Coloured Rice: Symbolic Structure in Hindu Family Festivals by Suzanne HanchettReview by: Pauline KolendaAmerican Ethnologist, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Aug., 1989), p. 574Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/645282 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 07:46

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Wiley and American Anthropological Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to American Ethnologist.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.238.114.35 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:46:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

song is to enable people to contact the powers of death and to transcend them, spanning the breach between the world of the living and the world of the dead. At the same time, by centering upon human tragedy, bow song festivals affirm that the pain- filled lives of real people still mean more to Tamils than any easy fantasy, no matter how divine.

Coloured Rice: Symbolic Structure in Hindu Family Festivals. SUZANNE HANCHETT. Delhi, India: Hindustan Publishing Corporation, 1988. xix + 335 pp., illustrations, photo- graphs, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliog- raphy, index.

PAULINE KOLENDA University of Houston

Almost every ethnographer who has worked in villages in India has bulging files of notes describing the rituals and celebrations of Hindu calendrical festivals, which occur at a rate of about three a month. In addition, of course, there are frequent life-cycle rites, offerings at shrines and temples to fulfill vows and to ask for special boons, daily wor- ship at household shrines, attendance at religious gatherings for singing of hymns and listening to the readings, lectures or songs given by local or visiting holy men, journeys on distant pilgrimages to ash- rams and temples. The religious activities of village Hindus are myriad and time-filling. No one book can begin to explain them all. Recent books by an- thropologists show progress, however. Hanchett's Coloured Rice is definitely a quantum leap in that process.

The purposes of most calendrical rituals are ob- vious-for the blessing of children, cattle, or hus- bands; for wealth and prosperity, health and free- dom from various diseases (smallpox, skin rashes, measles). Often a locally modified myth from the Puranas or the epics, or a more homegrown moral- ity tale is acted out, referred to in the rite, or told along with it. It is also obvious that the same ritual elements are used repeatedly-a pot topped with mango leaves and a coconut, a flour-outlined rec- tangle on the floor of a courtyard serving as a kind of altar, a burning portion of dried dung-cake, stems of bananas, and leaves full of rice. But despite the enormous importance of religious activity in Hindu villages, there have been few attempts to decode their ritual language. Some of the most noted books on popular Hinduism have concerned themselves with local Hindu pantheons and basic concepts (shakti, supernatural power, in Wadley's book, Shakti: Power in the Conceptual Structure of Kar- impur Religion [University of Chicago, 1975]), or basic ritual (the puja in Babb's Divine Hierarchy [Columbia University Press, 1975]), and give the re- ligious calendar, but include only a few examples of ritual. Others, like Fruzzetti's on weddings (The Gift of a Virgin, Rutgers University Press, 1982) or Dakshinaranjan Shatri's on death offerings (Origin and Development of the Rituals of Ancestor Wor- ship, Bookland Private Limited, 1963), have con- centrated on only one type of life-cycle rite. There are few attempts to dissect calendrical rituals- symbolic object and gesture by symbolic object

song is to enable people to contact the powers of death and to transcend them, spanning the breach between the world of the living and the world of the dead. At the same time, by centering upon human tragedy, bow song festivals affirm that the pain- filled lives of real people still mean more to Tamils than any easy fantasy, no matter how divine.

Coloured Rice: Symbolic Structure in Hindu Family Festivals. SUZANNE HANCHETT. Delhi, India: Hindustan Publishing Corporation, 1988. xix + 335 pp., illustrations, photo- graphs, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliog- raphy, index.

PAULINE KOLENDA University of Houston

Almost every ethnographer who has worked in villages in India has bulging files of notes describing the rituals and celebrations of Hindu calendrical festivals, which occur at a rate of about three a month. In addition, of course, there are frequent life-cycle rites, offerings at shrines and temples to fulfill vows and to ask for special boons, daily wor- ship at household shrines, attendance at religious gatherings for singing of hymns and listening to the readings, lectures or songs given by local or visiting holy men, journeys on distant pilgrimages to ash- rams and temples. The religious activities of village Hindus are myriad and time-filling. No one book can begin to explain them all. Recent books by an- thropologists show progress, however. Hanchett's Coloured Rice is definitely a quantum leap in that process.

The purposes of most calendrical rituals are ob- vious-for the blessing of children, cattle, or hus- bands; for wealth and prosperity, health and free- dom from various diseases (smallpox, skin rashes, measles). Often a locally modified myth from the Puranas or the epics, or a more homegrown moral- ity tale is acted out, referred to in the rite, or told along with it. It is also obvious that the same ritual elements are used repeatedly-a pot topped with mango leaves and a coconut, a flour-outlined rec- tangle on the floor of a courtyard serving as a kind of altar, a burning portion of dried dung-cake, stems of bananas, and leaves full of rice. But despite the enormous importance of religious activity in Hindu villages, there have been few attempts to decode their ritual language. Some of the most noted books on popular Hinduism have concerned themselves with local Hindu pantheons and basic concepts (shakti, supernatural power, in Wadley's book, Shakti: Power in the Conceptual Structure of Kar- impur Religion [University of Chicago, 1975]), or basic ritual (the puja in Babb's Divine Hierarchy [Columbia University Press, 1975]), and give the re- ligious calendar, but include only a few examples of ritual. Others, like Fruzzetti's on weddings (The Gift of a Virgin, Rutgers University Press, 1982) or Dakshinaranjan Shatri's on death offerings (Origin and Development of the Rituals of Ancestor Wor- ship, Bookland Private Limited, 1963), have con- centrated on only one type of life-cycle rite. There are few attempts to dissect calendrical rituals- symbolic object and gesture by symbolic object

song is to enable people to contact the powers of death and to transcend them, spanning the breach between the world of the living and the world of the dead. At the same time, by centering upon human tragedy, bow song festivals affirm that the pain- filled lives of real people still mean more to Tamils than any easy fantasy, no matter how divine.

Coloured Rice: Symbolic Structure in Hindu Family Festivals. SUZANNE HANCHETT. Delhi, India: Hindustan Publishing Corporation, 1988. xix + 335 pp., illustrations, photo- graphs, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliog- raphy, index.

PAULINE KOLENDA University of Houston

Almost every ethnographer who has worked in villages in India has bulging files of notes describing the rituals and celebrations of Hindu calendrical festivals, which occur at a rate of about three a month. In addition, of course, there are frequent life-cycle rites, offerings at shrines and temples to fulfill vows and to ask for special boons, daily wor- ship at household shrines, attendance at religious gatherings for singing of hymns and listening to the readings, lectures or songs given by local or visiting holy men, journeys on distant pilgrimages to ash- rams and temples. The religious activities of village Hindus are myriad and time-filling. No one book can begin to explain them all. Recent books by an- thropologists show progress, however. Hanchett's Coloured Rice is definitely a quantum leap in that process.

The purposes of most calendrical rituals are ob- vious-for the blessing of children, cattle, or hus- bands; for wealth and prosperity, health and free- dom from various diseases (smallpox, skin rashes, measles). Often a locally modified myth from the Puranas or the epics, or a more homegrown moral- ity tale is acted out, referred to in the rite, or told along with it. It is also obvious that the same ritual elements are used repeatedly-a pot topped with mango leaves and a coconut, a flour-outlined rec- tangle on the floor of a courtyard serving as a kind of altar, a burning portion of dried dung-cake, stems of bananas, and leaves full of rice. But despite the enormous importance of religious activity in Hindu villages, there have been few attempts to decode their ritual language. Some of the most noted books on popular Hinduism have concerned themselves with local Hindu pantheons and basic concepts (shakti, supernatural power, in Wadley's book, Shakti: Power in the Conceptual Structure of Kar- impur Religion [University of Chicago, 1975]), or basic ritual (the puja in Babb's Divine Hierarchy [Columbia University Press, 1975]), and give the re- ligious calendar, but include only a few examples of ritual. Others, like Fruzzetti's on weddings (The Gift of a Virgin, Rutgers University Press, 1982) or Dakshinaranjan Shatri's on death offerings (Origin and Development of the Rituals of Ancestor Wor- ship, Bookland Private Limited, 1963), have con- centrated on only one type of life-cycle rite. There are few attempts to dissect calendrical rituals- symbolic object and gesture by symbolic object

and gesture. One of the most successful recent at- tempts to decode South Asian rituals, besides Han- chett's, is Sherry Ortner's work with Sherpas in Ne- pal-who are Tibetan Buddhists, not Hindus (Sher- pas through Their Rituals, Cambridge University Press, 1978).

The general failure to address the ritual language of rural Hinduism makes Suzanne Hanchett's ef- forts all the more commendable. Inspired primarily by L6vi-Strauss, she has convincingly decoded some of the major Hindu calendrical rites of two vil- lages in Karnataka, south India. Her writing on the use of various colors-red, black, white, yellow, and green-is reminiscent of Victor Turner's treat- ment of color in Ndembu ritual, as is her careful ex- egesis of all the ritual elements. Hanchett is nothing if not thorough. She emphasizes number symbol- ism, as well as the meaning of various foods, spices, and plants, especially flowers.

Yellow is a color of happiness and auspicious- ness in these rites. The title of the book, Coloured Rice, refers to rice colored yellow by turmeric. Han- chett explains its meaning as an affirmation of activ- ity and movement, "a festival shorthand for 'auspi- ciousness', rice itself is shorthand for either 'food' or 'body' " (p. 63). What might appear to be a sim- ple offering to snakes at an anthill to avoid bad rashes and boils, Hanchett shows to include im- plicit statements about bisexual reproductivity, pu- rity-pollution, cooling of passions, and wholeness and integrity of the family with the production of fu- ture generations (pp. 248-249). And Hanchett has deconstructed the myths accompanying the rites to reveal the themes repeated.

The book is in two parts. The first, "The Cultural Setting," consists of an opening chapter describing the two villages, a second chapter on kinship and women's place in it, a third chapter on general pat- terns in folk religion, and a fourth called "Under- standing Festival Symbolism." The last explains the methods of Levi-Straussian structuralism with an emphasis on the meaning of colors. The second part, "Family Festivals," has four chapters devoted to the exegeses of ceremonial offerings of consid- erable complexity made to four types of religious personages-benign goddesses (Parvati and Lakshmi, here called Gauri and Prati) in chapter 5, malevolent goddesses (Piriyapattanadamma and Mastiamma) in chapter 6, ancestors in chapter 7, and snakes in chapter 8.

There are many photographs in the book. Unfor- tunately, they are not well reproduced. At their worst, one cannot see at all what it is the author wants us to find illustrated in them.

Hanchett unlocks a ritual world. Since these Kan- nada rituals are so similar to those found in other parts of India, her work should be very useful to anyone interested in the structure and meanings of Hindu rituals, and Coloured Rice should be enlight- ening to anyone interested more generally in the analysis of rituals.

The Artisans of Banaras: Popular Culture and Identity, 1880-1986. NITA KUMAR. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988. xix + 279 pp., figures, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, index. $29.50 (cloth).

and gesture. One of the most successful recent at- tempts to decode South Asian rituals, besides Han- chett's, is Sherry Ortner's work with Sherpas in Ne- pal-who are Tibetan Buddhists, not Hindus (Sher- pas through Their Rituals, Cambridge University Press, 1978).

The general failure to address the ritual language of rural Hinduism makes Suzanne Hanchett's ef- forts all the more commendable. Inspired primarily by L6vi-Strauss, she has convincingly decoded some of the major Hindu calendrical rites of two vil- lages in Karnataka, south India. Her writing on the use of various colors-red, black, white, yellow, and green-is reminiscent of Victor Turner's treat- ment of color in Ndembu ritual, as is her careful ex- egesis of all the ritual elements. Hanchett is nothing if not thorough. She emphasizes number symbol- ism, as well as the meaning of various foods, spices, and plants, especially flowers.

Yellow is a color of happiness and auspicious- ness in these rites. The title of the book, Coloured Rice, refers to rice colored yellow by turmeric. Han- chett explains its meaning as an affirmation of activ- ity and movement, "a festival shorthand for 'auspi- ciousness', rice itself is shorthand for either 'food' or 'body' " (p. 63). What might appear to be a sim- ple offering to snakes at an anthill to avoid bad rashes and boils, Hanchett shows to include im- plicit statements about bisexual reproductivity, pu- rity-pollution, cooling of passions, and wholeness and integrity of the family with the production of fu- ture generations (pp. 248-249). And Hanchett has deconstructed the myths accompanying the rites to reveal the themes repeated.

The book is in two parts. The first, "The Cultural Setting," consists of an opening chapter describing the two villages, a second chapter on kinship and women's place in it, a third chapter on general pat- terns in folk religion, and a fourth called "Under- standing Festival Symbolism." The last explains the methods of Levi-Straussian structuralism with an emphasis on the meaning of colors. The second part, "Family Festivals," has four chapters devoted to the exegeses of ceremonial offerings of consid- erable complexity made to four types of religious personages-benign goddesses (Parvati and Lakshmi, here called Gauri and Prati) in chapter 5, malevolent goddesses (Piriyapattanadamma and Mastiamma) in chapter 6, ancestors in chapter 7, and snakes in chapter 8.

There are many photographs in the book. Unfor- tunately, they are not well reproduced. At their worst, one cannot see at all what it is the author wants us to find illustrated in them.

Hanchett unlocks a ritual world. Since these Kan- nada rituals are so similar to those found in other parts of India, her work should be very useful to anyone interested in the structure and meanings of Hindu rituals, and Coloured Rice should be enlight- ening to anyone interested more generally in the analysis of rituals.

The Artisans of Banaras: Popular Culture and Identity, 1880-1986. NITA KUMAR. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988. xix + 279 pp., figures, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, index. $29.50 (cloth).

and gesture. One of the most successful recent at- tempts to decode South Asian rituals, besides Han- chett's, is Sherry Ortner's work with Sherpas in Ne- pal-who are Tibetan Buddhists, not Hindus (Sher- pas through Their Rituals, Cambridge University Press, 1978).

The general failure to address the ritual language of rural Hinduism makes Suzanne Hanchett's ef- forts all the more commendable. Inspired primarily by L6vi-Strauss, she has convincingly decoded some of the major Hindu calendrical rites of two vil- lages in Karnataka, south India. Her writing on the use of various colors-red, black, white, yellow, and green-is reminiscent of Victor Turner's treat- ment of color in Ndembu ritual, as is her careful ex- egesis of all the ritual elements. Hanchett is nothing if not thorough. She emphasizes number symbol- ism, as well as the meaning of various foods, spices, and plants, especially flowers.

Yellow is a color of happiness and auspicious- ness in these rites. The title of the book, Coloured Rice, refers to rice colored yellow by turmeric. Han- chett explains its meaning as an affirmation of activ- ity and movement, "a festival shorthand for 'auspi- ciousness', rice itself is shorthand for either 'food' or 'body' " (p. 63). What might appear to be a sim- ple offering to snakes at an anthill to avoid bad rashes and boils, Hanchett shows to include im- plicit statements about bisexual reproductivity, pu- rity-pollution, cooling of passions, and wholeness and integrity of the family with the production of fu- ture generations (pp. 248-249). And Hanchett has deconstructed the myths accompanying the rites to reveal the themes repeated.

The book is in two parts. The first, "The Cultural Setting," consists of an opening chapter describing the two villages, a second chapter on kinship and women's place in it, a third chapter on general pat- terns in folk religion, and a fourth called "Under- standing Festival Symbolism." The last explains the methods of Levi-Straussian structuralism with an emphasis on the meaning of colors. The second part, "Family Festivals," has four chapters devoted to the exegeses of ceremonial offerings of consid- erable complexity made to four types of religious personages-benign goddesses (Parvati and Lakshmi, here called Gauri and Prati) in chapter 5, malevolent goddesses (Piriyapattanadamma and Mastiamma) in chapter 6, ancestors in chapter 7, and snakes in chapter 8.

There are many photographs in the book. Unfor- tunately, they are not well reproduced. At their worst, one cannot see at all what it is the author wants us to find illustrated in them.

Hanchett unlocks a ritual world. Since these Kan- nada rituals are so similar to those found in other parts of India, her work should be very useful to anyone interested in the structure and meanings of Hindu rituals, and Coloured Rice should be enlight- ening to anyone interested more generally in the analysis of rituals.

The Artisans of Banaras: Popular Culture and Identity, 1880-1986. NITA KUMAR. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988. xix + 279 pp., figures, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, index. $29.50 (cloth).

574 american ethnologist 574 american ethnologist 574 american ethnologist

This content downloaded from 91.238.114.35 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:46:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions