ABSTRACT
On the evening of 23 February 1995 in Medan, North Sumatra, the heart of the old Indian neighbourhood (the kampung Keling) filled up with Tamils 1 gathering from all over the city. For the first time in history (others more modestly stated, for the first time in decades), Mahaāsivarattiri, ‘the great night of Śiva’, was celebrated in the two main Hindu temples of the Tamil urban community. In South India, Mahāsivarattiri is basically a long consecration ceremony entailing the ritual washing and anointing (abisēgam) of a lingam, the symbol of Śiva, performed by a Brahmin priest while chanting mantras. This ritual washing and anointing is repeated four times, each of the four performances corresponding to one quarter of the great night of Śiva. 2 In Medan in 1995, however, this pattern was not fully adhered to. First, only the recently renovated Sri Mariamman temple possessed a true lingam. At the Sri Thanthayuthapany temple, the abisēgam was performed on a statue of the dancing Śiva. Second, and more importantly, no Brahmin priest conducted the ritual at the Sri Mariamman temple. This was done by the usual pūsari, who was assisted by a few learned men of the community. At the Sri Thanthayuthapany temple, on the other hand, a supposedly ‘real’ Brahmin priest, a Malaysian gurukkal, performed the ceremony. At both temples, however, many parts of the whole ceremony raised questions in both performers and participants and often comprised sheer invention.
