Material Religion and the Edges of Assemblage at a South Indian Beach Festival

Abstract

In this article, I approach the study of South Asian religions, and the Masi Magam festival in particular, in a way that attributes agency and vitality not only to humans but also to material objects and environments. I apply the concept "assemblages," as deployed by political theorist and philosopher Jane Bennett and scholars of contemporary South Asian religions and cultures Jasbir Puar (2007), Joyce Flueckiger (2020), and Kajri Jain (2021) to shift away from human-centred theories of action, and to elevate the responsive, spontaneous flow of assemblages that occur in a religious festival. According to Bennett, such assemblages are ad hoc groupings of diverse elements, of vibrant materials of all sorts that can confound from within…assemblages are open-ended collectives with uneven topographies of power and certainly without a central governing head (2010: 20-25). The literal and conceptual assemblage considered in this article is the series of decorated procession deities at the Masi Magam Festival in Pondicherry, South India, and includes ornamental garments and flowers, which constitute in themselves assemblages of organic, plastic, and fabric materials, domestic animals, water- and fire-based rituals, a street market, and more. I propose and demonstrate that these material assemblages are not only the context for but also contributing agents in the formation of religious aesthetics and experiences.