Company School. The Churuk Poojah

Company School. The Churuk Poojah,

3 scenes of the Indian hook-swinging ceremony, 2 depicting musicians and religious figures in ceremonial attire, and 1, bearing title, depicting the swing with the same figures below commencing the impaling process, watercolours over pencil, on thin wove paper, one bearing J & M, three ostrich feather watermark, dated 1822, the titled scene 155 x 230mm., the other two each c.145 x 190mm., c.1825(3)

***The ritual involved hooks being passed through muscles over the shoulder blades, then being suspended from a raised wooden arm which is spun around so the performer swings out centrifugally. The appearance of the figures depicted suggests an understandable degree of preparatory mind alteration..