India’s highest court on Thursday relaxed safety measures intended to prevent injuries during a beloved religious festival that involves children clambering to the tops of human pyramids and breaking ceremonial pots.
The Indian Supreme Court’s ruling came less than a week before the daylong festival of Janmashtami, which overtakes Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, every August.
The celebration marks the birth of the Hindu god Krishna, who is portrayed in religious epics as an impish kid who formed human pyramids with his friends to steal butter and curd kept in pots hanging from the ceilings of homes. In the modern tradition, men practice for weeks to form pyramids as tall as 40 feet, sending children climbing up to reach the pots.
Every year, there are cases of severe and sometimes fatal injuries. Earlier this week, after a 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man died while practicing for the festival, a Mumbai court intervened for the first time, prohibiting the hanging of pots above 20 feet and barring the involvement of people younger than 18.
The new rules prompted an outcry among the participants – known as govindas – who said the change undermined a popular Hindu tradition. Responding to an appeal, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued an interim order removing the height ban and said children older than 12 could participate in this year’s festival, to be held Monday, while reserving a final decision for a later date.
“I am relieved. What is the fun of the whole event if the pot is hung at an unchallenging height?” said Santosh Jogle, a 36-year-old grocer who has been agovinda for two decades.
“And what is 100% safe in life?” he added. “Nothing.”
Others said the ban on young children was impractical and even dangerous, as it meant that older and heavier govindas would need to scale the pyramids, placing those below at greater risk of injury.
“An 18-year-old would weigh at least 50 kilos,” or 110 pounds, said Anil Pawar, a 30-year-old electrician who has participated for the last five years. “It would make it more difficult to balance the whole act if he is at the top. The age limit of 12 is fine.”
Children’s activists argue the once innocent practice is increasingly commercialized and dangerous. Local politicians fund extravagant events and invite Bollywood megastars to add glamour, with cash prizes for the winning teams that reach into the thousands of dollars.
The biggest competitions draw throngs of spectators and some are even televised, encouraging teams to take bigger risks. Head and spine injuries are common. The number of injured govindas in the Mumbai area has risen in recent years from at least 205 in 2011 to nearly 500 last year.
The restrictions were “long overdue,” said Vikas Sawant, a children’s rights activist. “The reversal is deplorable.”
The Mumbai court instituted other measures to protect the safety of participants, requiring organizers to ensure that ambulances and first aid are available and to furnish participants with helmets and safety belts.
But the height and age rules did not sit well with those the court sought to protect. Janmashtami is a massive celebration in Mumbai, where at the start of every August the markets are deluged with earthen pots, flowers and banana leaves in anticipation of the festival.
The pots are typically filled with butter, curd and water and decorated with flowers, leaves and fruits. They are hung from ropes at various heights, and govinda groups travel across the city to break pots by forming human pyramids – the heftiest at the bottom and lither ones at the top.
Spectators throw water on the govindas to deter them. When a pot is broken its contents spill over the participants, prompting a swell of music and dancing. The govinda who delivers the final punch to the pot is often a child younger than 12 years old.
“We have been playing this sport from ages and it is unjust … to disallow children from participating,” Bala Pednekar, president of an umbrella body of govinda groups, told reporters before the Supreme Court announcement. “We will continue our tradition no matter what.”
Political figures who use the annual event to bolster their standing in Mumbai were also opposed to any attempt to regulate it. The state of Maharashtra filed an appeal, saying it could not implement new rules so close to the holiday.
“It is not proper to shut a religious festival this way suddenly,” said the state’s home minister, R.R. Patil.
Daya Sawant, a 44-year-old who runs a car rental business, began playing the sport at age 9 and said it helps instill strength and team spirit in children.
“The involvement of kids is important for their growth,” he said. “When they climb to the top, they develop courage.”