The hook-swinging festival (charak puja)

Murshidabad, late 18th/early 19th Century

Footnotes

Provenance
General Sir George Nugent, 1st Bt. (1757-1849), Commander-in-Chief, India, 1811-13, & Maria, Lady Nugent.
Thence by descent via the Nugents to the current owners.

The hook-swinging ritual (known as charak puja in Bengal) was a form of devotion to the female deity Mari-amma. The devotee would be beaten on the back by a priest until the flesh there was numbed, at which point metal hooks would be passed through the flesh. He would then be raised on the gibbet and swung around, taking care not to show any pain and even to shout and laugh. For a more stiffly-painted example of the subject, see S. C. Welch, Room for Wonder: Indian Painting during the British Period, 1760-1880, New York 1978, pp. 54-55, no. 16.

Lady Nugent found the ritual shocking, witnessing it after her return to Calcutta:
Easter Sunday. Awoke at daylight, by all sorts of noises, this being the commencement of one of the great Hindoo holidays, called the Churruk-Poojah. I suppose this is the god of the spring season, as Doorga Poojah means the goddess of the Autumn. To church early...I could not help thinking these Pagan noises were a real profanation of the day, but it can't be helped; the native customs must not be interfered with, yet it is most unfortunate that this holiday should this year fall on Easter Sunday.
The next day:
We have been to the Poojah, and a most disgusting sight it is; and melancholy indeed to think, that human beings should so torment and degrade themselves, from a false idea of religion.... First, as in all holiday meetings, there were groups of dancing people, that is, parties of men, with very little clothing on, squatting on the ground, with each his hookah, and looking at the evolutions of Nautch women, which is one of their greatest amusements...Groups of opium eaters, sitting in a circle, and looking like drunken skeletons - such miserable wretches I never saw before, and it is impossible to describe! Then, there were poor sinners, doing penance in various ways. But the most shocking sight is the swinging; this is done by the unfortunate creature having iron hooks passed through the sinews of his back, and by these he is suspended to a high pole. The wretched man... appeared at first to be in torture, for he drew up his legs, as if in great pain, catching at the rope by which he was suspended, as if to relieve himself; but, soon after, he was apparently at ease, and went round and round, as fast as possible, distributing flowers, &c, to the mob, who all scrambled for them, as sacred relics. It seems these swinging people, like many others who do penance, are hired by the priests, who make vows, and have the option of performing by proxy. One swinging man let fly a white pigeon, and he is most fortunate indeed who catches it [...] As I turned, with horror and disgust, from the wretch who was swinging, to Sir E. East's and Sir G's great amusement, a man thrust his head in my face, with his tongue out, and a great iron rod passed through it. I started back, and he made signs for a rupee, which was given him.. (Cohen, pp. 302-303, Sunday 10th-Monday 11th April 1814).

Please see the note to the following lot (177) on the style of the painting.