Arun Kamal’s 'Śrāddha Kā Anna' and the sociology of rituals in India

By Ravi Ranjan* 

Arun Kamal’s poetry has long mirrored the shifting contours of Indian society. His work, spanning more than five decades, is celebrated not only for its aesthetic power but also for its sociological authenticity. The poem “Śrāddha Kā Anna” (“Food of the Funeral Rite”) exemplifies this duality, turning a traditional ritual into a lens on contemporary social reality.

Kamal’s seven collections—“Apnī Keval Dhār,” “Sabūt,” “Naye Ilāqe Mem,” “Yogphal,” “Maim Vo Śankh Mahāśankh,” “Putlī Mem Samsār,” and “Rangsāz Kī Rasoi”—have established him as a poet of historical consciousness. He once described his craft as “a voice that is both a lullaby and a morning march.” His critical essays on Pushkin, Nirala, Faiz, Agyey, Kedarnath Singh, and Namvar Singh further underline his dual role as creator and critic.

In India, rituals such as “śrāddha” are more than religious observances. They transmit values, reinforce kinship, and provide frameworks for coping with loss. Traditionally understood as ancestral remembrance and repayment of debt (pitr rna), “śrāddha” has evolved into a site of symbolic exchange, status negotiation, and adaptation. Kamal’s “Śrāddha Kā Anna” interrogates this evolution, exposing the contradictions between inherited tradition and lived experience.

The Poem

The poem opens with villagers returning briskly after the funeral meal, chatting, laughing, shooing away dogs, lanterns swinging low. The deceased is remembered in the same breath as the taste of “boondi” and “raita.” Sacred remembrance collides with casual banter.

Then comes the shift inward. “Hard it is to swallow the food of a śrāddha,” the speaker confesses. The act of eating becomes unbearable, the throat blocked, the body rigid. In a surreal climax, the dead man appears, smiling, asking: “How is the boondi, how the raita?” What tradition frames as solemn blessing becomes ironic, unsettling.

Scriptural tradition emphasizes faith as the essence of “śrāddha.” The Garuda Purana notes: “Because it is offered with faith (śraddhā), it is called śrāddha.” The Manusmriti elevates ancestors to divine status, while the Mahabharata insists sincerity satisfies them. Popular beliefs during “śrāddha paksha” hold that souls return to receive offerings, symbolizing continuity and solidarity.

From a sociological perspective, rituals reinforce order and identity. They bring families together, affirm hierarchies, and provide solace. Even amid urbanization and rational outlooks, “śrāddha” persists, showing its enduring relevance.

Sociology Meets Poetry

Placed against this backdrop, Kamal’s poem becomes a critique of ritual’s hollowing out. Classical sociologists provide frames:

- Durkheim: Rituals generate collective effervescence. Here, solidarity is superficial.  

- Weber: Actions gain meaning through shared expectations. Here, meaning collapses.  

- Malinowski: Rituals reduce anxiety. Here, they intensify suffocation.  

- Radcliffe-Brown: Ancestor worship preserves order. Here, compliance masks alienation.  

- M.N. Srinivas: Sanskritization enhances prestige. The feast becomes a site of competition, as André Béteille’s analysis of class and power further illuminates.  

The poem functions as “inverse sociology,” exposing gaps and contradictions beneath ritual’s surface.

Food, symbol of life and community, becomes burdensome. The blocked throat is a metaphor for repressed grief and protest. Freud’s distinction between mourning and melancholia resonates: instead of healthy detachment, loss remains internalized. The surreal appearance of the deceased reflects unresolved grief, an instance of disenfranchised pain invisible amid communal laughter.

Existential Resonance

The poem also echoes existential philosophy. Camus’s absurd—the clash between humanity’s search for meaning and a universe that offers none—resonates in the contrast between solemn ritual and casual laughter. Sartre’s “bad faith” appears in mechanical compliance despite inner resistance. Ritual becomes a mask, disconnected from authentic feeling.

“Śrāddha Kā Anna” matters because it captures contradictions of modern India. Rituals continue, but meanings shift. They provide structure yet obstruct grief, reinforce community yet alienate individuals, symbolize continuity yet feel hollow. Kamal’s poem is not a rejection of tradition but a mirror, showing how rituals evolve and how they can both sustain and suffocate.

Arun Kamal’s “Śrāddha Kā Anna” demonstrates the power of literature to illuminate society. With irony, empathy, and honesty, the poem transforms ritual into inquiry. It shows rituals as dynamic processes, reconstructed and contested. In bridging faith and structure, tradition and modernity, collective performance and individual experience, Kamal reveals that rituals can unite but also isolate, affirm continuity but expose rupture. In that tension lies the sociological insight of his poetry.

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*Professor & former Head (Retd.), Department of Hindi, University of Hyderabad. This is the abridged version of the author's original paper