Interview with Arjun Shrivastav

(Q1) INTERVIEWER: First I need to ask whether we have permission to tape record your voice.

(A1) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: Yes sir.

(Q2) INTERVIEWER: Please introduce yourself.

(A2) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: My name is Arjun Shrivastav. I'm a resident here and this is my store. That's the Ram-Laksman-Janki temple, which is mine as well. And all the materials for puja and arati at Baba 's temple come from my family-all that is used in the evening comes from my house.

(Q3) INTERVIEWER: How long have you been connected to this temple.

(A3) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: For at least seven to eight generations.

(Q4) INTERVIEWER: Where did your family come from originally?

(A4) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: Well, I really don't know were we all came from originally. But if it's a question of the knowledge of the last seven to eight generations, then it's here.

(Q5) INTERVIEWER: So what do you sell at this store?

(A5) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: All the things that are offered to Baba are sold here.

(Q6) INTERVIEWER: Please tell us something about all of this-what do people offer?

(A6) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: Look-this is a coconut. It's full of liquid. And this is dried coconut. And these are wooden sandals .

(Q7) INTERVIEWER: Please tell us something about them.

(A7) AR JUN SHRIVASTAV: The wooden sandals are worn, and these things are usually offered to a brahm : laddus (a kind of sweet), a sacred thread, wooden sandals, a loincloth. Because brahm is a Brahmin who's died, he'll want what he had when he was alive. There are some Brahmins who wear wooden sandals, and just about every Brahmin wears a sacred thread. So, they're offered as part of a long tradition.

(Q8) INTERVIEWER: And the coconut? What's its significance?

(A8) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: Dried coconut has this purpose: it's offered if someone has been possessed by a ghost .

(Q9) INTERVIEWER: As an offering-ok.

(A9) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: And the coconut that's filled with milk, that's offered as a form of reward.

(Q10) INTERVIEWER: There's dried coconut that's important, and what else?

(A10) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: And ghee (clarified butter) for the fire pit. And after that, an incense with ten ingredients-this incense is put into the fire pit.

(Q11) INTERVIEWER: What's that exactly?

(A11) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: Dashang-I'll show it to you. My elder brother, he'll show you. It's incense.

(Q12) INTERVIEWER: Why is incense necessary? What's its significance?

(A12) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: It's traditional to have incense during puja . It's the fragrance it produces-camphor, rori, raksa.

(Q13) INTERVIEWER: Is there anything else?

(A13) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: There's the red cloth (chunri), and the bell.

(Q14) INTERVIEWER: What the significance of the red cloth?

(A14) ARJUN SHRIVASTAV: The people who wish to offer it, offer it and then take it home as prashad .