Ritualizing Politics and Politicizing Ritual: A Study of Kullu Dussehra

Abstract

The study explores the modus operandi of the communities, kingship and modern nation-state in the spatial distribution of power in the ritual space. Kullu Dussehra is celebrated as a performative idiom of kingship, symbolically legitimizing royal or political power. It has consistently been appearing as a political phenomenon of burning Ravana’s effigy by the political leader. This symbolic role associates them with the pan-Indian imagination of ruler or lawmaker as the protector of dharma. In Kullu Dussehra, the share of power is spatially distributed, and the manifestation of royal power is celebrated and transmitted in public. The ritual space manifests the intersectionality of traditional notions of kingship and the modern nation-state. The paper tries to understand the power politics related to caste and social hierarchy in the Kullvi community. An overt caste-based ritual duty is highly practiced and expected to be celebrated by the community. However, there are multiple possibilities for the community to destabilize the ideological orientation of the hegemonic agencies.