PUJA, PARAB, UTSAB AND OTHER BENGALI TERMS

From Man and Life, A Journal of the Institute of Social Research and Applied Anthropology ,
Vol 7, No 1 & 2, Jan-Jun 1981, p.7-10

AKOS OSTOR*

Stories of particular deities' power and influence ( mahatmya, or adi katha ) abound in rural Bengal . Further, there are many accounts of the different ways to worship various deities, of the origins and beneficial results of these acts, and of the punishments for avoiding these performances. These rituals and myths are brats and brats katha : actions and narratives specific to women's rituals. The actions and objects are designated as puja paddhati ( rules for the items of a performance ; niom, customary rule ; anusthana, per­formance ; puja-Kosa, the performance of puja to worship ; mansik or mansik puja, a vow or resolution to offer puja ; upasana, fasting in the context of puja and on days designated for abstinence. The list of items related to upasana can be extended almost indefinitely : yoga, kriya, sadhana, aradhana include acts, exercises, and meditations that form an integral part of puja performance. 1

Many of the acts, objects, and ideas covered by puja and related terms are classed pabittra, Buddha, or suci. These are categories of attribution meaning sacred and pure, fit to be offered to the gods-a quality and a state of being. So water in certain contexts is pure or sacred, clarified butter, copper, gold are also pure. It would appear then that sacredness stands for being a part of something in particular context. Pabitra, and pabitra jinis ( sacred thing ), do not designate a conceptual field ; they are categories for qualities in the context of action. Suddha is also attributional: one can make things pure, though some things are sacred or pure in themselves. Suddhacar or suddha kora are expressions meaning to engage in acts of purification or to make things pure, fit to participate in puja. Purity is a relative term : objects, acts, states of being are more or less pure in relation to each other, some being pure in themselves, some becoming so at the end of a series of actions. The opposite is expressed by adding a grammatical category, a-pabittra, a-suddha, a-suci : non-sacred, impure. These are also relational terms, meaningful in the context of an offering. They refer to some idea or state of being unfit for offering or sacrifice.

Puja-offering, honour, and respect-are symbolic as actions, gestures, ideas, or as a series of objects. Symbols however invariably refer to concepts. Puja transforms objects, words, and acts of one series ( or of one order ) into another. Having become pure these assume a new place in the classificatory system with reference to ideas of divinity and purity. As an idea Puja expresses a relation­ ship between the human and the divine, earth and heaven. As an act it signifies the way men approach deities : a symbol of offering as much as an expression of the act of offering itself. A system of classification, a logic of categories and a whole pbilosphy is developed through the relationship of Puja units on these different levels.

Puja as a symbol of act, idea, and object expresses in its relation, ships the indigenous idea of the sacred and the pure, It also provides the terms in which seemingly "_non-sacred" rituals are conceived of and are meaningful. Relations of honour and respect need not be restricted to human beings and gods ; they are there between superior and inferior ( especially kings and subjects, dominant castes and service castes, masters and servants, jajma n and jajak, husband and wife, parents and children ). Alternatively these relations themselves are sacralized through ritual.

If puja is, among other things, a symbol expressing relations paradigmatic with the relation between divinity and experience, then it is also that field of action in the world which is potentially sacralized or divinized. Yet Puja is pure and sacred in a relational way alone of all the relations people are capable of, Puja is purest. Hence pure and sacred are linked as suddhata ( purity ) and pabitrata ( sacredness ).

Things and acts may be sacred but they have to be made purer through an act of purification that itself is part of puja. Within a larger field then, puja is a symbol of relations among men in the way these are sacralized.

Other aspects of society, "economic," "political," and "kinship," may participate in and be expressed through the action of rituals and festivals and vice-versa. There is a core to this action however which makes festivals different from the "economic" and the "political." This difference is provided by the structure of Puja, the element that makes festivals and rituals something in themselves. There is a system of classification in this field upon which relationships are built, acted out, and interpreted. As a consequence the Bengali concept of divinity is different from the Western Idea of God. What marks puja sacred in Bengali terms includes elements non-sacred in the Western sense. There is no fundamental cleavage between human beings and gods. There is a difference between men and gods but the line is drawn repeatedly on a continuum, and the series of gradations are more extensive than a mere opposition would allow. In Western terms the Bengali notion encompasses "profane" relationships.

Utsab and parab are, together with puja, a part of the festival universe. The former may be translated as ceremony, the latter as festivity, both being celebrations. Birthday festivals of great states­men, ancestors, incarnations of deities, saints, even of great men of letters, are janmotsab, all consisting in part of puja performances. Major festivals such as the Durgapuja are also designated as utsab, as in Saradatsab, referring to the season of the performance (sarad; autumn ). Puja gives sacredness to celebration ; hence utsab equals puja plus something else, a non-sacred residue that is not exhausted by the referents of puja. Utsab, parab, mela, anusthana, are all members of a paradigmatic series. What Is common to them is their relation to puja : they share puja symbols through acts of varying kinds, the variation itself giving a basis for distinguishing them. Parabs are also festivals though less formal and elaborate than utsab. They both include processions of deities, a festive aspect. Both include elements associated with markets and fairs, and both are accompanied by non­puja activities as well, A mela is more markedly a fair : seasonal fairs may accompany major festivals and pujas, but not all of these are mela ; the terms for regular daily or weekly markets are bazar or hat. The Pujas of different deities plus these activities yield different utsabs melas, and Parabs. Various pujas are also melas, as in the festival of the deities Barun ( Water ), Ganga ( the Sacred River ). A Group of rites may distinguish one ,fair from another: the Festival performed in the month of Paus connected with the New Rice is known as Pous mela, and when the economic activity is of lesser significance, i.e. Pous parab.

Puja expresses the sacred and pure aspects of festivals. The terms themselves refer to the type of puja and the kind of other activity performed in each context. Anusthana designates any performance or function. Puja rituals are often referred to as Pujaanusthana or dharmiya anusthana: acts of puja and acts of duty. Actions, objects and categories are classified and hierarchized in and through puja. Constituent units are encompassed in these relationships by puja they become a part of a hierarchy. All actions beyond puja in utsab, mela, and parab are acts in some ways distinguishable as other kinds of exchange and relation. These relationships may form a part of other fields in society and are related to symbols in these fields. In this sense alone, Puja, a sacred symbol, encompasses within it a system of relations with other symbols, seemingly "non-sacred" aspects as well. We may conceive of all these fields as having cross cutting boundaries. overlapping in relationships. Nevertheless, they are characterized by sets of relations that are separable once they are abstracted from the world of every day life. This property of puja yields a classificatory series in space and time. In the same way puja is linked to kinship, economics, and politics-aspects of these relations themselves being part of the parab, mela and utsab.

The relation between puja and these terms is demonstrated by usage : festivals are referred to as puja-parab, giving both the sacred and other aspects of the festival. May pujas have parab, mela, or utsab added to them. Days with processions and merriment are parabs within a puja sequence. On utsab days melas may form around puja areas and people talk of a mela having "sat" at such a time. Puia sequences may have utsab, parab, or mela characteristics. In all cases however puja is the central point of reference. Utsab is a way making the puja more ceremonial. Parab lights and procession make pujas more festive. Melas provide pujas an informal meeting place, a chance for participants to relax, a diversion to onlookers, and a living for tradesmen. There is no question in people's minds, however, why these activities take place. There is a puja and a deity in the center of these activities thus defining the nature and the course of action appropriate to the occasion.

* Dr. Akos Ostor is Professor of Anthropology in the University of Harvard U.S.A.

1. This would allow us to retain a descriptive use of "myth" and "rite" in referring to more specific Bengali categories,