahyakari Mandali” organized a “tilgul” ceremony every year for its well-wishers and donors that was attended by people of various castes. The “Mandali” ran a couple of orphanages for children and women of all castes, and asked for donations on Makar Sankranti.

“Makar Sankranti” is a festival of love. Customs like cooking rice in someone else’s kitchen, and leaving coconuts in someone else’s house seem to have meant to build good relations with neighbours. The evolution and acceptance of rituals demonstrate how this festival was used to create close bonds and harmony between people across castes, tribes, religions, and sects.

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