https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8814-3203
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ABSTRACT
Festivals dedicated to various forms of the Goddess Devī are celebrated throughout the Indian and Nepalese Himalayan region. The Būṅkhāl Melā is one such festival that is held annually in the central area of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. In this paper, the Būṅkhāl Melā serves as a case study for examining how sonic theology manifests as ritual activity. Drumming, dancing, processing, singing, and possession form part of ritual action designed to worship the Goddess. Music and action at the melā illustrate how sound is both a sacred essence and a functional element in worship. The movement and sound of melā participants are a material expression of the theoretical explanation of sonic theology – a theology that may be found in the broader Hindu textual traditions. Consequently, the festival provides a site for observing and hearing Śākta-Tantra practices expressed through the sounds of drums and singing in association with dancing, processions and possession.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributor
Andrew Alter is Associate Professor in Music Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. He teaches and undertakes research in a diverse range of sub-disciplines including popular music studies, ethnomusicology and music theory. His primary research is focused on traditional and popular music in India and Indonesia as well as World Music practice in Australia. As an ethnomusicologist, Andrew has published widely in the discipline's leading journals and reference tools. He has published two books on traditional music of the Himalayas in which he explores connections between ritual action, musical sound and geographical space.
Notes
1 For example, see any of the following: (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0rwJUAZ4vE; (2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQbU2Eydmw0; (3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeaYI0Jxct0.
2 The term ‘jāgar’ is most commonly used as a noun to refer to rituals in which deities are made to possess and dance on the bodies of their mediums. The term jāgarṇ means ‘awakening’.
3 The way such religious ceremonies have been presented in dramatised or danced video recordings has been explored at length by Fiol (Citation2010).
4 Śākta-Tantra is a term associated with esoteric forms of Goddess worship in various parts of India. The practice of Śākta-Tantra is not limited to one sect or geography and is practiced in a variety of forms. These are linked through rituals of worship focused primarily on the Goddess (Śakti) and frequently associated with various tantric texts.
5 Śaiva-Śākta philosophies acknowledge the creative power of male-female union through the deified forms of Śiva and Pārvatī. A variety of perspectives within dualist and non-dualist traditions interpret the creative power of Śiva's and Pārvatī's union as the creative force through which humanity was brought into existence.
6 Instead of processing with animals to the deity's temple, villagers today carry palanquins with the deity's image.
7 See further S. Alter (Citation2019: 366–73) for a description of the buffalo sacrifice in Kathmandu.
8 Other versions of the story suggest she was raped by the young men of the village.
9 Devī in Garhwal is understood to be Nanda Devi, the goddess associated with the highest mountain in the region (see Sax Citation1991 for a detailed discussion). Various forms of Devī are worshipped in numerous temples throughout the region. She is understood to be a form of Pārvatī who is the wife of Śiva. In other forms she is worshipped as Durgā and in her fierce persona as Kali. Thus, the Būṅkhāl Devī is part of the broader traditions of mother goddess worship practiced throughout India and associated with dualist Śaiva-Śākta theological/philosophical traditions.
10 There are a number of themes in this story which are reminiscent of similar aspects of other stories in Garhwal. The stealing of an idol as a confirmation of victory, the roofless temple, and the dispersal of a deity's body into many parts with different locations/temples associated with each part, are three such common themes that have been localised in the telling of this story.
11 A comparison may be drawn with Indonesian concepts of irama as well as with similar devices in the jhālā segments of Hindustani Classical music instrumental performance.
12 Obviously, such cruelty to animals is one amongst many reasons that activists have stopped largescale sacrificial ceremonies like the one described here.
13 Goats that were sacrificed were taken home to be eaten thus constituting a form of edible grace. Buffaloes however, were never eaten and their carcasses were disposed of by throwing them over the edge of the precipice next to the chaukuṙā. Low caste leatherworkers were stationed far below to gather the dead animals and remove their hides for sale to leather curing factories in the plains below the mountains.