OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF INDIA AND SOUTH Part 301024 K
RAJARAM IRS contd
A vow performed in honour of the village goddess at Settikulam in the
Trichinopoly district is for the votaries, male and female, to fling
themselves on heaps of thorns before her. This vow is generally fulfilled
by those cured of disease. It is called mullu padagalam, or bed of
thorns.18 At the annual fire-walking festival at Nuvagode in Ganjam, the
officiating priest sits on a seat of sharp thorns. It is noticed19 by the
missionary Gloyer that, on special occasions, some Dōmbs in Vizagapatam
fall into a frenzied state, in which they cut their flesh with sharp
instruments, or pass long, thin iron bars through the tongue and cheeks,
during which operation no blood must flow. For this purpose, the
instruments are rubbed over with some blood-congealing material. They also
affect sitting on a sacred swing, armed with long iron nails. Mr G. F.
Paddison informs me that he once saw a villager in the Vizagapatam district
sitting outside the house, while groans proceeded from within. He explained
that he was ill, and his wife was swinging on nails with their points
upwards, to cure him.
In the Tanjore district, persons afflicted with disease promise that,
if they are cured, they will brand their bodies, go round a temple a
certain number of times by rolling over and over in the dust, and offer a
pregnant goat by stabbing it through the womb. Sometimes vows of
self-mortification are taken in anticipation of relief. Such are
undertaking to go without salt in one’s food, or to eat without using the
hands, until a cure is effected.20 At Palni in the Madura district, there
is an annual feast at the Māriamman temple, at which people, in performance
of a vow, carry in their bare hands earthen pots with a bright fire blazing
inside them. They are said to escape burns by the favour of the goddess,
but it is whispered that immunity is sometimes rendered doubly sure by
putting sand or rice-husk at the bottom of the pot.21 Some Dāsaris
(religious mendicants) go through a performance called Panda Sērvai, which
consists in beating themselves with a flaming torch all over the body. I am
informed by Mr Paddison that some Dōmbs are reputed to be able to pour
blazing oil all over their bodies, without suffering any hurt; and one man
is said to have had a miraculous power of hardening his skin, so that any
one could have a free shot at him without hurting him. In the Mēlūr tāluk
of the Madura district, it is stated that women who are anxious for
offspring vow that, if they attain their wish, they will go and have a
cocoanut broken on their head by a priest at the temple of Sendurai.22 At
an annual festival in honour of the god Sērvarāyan on the Shevaroy hills in
the Salem district, those Malayālis who wish to take a vow to be faithful
to their god have to receive fifteen lashes on the bare back with a stout
leather thong, administered by the chief priest.
The annual festival at the temple of Karamadai in the Coimbatore
district is visited by about forty or fifty thousand pilgrims, belonging
for the most part to the lower classes. In case of sickness or other
calamity, they take a vow to perform one of the following: —
(1) To pour water at the feet of the idol inside the temple. Each devotee
is provided with a goat-skin bag, or a new earthen pot. He goes to the
tank, and, after bathing, fills the receptacle with water, carries it to
the temple, and empties it before the idol. This is repeated a number of
times according to the nature of the vow. If the vow is a life-long one, it
has to be performed every year until death.
(2) To give kavalam to Dāsaris (religious mendicants). Kavalam consists of
plantain fruits cut up into small slices, and mixed with sugar, jaggery
(crude sugar), fried grain, or beaten rice. The Dāsaris are attached to the
temple, and wear short drawers, with strings of small brass bells tied to
their wrists and ankles. They appear to be possessed, and move wildly about
to the beating of drums. As they go about, the devotees put some of the
kavalam into their mouths. The Dāsaris eat a little, and spit out the
remainder into the hands of the devotees, who eat it. This is believed to
cure all disease, and to give children to those who partake of it. In
addition to kavalam, some put betel leaves in the mouths of the Dāsaris,
who, after chewing them, spit them into the mouths of the devotees. At
night the Dāsaris carry torches made of rags, on which the devotees pour
ghī (clarified butter). Some people say that, many years ago, barren women
used to take a vow to visit the temple at the time of the festival, and,
after offering kavalam, [148]have sexual intercourse with the Dāsaris. The
temple authorities, however, profess ignorance of this practice.
On the last day of the Gangajatra festival at Tirupati, a figure is made of
clay and straw, and placed in the tope (grove), where crowds of all
classes, including Paraiyans, present food to it. Buffaloes, goats, sheep,
and fowls are sacrificed, and it is said that Brāhmans, though they will
not be present, send animals to be slaughtered. At the conclusion of the
festivities, the image is burnt during the feast, which last over ten days,
the lower orders of the people paint themselves, and indulge in much
boisterous merriment. Those who have made a vow to Ganga fast for some days
before the festival begins. They wear a structure made of bamboo in the
form of a car, which is decorated with paper of different colours, and
supported by iron nails pressed into the belly and back. They go about with
this structure on their heads. Those who have been attacked by cholera, or
other serious disease, make a vow to Ganga, and perform this ceremonial.
A festival, which is attended by huge crowds of Hindus of all classes,
takes place annually in the month of Audi (July-August) at the village of
Periyapālayam, about sixteen miles from Madras, where the goddess Māriamma
is worshipped under the name of Periyapālayaththamman. According to the
legend, as narrated by the Rev. A. C. Clayton,23
“there was once a Rishi (sage), who lived on the banks of the Periyapālayam
river with his wife Bavāni. Every morning she used to bathe in the river,
and bring back water for the use of the household. But she never took any
vessel with her in which to bring the water home, for she was so chaste
that she had acquired power to [149]form a water-pot out of the dry river
sand, and carry the water home in it. One day, while bathing, she saw the
reflection of the face of the sky-god, Indra, in the water, and could not
help admiring it. When she returned to the bank of the river, and tried to
form her water-pot out of sand as usual, she could not do so, for her
admiration of Indra had ruined her power, and she went home sadly to fetch
a brass water-vessel. Her husband saw her carrying this to the river, and
at once suspected her of unchastity, and, calling his son, ordered him to
strike off her head with a sword. It was in vain that the son tried to
avoid matricide. He had to obey, but he was so agitated by his feelings
that, when at last he struck at his mother, he cut off not only her head,
but that of a leather-dresser’s wife who was standing near. The two bodies
lay side by side. The rishi was so pleased with his son’s obedience that he
promised him any favour that he should ask, but he was very angry when the
son at once begged that his mother might be restored to life. Being
compelled to keep his word, he told the son that, if he put his mother’s
head on her trunk, she would again live. The son tried to do so, but in his
haste took up the head of the leather-dresser’s wife by mistake, and put it
on Bavāni’s body. Leather-dressers are flesh-eaters, and so it comes about
that, on days when her festival is celebrated, Bavāni—now a goddess—longs
for meat, and thousands of sheep, goats, and fowls, must be slain at her
shrine. This legend bears marks of Brāhmanic influence. Curiously enough,
the priest of this Paraiya shrine is himself a Brāhman.”
The vows, which are performed at the festival at Periyapālayam, are as
follows: —
(1) Wearing a garment of margosa (Melia Azadirachta) leaves, or wearing an
ordinary garment, and carrying a lighted lamp made of rice-flour on the head
(2) Carrying a pot decorated with flowers and margosa leaves round the
temple.
(3) Going round the temple, rolling on the ground.
(4) Throwing a live fowl on to the top of the temple.
(5) Throwing a cocoanut in front, prostrating on the ground in salutation,
going forward several paces and again throwing the cocoanut, and repeating
the procedure till three circuits of the temple have been made.
(6) Giving offerings to the idol Parasurāma, cradle with baby made of clay
or wood, etc., to bring offspring to the childless, success in a lawsuit or
business transaction, and other good luck. In addition, pongal (boiled
rice) has to be offered, and by some a sheep or goat is sacrificed. If a
vow has been made on behalf of a sick cow, the animal is bathed in the
river, clad in margosa leaves, and led round the temple. The leaf-wearing
vow is resorted to by the large majority of the devotees, and performed by
men, women and children. Those belonging to the more respectable classes go
through it in the early morning, before the crowd has collected in its tens
of thousands. The leafy garments are purchased from hawkers, who do a brisk
trade in the sale thereof. The devotees have to pay a modest fee for
admission to the temple precincts, and go round the shrine three or more
times. Concerning the Periyapālayam festival, a recent writer observes
that, “the distinctive feature is that the worshippers are clad in leaves.
The devotees are bound to wear a garment made of fresh margosa twigs with
their leaves. This garment is called vēpansilai. It consists of a string
three or four yards long, from which depend, at intervals of two to three
inches apart, twigs measuring about two feet in length, and forming a
fringe of foliage. This string being wound several times round the waist,
the fringe of leaves forms [151]a kilt or short petticoat. Men are content
to wear the kilt, but women also wear round their neck a similar garment,
which forms a short cloak reaching to the waist. To impress on devotees the
imperative obligation imposed on them to wear the leaf garment in
worshipping the goddess, it is said that a young married woman, being
without children, made a vow to the goddess that, on obtaining a son, she
would go on a pilgrimage to Periyapālayam, and worship her in accordance
with the ancient rite. Her prayer having been answered, she gave birth to a
son, and went to Periyapālayam to fulfil her vow. When, however, it was
time to undress and put on the vēpansilai, her modesty revolted. Unobserved
by her party, she secretly tied a cloth round her waist before putting on
the vēpansilai. So attired, she went to the temple to worship. On seeing
her coming, the goddess detected her deceit, and, waxing wroth, set the
woman’s dress all ablaze, and burnt her so severely that she died.”
It is noted by Bishop Whitehead24 that it was formerly the custom for women
to come to the shrine of Durgamma at Bellary clad in twigs of the margosa
tree. But this is now only done by children, the grown-up women putting the
margosa twigs over a cloth wrapped round the loins. At a festival of the
village goddess at Kudligi in the Bellary district, the procession is said
by Mr F. Fawcett to be headed by a Mādiga (Telugu Pariah) naked save for a
few margosa leaves. The wearing of these leaves on the occasion of
festivals in honour of Māriamma is a very general custom throughout
Southern India. Garments made of leaves are still worn by the females of
some tribes on the west coast, e.g., the Thanda Pulayans, Vettuvans, and
Koragas. Concerning the Koragas, Mr Walhouse writes25 that they “wear an
apron of twigs and leaves over the buttocks. Once this was the only
covering allowed them, and a mark of their deep degradation. But now, when
no longer compulsory, and of no use, as it is worn over the clothes, the
women still retain it, believing its disuse would be unlucky.”
“Kūvvākkam in the South Arcot district is known for its festival to Aravān
(more correctly Irāvān) or Kūttāndar, which is one of the most popular
feasts with Sūdras in the whole district. Aravān was the son of Arjuna, one
of the five Pāndava brothers. Local traditions says that, when the great
war which is described in the Mahābhārata was about to begin, the Kauravas,
the opponents of the Pāndavas, to bring them success, sacrificed a white
elephant. The Pāndavas were in despair of being able to find any such
uncommon object with which to propitiate the gods, until Arjuna suggested
that they should offer up his son Aravān. Aravān agreed to yield his life
for the good of the cause, and, when eventually the Pāndavas were
victorious, he was deified for the self-abnegation which had thus brought
his side success. Since he died in his youth, before he had been married,
it is held to please him if men, even though grown up and already wedded,
come now and offer to espouse him, and men who are afflicted with serious
diseases take a vow to marry him at his annual festival in the hope of
thereby being cured. The festival occurs in May, and for eighteen nights
the Mahābhārata is recited by a Palli (Tamil agriculturist),26 large
numbers of people, especially of that caste, assembling to hear it read. On
the eighteenth night, a wooden image of Kūttāndar is taken to a tope
(grove) and seated there. This is the signal for the sacrifice of an
enormous number of fowls. Every one who comes brings one or two, and the
number killed runs literally into thousands. While this is going on, all
the men who have taken vows to be married to the deity appear before his
image dressed like women, make obeisance, offer to the priest (who is a
Palli by caste) a few annas, and give into his hands the tālis (marriage
badge worn by women) which they have brought with them. These the priest,
as representing the God, ties round their necks. The God is brought back to
his shrine that night, and, when in front of the building, he is hidden by
a cloth held before him. This symbolises the sacrifice of Aravān, and the
men who have just been married to him set up loud lamentations at the death
of their husband. Similar vows are taken and ceremonies performed, it is
said, at the shrines of Kūttāndar, two miles north-west of Porto Novo, and
Ādivarāhanattum (five miles north-west of Chidambaram), and, in recent
years, at Tiruvarkkulam (one mile east of the latter place); other cases
probably occur.”
I am informed by Mr R. F. Stoney that, in the Madura district, iron chains
are hung on bābūl (Acacia arabica) trees, and dedicated to the rustic deity
Karuppan. At Mēlūr Mr Stoney saw large masses of such chains, which are
made by the village blacksmiths. They are very rough, and are furnished at
one end with what is said to be a sickle, and also a spear-head. I gather
further28 that, in the Mēlūr tāluk, the shrine of Karuppan may usually be
known by the hundreds of chains hung outside it, which have been presented
to the god in performance of vows. The deity is said to be fond of
bedecking himself with chains, and these offerings are usually suspended
from a kind of horizontal bar made of two stone uprights supporting a slab
of stone placed horizontally upon the top of them. The god is also fond of
presents of clubs and swords.
“Sometimes,” a recent writer states, “a big chain hangs suspended from a
tree, and the village panchāyats ](tribunals) are held in the Aiyanar (or
Sangali Karuppan) temple. The accused is made to submit to an ordeal in
proof of innocence. The ordeal consists in his swearing on the chain, which
he is made to touch. He has such a dread of this procedure, that, as soon
as he touches the chain, he comes out with the truth, failure to speak the
truth being punished by some calamity, which he believes will overtake him
within a week. These chains are also suspended to the trees near the
temples of village goddesses, and used by village panchāyats to swear the
accused in any trial before them.”
It is narrated by Moor that he “passed a tree, on which were hanging
several hundred bells. This was a superstitious sacrifice by the
Bandjanahs,30 who, passing this tree, are in the habit of hanging a bell or
bells upon it, which they take from the necks of their sick cattle,
expecting to leave behind them the complaint also. Our servants
particularly cautioned us against touching these diabolical bells; but, as
a few were taken for our own cattle, several accidents that happened were
imputed to the anger of the deity to whom these offerings were made, who,
they say, inflicts the same disorder on the unhappy bullock who carries a
bell from this tree as he relieved the donor from.”
At Diguvemetta in the Kurnool district, I came across a number of bells,
both large and small, tied to the branches of a tamarind tree, beneath
which were an image of the deity Malalamma, and a stone bull (Nandi).
Suspended from a branch of the same tree was a thick rope, to which were
attached heads, skulls, mandibles, thigh-bones, and feet of fowls, and the
foot of a goat.
Mr Fawcett once saw, at a Savara village in Ganjam, a gaily ornamented hut
near a burning-ground. Rude figures of birds and red rags were tied to five
bamboos, which were sticking up in the air about eight feet above the hut,
one at each corner, and one in the centre. A Savara said that he built the
hut for his dead brother, and had buried the bones in it.31 It is noted by
the Rev. J. Cain32 that, in some places, the Lambādis fasten rags torn from
some old garment to a bush in honour of Kampalamma (kampa, a thicket). On
the side of a road from Bastar are several large heaps of stones, which
they have piled up in honour of the goddess Guttalamma. Every Lambādi who
passes the heaps is bound to place one stone on the heap, and make a salaam
to it. It is further recorded by Mr Walhouse33 that, when going from the
Coimbatore plains to the Mysore frontier, he saw a thorn-bush rising out of
a heap of stones piled round it, and bearing bits of rag tied to its
branches by Lambādis. In the Telugu country, rags are offered to a god
named Pathalayya (Mr Rags). On the trunk-roads in the Nellore district,
rags may be seen hanging from the bābūl (Acacia arabica) trees. These are
offerings made to Pathalayya by travellers, who tear off pieces of their
clothing with a vague idea that the offering thereof will render their
journey free from accidents, such as upsetting of their carts, or meeting
with robbers. Outside the temple of the village goddess at Ojini in the
Bellary district, Mr Fawcett tells us,34 “are hung numbers of miniature
cradles and bangles presented by women who have borne children, or been
cured of sickness through [156]the intervention of the goddess. Miniature
cows are presented by persons whose cows have been cured of sickness, and
doll-like figures for children. One swāmi (God) there is, known by a tree
hung with iron chains, hooks—anything iron; another by rags, and so on. The
ingenious dhōbi (washerman), whose function is to provide torches on
occasions, sometimes practises on the credulity of his countrymen by tying
a few rags to a tree, which by and by is covered with rags, for the
passers-by are not so stiff-necked as to ask for a sign other than a rag;
and under cover of the darkness, the dhōbi makes his torch of the
offerings.”
On the road to the temple at Tirumala (Upper Tirupati) in the North Arcot
district, the goddess Gauthala Gangamma has her abode in a margosa or
āvaram (Cassia auriculata) tree, surrounded by a white-ant hill. Passers-by
tear off a piece of their clothing, and tie it to the branches, and place a
small stone at the base of the ant-hill. Occasionally cooked rice is
offered, fowls are sacrificed, and their heads and legs tied to the tree.
In the Madura district, bits of rag are hung on the trees in which a deity
named Sāttān is believed to reside.35 It is noted by Mr W. Francis36 that,
“in some places in the South Arcot district, for example, on the feeder
road to the Olakkūr station in Tindivānam tāluk and near the eighth mile of
the road from Kallakurchi to Vriddhachalam, are trees on which passers-by
have hung bits of rag, until they are quite covered with them. The latter
of the two cases had its origin only a few years back in the construction
by some shepherd boys of a toy temple to Ganēsa formed of a few stones
under the tree, to draw attention to which they hung up a rag or two. The
tree is now quite covered with bits of cloth, and beneath it is a large
pile of stones, which have been added one by one by the superstitious
passers-by.”
It is recorded by the Abbé Dubois37 that “at Palni, in Madura, there is a
famous temple consecrated to the god Velayuda, whose devotees bring
offerings of a peculiar kind, namely large sandals, beautifully ornamented,
and similar in shape to those worn by the Hindus on their feet. The god is
addicted to hunting, and these shoes are intended for his use when he
traverses the jungles and deserts in pursuit of his favourite sport. Such
shabby gifts, one might think, would go very little way towards filling the
coffers of the priests of Velayuda. Nothing of the sort: Brahmins always
know how to reap profit from anything. Accordingly the new sandals are
rubbed on the ground and rolled a little in the dust, and are then exposed
to the eyes of the pilgrims who visit the temple. It is clear enough that
the sandals must have been worn on the divine feet of Velayuda; and they
become the property of whosoever pays the highest price for such holy
relics.”
Mr Walhouse informs us that the champak and other trees round the
ancient shrine of the Trimurti at the foot of the Ānaimalai mountains are
thickly hung with sandals and shoes, many of huge size, evidently made for
the purpose, and suspended by pilgrims as votive offerings. The god of the
temple at Tirumala is said to appear annually to four persons in different
directions, east, west, south and north, and informs them that he requires
a shoe from each of them. They whitewash their houses, worship the god, and
spread rice-flour thickly on the floor of a room, which is locked for the
night. Next morning the mark of a huge foot is found on the floor, and the
shoe has to be made to fit this. When ready, it is taken in procession
through the streets of the village, conveyed to Tirumala, and presented to
the temple. Though the makers of the shoes have worked in ignorance of each
others’ work, the shoes brought from the north and south, and those from
the east and west, are believed to match and make a pair. Though the
worship of these shoes is chiefly meant for Paraiyans, who are prohibited
from ascending the Tirupati hill, as a matter of fact all, without
distinction of caste, worship them. The shoes are placed in front of the
image of the god near the foot of the hill, and are said to gradually wear
away by the end of the year.
“At Belūr in the Mysore Province,” Mr Lewis Rice writes, “the god of the
temple is under the necessity of making an occasional trip to the Baba
Budan hills to visit the goddess. On these occasions he is said to make use
of a large pair of slippers kept for the purpose in the temple. When they
are worn out, it devolves upon the chucklers (leather-workers) of
Channagiri and Bisvapatna, to whom the fact is revealed in a dream, to
provide new ones.”
K RAJARAM IRS 301024 TO BE CONTD
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