THE RITUAL
(Ghatashraddha)

Ghatashraddha is a ritual still sometimes practised in the village of Malnad. In this ritual, young widows who had had illicit relations were publicly rejected and disowned by their families. The film takes place between 1940 and 1945. Udupa’s only daughter, Yamunakha, loses her husband a month after her wedding. She comes to live with her father, an old scholar. The two boys who studied with Udupa did not like his daughter. The deterioration of her financial situation forced Udupa to leave the village, while her students neglected their studies. Yamunakha had an affair with a schoolmaster and the village found out about it. The schoolmaster fled. Udupa returns, disowns her daughter, then performs the ritual that banishes her and she must leave, as the author explains. The story is not treated realistically, but almost clinically portrays the emotions of a young woman in her tragic destiny.