Guide to the Stephanos Stephanides videos of Hail Mother Kali, 1988

Scope and Contents

Full video record of an annual three-day Kalimai (Mother Kali) puja held in Berbice, Guyana. Footage documents various aspects of the worship of the Hindu Mother which was brought to Guyana by predominatly south Indian indentured laborers (known as Madrasi) from the mid 19th to early 20th century. In contemporary Guyana this Creolized tradition continues to be known as Madrasi religion. Documentation features invocatory chants sung in Tamil and bhajans (devotional songs) and kathas (stories) in Hindi and English. Included are interviews with the pujaris (principal ritual specialists) who direct the event; preparations in the temple; and drumming, dancing, and chanting which leads to devotional possession of various participants. The video also depicts the religious sacrifice of goats and the ritual flagellation of and fire-eating by devotees and includes an ethnohistory of the pujari who helped establish the Mother Kali tradition in Guyana.

Supplementary material: monograph; glossary of Hindi/Tamil/Creole terms used by devotees and bibliography of related materials

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.