well researched and very informative...tx...

Hi Chaitali,

nice story...I have heard of this for the first time.

I think that the worship of the Linga and the Yoni started amongst ancient civilizations because it indicated union and hence Creation...and hence by symbolising the act they were worshipping the creators : both male and the female.

I have heard about Goddess Yellamma for the first time. It is not surprising to hear of the peculiar rituals that dominate the worship.

along with what you have rightly said in the last para, I think there are a little spiritual colorings to the ritual also.

worshipping of/meditating on God in the nude has been followed by mendicants over the ages because it is also the ultimate renunciation. the renunciation of personal shame.

there are supposed to be six fetters which hinder spritual progression

hatred, fear, avarice, ( i cant remember the other two) and finally shame.

Krishna playing the flute when gopikas where having a bath and this story of Yellamma, I feel have deep seated roots in trying to master the greatest fetter of all: Shame.

and a person who conquers shame is deemed to be one of the most evolved devotee.

the practical aspects of the ritual in modern times is saddening. the ritual is a part of our heritage and the way gullible young girls are exploited in the name of it is very sad. it is good that the Government has stepped in and prevented the wrong type of people from taking advantage of something which is a part of our heritage.

a person who conquers shame is supposed to be the most evolved devotee...what a beautiful perspective, aachi that you share...shame is essentially connected to ego nuances and aspects of fear of self images getting bruised.....

Good Morning all

Chaitali -great piece! Indeed as Aachi says shame conquered is the self reclaimed from the core of social hegemony.

Aachi
Even as menidicants have chosen nudity (like Naga sadhus or Digambara Jains) I feel Yellama was the only established ritual where women had a sanctified space to experience the freedom of nudity. Even Digambara sects disallow women nuns to reach the stage of shedding clothes. I think this is a critical difference because while men have seen it as the last frontier of liberation, for women shame has been eulogized as 'aurat ka gehna sharm hai' for ages and women find themsleves unable to step out of this one.

The ban I feel is a complete violation of that space and could have instead been replaced with better police protection on the worship night to ensure women had that space. Banning the nudity has again fallen on the women to forego what was once a sacred right.

Jasjit, I agree wholeheartedly!!

Being as I am part Ojibway(Cree), our people have seen too many of our sacred ceremonies banned, because they were considered perversive-versions of religion-themes?

The Sacred Sun-Dance, banned! the use of piote, banned! home-sweat-lodges threaten to be banned!

when my sister lived here a year ago; she had her own sweat lodge! WE had many, many cleansing rituals. there is a stringent four-day cleansing ritual, like obstaining from tobacco, caffeine, alchol, nonnecessary drugs; this is considered critical, for 100% good intentions to succeed.

Sweats are done for healing; it's a prayer and cleansing cirlce; where water is poured on blessed rocks(ritual); 4 colours of cloth are offered to the winds, and tied to the tree; fresh sage, is given a participant, and tossed onto the centred hearth of hot rocks; the smell is glorious! and it can get brutal hot(depends on each person's intention & purity before the sweat)(4- is considered sacred among aboriginals as it represents the seasons, man's stages, direction, etc. with the centre, being the "Heart"(spirit."

IT would seem, and I say this in good heart; that the white people, seem ashamed of the birth-canal, symbol of the life of all things that come forward? Tragicly, it often comes from religious men, obtaining from sex. It would seem, that even use of sweat-lodges present a threat, to the white's "perception" of true religion "for all?"

I am quite saddened, to see another ancient custom become obsolete in our ancient-shared, cultural world.

I watched the movie: Auyurveda - The Art of Being!

I want to go to India and be healed by him(gentle smile.)

North

Hi Jasjit,

You are absolutely right. I too wanted to say that the complete ban should have not been implemented and the ancient custom should have been better policed to prevent exploitation.

But as I read the accounts on the net about young girls and their increasing exploitation as times became more modern I felt that any custom is not more important than those young girls themselves.

entire lives have been ruined in the shadow of this ritual. Practically in a corrupt and dishonest society I didnt give a chance to fair policing by the administration.

Sundar,

thanks. Y ou have hit the nail on the head by showing how letting off the ego (here signified by shame) helps us in evolving much more.

North,

who was the ayurveda person? India has many riches. Ayurveda is one of them. It seems there was a time when there was a plant cure for every disease. But modernization has wiped out many rare species of plants and what we see now is actually a skeleton of a mamooth science that once existed.

Good Morning all!

Aachi you are right about the lingam and yoni as symbolic of the worshipping of creation. Infact most of the female god worship is also symbolic of worshipping the life giving power of the goddess. She has the power to create as well as destroy. This makes her sexuality 'dangerous' and she needs to be appeased and her power confined to her life giving powers alone-In other words her procreative powers. And this is where Yellamma differs from the others. She is not symbolic of procreative powers but for feminine sexuality period

Jasjit,

"'aurat ka gehna sharm hai' for ages and women find themsleves unable to step out of this one."

I remember an incident which happened I think about a year back in Manipur or one of the north-eastern states in India. The incident had sent shock waves in the country. A group of women held a protest asking the government to address the violence against women that had become a daily feature due to years of insurgency in their state. These women unable to bear years of pain and suffering, let go of all their shame and humiliation and their anger took the form of holding the protest in NUDE.

Chaitali what an amazing piece. Thanks for the detailed explanation of the ritual. I had heard of it but your words have brought new power, insight and meaning.

Reminded me of how in Pakistan when any famous saint's birth/death anniversary came about, it was the women who traditionally brought the 'chadar' to his grave. During Zia Ul Haq's time (military dictator) women were banned from this ritual, shrines were largely closed to women worshippers (they could not go into the grave enclosure anymore)and had to sit in a place different from where the men were. And Eunuchs were now brought in to replace what was earlier an honour given to women.

Good Morning everyone!

Hey Chaitali,

Incredible stuff! I must congratulate you on the amount of effort you must have put in, to get all the facts and stories for this article. Great job!

As I was reading the piece, I couldnt help but think how rich we (Indians) are in our spiritual legacy. If only people would respect them for what they are and not abuse them or use them as covers to run some filthy business of their own. As for banning the ritual, to be honest, it is not very clear to me that why exactly was the ritual banned? Was it banned because young girls were getting dragged into prostitution through it or was it because of the fact that the women worshipped the goddess in the nude? For it is the "nude" part that has been banned and not the ritual itself. So what exactly is the government trying to accomplish by doing that? Does trafficking of young girls not take place when they are fully clad?

North

how frightened 'civilzed' (white in this case still wrapped in his/her Victorian legacy somewhere) man is before the raw potential of the Universe. Colonialism brought for us many gems through laws/customs/social propriety which coroded if not outright banished many aspects of the Wild Divine here. We still manage to save/protect some, since it is also rooted in many texts, practices and philosophies which are serpentine in the way they persevere through time. But for the aboriginal cultures whether in US/Canda/Australia etc the damage has been intense. Perhaps the cycle of time is now bringing back a slow but sustained respect for all lost and a desire to resurrect.

Make that trip to India. Healing marvels abound in the air so to speak.

Thats right Shubhosree. The activists or the government or whoever else, all took up the issue of the disguised exploitation but the only solution that they could think of to end the exploitation was banning the nudity.

Its this very thing that struck me when I was researching for the article. Why only the nudity part of the ritual that was the centre of focus. And as you have pointed out will cladding the women in clothes stop the trafficking.

The nudity had to be stopped because it symbolises the 'raw' female sexuality devoid of all its inhibitions. Why do people pray Kali? Becuase she symbolises the untethered form of sexaulity and she has to be worshipped or else this sexuality can become destructive. People who worship Kali for the sexuality that she represents are labeled as dangerous.

By clothing the women they have been able to tether this 'destructive' sexuality.

Jasjit, North,

The true worshippers of the Yellamma were unable to defend their practice because it was not written down or as the Government stated, while delivering the ban, it does not find any mention in the religious texts.

Wow! What a fascinating ritual! Its really amazing how much India has to tell us on sexuality.

I think it was in one of Osho's talks on sex and sexuality where he says about this whole thing about shame and Krishna. When the gopika's used to plead with Krishna to give back their clothes he would tell them that if they came out of the water he would return their clothes. The gopikas would come out of the water hiding their private parts. Krishna would then point out to them that since they are supposed to be seen in naked only by their husbands and that since it is he who has seen them almost naked the gopika's must condsider him Krishna as their husband and put their hands together and pray to him. The gopikas would follow Krishna's orders and in the process bare their naked bodies to him.

As Osho goes along he explains this as the ultimate submission of the self to the Lord. Krishna helps the gopikas to shed their shame and devote themselves to his love.

Hi North,

Very interesting thing you share. But I didnt really understand the sweat-lodges thing. I mean why was it banned?

Hi Aaichi, when I watched that movie on Ayurveda, I was amazed!! they talked on healing with plants, with herbs, with minerals and gems. I am not sure whom the guru was in the movie, but he was noted to be the last to know how to make many healing herbs/minerals. It was a fascinating show!!

Hello Jasjit, yes, i'd love to go to Indian for healing by the Guru in: Ayurveda -The Art of Living!

Hello Shalini, the sweatlodges aren't banned "yet." but, they used to be done in the nude; now, men/women wear towels, women usually a flannal nightgown; the government and most communitites, use their fire-laws to prevent putting up private lodges.

Lodges are kept in the same spot(like a big T-Pee) and a big hole is in the centre for the rocks; people sit encircled around that. The leader sings/prays and pours water and sage on the rocks. it's like a sauna; it can get very heat-intensive!! this is how they pray to the Creator for healing and guidance, etc. Very purifying ritual. there is also a firepit outside, for heating the rocks.

My sister and her hubby had a very hard time finding a spot to put their lodge. Most times, they had to find an isolated spot in the bush; and hope no people or animals did damage to it.

North

Good Evening North!

Thanks for the explanation. Hope the sanctity of the ritual is maintained. :)

Hello everyone

so what are you all saying? it is ok to be shameless? aachi, u say - the renunciation of personal shame - but we cant be walking without clothing on roads.

i did not understand.

Dear ikp,

You have raised a very important question. While on the one hand we are constantly protesting against the vulgar projections of women's bodies in the media and on the other hand here we are voicing our concern over the banning of a practice which involves women in nude. There is a thin line of difference between the two.

ikp what is important for us to understand here is the intention behind these acts. Nude and scantily clad images of women being shown on the screen are done with the intention or purpose of titillating the viewers, for voyeuristic pleasures, for increasing viewership. Its only further distorting our already skewed up notion about sexuality and especially female sexuality.

Rituals such as the nagna puja or like the one North has mentioned are done with very different intentions from the ones mentioned above. Nagna Puja in its uncorrupted form is done to celebrate the autonomous female self. It is not directed towards the pleasure of others. Its a sanctified space of expression of the female self in its most natural physical form.

As Aachi has rightfully said, renunciation of shame is one of the ways of spiritual progression. But that does not mean we can go about walking naked on the streets. We have certian roles to play in society, certain rules and regulation, sentiments that we need to keep in mind even if we are the most liberated of minds.

The Yellamma ritual or other rituals such as this give women the sanctified space for unloading their bodies off the layers of shame that cloth it to move towards spiritual progression.

I hope I have been able to clear your confusion.

yoni is a sanskrit word derived from malayalam eenam.