Kavady 2012

It's difficult to explain what the Kavady is to those who aren't familiar with it or have never experienced it before. The Tongaat Kavady is reputed to be the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. I grew up going to Kavady every single year and it became commonplace to me. However I haven't been able to for a few years, in the interim I have become more analytical and more cynical. I don't think I ever accepted religion completely but I didnt question things when I was a child. That's changed now and I think I look at things as more of an observor.

Kavady is basically a sacrifice both mentally and physically that people choose to do as penance or  in hope of being doled out goodness by the God Muruga. The Kavady refers to the wooden structures, metal milk urns and fairly enormous chariots that people carry or pull. To carry Kavady means that you have to abstain from meat for a number of days and put absolute faith in what you believe in. On the day of the Kavady the communal field at the centre of Tongaat is filled with people. The absolute middle of the field is taken up by a ring of devotees who all have their groupies. Each Kavady carrier has their own band of musicians who play drums and symbols around them with hypnotic beats which get them into a trance. They are then pierced with hooks that carry limes, marigolds, sometimes heavy gold urns yet somehow they don't bleed or even scar, their skin doesnt even tear despite the heaviness of these objects. At the epicentre of all this is the big chariot which is pulled by many devotees through the town, here people take milk and fruit and pray for any past miseries or future wants.

The chariot leaves the field approximately 20 minutes after the announced time, as is Indian time. The main road is blocked off by the police as firstly the main chariot is pulled down the road where it then makes a sharp right turn to the temple. Thereafter the devotees carrying Kavady who arent in a trance go through, then the devotees who are in a trance dance or run down the road, this is usually a pretty scary sight for children because they are heavily pierced and totally involved in the music around them however I realise now that while they might be in a transcendental state they are most certainly in their senses because somehow they all manage to turn right and go to the temple instead of running straight down the road to Westbrook beach. After this is the last lot of people but by far the scariest. The last lot are people who pull chariots with hooks attached to their back. For me this is incredible, they run and the chariot even goes over pot holes and bumps and yet their skin doesnt tear, its really incredible!

The Kavady is definitely a specatacle and there's nothing wrong with that. I often question the blind faith that people have and wonder how they are able to believe so fully in something. Hinduism like most other religions is a religion of guilt,the Kavady seems to cleanse people of that guilt through their sacrifice and in some ways I think theres nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I wish I could accept all these things without question so that life could be simpler. But one instance sticks in my mind. The day before Kavady I went shopping at the pooja shop (prayer shop) with my granny. On the wall was a checklist of what to buy for the seven fairies prayer that is also done around this time. First of all the idea of having a checklist of totally random things worries me, who decides what you need? and what significance do those things have? the other thing that worries me is that when I questioned my granny about why she does this prayer she said "Because otherwise aunty yogie will get sick" But why? "Because when she was 15 she fainted in the middle of three crossroads so it was definitely the seven fairies that did it" My granny doesnt know who or what the seven fairies are but she appeases them anyway for fear that my aunt will get sick and my aunt has totally convinced herself that this is true, in fact she's had a fever for five days that miracuously went away today after they did the prayer.

I just can't bring myself to believe these things about the religion I grew up with. And thats why I've come to seperate religion and culture. My culture includes things like Kavady, which is a coming together of the entire community. For just one day it's like going back in time. No matter how much things change the basis of these rituals stay the same, I always saw this as a bad thing but I know it makes me feel happy to be part of a community, it makes me feel astounded to see the level of devotion many people have. Indians who grew up in Tongaat come from all over the world on Kavady day and for one day its like you're a child again, if you never felt like you belonged to your home town on this one day you feel like your home town and the people in it belong to you. To be part of the writhing crowd and hear the vibrations of thablas and symbols in the air is an experience that words cannot even describe and photos can't do justice to.