The Policing of Tradition: Colonialism and Anthropology in Southern India

Abstract

COLONIAL SUBJECTS AND INDIAN TRADITIONS

In late October 1891, the Madras MailOctober 23,1891. The Madras Mail was the largest English daily in Madras at the time. brought dramatic attention to the fact that “the barbarous and cruel custom of hookswinging to propitiate the Goddess of Rain, which has been obsolete for some time, has been revived at Sholavandan near Madura.” The newspaper describes this event with scandalized disapproval. “The manner in which this horrible custom is carried out consists in passing iron hooks through the deep muscles of the back, attaching a rope to the hooks, and (after the method of a well sweep) swinging the victim to a height several feet above the heads of the people. The car on which the pole is placed is then drawn along by large ropes in willing hands . . . Full details of this hookswinging affair are too revolting for publication.” The person swung from the hooks was selected by lot from a larger group that represented a number of the villages sponsoring the festival. Throughout the article, he (for it was always a man) was referred to as “the victim.” The newspaper explains its choice of language: “Victim he may well be called, because, though he enters upon this ordeal voluntarily, the chief reason which drives him to it is the sentiment of doing good to his village.”