Rave Culture and Religion

broke. Although Plateau 14 is at pains to show that the smooth and the striated
presuppose each other and can only exist in their concrete combinations, the feeling
remains that Deleuze and Guattari, a little like Timothy Leary unduly celebrate any
smoothness above any striation. What if probe-heads are the ones striating? What if
dance floors are themselves segregated? What if PLUR becomes exclusionary? What
if tripping doesn’t take you further from, but closer into politics?

Smooth striations

In the remainder of this chapter, I will use some ethnographic evidence from
Anjuna to show how mystical experience can be connected to exclusionary politics
(see also Saldanha 2002b). It is important to know that there are many individual
differences amongst the hippies and ravers of Goa. I will be making generalizing
statements about tendencies inherent in the psychedelic trance scene as a whole.
Those that are familiar with Goa’s rave scene may find my reading idiosyncratic,
but during my fieldwork I have found many participants themselves formulating
similar critiques.

Chillum ritual and clique formation

A practice which has been central to the culture of Western travelers in India since
the end of the 1960s is the smoking of chillums. The chillum is a simple cylindrical
terracotta pipe which has been used for thousands of years by Hindu sadhus for
smoking charas (hashish) and ganja (marijuana) and is now a central object in psy-
trance culture. In Anjuna, an arrival at a rave or bar, a good track, a sunset or a
sunrise is rarely unmarked by a chillum. It is practically impossible to smoke alone.
Circles of smokers lighting or receiving the chillum often mutter praises to Shiva
like “Bom Shankar.” The smoking itself is a little more tricky than smoking a joint.
Richard Neville instructs, back in 1970:

Hold between thumb and four fingers (pointing straight up and bunched

together at tips) of left hand. Wrap right hand around the back of left hand,

leaving a hole for mouth between thumb and first finger on left hand, closing

any other gaps by holding more tightly and adjusting grip. Test by drawing

strongly before lighting. Keep chillum upright, head to one side and get

someone else to light it. Beware of hair going up in flames. Constant strong

drawing is necessary to keep it alight.

(Neville 1970:248–9)

A similar purposeful attention to ritual detail characterizes chillum preparation and
cleaning. Cigarette tobacco is dry-heated and emptied in a mixing bowl, often a
shaved piece of coconut shell; hash is added and the mixture is kneaded while
maintaining conversation, staring, or dancing. During chillum-making, friends, and
friends of friends, eagerly appear around the chillum-maker. There are only six to

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