Faith of Life
Gajan is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly in the Rural part of West Bengal. Gajan spans around a week, starting at the last week of Chaitra continuing till the end of the Bengali year. It ends with Charak Puja Participants of this festival is known as Sannyasi or Devotee .Persons of any gender can be a participant. The complete history of the festival is not known. The central theme of this festival is deriving satisfaction through non-sexual pain, devotion and sacrifice.
The word Gajan is considered Gajan means Gar+Jan = A Bengali Word which reveals the call of the sannyasi or Bhokta to their lord Shiva . Ofthen in this festival Sannyasi or Bhokta are murmuring with the name of Lord Shiva on daily basis 108 times & together they cry with pain : Debadi Dev Mahadev .. Hara Gauri .. Joy Shiv . They often believe it is such a powerful chants that keep them cool and help to overcome all the pain related to their painful process of devotion.
Hindus celebrate the festival mainly on the last two days of the month of Chaitra. People observe fast during this period devoting themselves to their God. Gajan is actually linked to persons who are related to agricultural community, directly or indirectly. They pray for the rains and better harvest. Lord Shiva is said to be closely related to this community. It may be worth noting here that Dharmathakur is actually considered to be the God of Fertility.
Charak & Gajan has 2 separate part of Festival according to the Rituals. Gajan used to happen on 2 days before the Month end of Chaitra , the Last Bengali Month ( Middle of March as per English Calendar). In different part of West Bengal these Rituals are being celebrated with different dangerous Traditional Play like Playing with Dead Bodies, Human Skull. This year I went to a remote village of Bardhaman to document this practice. According to the villagers, this practice has been going on for more than a hundred years. Police and district administration do very little to stop the ugly and unhygienic practices. According to one of the Devotees, they collect the bodies from different burial grounds. Those who could not burn the dead bodies due to financial reasons, bury those bodies in the graveyard. Sometimes the relatives of dead children do not burn the bodies and bury them instead. Some of the villages are using these skulls for 2 – 3 years and use to cut the skulls before 1 or 2 month of this Ritual from different graveyards. These skulls are used to hide in some secret places near by of the villages, people were co-operative enough to allow me to shoot these photos except inside those secret places where they have hidden these skulls or corpses.
Bardhaman, Bengal , India. April 2016
Photos and text by Avishek Das
Support this photographer, share their work:
-
- The Gajan Festival is a Folk Ritual in the eastern part of India . The Ritual is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Before starting the ritual, Sannyasis (local term indicating the celebrants) pray God in front of the village temple. ©Avishek Das
-
- After the morning prayer, Sannyasis go to a river near the village for the Sun Prayer. In India, people give importance to Sun Prayer which they believe to be a source of Power against all evils. ©Avishek Das
-
- After the prayers, Sannyasis, are equipped with blades. These machete type blades are used to sever the skull from corpses found in different burial grounds or in undisclosed other sites. Photographers are prohibited to visit those secret places as the operations can be very disturbing. ©Avishek Das
-
- Sannyasis are ready with their blades unsheathed and run towards different Burial grounds and other undisclosed sites from where they sever the skulls from dead bodies. ©Avishek Das
-
- A very young devotee is initiated to the cult. ©Avishek Das
-
- A Sannyasi show a severed Skull to the villagers. ©Avishek Das
-
- Almost 20 – 30 Sannyasis get involved in this dangerous ritual . After having raided the burial ground with Skulls they celebrate their success . Success depends on how many skulls they were able to collect from the burial ground. Sannyasis believe the most skull are collected, the better the ritual is accomplished, bringing luck and protection for the entire year. The belief lasts for almost a hundred years in these remote villages of West Bengal , India. ©Avishek Das
-
- Sannyasis proceed towards the village temple with the Skulls hanging in their hands. ©Avishek Das
-
- A young Sannyasi with a Skull in his hand. As not all the young Sannyasis are mentally prepared to participate in the ritual. ©Avishek Das
-
- People dance showing off and raising the skulls as throphies. ©Avishek Das
-
- A seasoned Sannyasis shows himself more confident with the macabre ritual. ©Avishek Das
-
- A severed head is showed with its tongue still sticking out and a rope around the neck. Most likely the dead person committed suicide. ©Avishek Das
-
- A priest shows off his skull. According to other Sannyasi’s. he is the oldest person on that village leading the ritual this year. ©Avishek Das
-
- A priest shows off his skull. According to other Sannyasis. he is the oldest person on that village leading the ritual this year. ©Avishek Das
-
- Youth raise a skull during the ritual. ©Avishek Das
-
- Some of the Young Sannyasis seem excited practicing the skulls ritual and confident enough in front of the camera. ©Avishek Das
-
- Young Sannyasis walk with skulls and go towards the temple for the Worship and ritual. ©Avishek Das
-
- The ritual is the continuation of a centennial tradition. Authorities are not very interested to stop this macabre practice.. ©Avishek Das
-
- Young Sannyasis play with the skulls. ©Avishek Das
-
- During the ritual Sannyasis roam throught the villages. ©Avishek Das
-
- Skulls can be taken out from people who died recently. The smell can be very intense. ©Avishek Das
-
- Some of the Young Sannyasis proudly pose with hanging skulls in front of the camera. ©Avishek Das
-
- Mr. Manjur is the oldest Sannyasi of the Village (Age 70+). He proudly pose in front of Camera. ©Avishek Das
-
- The skull of a Woman who died 2 months back. The villagers will bury these skulls again for 1 year. The next year again they will unearth them again to celebrate the ritual. ©Avishek Das
