Sprayer bottle; brass cylindrical bottle with purple-painted wood handle on plunger. Closed length 39.7 cm. Purchased for 10 rupees.
Donor:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Ready, Jr. Fund and Richard Lerner
Collection place:
New Delhi, Delhi State, India
Verbatim coll. place:
India, New Delhi
Culture or time period:
Indian
Collector:
Richard Lerner
Collection date:
1968-1970
Materials:
Brass (alloy), Paint (coating), and Wood (plant material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Bottles
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Accession date:
1970
Context of use:
Spray bottle used for the Holi Festival, most likely for the joyous water fights that take place in India’s most colorful and jubilant rituals celebrating continued agricultural fertility, which of course is made possible by water. Based off of the lunar calendar, the festival usually falls within February and March. Usually water serves as the base for liquid color which is sprayed on everything, from people to buildings until it is all covered in bright color. Safflower is a dye of choice and is yellow, and is good for the skin as are many of the natural colorants. Spraying color is significant as it alludes to Krishna’s play with consorts and his brother Balarama. Water is at the core of the story the Holi Festival celebrates. Balarama tries to divert the Yamuna River to keep its surroundings fertile, however Yamuna, the goddess associated with the river doesn’t acknowledge, leading Balarama to threaten her until she gives in, in which the course of the river is changed and what it is known to be today. With the river now diverted Balarama and his cowherd girls bathed and played in it, jala-krida.
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
closed— length 39.7 centimeters
Comment:
cf. Raj, Selva J., and Corinne G. Dempsey, eds. Sacred Play: Ritual Levity and Humor in South Asian Religions. Suny Press, 2010.