DOI: 10.5176/2382-5650_CCS14.16
Authors: Dr. Bina Saklani and Prof. Atul Saklani
Abstract:
Driven by the spread of education, financial resources, roads, transport and communication facilities, with regional variations and varied pace, Indian society in general is modernising itself, simultaneously it is reaffirming and re-inventing its hoary customs, traditions ,rituals and community celebrations. Many of its religious customs, traditions and celebrations have reasserted themselves and have become more elaborate, opulent, articulate and media savvy.
This paper will make an attempt to study the village performance in which ancestral worrior- Ghosts (Rana –Bhuts) act as principle actors and demy-deities as co-actors, in a backward Himalayan region of Garhwal which is predominantly a caste stratified rural Hindu society. Contrary to general belief that the new- generation of educated people is losing its rural rootings, this performance high lights an emerging new trend that the new generation of educated class is going back and reviving its cultural heritage, revisiting its village traditions and giving them material and intellectual support, longing to make their village celebrations as hallmark of their own cultural identity and ethos.
Keywords: Ran- Bhut (Warrior- Ghost), Ancestor- Worship, Rana – Clan , Cultural- Identity
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