Death Rituals and Change Among Hindu Nadars in a South Indian Village

Introduction

While rituals mark a significant presence in the social organisation of human life, it has been widely claimed that traditional societies are more ritualised than modern ones (Durkheim, 1915; Gluckman, 1962; Radcliffe-Brown, 1922; Turner, 1977). Such studies attribute higher ritualisation of traditional societies to the need to mark off and segregate social roles within traditional societies, characterised by undifferentiated and overlapping roles, wherein specific rituals help to separate roles for functional needs. According to Van Gennep (1960), rituals as key markers of liminal moments, marked by rites of passage, facilitate the passing between different social spaces and thereby bestow and manage appropriate social roles. This allows the analyst to observe ‘variations in the internal division of societies, the relation of the diverse sections to one another, and the breadth of the barriers between them’ (Van Gennep, 1960: 193).

Present social structures in India resemble traditional ones in many ways but are also undergoing significant change. One striking resemblance is the continuing human tendency to harness and associate beliefs emerging from strong desires and anxiety related to the sphere of the mystical, leading to ubiquitous manifestations of rituals. It is well known that people’s beliefs in the supernatural to aid or prevent evil, danger and death play significant roles in the production, use and sustenance of ritual practices, which over time may take changed forms. This indicates that rituals have an internal dynamic and do not actually promote cultural inertia. Rather, they are actively constructed and may facilitate social change (Grimes, 1992).

Close examination of various rituals in practice reveals the transformations, inventions and metamorphoses involved in their performance to suit specific requirements. These changes would usually happen at the thresholds and ritual margins. Importantly, rituals are also a major tool for organising society. They are means through which the social status of an individual, group or a larger society is sustained, transmitted and often changed at the same time. In this regard, Mary Douglas (1984 [1966]: 22) critiques the ‘altogether too unitary view of the social community’ taken by Durkheim (1915) and advises that ‘[w]e should start by recognising communal life for a much more complex experience than he allowed’ (Douglas, 1984 [1966]: 22–3). As rituals reflect social structures and have specific functions, the symbols and concepts used in rituals are subordinated to practical ends (Malinowski, 1925; Van Gennep, 1960). These, we argue here, are likely to have several dimensions in specific situational contexts.

Within this broader conceptual context, the present article explores specific changes in death rituals among Hindu Nadars in a South Indian village. Several propositions have been advanced in light of our description and analysis of these death rituals and change among Nadars. First, rituals in general and death rituals, in particular, depict the social relationships, including caste and class, in a given locality. Second, changes in death rituals can result from modifications in social structures and vice versa. Third, such ritual changes can result from both intentional and unintentional attempts by individuals, families and caste groups to adapt to changes, often by imitating a dominant caste or class of a specific region. Fourth, ritual changes need not be uniform for any given caste or community in different regions. Ritual performance is thus akin to custom, in that any specific manifestations and changes address certain specific scenarios with common or unique elements.

We seek to establish three specific arguments in the present article through empirical evidence from the selected village. First, changes in death rituals among Nadars reflect their changing social status and specific relationship with other caste groups. Second, imitation of a dominant caste group in the village by Nadars may lead to sanskritisation (Srinivas, 1972) of Nadar lifestyles and rituals, which emphasises, as Alexander (1968: 1071) observes in a slightly different social context in Kerala, that ‘there was scope for dynamic factors to play their part’. Third, therefore, we seek to identify particularly how emerging class differences within Nadars signify the formation of a low status group within the community, which, in turn, are beginning to substitute the role(s) of traditional service castes in death rituals.

Study Area

This article is based on our observations in a multi-caste village panchayat called Pacode with a high proportion of Nadars in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Interviews with elderly villagers helped to gather information regarding general trends in death rituals and specific social changes in the village, which is the native place of one of the researchers. This added the advantage of gaining access to participate, closely observe and trace changes in death rituals in the village over time.

This village is located near the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Villavancode taluk of Kanyakumari district. Its population comprises of 40% Hindu Nadars, 30% Christian Nadars, 15% Nayars and 15% members of service castes (washermen and barbers), Dalits (Parayars) and artisans (blacksmiths and carpenters). Most of the Dalits and service castes live as groups amidst the Nadars. A considerable proportion of people in the village speak Malayalam and 70% speak a colloquial Tamil with some mix of Malayalam words. Most people understand both Malayalam and Tamil. Nayars in the village speak only Malayalam and prefer to send their children to schools with Malayalam as the second language after English. Some of them live among the Nadars, sometimes three or four families together, while others live in separate streets.

The village has arable land occasionally irrigated through a canal. Much of the cultivable area was owned by the Nayars 30 years ago, while today the Nadars own over 70% of the cultivable land. Paddy, plantain and other vegetables are major crops, and coconut trees are found everywhere. Many locals prefer to work in government and private sector jobs rather than in the fields, and the rich families in the village depend on private employment or small and petty business. Around 80% of the cultivable land in the village is owned by a few rich Nadar families. A considerable proportion of this land is given on yearly lease to poor agricultural Nadar workers, as rich Nadars consider it a mark of low status to labour in the fields. Over 95% of the village population have their own house, at least a hut, on their own piece of land. The rich Nadars live nearer to the road connecting Arumanai and Marthandam, whereas others live away from this road within a radius of 1–2 kilometres. As most families have been inhabitants of the village for at least two generations, they know each other by their family and kinship ties and address each other mostly by using kinship terminologies within the community.

Nadars in South Tamil Nadu

Before embarking on a discussion of death rituals, a brief background account of Nadars in South Tamil Nadu may be helpful. The Nadars were known as Shanans or Shanars till the beginning of the twentieth century (Hardgrave, 1968: 1067; Sheeju, 2015) and were originally based in the southernmost districts of Tamil Nadu (Hardgrave, 1968; Rudolph & Rudolph, 2010 [1960]; Thurston, 1909). They have been described as a primitive non-Aryan tribe involved in demon worship (Bulmer, 1894; Caldwell, 1849: 11–8). Most of them were confined to the arid, sandy regions in southern districts and were occupied with sapping Palmyra, the only commercially viable crop available in the region, for making an alcoholic beverage called toddy by fermenting the sap (Hardgrave, 2006 [1969]; Thurston, 1909). The ritually defiling nature of this occupation meant they were placed low in the caste hierarchy (Hardgrave, 2006 [1969]; Rudolph & Rudolph, 2010 [1960]). The label Nadar is derived from the title ‘Nadan’, meaning ‘landlord’ or ‘ruler of the country’, which was used as a caste title only by upper class Shanars (Pandian, 1983; Sheeju, 2015: 299) during the nineteenth century.

New economic opportunities eventually led many Nadars to migrate elsewhere, while today they are one of the dominant and politically influential castes in Tamil Nadu. Largely occupied in different businesses, they are known for their entrepreneurship and have experienced rapid economic growth. This has led to many changes in their social status, lifestyle and social organisation of life, accompanied by their claim for Kshatriya status in the varna hierarchy since colonial times (Rudolph & Rudolph, 2010 [1960]). Their growing corporate authority and socio-political power has also brought transformations in their ritual status (Pandian, 1983). Today, when memories of past degradation have become a point of inspiration for many oppressed caste groups to oppose caste-related inequality, Nadars attempt to erase and forego such memories, focusing on their present prosperity and caste status (Pandian, 2013). The rapidly changing socio-economic profile of this caste (Hardgrave, 2006 [1969]) offers the opportunity to understand how processes and elements of status upgradation are interconnected with changing rituals.

However, the social status of Nadars varies from region to region according to local caste configurations and their major occupations. Some endogamous units are recognised within the Nadars, mostly through different occupations (Hardgrave, 1968, 2006 [1969]), which continue from the past, reflecting internal divisions of class and occupational status. The evidence from our study village is thus not necessarily transferable to other Nadar settlements.

Hindu Death Rituals

Death as a significant event in life becomes also a social event in human societies, as death does not simply denote the cessation of life. When human societies perceived the need for more ritualisation of various social and personal life events (Michaels, 2016) to confirm roles, reaffirm authority and ritualise human interconnectedness in various ways, they used rituals to attribute social significance to individual and family events. This led to the integration of people with larger society and helped to instil a sense of belonging. Death rituals are no exception to this general rule (Van Gennep, 1960).

Among Hindu sacraments, the complex funeral ceremony (antyesti) is considered inauspicious but is included in the major samskaras (Pandey, 2006 [1969]), performed for the well-being of a ‘non-existing’ ‘non-worldly’ entity and the living kin as well as the deceased. Such performances differ from region to region and caste to caste. The select caste for the present study is of non-Aryan origin (Thurston, 1909); therefore, its ritual practices need not completely reflect practices indicated in the Hindu sacred texts and follow ‘little traditions’ (Marriott, 2017). However, as discussed below, similarities have emerged over time through processes of assimilation, accommodation and imitation of the Aryan ritual culture and practices spread through media and other sources like literature and myths.

According to Hindu mythology, life and death form a recurring dynamic cycle. Death is not the end of one’s life, but it involves the transformation of one’s soul from one janmam (life) to the next through an arduous process, usually marked by mourning and associated rituals. Among Hindus, the departed one is first a restless soul (preta). Only through appropriate rituals will this restless soul be assisted to travel to the other world to join the ancestors and rest in peace till its reincarnation. Notably, the strength of such concepts varies between castes and regions. Although signs of this belief pervade all caste groups and regions, its intensity increases with higher position in the caste hierarchy and exposure to Hindu religious sermons. Thus, during death rites, mostly certain articles believed to be necessary for the dead on the journey to the next world are involved.

Hindu death rituals express mixed feelings of dread and love for the deceased. On the one hand, rituals are performed to facilitate the soul’s smooth travel to the next world, but ritual barriers are also marked between the dead and the living to protect the latter from the former and to overcome the pollution and contagion caused by death (Pandey, 2006 [1969]). This axiom is generally applicable to all Hindu death rituals in India irrespective of Aryan, Dravidian or tribal origin in today’s society. The involvement of different caste groups in such ritual performances, reflecting caste hierarchy and social status, is also a notable phenomenon in death rituals.

Beliefs and Rituals Relating to the Dead Body

Death has specific social and symbolic meanings to human beings and is an occasion for the display of raw emotions as well as significant social gestures and rituals. The Nadars’ response to death is mostly shaped by their underlying beliefs about the human body, soul and afterlife. While treatment of the dead body displays a specific community’s beliefs, many such rites and ablutions are not exclusive to Nadars. Similarities in practice are largely due to common beliefs in core aspects of Hindu mythologies and the proximate co-existence of different caste groups in a given locality, which allows them to observe and adopt ritual practices from each other, leading to social proximity over time.

One of the first rites after death occurred relates to closing the eyes of the deceased and tying together the toes with a thin piece of cloth. Then small cotton beads are put into the nasal and ear orifices to block them. Many respondents claimed this is done because a dead person with open eyes is scary and inauspicious. Since the body stiffens after death, it is better to tie the legs together to keep them straight. Orifices are blocked to delay putrefaction, as the air entering through them will expedite this process. Though such explanations exist, why such practices are deemed important remains debated. Close observation and discussions with elderly villagers revealed some underlying beliefs about the dead body. For instance, according to the villagers, it is deemed vulnerable to attacks by evil spirits, as it does not have an atma/atman (soul) in it. As the evil spirits might enter through visible orifices, they must be blocked immediately after death. Eyes have to be closed; otherwise, they attract such evil spirits and provide them with the ability to see. Such beliefs are further accentuated by practices of putting the dead body under constant vigil, with proper lighting of candles or oil lamps, day and night, beside the dead body. Earlier, freshly opened coconut shells filled with gingili oil were used. Now, many prefer modern lamps. Experienced villagers found the traditional coconut shell method far more effective in warding off evil spirits. The requirement that any close kin should not sleep at the home while the dead body is in the house further supports such beliefs.

Many respondents stated that the dead body has polluting potential and connect this to fears of demons (Bulmer, 1894). Colloquially, the house of the dead is called the ‘house of drudgery (elavuveedu) or ‘house of the evil spirit’ (drishtiveedu). Both terms denote pollution and distress associated with death. Three major customs confirm the association of ritual pollution with the dead body. All items and artefacts, including the pillow, bedspread, remains of incense sticks, candles and oil used for the dead body must be disposed of with the dead body. People present at the death, except close kin staying at the elavuveedu, must take a bath before entering their own home or resuming their regular routine. Many nowadays just pour a bucket of water over their head for this purpose. The dead body itself is put on the corridor (veranda) or under a temporary canopy outside the house once all preparations have been made for the journey to the cremation ground. Though some stated that this custom allows grieving people to pay their final respects to the deceased, close scrutiny reveals that the dead body is considered more polluting and alien to family members after these final preparations.

The Soul

Ritual practices of Nadars in the village associated with death exhibit their belief in atma. Death means exit of the atma from the body, but this atma does not reach its final destination immediately. Ideas of atma and its abode are vague and various conceptualisations about this ‘final destination’ exist. Some villagers believe that if free from sins, the atma will join with the primordial atma, God. Elderly respondents confirmed that this kind of understanding is essentially a scriptural one and is new to Nadars in this village. Apparently, this new concept developed recently through watching religious sermons in mass media and spiritual talks in the nearby Krishna temple, established around 30 years back, which invites learned religious people from other places during festivals. The close association of the administrators (kariakarthaas) of this temple with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given them this leverage of networking with people from other places and is a recent development.

A growing belief in the existence of hell and heaven was also noticed among Hindu Nadars in the village, largely attributed to their close interaction with Christian Nadars. Though the idea of hell and heaven exists in Hinduism, imaginations of it among Hindu Nadars are more similar to Christian beliefs. For instance, it was observed that many Hindu Nadar villagers believe there will be a judgment day to decide on their sins.

Another belief is that the atma’s final destination is the world of souls and their ancestors. According to this approach, the deceased’s atma roams around the place where the deceased lived and would attempt to either help or trouble kinsmen and neighbours. Helping or troublemaking characterisations of an atma are usually determined by people based on the deceased’s character. The term atma is seen as sophisticated, and in actual practice the terms paei (ghost) and atma are used interchangeably. The latter refers to the auspicious, helping nature of the soul, while paei signifies the soul’s inauspicious and malevolent nature. Usually, kinsmen refer to the deceased’s soul as atma, which is also used when a soul is believed to be of any known dead person, such as ‘Kumar’s atma’, whereas an unidentified soul is referred to as paei. This distinction may be because the colloquial paei has been used since ancient times, whereas atma became familiar more recently to Nadars through religious sermons that emphasise its auspicious character.

Nadars also believe that at least two generations of ancestors would, at the time of a person’s death, come to take the deceased’s soul to their world. Many visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions experienced by terminally ill/bedridden persons before death, which modern psychology would explain as the outcome of changes in the neural-transmitters and chemicals in the brain, are attributed to the presence of these ancestors’ souls to take away the soul of the person awaiting death. This further strengthens beliefs regarding acceptance of destiny that the time of one’s death is predetermined and known to supernatural forces and ancestors.

For the villagers, the deceased’s soul will join with the ancestors after a temporary halt on earth. At the same time, this privilege, according to them, is available only to the souls of persons who died a natural death. Souls of those who committed suicide, met a violent end, or died during pregnancy or childbirth would either have to stay on earth for much longer, usually till their ‘actual’ time for natural death, or need to compensate this waiting period with good deeds during their lifetime before joining the ancestors. Such souls are dreaded more by people, including kinsmen, for their malignant and revenging nature, and the presence of such a soul on any occasion is considered inauspicious.

Death anniversary celebrations or remembrance gatherings are a common practice among villagers, rooted in beliefs that the soul of the dead does visit the family once a year, especially on the date when it left its body. Usually, elaborate preparations are made by family members for a feast to receive the soul and get its blessings. Further, on a new moon day during the utharayanam period, generally from mid-January to mid-July, known as aadi amavasi, they perform obligatory rituals known as sapindakarana in Sanskrit or bali in colloquial Tamil, to ensure the happiness of their ancestors. Although the scale varies according to the celebrants’ social class, anniversary celebrations are common among Nadars in this village and its surrounding villages. They organise an annual get-together of Nadars on the banks of the Thamirabarani river at Kuzhithurai, a nearby town, on aadi amavasi to perform bali. But only a few perform bali, and belief in it is perfunctory, while many participate only to enjoy the festive mood and recreations arranged by the organising committee to attract a large crowd.

The Living

A major underlying motive behind most ritual activities involving the deceased and ancestors is the well-being, protection and prosperity of the living, believed to a great extent to result from blessings and support by their dead ancestors. Therefore, propitiating them is an essential component of death rituals. However, the souls of the dead are also dreaded; therefore, some rituals aim to keep them at bay from the living. Since the dead are viewed as having an ambiguous nature, both good/benign and malignant, pacifying rituals aim at softening malignant aspects and strengthening the benign features of the deceased.

According to elderly villagers, the dead are considered dangerous from the time of death till the thivasam (secondary treatment), a local term that refers to the secondary burial. In this village, Nadars cremate the dead mostly on their own private land. They dig a grave, 8 feet deep, filled with wooden fuel, dry coconut shells, straw and dry cow dung on which the dead body is placed to be burnt. The ash and bones are then collected from this grave to be dissolved or put in the sea or river water. The grave is closed on the same day by filling in the soil that was dug out.

Since it is believed that the soul of the dead is homeless, frustrated and envies the living during this liminal time, it may attempt to harm the living. Moreover, it keeps a constant vigil on the living during this period to claim and ascertain their love and attention. This is the mourning period for the kin and family of the deceased. On the day of thivasam, male children and patrilineal kin of the deceased are expected to tonsure their head, which in many cultures symbolically represents the removal of pollution associated with death and reintegration with society. This is followed by a small feast and rituals of putting the collected ashes of the dead into river water or the sea. Some villagers contended that tonsuring showcases sorrow to the deceased and the community. Earlier, the length of the mourning period depended on the closeness of kin relationships. Today, the importance of kinship has decreased and is taken over by social and economic commitments between families. For instance, a close family friend of the deceased will be expected to mourn more than a kin who was not close to the deceased. Though this is not a ritual obligation, it is socially expected, as a close family friend might have received more favours from the deceased and his/her family than a distant kin. At the same time, only kin are allowed to perform the rituals of death, whereas close family friends participate in the funeral proceedings.

Necessary precautions are to be taken by the family and close kin of the deceased during the mourning period to avoid the wrath of the recently deceased person and to obtain the ancestors’ blessings. In addition to many propitiating rites and feasts during this period, there are extra precautions. For instance, family members of the deceased are not supposed to roam around at night during this period. Celebrations and entertainments of all kinds are prohibited within the family. Now, strict vegetarianism is followed during the mourning period. In some cases, it lasts for 16 days depending on the convenience to conduct thivasam. According to elderly villagers, vegetarianism during this period is a new addition to Nadar customs and practices.

In recent times, incantations are administered during the rites by ritual leaders of the process. Most of them aim at mitigation of grief of family members and their protection. For instance, the following line may be chanted: Ellorum nalamai irrukattum. Ellorum anpaai irukkatum (Let all be fine, let love prevail among all). Such incantations are recent ritual additions, while earlier it was the barber (kavathi/ambattan) who administered certain oaths. One of them is that while returning home after dissolving the deceased’s remains in river water or the sea on thivasam, the male heir of the deceased is asked by the barber: ‘Have you seen the good?’ (nanmai kantacha/pathacha?), while placing some drops of water on the heir’s tongue using a leaf of the mongo tree. In response, the heir has to say: ‘I saw’ (kantach/pathach). This is repeated three times. According to villagers, this affirms the obligation of the heir to do the needful for the deceased and thereby achieve goodness and well-being for him and his family. If there is no male heir, the son of the elder member of the patrilineal kin has to do this. It is observed nowadays that the son-in-law of the deceased is preferred over members of the patrilineal kin. This ritual is performed only if the deceased was married and had children.

Caste and Class

Death is also an occasion to exhibit caste relationships, especially the caste hierarchy within a village, through differential roles played by different castes in death rituals. The caste configuration within the village largely determines the inter-caste relationships. Participation of different caste groups in Nadar death rituals follows established customs, which vary from region to region and time to time. For instance, the availability of service caste people is crucial in these Nadar death rituals to perform tasks that involve pollution through touching the dead body and any materials used. In the absence of service caste people, Nadars themselves may perform such activities with necessary modifications and alterations in the ritual. Moreover, such a scenario clearly exhibits class and status divisions within a caste. The following example from our village study demonstrates this.

As mentioned, apart from the three major caste groups of Nadars, Nayars and Dalits in the village, there are some families of dhobis (washermen) and barbers (locally called ambattan/kavathi) and some Scheduled Caste Arunthathiyar leatherworkers who labour in the fields of Nadars. Earlier, washermen and barbers played significant roles in rituals associated with Nadar funerals, acting as a service caste. They performed the last rites, including bathing the dead body, decorating it and reciting some locally ordained mantras. These are mantras of the ‘little tradition’ (Marriott, 2017), which had emerged through agreement within the community over time. Their importance lies in the magical significance people attribute to these mantras.

Washermen and barbers usually led the procession to the place of cremation and made arrangements for the funeral pyre. There is no common crematorium in the village. People bury or cremate the dead in their own or a close relative’s land. Graves near or besides homes, marked by a small mound of earth, are common in the village. Despite the lower ritual and social status of service caste people, the Nadar villagers fostered good and healthy relationship with them, since only a few of them were available to perform such tasks for the Nadars. They were ‘honoured’ by presenting rice, cereals and old clothes during festive occasions. As Nadars consider the rituals associated with death polluting and demeaning, and therefore dreaded them, demand for the services of washermen and barbers was high.

Today, however, many young male and female villagers from the service castes have joined government and private sector jobs. Their unavailability to perform such rituals for the Nadars has necessitated significant changes in the social organisation and practices of Nadar death rituals. Activities earlier performed by barbers are now done by ‘ritual leaders’, Nadars who lead others and administer mantras in rituals. Such ritual leaders are usually bestowed great respect in the community, as they are deemed to have immense knowledge of rituals. This development also reflects substantial changes in the earlier rituals, which attributed inferior status to barbers and washermen. Instead of uttering locally ordained mantras as administered earlier by the barber, mantras from sacred texts translated into Tamil were now recited, together with a colloquial interpretation of their meanings. Unlike the barbers, the ritual leaders from among the Nadars are not involved in bathing and cleaning the dead body, as such activities are considered inferior and polluting. This now has to be done by secondary kin and friends of the deceased. No inferiority is associated with those who lead the rituals during the funeral, as they are from the same caste. In fact, they have gained ritual status as priest-equivalents.

However, class and status distinctions are an emerging phenomenon within this caste through the performance and social organisation of death rituals. Not all menial workers among the Nadars dig the grave. Only some Nadars with much lower socio-economic status compared to other Nadars perform these preparatory tasks, which are considered inferior and polluting activities. Similarly, other polluting works in the village involve cleaning the septic tank and removing the plantain leaves on which people dine during feasts. Notably, the remuneration for such tasks is at least five times higher than engaging the same labourer in other works, considering the demeaning nature of the work and the demand for it. For instance, the wage to dig a pit for burial or cremation, which usually takes four to five hours of work from three people, is ₹15,000. This is much more than the usual wage of ₹900 for 8 hours of work in the fields or construction work in the village. Thus, replacing the functions of the earlier service castes, some caste members of different status now perform polluting and demeaning tasks but benefit economically. It may be too early to see the beginnings of a new business here, but the signs are there.

In a similar study of exchange relations and social change reflected through rituals of birth, marriage and death in a Pakistani Muslim village, Mughal (2018) observed considerable change in caste-based hierarchies, resulting from the renegotiation of service relations due to the shift from seasonal to cash economy. This is further evidence of the changing role of caste in rituals. For instance, a decade ago, a barber would invite people for wedding ceremonies by going from door to door in the village. Now, family members of the bride/groom do this, delivering printed invitation cards (Mughal, 2018: 187). As we shall see, when family members or friends replace traditional groups of service providers, significant social change may occur, particularly in the polluting context of death rituals, perhaps even economic change.

It is not that the death of every member in the village is equally marked. The death of rich and influential Nadars is felt and mourned by all, whereas a lower-class member of the same caste is mourned mostly within the family and clan. While poor Nadars participate in the funeral procession and mourning of rich and influential caste members, wealthy villagers do not reciprocate. Many argued that the wealth of the deceased’s family determines even the intensity of mourning from secondary kin. This form of unequal relationship operates between castes as well. For instance, service caste members visit Nadar families when there has been a death, but Nadars seldom reciprocate. Despite such imbalances in relationships and practices, villagers believe that the inter-caste and intra-caste relationships in the village have become smooth and egalitarian.

Despite claims that death rituals for all Nadars in the village are the same, there are significant differences between rich and poor Nadars. A striking difference is that many poor Hindu Nadars bury their dead, usually a practice of Christian Nadars in the village. Burial, we were told, is less expensive than cremation. Another difference is that on the day of thivasam, rich Nadars scatter the ashes and remains of the dead in the sea at Kanyakumari, around 50 kilometres from the village. This is considered auspicious and a privilege. The poor either forego such an event altogether or immerse the ashes and remains in the Theankai Pattinam sea, around 15 kilometres from the village, or in the nearby river. Ritual objects used for the death rituals, in terms of quantity and quality, also differ depending on affordability. Thus, the two ends of the Nadar caste in this village, in terms of economic position, are neither similar nor fixed in status terms, and thus class terms, an observation already made by Hardgrave (1968). In fact, poor Nadars are now considered slightly higher than service caste people, but inferior to the village’s wealthy Nadars. It is pertinent to remember that, earlier, all Nadars had lower status (Sheeju, 2015: 299).

Sanskritisation and Change

A comparison of current Nadar death rituals with past practice reveals many changes that reflect social mobility. The scenario observed here need not be similar for Nadars in other villages, because rituals differ according to local factors such as caste and religious configuration, topography and power relations. The whole system is less rigid than the ‘ideal type’ of ‘caste’ (Hardgrave, 1968: 1065). The range of customary practices observed is manifestly diverse and marked by situation-specific plurality rather than strictly binding uniform practices and patterns. Hence, we present this village only as an illustrative case study of general trends and directions of changes in death rituals among Hindu Nadars, with no claims that this occurs everywhere.

Presently, the Nadars in this village are divided in terms of class position when it comes to death rituals. Significant differences in ancestor worship showcase this. In the past, worship of little tradition gods, like the goddess Retchi, also called Pechiamman, believed to be an avatar of Kali, and the male little tradition deity Maadan took place. People in this village believe that Maadan has no form. Some stated he is another version of Aayanaar, worshipped in many parts of Tamil Nadu.

Animal sacrifice and ghost dance or dance by the possessed (paeiattam) were common, especially during the death anniversaries of family members and on new moon day (amavasi), since it is believed that the spirit of the deceased is powerful on amavasi. During temple festivals of little tradition gods and on some special family occasions, Nadar community members or the family of the deceased dance to the rhythm of drum beats and foretell, it is assumed, under the influence of spirits. Today, this is mostly practised among poor and uneducated Nadars, whereas the rich and educated often ridicule and mock such practices.

Elderly respondents in the village contended, however, that these were common practices in most Nadar families, until some 40 years ago. Today, rich educated Nadar villagers do not worship gods of the little tradition publicly and look down upon such practices. They pray to great tradition gods and have photos of Shiva, Vishnu and other gods in their puja rooms. Many poor and uneducated Nadars have built small shrines near their homes for the worship of Retchi and Maadan. Paeiattam is also practised by them, though not as organised as in the past. Animal sacrifice is now no longer part of temple rituals in this village, though it remains common among Nadars in neighbouring districts.

A close examination of changes in Nadar worshipping patterns and the differences between rich and poor Nadars depicts some important attributes of sanskritisation (Srinivas, 1972), albeit partial. As mentioned earlier, this village and the nearby villages have a sizable proportion of Nayars, a Malayalam-speaking matrilineal upper caste compared to the Nadars. They were a landowning and educated caste, possessing at least two-thirds of the agricultural land and other amenities in and around the village. After selling much of their land to rich Nadars in this region, they invested more in education and employment in other sectors. The Nadars in the region have high regard for the Nayar lifestyle and manners, though only rich Nadars could emulate Nayar lifestyles. Abandonment of little tradition worship and the worship of Shiva and Vishnu by rich Nadars is largely tailored in line with Nayar practices of this region.

Another two visible signs of this imitation strategy by rich Nadars in the village are the use of Malayalam and the practice of putting a sandal-paste mark on the forehead. Many Nadars in this village and in the region attempt to speak in Malayalam, though they are fluent in Tamil. The practice of putting an auspicious mark on the forehead has become common among Nadars in the village; earlier it was practised only among Nayars. During festivals and celebrations, Nadar women in the village now wear white saris with a silk border, a Kerala-style dress, earlier worn only by Nayar women in this village.

Other important trends concern changing rituals among the Nadars. According to Michaels (2016), rituals related to deities and ancestors could largely be classified into four categories: (a) propitiation rituals, seeking to pacify the supernatural being through prayers and other ritual offerings; (b) deception rituals aimed at diverting the source of bad influences by providing a ritual substitute; (c) rituals of hostility, expressing the subject’s angst against the evil source of illness and seeking to intimidate it, mostly by invoking favourable deities to destroy malignant forces; and (d) self-expression rituals expressing one’s own emotional state through performing paeiattam and saamiyattam, dancing and foretelling under the influence of a deity.

It is observed in the studied village that when one moves up in the caste hierarchy, most rituals used are of the propitiating and deceiving kinds rather than involving hostile and self-expressive ritual acts. For instance, propitiating pujas and yagams are mostly performed by upper caste people, whereas self-expressive rituals are practised by lower caste people. Today, when a wealthy section of Nadars in the village attempts to uplift their status through better education and economic opportunities, there is also a concomitant gradual shift among them from self-expressive and hostile rituals towards rituals of a more propitiating kind.

This portrayal of changes over time among Nadars in the studied village represents just one of several such transformations happening in different parts of South India. The specificities of changes observed in this particular village and caste may be unique to some extent. But such exclusivities can also be found in other villages. While a macro-level study of change could reveal common trends, only a micro study can elicit such fine nuances in the trends of change which at the micro level need not be uniform and similar, though the caste group as a whole seeks to portray itself as upwardly mobile.

Conclusion

The results of the present study of death rituals and changes among the Nadars can best be understood at two levels. First, they concern intended and contingent changes in the conduct of rituals, because of changing social structures and other socioeconomic factors such as new employment opportunities, availability or not of service caste people and class relationships. Second, they are unintended and incremental changes in the components of the rituals performed due to the changing beliefs, ideologies and practices, which cannot be attributed to a single source.

Though death rituals are specifically considered in the present study, they do not stand in isolation from the direction of change in other lifecycle rituals in the community. Part of the much larger complex of all life cycle rituals associated with Nadars in the village, changes involved, for instance, following vegetarianism during the mourning period. This reflects the larger picture that animal sacrifice in temples, marriage feasts and birth anniversary celebrations have also become occasions for practising vegetarianism, which could be seen as further evidence of sanskritisation. The same kind of trend and unity of direction could be seen in changes to local people’s belief systems, reflecting a tendency to move towards Brahmanic-Sanskritic models of rituals and the connected belief structures. As indicated, this tendency is further facilitated by people’s access to Brahmanic-Sanskritic ritual models through media. Their numeric dominance in the village and the region has also provided the Nadars with the necessary political power to navigate freely in the domain of ritual systems, exhibiting gains of social status.

Though a section of young and educated Nadars in the village doubts the rituals and their underlying belief systems, they do observe many of those rituals or, at least, do not challenge their practice by others, fearing social resentment. During discussions, it was strongly found that the reasons which mark the importance and immutability of death rituals compared to other life cycle rituals is the uncertainty about death and its ritual implications and the non-verifiability of belief systems about the afterlife. Death rituals of Nadars in the village also depict their social status, indicate internal divisions and manage and manipulate belief systems and certain changes in these rituals from time to time. Moreover, rituals are used by the villagers intentionally to symbolically express their status aspirations. As pointed out by Michaels (2016), rituals may indeed be meaningless, but that does not mean that such rituals and actions are without their own meaning and purpose. The sustenance and continuance of rituals in their ‘meaningless’ form still reinforces the importance and meaningfulness of death rituals in a given society.