REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES

Attukal Pongala: Youth Clubs, Neighbourhood Groups and Masculine Performance of Religiosity

Darshana Sreedhar

This article unravels the complex narratives which might hehe pongala11 at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Thiru- counter the popular perception of the pongalala festival as vananthapuram is renowned as a gathering which has made it eponymous with the title “Sabarimala of an “all-women space”. The all-male groupings that have T women”..22 Even though it is only one of the many rituals which sprung up in and around the Attukal Bhagavathy temple form a part of the temple’s annual festivities, pongala has during the festival and their participation in the ritual are almost single-handedly been instrumental in making the examined closely. An analysis of the film Vedivazhipadu, temple a bustling site of pilgrimage. Pongala falls on the karthika star of the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham which is set against the backdrop of the festival, also (February-March), to be precise on the penultimate day of the incisively questions the taken-for-granted “purity” of the 10-day festivities. Pongala, the collective act of cooking by the ritual and its nature as a hyper-feminine space. women devotees as aa nercha (service or offering) to goddess Bhagavathy, is coloured strongly by its mass participation. Occupying the space of an “all-women ritual”, the participation of devotees on that day has run into such gargantuan numbers, increasing with every succeeding year, that it has been appro- priated as a hyper-feminine space and as a ritual performed exclusively by women devotees. This is evident in the accounts of the “congregation of women” and the participation of hundreds of thousands of women devotees cutting across caste, class, religion and other differences which is seen as being emblem- atic of communal harmony. The festival has made it twice to the Guinness World Records as the “largest annual gathering of women” – in 1997 with a participation of 1.5 million women devotees, and in 2009 with a gathering of 2.5 million women. This article unravels the complex narratives which might counter the popular perception of pongala as an “all-women space” through two sets of observations. In the first section, which forms a part of the ethnographic study carried out from January to March 2013 in Attukal, I look at the pourasamithiss (citizen forums), youth clubs and neighbourhood groups which have come up in and around the temple during the period and their participation in the ritual. I look at how these all-male groupings intervene and mediate discussions on the need for a participatory mode of governance. This section also examines how the Janamaithri Suraksha Project, launched by the state government as a community policing initiative to curb crimes and encourage community participation, finds its space in the organisation of the Attukal pongala. The second section of the paper looks at the Malayalam film Vedivazhipadu (directed by Shambhu Purushothaman, 2013) which mobi- lised the Attukal pongala as a backdrop for the narrative and the contestations following the release of the film. Vedivazhi- Darshana Sreedhar ([email protected]) is a PhD candidate padu was denied a certificate by the Central Board of Film at the Department of Cinema Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Certification (CBFC) and an extreme right-wing organisation Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. demanded that it be banned.

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The days leading up to the Attukal pongala are marked by authority from Aruvikkara reservoir had burst at four points. jubilation, with the locality transforming into a mela and the In no time, alternative mechanisms to supply water had to be festive atmosphere giving a different colour to Thiruvanan- arranged on a war footing as problems would have magnified thapuram city. With vendors setting up their stalls selling fancy had the water shortage forced people to rely on unsafe water.4 items, roadside sales of mud pots, sales of “pongala saris”, and More than being a ritual associated with a Hindu temple, even palmists and astrologers lined up to predict futures, a the Attukal pongala becomes an event which mobilises a vari- range of activities take place simultaneously, attracting quite a egated crowd. This includes devotees who have come from lot of customers. The narrow stretches leading to the temple faraway places to offer pongala, the people living in the locality are packed with women, and an entourage occupying the of Attukal who see it as an annual performance of “hospitality” roads with bag and baggage looks out for “convenient” places when they take care of the needs of the devotees, the vendors to offer pongala. Here, convenience need not always translate for whom it forms a part of their routine spatial relocation, and into offering pongala in proximity to the temple. As the stretch for those who are at Attukal on “pongala duty”, which itself of land acquired by the temple trust to facilitate the offering of they see as a form of nercha. Even when the pongala has been pongala is not sufficient to accommodate the devotees, the projected as a public ritual where devotees participate irrespec- preferable sites for the devotees can very well be pavements or tive of their religious beliefs and where class and social bound- bus stations or the railway station which give them easy pas- aries are toned down to the minimum, the neat narratives do sage back to their destinations once the offerings are sancti- cause discontent among sections inhabiting the locality of Attukal fied with the sacred water by the priests in the evening. What who are not able to share the fruits of the festivities, in spite of gives the pongala a democratic flavour is the manner in which the physical proximity they share with the temple. For instance, it spills out of the temple premises to the narrow lanes, govern- MSK Nagar colony, otherwise known as Sinkarathoppu, which is ment offices and a radius of approximately 14 kms around the only a few metres away from the temple, is a case in point. temple. The roads are dotted with varied symbolic markers The colony was formed in 1964 when the Scheduled Caste/ such as the huge banners of gymkhanas which are decorated Scheduled Tribe (SC /ST) Corporation bought the land which with the image of Hanuman, cut-outs of film stars promoting was leased out to Anandan Nambiar by the maharaja of Tra- their new releases, jewellery showrooms exhibiting their lat- vancore. Housing more than a thousand people and compris- est instalment schemes for prospective customers to buy gold ing over 250 families, the majority of the colony residents are for marriages, and even huge hoardings announcing the state dalits. Allegedly seen as an area which breeds drug government’s prominent achievements in the course of its ten- peddlers and goondas, this area is usually under the scanner ure. Thus, it is an array of fleeting and ephemeral experiences of the local police, as “an area where problems can erupt that can easily distract the gaze of a passer-by. at any minute”, as one of the police constables who is on a regular patrol told me.5 Even during the pongala festival, the Many Stakeholders colony is under strict vigil. Mukesh, a young man in his In the framing of the pongala, one can see the projection of mid-20s who is also an active member of Shiny Star Theatres, Attukal as a Sabarimala of women through the rhetoric of a local club of the colony, told me as he was introducing me to numbers. Here, an anonymous crowd of women become the some of the women in the colony who were busy with the uncountable “mass” and relative performance in numbers preparations for the next day: “When these women make use compared to the previous years is taken without any statistical of the colony space to perform pongala, it is a proactive step accuracy to tabulate the extent of participation. Since it is a towards claiming the dignified lives we aspire for. It is heart- scattered arrangement with spatial dispersion, the narrow ening to see them prefer our premises to offer pongala than alleys or courtyards of houses or even parking lots can be other places which are seen as better placed.”6 Their limited probable locations for the pongala. By virtue of being hosted in incomes do not prevent them from providing their guests the capital city of Kerala, its success is also a much anticipated with whatever they need for the pongala, which includes a moment for the ruling government. If successful, the govern- feast and arrangements for the brick kilns and music system ment’s response towards tackling the anonymous crowd is to welcome the devotees. But the colony residents were upset seen as a testimony to its efficiency in dealing with any exigency with the second-rate treatment meted out to them by the at hand. Seen with “electronic eyes” in the form of multiple trust. One of the office bearers of the residents’ cameras installed at various points by the satellite channels association said: reporting live from the temple premises, there is hardly any If the claims of [the] pongala as thinning down the class barriers were uncertainty. The Municipal Corporation, true, they should also take into consideration the voice of the people the nodal body invested with the responsibility of facilitating whose invisible presence is crucial for making [the] pongala a success. the pongala by arranging the public works, water, electricity There are contract jobs on offer for the span of the pongala. As of now, and transportation for devotees, is put under constant there are no regulations followed on the appointment of the class four vigilance as any minor miscalculation can put the whole system contract workers during the pongala. The employment in this regard is not open to all, but restricted to a particular caste. In this colony, 3 in disarray. For instance, in 2013, on the eve of the pongala, there are many unemployed youths who could have applied for these water supply to many parts of Thiruvananthapuram suffered a jobs, but are tied down by the caste-specific nature of the jobs. We have severe shortage as the major supply line of the Kerala water put this to the notice of the temple trust more than twice, citing it as a

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proactive step to make [the] pongala an inclusive festival. But there This is a crucial tangent which reiterates the male organising has been a conspiracy of silence regarding this as the Nair composition of an ostensibly “hyper-feminine” space. Most accounts of the 7 of the temple trust makes it an exclusive terrain, in spite of the pro- Attukal pongala demarcate its distinctness as an “all-women jection of the pongala as a harbinger of democratized participation. 8 space”. Here, participation of women devotees is seen more When petitions and negotiations failed, the collective decision in terms of the liberatory potential invested in the pongala of the colony residents was not to bow down, but to channelise as a ritual in giving women possibilities to work out the their disappointments productively to successfully organise narrow confines of their life worlds (Jenett 1999). But as I have the pongala in their vicinity and thereby attract more devotees argued elsewhere, it is also true that there are patriarchal in- to their space in the coming years. But even in the participa- terests vested in the pongala as a ritual, especially as Attukal tion of the clubs for the pongala festivities, there are restric- Bhagawathy is believed to be a reincarnation of Kannagi tions in place. In 2006, clashes were reported in the colony (Sreedhar, forthcoming). Here, pongala becomes an annual between the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and “chastity vow” performed by women under the watchful eyes of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on pongala day, accentuated by the seemingly liberal state, opening out its bounty to ensure its the demands from both sides to “serve” the women devotees. smooth conduct. The paternalistic gaze which structures the From then on, only the MSK Nagar Residents’ Association was conduct of the ritual renders the ritual with its much hyped allowed to organise the arrangements for the devotees. The status of a “women’s ritual”. In fact, except for the last two fans’ association and clubs, including Shiny Star Theatres, days leading up to the pongala, the temple is open to all, in- were asked to pull back from the organising and instead asked cluding men. So, the sobriquet Sabarimala of women that is to do the groundwork for the residents’ association, who would ascribed to Attukal is clearly inaccurate, since in no way can replace them as the organiser. If this was seen as a preventive such a title justif y the women devotees on pongala day as the measure to maintain peace, it ended up alienating many only devotees. But the temple trust seems to have realised the youngsters who felt they were being discriminated against as advantages of the marketability of such a title – they procured the organising of pongala-related programmes was something the trademark for it. So now if anyone wants to use they were closely associated with until then. While other clubs the title “Sabarimala of women”, they will have to get prior in the locality were given sanctions by their respective resi- permission of the temple trust (Sreedhar 2014). There is a dents’ associations and were actively using the pongala space, diffused exercise of power which is at work in the overall the clubs at MSK Nagar had to shield their service under the organising of the pongala where the women devotees are put shadow of the residents’ associations, once again bringing to on a pedestal only to reinstate the binary of Kannagi and Matavi, light the differential treatment meted out to them on account the two mythological female figures who become the embodi- of not being part of the “middle class” milieu. ment of chastity and profligacy respectively.10 I return to this thought in detail in the second section of this paper which Karyakaran: Male Organising of the Hyper-Feminine Space discusses the film Vedivazhipadu. The pongala also becomes an instance where one can see the Amidst the celebratory mood that engulfs the city, one can dynamic negotiations which transpire among the various resi- also see the busy preparations which the residents’ associa- dents’ associations, sports and arts clubs and pourasamithis tions and local clubs are engaged in, ranging from arranging dotting the locality of Attukal and the nearby areas like the kilns on which the devotees would offer the pongala to ar- and Fort. On pongala day, the entry of men is limited ranging for the food which would be served to the devotees. It to areas adjoining the temple, with only those with special is mostly a month and a half prior to the pongala that many passes allowed entry to the temple. This is what makes the role clubs and pourasamithis start their preparations towards set- of these all-male spaces as seen in the pourasamithis and clubs ting up their planning meetings. The way the male organising all the more striking. The tradition of issuing special passes and of an all-women ritual translates in terms of the arrangements badges for volunteers and the queue system for crowd control to facilitate the “smooth” conduct of the pongala is also symp- started in 1968 when Minnal Parameswaran, the sub-inspector tomatic of the paternalistic modes of interaction shared by of the Fort police station, stepped in to take charge of the law many members as they reach out to those who are in “need”. and order situation on pongaladay. Also, what is equally pertinent are the modalities used in the Apart from being the space where men congregate on the day, course of the pongala to strengthen the sense of belonging these spaces multiply as parallel sites of spectacle. The high- which is built on the lines of local power and informal interac- lights of these spaces are roadside pandals or tents erected with tion. The term “Attukal” is used loosely to refer to one’s place temporary shrines decked up with idols of Attukal Bhagavathy. of habitation, even when the person concerned may not be The pandal will have the banner of the club inscribed on the staying in the area demarcated as Attukal by the residents’ as- top, sound sets and decorations, including the offering of fruits sociations. Manacaud where Attukal is located, has the highest and performance of puja. This in some ways is similar to the number of residents’ associations within a radius of 5-6 kms. organising of the puja pandal during Durga puja in West Bengal, Each narrow lane has a separate residents’ association. The but on a reduced scale. The male members of clubs and asso- pongala becomes a moment when the localities, which are ciations perform their role as karyakaran,9 as a responsible otherwise referred to broadly as a part of Attukal, take on a line of sergeants ready to take charge of the situation at hand. local flavour, attempting to carve out an identity of its own by

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floating pourasamithis to stand for the locality they represent. Vyavasayi Paurasmithi,12 they had to settle with the tag of Here Attukal becomes a signifier which is used by the localities club. Since accountability and transparency in monetary deal- to find their own footing. The all-male spaces of these group- ings became their catchword, the Attukal Arts and Sports Club ings are crucial to unravel how neighbourhood groups envis- even incorporated the income-expense report of the pongala age their role as custodians of culture and the modalities in their meeting. It is the inadequacy of the tag as an arts and through which values of responsible participation are scripted sports club that was repeatedly invoked in the interviews I into the narrative of the pongala. conducted with some of the members. For many, the registra- There could be overlapping definitions of “locality” which tion process offered a space to self-reflexively look at their link the pourasamithis, youth clubs and residents’ associa- mode of functioning and vie for a change in terms of their no- tions. At the same time, each one of them attempts to make the menclature to that of pourasamithi, something which they can use of locality to mark its distinction in terms of its reach and relate to very well. functioning. The performative space of organising is the key trope that is mobilised by the groups in order to make their Male Bonding presence visible. A close look at the composition of these clubs By carefully mapping the topography of Attukal, one gets a reveals how they see their roles as facilitators of the pongala. bird’s-eye view of the participation of men in varied capacities There is a strong way in which these groups stand in as a visi- in activities related to the pongala. The vendors at the kiosks ble marker for the locality they represent, even to the extent of which crop up during the pongala in the deserted stretch adja- incorporating the dictates of propriety and responsible partici- cent to the temple are mostly male.13 This was an area earlier pation as essential prerequisites for taking on the garb of a occupied by the devotees to set up pots. This development pothupravarthakan (public worker). Most pourasamithis and started in the last five years or so, mostly as a contractual youth clubs are transient spaces as they are organised only arrangement for the 10 days of the festival. Even when the during the pongala and disappear immediately after the area adjacent to the temple is barricaded to make it an exclu- festivities are over. Residents’ associations, on the other hand, sive space for women devotees, the male vendors are given function within the matrices of a well-defined structure, special identity cards. Tenders are called for in the allocation which necessitates that decisions have to be taken collectively, of stalls and separate rates are on offer for stalls depending on heeding the opinions of the members on board. There are site-specificity, its dimension and measurement. This might stark differences in terms of the membership and subscription include small teashops, ice-cream parlours, snacks parlours policies as well. While the residents’ association stipulates and stalls of companies like Munnar Valley Tea. Many of the membership from all members of the locality, pourasamithis employees at these stalls are signed in for the 10-day period and clubs are temporary groupings that are entered into by and there are catering assistants, blacksmiths and even college few individuals for a specific period, after which the members students who take this as a part-time job. need not hold on to the membership. Unlike the public sub- Male bonding is strong and evident during the pongala. The scriptions (which could very well be forced on all members), pongala special duty is much sought after by many drivers, followed by the residents’ associations, the local clubs mostly conductors and control inspectors of the Kerala State Road collect money from the members “voluntarily”, as they put it to Transport Corporation (KSRTC), as it is annually performed as rubbish the allegation that they use the money collected for a nercha by many of them. There are frequent buses that ply to their own “pleasures”. As one of the members of the club and fro from Attukal to Thampanoor, the main bus depot, and Padin jarenada Friends said, “We don’t collect money from the even to distant parts of Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala locality. If we are using our money for the decoration and the police also have deputed more than 5,000 staff, including the speaker that would not come under spending public money.”11 Janamaithri police, to tighten security for the festival. There There is now a regulation that the clubs and pourasamithis are even rare instances where the pongala is offered by men, that participate in the pongala will have to register themselves which is publicised widely more as “exception” to the rule. In in order to avail the sanction from the food and safety depart- most instances, pongala offerings by men are directed at a ment for serving food as well as permission from Janamaithri public cause, like stalling the price increase of petrol or for the police for the use of a sound system. This specification forced installation of the high court bench in Thiruvananthapuram. many groups who earlier did not feel the need for registration, There are even pourasamithis which have offered pongala, to do so. One of the aftermaths of this is the conflation of the like the East Fort pourasamithi which offered a 1,001 handfuls range of activities performed by the clubs and pourasamithis of rice14 as a nercha to Bhagavathy for the speedy recovery of into one rubric. For instance, the use of the term “club” need Jagathy Sreekumar, an actor who was in a critical state in the not solely refer to a “sports and arts club” run by youngsters. hospital after a major accident. Many trade unions used the tag of “club” to register them- Another key category of players is the 1,000-plus male selves. It was the lack of a better name that made the trade priests who are deputed to reach every nook and corner of the union of head-load workers and small shopkeepers based in streets to sanctify the offerings. On the day, the priests are Chalai, one of the busiest markets, to register under the name kept within the confines of a hall in the temple where they are “Attukal Arts and Sports Club”. Since there was already a issued chits with numbers. The representative from the pourasamithi in the same area by the name of Vyapari respective pourasamithi or residents’ association would come

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with a token number an hour before the auspicious time desig- the prerequisites for a successful pongala and to also oversee nated for sanctifying. When the two token numbers match, its conduct. The 150 residents’ associations which form part of the priests are “released” (and this is the term that is actually the Fort station Janamaithri project are divided into 12 sectors. used to refer to the final deployment of the priest). Apparently, If the entry to the police station on a normal day can be a bit this system of allocation was started a few years ago when the unprecedented for many, the Janamaithri desk stands out temple witnessed a scuffle between two pourasamithis to get because of the relative ease and sense of comfort it provides to priests of their choice. The representatives of each locality the visitors who come there with their grievances. The pongala would want the best priest, as the efficiency of organising is planning meetings with the representatives of the women’s seen in terms of how well equipped they are in facilitating the safety council, residents’ associations and senior citizen’s devotees to leave for their homes as soon as the auspicious forums involve detailed preparations on how to increase the time comes for the priest to sprinkle the sacred water over the efficiency of the police who are deputed as a part of pongala offering prepared by the women. To prevent selective alloca- duty. The crux of community policing was to have a participa- tion of priests, there is now a veil of anonymity over the selec- tory mode of decision-making, where the representatives of tion process and the representatives do not know who their the residents’ associations could bring in their grievances, priests are until the moment of final allocation. The sight of suggestions and lines of action. At the same time, the Attukal the priests mounted on two-wheelers and being taken to the pongala also brings to light the contestations over ideas of sites of the pongala is a spectacle worth witnessing. responsible participation and service which form the backbone In the last couple of years, spaces which were earlier con- of the Janamaithri, but could also potentially alienate many who sidered inauspicious have now become preferred sites, more want to be part of the festival. on account of the pourasamithis which have tried to integrate their participation by attracting devotees from far-off places. Notions of Propriety For instance, it is believed that the pongala can be performed For many members of the pourasamithisand clubs, being part only on one side of the Killi River; the other side, with areas of the pongala as volunteers to help with the crowd control, like Kaladi, Nedungadu and so on, was not preferred. But as arranging for the free food, helping the women devotees to the number of devotees increased, women started to occupy arrange the brick kilns and even arranging cultural programmes the parts which were on the other side of the Killi River as and film screenings for them, form part of their nercha. But well. The Maruthoorkadavu bridge helped trigger the expan- these run amok with the notions of propriety and legitimisa- sion of the area covered by women devotees. For instance, the tion which are seen as necessary preconditions for their MLA road pourasamithi tried to cash in on this influx of devo- participation as charted out by their respective residents’ tees by charting out their area as a site which can accommo- associations. The organisation of pongala festivities by the date the devotees along with the provision of auxiliary services pourasamithis and clubs has to be routed via their respective such as vehicles arranged by the pourasamithi which would residents’ associations by issuing a letter authorising them to wait at Thampanoor bus station to provide the conveyance for be members of the locality. But, at the same time, it is the the devotees who would want to offer pongala at the MLA discretion of the residents’ associations whether they would road.15 Medical camps were also organised for the devotees, want to include the clubs as part of the organising of the pongala. which included special counters for patients of cataract and While the Janamaithri Suraksha project allows the respective diabetes. For women who cannot visit the temple on pongala residents’ associations to have the final say, before the request day, a vessel is placed with the image of Attukal Bhagavathy is processed and sent to the police station for sanction, it also as a backdrop. The offerings, including money, camphor, means that the credentials of the local clubs is decided solely sindoor, sandalwood and incense sticks, can be put in the by the equation the clubs share with their residents’ associa- vessel which would be offered at the temple in the evening tions. The patronising attitude of the residents’ associations by the pourasamithi. often puts them at loggerheads with the clubs. In one instance The participation of pourasamithis, clubs and residents’ that was reported, the conflict-ridden relationship between associations is also connected to the space opened up by the youth club Manacaud Young Stars and their residents’ Janamaithri community policing. This becomes an instance association led to the filing of a petition by the members of the where one can see the different layers of interactions produc- club asking for police protection to serve the food they had ing new matrices of relationships and hierarchies. Envisaged as arranged for the devotees, without any kind of hindrance a project to fight crime as well as to improve the security of the from the concerned residents’ association.17 On the other neighbourhood by linking the residents’ associations to form a hand, the fans’ associations are not bound by the authorisation network, the Janamaithri Suraksha project was launched by letter from the residents’ association as the members come the state government in 20 select police stations in March from various parts of Kerala. The youth clubs are joined by 2008.16 The Janamaithri Suraksha project at the Fort police fans’ associations of various film stars like Mamooty Fans and station, which has jurisdiction over the area covered by the Welfare Association, Vijay Fans Association, Dileep Fans devotees during pongala, became the task force entrusted Association, Rajnikant Fans Association, Kalabhavan Mani with organising the pongala. This includes reaching out to the Fans Association and so on, who have deputed special service residents’ associations, pourasamithisand clubs to arrange for teams to help the women devotees.

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Another instance which showcases the paternalistic fram- by researchers like Dianne Jenett, who has done intensive ing of the ritual could be seen in the audio CD which is work on the Attukal pongala, perhaps it was for the first time produced and distributed by the Janamaithri Suraksha Com- that it became an integral part of a mainstream film narrative. mittee and Fort police in 2013. The eight-minute CD begins with In Vedivazhipadu, debutant director, Shambhu Purushothaman, devotional songs in praise of Attukal Bhagavathy, followed by made use of “real” footage shot over a period of two years, the announcers stating that “Bhagavathy’s blessings” have even including interviews which were incorporated as a part “destined” them to take charge of the safety of the devotees. of the film. Vedivazhipadu unexpectedly ran into controversy By framing the guidelines in the guise of the norms which when it was denied a certificate by theCBFC regional office at would help the devotees by providing a hassle free “religious Thiruvananthapuram. The film has Attukal as the backdrop of experience”, the text of the announcement lays out the respon- its narrative and explores the happenings of 24 hours, starting sibility which is invested in the police to “take charge” of the with the devotees flocking to Attukal for the pongala and situation. The reminders for the people who participate in concludes with the pongala the next day. Focusing the narrative various capacities, including the devotees, mike operators, on the domestic space of three couples whose strained and pourasamithis and auto drivers, foregrounded the exceptional incompatible relationships are set against the episodes that status of the pongala. For instance, one of the reminders to happen on the day of pongala, the film came to be seen as a sign of the men says: “Men, please do not intrude into the privacy of profligacy when the censor board declared it as “disrespectful women. Remember, Attukal is known as the ‘Sabarimala of to the women devotees who have gathered for the festival”. If the women’ ”. The announcement is interspersed with details of initial response to the disapproval from the censor board evoked the Janamaithri Suraksha project and its various programmes, a lukewarm reception, with many citing it as a “publicity a brief history of Attukal and the need for community policing stunt”, in due course the discussions moved into the realm of to ensure the motto “For safety, police and people”. The key moral hypocrisy which the film was trying to unravel. Speak- programmes floated by the government, such as the Student ing about the censorship controversy, the director said, Cadet Corps (SCC), found mention in the announcement on the Usually there are negotiations over the scenes which have to be need to instil moral uprightness, national pride and service removed and whether it is a U/A or A certificate which would be issued mentality in children. Alongside this, parents are warned about accordingly. But, we were in fact shocked to know that the problem the misuse of mobile phones and the Internet by children and CBFC had was with the theme per se, which is woven into the narrative of the need for vigilance. so intricately that if you remove pongala from the narrative, the whole narrative collapses.18 The one key strand that conjoins the multiple layers opened out by the announcement is the warning it gave to the women The problem that the censors had with the film is explicit in devotees – “women are pious women’s greatest enemy”. Refer- the censor report, signed by T P Madhu Kumar, additional ring to chain-snatchers and pickpockets, the announcement regional officer, CBFC. The report states: reminds the devotees of the need to be cautious about “some Having regard to the theme of the contents of the film which portr ays women who pretend to be devotees” and “infiltrate into the mass the story of a few friends indulging in prostitution, drinking and of pious women while they are engrossed in their prayers”. smoking of cigarettes and drugs while their wives are away participat- This binary between the pious women devotees and the ing in the famous festival of women called “Attukal Pongala” at so-called “others”, who are hell-bent on unsettling the sanctity Trivandrum, the committee has come to the conclusion that the por- trayal of the festival which is inseparably intertwined with the theme of the temple, is particularly emphasised in the final reminder of indulgence and promiscuity in the film, is li kely to hurt the religious to the “pious women” to report these “suspicious” women to sentiments of millions of women devotees who perform the ritual of the police and cleanse the place of its impurity. The clubs, ‘pongala’ at Attukal temple. Therefore the film in its entirety is viola- residents’ associations and pourasamithis who have registered tive of the para (X11) of the guidelines and hence the film cannot be 19 for the mike sanction for the pongala were given the CD and certified for the public exh ibition in its present form. were asked to play it every half an hour. Through the notion of When the film was referred to the Revising Committee un- “service”, the announcement of the Janamaithri Suraksha der rule 24, it gave the film a clean chit with a few mutes in the Committee actually extends the day-to-day paternalistic struc- dialogues. The film was given an “A” (adult) certification. The tures of social control into the space of the pongala. The gender- probable reasons why the censor board decided to unilaterally liberal aspect of the pongala, therefore, is ephemeral at best, opt for denial of the certificate says quite a lot about the ter- while it is the patriarchal “norm” that is actually performed rains of sanctity and profanity which the film was carefully under the garb of the liberatory exception. trying to straddle. In the meantime, the responses to the film varied from outright allegations of it having tried to copy the Censorship and the Foregrounding of formula of “New Generation” cinema (Kumar 2013) to its fail- the Kannagi/Matavi Split ure to convincingly depict some of the characters who were When the preparations for the Attukal pongala scheduled for bordering on the ludicrous (Palicha 2013) or even as a “sex February 2014 were announced in December 2013, enthusiasm comedy which is ineffective as a wet firecracker”.20 The allega- was brimming over about a Malayalam film made on the tions of promiscuity raised by the censor board were taken up Attukal pongala which was about to be released in a week’s by Hindutva forces and there were protests against the screen- time. Even though pongala festivities have been documented ing of the film. In many places, the screenings were disrupted

58 APR IL 26, 201 4 vol xl IX no 17 EPW Economic & Political Weekly REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES by the Shiv Sena; in others, women were denied tickets in and Matavi are reconciled. The opening credits are depicted many theatres on account of it being labelled a “sex film”. through murals recounting the Kannagi myth as she burns the The use of the social media with regard to the film also has city of Madurai to ashes to avenge the (mistaken) death of her to be taken into account to examine the changing trajectory husband and becomes the framing device for the film as it that the promotion of the film took. What in fact could have explores the subliminal space of the pongala. The commentary been problematic was its title. There are more than two layers on the origin of pongala during the opening credits is given by of meaning which are embedded in the use of the word vedi“ ”. Praveena, an actress whose role as the devi in devotional serials On the one hand, the term in its entirety could stand for the has made her a “television goddess”, a new prototype of ritual which is offered as nercha, involving the bursting of goddess in the calendar images, replacing Raja Ravi Varma’s crackers. On the other hand, in colloquial Malayalam, vedican images. The last scene shows the sex worker being offered very well stand for a transgressive relationship that is rooted prasad by a woman decked up like a goddess, played by in the realm of clandestine pleasures. This was the contentious Praveena. In effect, this final scene dissipates the myth of the realm which the film’s producers expected would accrue after the pongala as the sole space of the “pious” woman. censoring of the film. But mired in the larger problems that the By showing an encounter with the figure of the goddess and board was concerned with, this went unnoticed. Apparently, the figure of the prostitute, Vedivazhipadu dispels one of the one of the two women members who were part of the rev iew- foundational myths of the ostensibly “sanctified” space of the ing committee of the film was a staunch devotee of Attukal Attukal pongala. Scenes such as these and the anti-casteist angle Bhagavathy. This was cited by many as one of the reasons why in dialogues such as the one mentioned earlier destabilise the the depiction of the sex worker in the space of the pongala had myth of the pongala as a homogenously “secular” and liberat- caused so much ire. The posters of the film were bold state- ing space in terms of gender, class and caste. Additionally, ments, which could also withstand censorship regulations. Vedivazhipadu provides us with another window to view the While one of the posters stated: “Moralists, please forgive”, pongala ritual and this has to do with the festival’s organisa- another one featured a big “A” in the background, and the tional structuring in terms of gender. The male characters in third showed the three male leads of the film, each holding a the film, for instance, view the day of the pongala as “free slate close to his chest. The latter resembled the photographs time” away from their wives, when they can give vent to their taken of convicts with their name and age written on slates. licentious desires which have been suppressed by domesticity. The film’s poster also had images of a cockerel, alluding to the On the other hand, the inclusion of a female character, Vidya colloquial use of the Malayalam word kozhi (cockerel), which (played by Mythili), who is reluctant to perform the pongala also means a womaniser. One of the actors in the film, Murali but has to play along because of familial pressure gives a dif- Gopi, was vocal in his protests against the ban. In a Facebook ferent twist to this “women’s only ritual” by suggesting that post, which also included a screenshot of the famous Himanshu the “liberation” that the pongala supposedly provides is often Rai and Devika Rani lip lock in Karma (1933), he wrote: forced upon women by societal norms of propriety and ideal Censor board, with the kind of guidelines which it has set for itself, is womanhood. Vidya’s final rebellion in her pretence of going State sponsored creative terrorism...When a nation and its people lose to perform the pongala wearing the customary sari while their ability to laugh at themselves, that is the first sign of the impend- actually using the time to sleep with her husband’s friend, ing brain death. It is actually such draconian steps that sow the wrong Joseph (Indrajit), who is one of the three friends, shatters this ideas in the people’s hearts.21 myth of liberation and ideal womanhood. Throughout the film, The film attempts to create a multilayered narrative when it the live telecast of the pongala in the background becomes punctures the myth of pious women and their unadulterated crucial, as it is used by the men as a means of “marking time” religiosity as the sole signifier of women who participate in the and synchronising their “alternate” life on the day of the pongala. Often there are societal expectations that coerce pongala in terms of the progression of the ritual that is being women into becoming “ideal” female figures, emulating the broadcast. In doing so, Vedivazhipadu incisively questions the canon of Kannagi-like figures who take on the world by virtue taken-for-granted “purity” of the Attukal pongala and its of their chastity. The film even reviews the eulogistic accounts nature as a hyper-feminine space. of the hospitality provided by the people in the locality of Attukal in accommodating the visitors on pongala day, when it Conclusions hints at the casteist attitude inherent in many families and the Both the “real” organisational level of the pourasamithisand parochial world views that condition it. For instance, one of the youth clubs, and the “fictional” rendering of the lives of the male characters in the film comments on the newfound men and women in Vedivazhipadu, points towards one thing. enthusiasm of his wife on pongala day: “It is a bit surprising In many ways, the foregrounding of a specific kind of liberal- how she can transform in a matter of seconds from someone hyper-feminine discourse serves to disguise its nature as token who is finicky about people from other castes visiting us, to liberalism. Both the state government’s “political” appropria- becoming an ideal host”. tion of the Attukal pongalaand the temple trust’s near-corporate If there was anything radical the film pushed for, it was in branding of the festival feed a myth of gender-egalitarianism. the conflation of the figures of the sex worker and Kannagi and At best, this can be seen as a structuring principle, whereby the ways that the conflicting binaries between the Kannagi Kerala’s dominant patriarchy attempts to hide its nature as

Economic & Political Weekly EPW APRIL 26, 2014 vol xlIX no 17 59 REVIEW OF WOMEN’S STUDIES

patriarchy; at its worst, it perhaps is a kind of ontological everyday practices of organisation, policing and control, or in violence, whereby women are invited to view themselves the realm of representation and responses to narratives. The not as victims or as the oppressed, but as “queens”, even if Attukal pongala may well be celebrated as the Sabarimala of their reign lasts for a mere day or two. The day-to-day func- women but what goes unsaid and remains hidden in paren- tioning of the festivities, as I have tried to show, is still not theses is that it is not necessarily “for the women” and “by devoid of these discriminatory structures, be it in the realm of the women”.

Notes the MSK Nagar Residents’ Association, on 17 Interview with Vinu, member of Manacaud 1 The collective act of cooking by the women 24 February 2013. Young Stars, in Thiruvananthapura m on devotees. 9 In Malayalam it translates as “someone who is in 21 February 2013. 2 Sabarimala is a pilgrimage centre in Pathanam- charge of the situation” in a supervising position. 18 Interview with Shambhu Purushothaman in thitta dedicated to Sastavu (Ayyappa). The 10 The Tamil epic Cilappatikaram: The Tale of an Thiruvanant hapuram on 13 January 2013. entry of women to this temple is limited to pre- Anklet by Illanko Adikal captures the retri- 19 Annexure to the CBFC letter No DIL/178/2013- menstrual girls (below the age of 10) and post- butive justice of Kannagi, the mythic heroine THI dated 26/11/2013. menopausal women (above 60 years). Hence who later gets reified as Goddess Pattini, for 20 “Vedi Vazhipadu”, viewed on 13 January 2014 the title of Attukal as “Sabarimala of Women” the mistaken death penalty imposed on her (http://www.sify.com/movies/vedi-vazhipadu- is a carefully thought out strategy to showcase husband Kovalan by the King of Madurai. As a review-malayalam-15045160.html). Attukal as an “alternative Sabarimala”, that is, much celebrated epic on the virtues of female 21 “Murali Gopi Lashes out for Banning Vedivazhi- one which is exclusively for women. chastity, Kannagi gets reified as the embodiment padu”, Oneindia Entertainment, 26 November 3 Full-fledged government involvement in terms of ideal femininity, while Matavi, a courtesan 2013, viewed on 15 January 2014 (http://enter- of support for the pongala started in 1979 when with whom Kovalan had an affair, becomes the tainment.oneindia.in/malayalam/news/2013/ M R Chandrasekhara Pillai was the chairman profliguous figure. murali-gopy-lashes-out-for-banning-movie-ve- of the Attukal temple trust. The government 11 Interview with Subramony, member of Padin- divazhipadu-125743.html). circular issued by C P Nair, the chief secretary, jarenada Friends, on 20 February 2013. had a provision for a state-level coordination 12 The term vyapar i vyavasayi comes from the committee which would oversee the arrange- larger collective Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana References ments for the pongala. Samithi (KVVES) which was formed in 1980 to Jenett, Dianne (1999): “Red Rice for Bhagavathy/ 4 The pipe burst is not new; it has happened be- safeguard the interests of traders and business- Cooking for Kannagi: An Ethnographic Organic fore. There have been times when officials at men. Vyapari Vyavasayi pourasamithi is man- Enquiry of the Pongala Ritual at Attukal Temple, the water works department have colluded aged by the traders and that accounts for why Kerala, South India”, PhD dissertation, School with private contractors who supply water to the head-load workers decided not to float a of Consciousness and Transformation, California cut the pipes to benefit the contractors. In this pourasamithi, but change it to an arts and Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. particular instance, the pipe burst happened sports club. Kumar, K K Ajith (2013): “Udyathapurushene ushi- hours before the pongala thus aggravating the 13 Almost 98% of the vendors are men. A few yakkumbhol”, Mathrubhumi, 14 December. situation, allowing private contractors to reap women who were managing the stalls were do- Palicha, Paresh (2013): “Vedivazhupadu Is a Damp substantial profits. ing so in the absence of their husbands. There Squib”, 13 December, viewed on 12 January 2014 5 Interview with Raghavan, police constable, in was only one woman who had taken t he stall (http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/re- Thiruvananthapuram on 22 February 2013. on lease, but she was managing the stall with view-vedivazhipadu-is-a-damp-squib-south/ 6 Interview with Mukesh in Thiruvananthapuram the support of her brothers. 20131213.htm). on 25 February 2013. 14 An offering in which the pongala pot is filled with Sreedhar, Darshana (Forthcoming): “Myth and 7 The Attukal temple trust was formed in 1968 a thousand and one handfuls of rice for cooking. Modernity in a Ritualistic Space” in Shiju Sam with a 28-member committee. Later, following 15 Earlier known as Bund road, it was renamed Varughese and Satheesh Chandra Bose (ed.), a court case, the membership was increased to MLA road as the MLA funds were utilised Essays on Kerala Modernity: Interdisciplinary 117. The court ruled that there should be two for the development of the road, including Perspectives (Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan). appendices; one consisting of the new members Maruthoorkadavu bridge which was frequent- – (2014): “Attukal Pongala: Everyday Lives in a and the second one consisting of the old mem- ed by the residents to reach Kaladi. Ritualistic Space” in Ann David, Geoffre y Sam- bers. As the list of old members gets reduced 16 It has been successful in building the trust of uel and Santi Rozario (ed.),Transformations in following their deaths, newly selected members the community by taking them into the decision- Contemporary South Asian Ritual: From Sacred could join the first list. making bodies and streamlining their resources Action to Public Performance, Journal of Ritual 8 Interview with Krishnan Kutty, secretar y of for collective participation. Studies, Special issue, 28(1).

REVIEW OF URBAN AFFAIRS March 30, 2013

(Un)Settling the City: Analysing Displacement in Delhi from 1990 to 2007 –Gautam Bhan, Swathi Shivanand Revitalising Economies of Disassembly: Informal Recyclers, Development Experts and E-Waste Reforms in Bangalore –Rajyashree N Reddy Biometric Marginality: UID and the Shaping of Homeless Identities in the City –Ursula Rao Protest, Politics, and the Middle Class in Varanasi – Jolie M F Wood Revisiting the 74th Constitutional Amendment for Better Metropolitan Governance –K C Sivaramakrishnan Urban Multiplicities: Governing India’s Megacities – Ashima Sood For copies write to: Circulation Manager, Economic and Political Weekly, 320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013. email: [email protected]

60 APR IL 26, 201 4 vol xl IX no 17 EPW Economic & Political Weekly