Synopsis: "Mauritius Taippucam Kavati Festival: a socio-historical perspective"
Sadasivam Reddi (University of Mauritius)
Taippucam Kavati, the Tamil religious festival, celebrated in honour of God
Murukan, is the most important religious festival of the Tamils in Mauritius.
There is no evidence when it was first celebrated in Mauritius, but by the
1890's it was a well-established festival in Mauritius together with timiti
(walking on fire) and sankranti. Sankranti is no longer celebrated with
fervour as in the past; timiti is still popular but much less than kavati
although Govindan has become popular nationwide since the 1960's.
Although the majority of kovils, built by indentured labour were
dedicated to Amman the Goddess, and though the worship of Amman is still very
popular, as is evident with timiti and canjee, it is Taippucam that has
become the most popular, attracting big crowds and is visibly the most well
known of Tamil festivals. It receives wide coverage in the media while there
is hardly any coverage for walking on fire in the media.
This paper investigates the evolution of kavati in
Mauritius to explain its popularity and why it is considered by the Tamils and
non-Tamils alike to be the most important Tamil religious festival .Such an
investigation will involve looking at changes in the celebration, the
relative decline of other traditional religious festivals and the
construction of a public image of kavati as a modern religious Tamil
festival, distancing it from its folk origins. Finally, an understanding of
the socio-economic changes in the community and its impact on religious creed
and practice is crucial for explaining the preeminence of kavati for Tamils
and non-Tamils.
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Contact the author:
Reddi Sadasivam Jaganada reddi@uom.ac.mu
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