Taste of Life: Origin, evolution of feasting during ‘Gatari’ celebration
As many labourers and farmers would be too inebriated to work and would lie down flat on the streets the next day, ‘Amavasya’ was also known as ‘Adawi Amavasya’. ‘Adawi’ means flat in Marathi. ‘Adawi Amavasya’ came to be known as ‘Gatari Amavasya’ sometime later
PUNE Traditions are invented, or constructed, by formalisation and ritualisation, concerning the past. These invented traditions and customs sometimes create a false notion of continuity and give people a chance for the creation or assimilation of identities. They also let them hold onto an imagined past.
On August 6, 1868, the Marathi-English newspaper “Native Opinion” published a report that urged the government and mill owners in Bombay to grant the first day of the month of “Shravan” a holiday. The mill workers had celebrated “Adawi Amavasya” on the last day of the month of “Ashadh” and were not in the state to report to work the next day. The mill owners not only cut their wages but also held them responsible for any damage caused to the machinery. According to the newspaper, this could be avoided if the workers could legitimately stay home after drinking liquor.
Some mid-nineteenth-century newspapers indicate that labourers and farmers from Konkan and Bombay would consume alcohol, mostly brewed by men from the Bhandari community, on “Ashadh Amavasya”, a day before the month of “Shravan”. Because many of them would be too inebriated to work and would lie down flat on the streets the next day, the “Amavasya” was also known as “Adawi Amavasya”. “Adawi” means flat in Marathi. “Adawi Amavasya” came to be known as “Gatari Amavasya” sometime later.
“Amavasya” was considered extremely inauspicious, having a malefic effect on almost any activity, especially birth. Farmers did not plant seeds, and one refrained from buying food on the day. Calves and goats born on “Amavasya” were often given away.
But it was also believed to heighten the accessibility of power. Certain rituals were considered especially powerful if performed on “Amavasya tithi”. “Deep Amavasya”, or the last day of “Ashadh”, was dedicated to the worship of household lamps. Lamps were washed, cleaned, artistically arranged within a rangoli on the floor and devoutly worshipped by the married women of the house. Dough lamps were offered to the “Gods of Lights” and then eaten by children and men. Besan laddoos were also served at the meal.
Sunday was not a regular weekly rest day in the bazaars of Poona and Bombay in the nineteenth century and if there was one day more than another which was recognised, as such, especially in the Hindu localities, it was the “Amavasya” or the New Moon Day. This day was observed as a holiday, not so much from the point of view of a rest day, but because of the apprehension that it was an inauspicious day for making transactions. Most mills did not function on that day.
But “Ashadhi Amavasya” was not chosen as the day to eat meat and drink liquor only because it was a holiday. It was also an adaptation of Brahminical customs of fasting and celebrating “Kandenavami” where families ate as much onion and garlic as they could before they started observing the “chaturmas”.
“Chaturmas” was a holy period of four months, beginning on “Devashayani Ekadashi” and ending on “Prabodhini Ekadashi”. It was most likely adapted by the so-called “upper caste” Hindus under the influence of Jainism. It coincided with the monsoon in India and forbade one to indulge in food available easily. Onion, garlic, and eggplant were given up by most. Some did not eat leafy vegetables in “Shravan”, curd in “Bhadrapad”, milk in “Ashwin”, and legumes in “Kartik”. Many Brahmin and so-called “upper caste” women ate once every two days during “chaturmas”. This was meant to inculcate the virtue of patience, it was argued.
Two days before the “chaturmas” began, Brahmins celebrated “Kandenavami”. Dishes with onion and garlic were cooked on the occasion. “Thalipeeth” and onion fritters were usually the stars of the platter. Several households in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did not eat dishes with onion and garlic for lunch. But an exception was made on “Kandenavami” where every dish had them.
This resembled “Fat Tuesday” (or Mardi Gras) – the practice of the last night of consuming rich, fatty foods in preparation for the Christian fasting season of Lent, during which the consumption of such foods is avoided. A similar tradition, called “akhad talane” (frying in “Ashadh”) was followed in Maharashtra where fried dishes like “puri” and “anarsa” are cooked before “Shravan” begins. Celebrating “Adawi” or “Gatari Amavasya” was akin to these rituals.
here was no tradition of following the “chaturmas” in several non-Brahmin castes, except the followers of the “Warkari” sect. The Brahminical influence and the desire to mimic so-called “upper caste” rituals, sometimes out of a desire for upward mobility, and inclusion, or under peer pressure, translated into them avoiding onion, garlic, eggplant, meat, and alcohol during the month of “Shravan”. While Brahmins traditionally abhorred meat all through the year, many non-Brahmins started abstaining from non-vegetarian food and alcohol during the month of “Shravan” and celebrated “Gatari Amavasya” before they gave up on their favourite food and drinks for a month.
The origin of the word “Gatari” is often debated. Men drink on “Gatari” and lay on the sides of gutters, hence the name, it is said. In the nineteenth century, Poona did not have an underground drainage system. Most of the drains were open resulting in filth and disease. In the 1880s, some drainage, mostly around important temples and chowks, was covered with Shahbadi tiles. Cooks and water-bearers would sit on these tile-covered drains and wait their turn to get hired. Since they had access to the kitchens and storerooms of their patrons, they were privy to information about their domestic and personal lives. They would gossip sitting on the gutters. This became known as “gatari gappa”, or simply, ‘gatari”. So, the explanation about the origin of the term “Gatari Amavasya” seems plausible.
Of late, several social media influencers and writers insist that “Gatari Amavasya” should be called “Gatahari Amavasya”. In Sanskrit, “gata” is past and “ahar” is food. One is supposed to give up on the food one had and embrace the change of season after “Gatahari Amavasya”, hence the name, they say. But all the references to the term “gatahari” I found were from the last three decades. References to the celebration of “Kandenavami” could be found in Marathi literature from the late nineteenth century, while the “Gatari Amavasya” made an appearance in the early twentieth century.
Pt Raghunathshastri Kokaje, the renowned authority on Hinduism, wrote an article in the Marathi periodical “Navbharat” on September 9, 1951, analysing the Hindu Personal Law. While discussing the dominance of rituals in Hinduism, he cited “Kandenavami” and “Gatari Amavasya” as customs with no mention in the scriptures but popular in recent times. Under the Hindu system of law, clear proof of usage outweighed the written text of the law.
The association of the word “Gatari” with “Amavasya” mythologised a modern tradition. It might be argued that while initially “Gatari Amavasya” and the subsequent abstention was an expression of the adoption of Brahminical traditions by the non-Brahmins, the introduction of the term “Gatahari Amavasya” was a step clearly aimed at appropriating and sanctifying a non-Brahmin tradition by the Brahmins. The insistence on using the Sanskrit term “gatahari” also stemmed from the contempt for the word “gatari” which was considered pedestrian and dirty. It also made one believe that the tradition of celebrating “Ashadhi Amavasya” was ancient and had always been a part of the Hindu culture, but with lamps. It tried to assert that the inclusion of meat and alcohol in the celebration was an aberration - anti-religion, and dirty. At the same time, efforts were made by the consumer culture to give credence to the consumption of meat and alcohol on “Gatari Amavasya” which was otherwise frowned upon in the Brahmanical milieu. This retrofitting almost completed the invention of the tradition.
The custom of “Gatari Amavasya” evolved in a short period in a manner not easy to trace but established itself rapidly in the twentieth-century Poona. It was a masculine celebration where women were either supposed to cook meat at home or let men enjoy themselves outside. The combination of the evolution of the restaurant culture in the 1990s and social media, and the acceptance of meat and alcohol as status symbols elevated the tradition of “Gatari Amavasya” from being merely an invention to a culturally significant myth.
Invention of tradition is an extremely complex process where several elements, authorities, and interests work in tandem. Identities are created and expressed through rituals.
Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com