Nagpur Part II: Dussehra

Nagpur Part II: Dussahra

When I returned to Nagpur Sunday evening I was taking some photos of political posters at the bus station when some men standing there called me over. Inside a large tent they had posters of the Dalit leader Dr. Bhimrao Ramji “Babasaheb” Ambedkar for the commemoration of his conversion to Buddhism in 1956. Dalit is the name which “untouchables” in the caste system call themselves. They also introduced me to the men whose photos were on the political posters. They told me to return at 9 am the next day for the events.

Monday morning I was honoured to be invited to participate in the Ambedkar puja. I helped to hang the garland on the portrait in the bus station entrance. I think I look a little tired and slightly sunburnt; Nagpur is very hot and sunny, and I have started a mean farmer’s tan, despite the sunscreen.

From there one of the women, Prabhattya, became my guide. (Also I got to improve my Hindi. I spent much of my time in Nagpur asking “Kya photo teek hai?”) We sat at the very front of the bus on the way to Dragon Palace Temple! Many vehicles were flying the Dalit political flag (a white chakra on a blue background) as well as the colorful prayer flag. At the temple they are building a stupa, a Buddhist memorial dome.

My celebrity status gave me VIP seats for the puja which included drumming and prayer. The Buddha statue is a gift from Japan. The little girls sitting behind me all wanted to ask in Hindi or English what is my name. They accompanied the lead drummers.



Around the temple many shops were set up to sell powder, posters, books, jewelry, and statues of the Buddha and Ambedkar. Crowds of people wanted to take my photo; this was alarming at times! Prabhattya is in the front left corner of my photo through the arch. On the way back into the city, the bus ride was probably the hottest I have ever been in my life. But I still prefer heat over cold.

After lunch Prabhattya took me to visit her home, after we did puja at the neighbourhood Ambedkar temple. Her daughter had drawn a rangoli in powder at their front step; this is traditionally women’s artwork.













Finally, we went to the Ravana event. On Dussahra, Ram’s defeat of Ravana (and Durga’s defeat of the demon Mahishasura) represents the triumph of good over evil. To celebrate the event, cities build huge effigies of Ravana and set them ablaze! The event is accompanied by prayers, and fireworks. I had a great conversation about culture with two college girls, Surbhi and Madhura.











After the event was over, there was a mad crush for the exits; this is when people can get trampled. I also stopped into a Durga temple to do puja.


Check my Facebook page for the B-list photos from my trip to Nagpur!

Nagpur Part I: Ramtek and Ambala

Road trip! Friday after studying a friend mentioned to me that Monday was a holiday because of the close of Navratri, the nine day festival, and Dussahra. Dussahra is also an important day for my research. I had planned to visit Nagpur around 14 October, but hadn't accounted for the use of the Muharat calendar instead of the Roman calendar in fixing these dates. 24 hours after this news I was on the bus to Nagpur to stay for three days!

Sunday I arrived around 9 am, after a 16 hour bus ride that wasn’t as bad as it sounds. I guess my rail travel training from my time in Europe has stayed with me. After checking into the Skylark Hotel, I set off to the local bus station for another 90 minute ride.to Ramtek. On the way I could see tents being set up in preparation for Monday, and passed a beautiful Gurdwara, a Sikh temple.

A short autorickshaw ride took me to the top of the hill, where the Ramtek temples were built in the 15th century to honour Ram, an important and widely worshipped avatar or incarnation of Vishnu. “So the clues are ‘key’ and ‘mon.’ . . . Keymon? . . . No, monkey! . . . Coincidence? I think not.” No, the monkeys are not friendly, but instead rather aggressive, and they will steal your prasad, the offerings made to the deity, and the items which are returned after the deity has made them holy.

At the top of the temple complex I did puja, prayer which includes offering any combination of flowers, food, powder, and money. Also, I began my encounterwith celebrity status. While I was in Nagpur and the surrounding area, people took my photo, asked to be in a photo with me, or asked me to take their photo. As a foreigner, I was an oddity, especially because families travel from smaller towns all over Maharashtra for these events.

From the temple I walked halfway down the hill to Ambala Tank, which is surrounded by medieval temples. Many of these beautiful temples are no longer in active use, but they are protected by Maharashtrian law. Village life goes on around them. The photo with the small altar with Ganesh and a Shiv lingam, a symbolic representation of Shiva, is carefully arranged to hide women bathing at the ghats, the steps down into the water.

Thus began my immersion in Hindi for three days. When my Hindi is better than the English of the people around me, it makes for really good practice.






I took a lot of photos. I’m not kidding. Every evening I was in Nagpur I had to visit an internet café to transfer my photos onto my USB drive because I only have a 512 MB memory card right now. If you’d like to see more of my favourites, although they didn’t make the cut for the blog, you can find them on my Facebook page.

But I'm not done yet! Come back in a day or two and I'll post another blog update on my trip to Nagpur!