All the articles in this series:-
The current article can also be read here:-
Santals are one of the Mundari speaking groups. They along
with Mundas, Oraons and Hos form almost four fifth of the total population of
Mundari speakers. {1)
. The festivals and cultural traditions are almost similar among all these
groups. However the Santals follow a custom of their own, not found in others.
This custom reminds us of a connection with Parashurama.
This custom pertains to a pilgrimage that Santals make to a place
called "Rajrappa",
located at the confluence of rivers Damodar and Bhairavi {2}. Like Hindus who immerse the ashes of the
deceased ancestors in the Ganges in sacred spots like Kasi, Santals immerse the
ashes of the ancestors in the Damodar river near Rajrappa. They believe that
this was their final resting place. They make annual visits to this place in
December every year. Though the Ganges and its tributaries are flowing near the
habitats of these tribes, they choose to do the ceremony at river Damodar. This
shows their previous roots in this part of Jharkhand with a tradition of doing
pitru ceremonies in Damodar river. The surprising feature found in this place
is a temple for Goddess
Chhinnamasta, having a headless body! {3}. Chhinnamasta means “she whose head is severed”.
This Goddess with a severed head is standing on the body of
Kama deva and Rati on a lotus bed. This reflects the life of Renuka, the mother of
Parashurama. Renuka’s head was cut off by Parashurama under the order of his
father. The reason for that was that she was distracted by the love-play of a
couple in the water place where she had gone to fetch water. That is depicted
by the body of Kama deva and Rati on a lotus bed. The Goddess
standing on them with her head severed is depictive of what happened to Renuka
on being distracted by the couples in love-play in a water-place.
This temple is a Shakthi Peeth and this deity is regarded as
a form of Shakthi. But the iconography shows that she is Renuka Devi. Though the
Shakthi Sthals are related to the mythical story of Sati, the depiction of this
deity resembling Renuka shows her as someone who lived and remained in memory and
was identified as Shakthi.
Usually Renuka Devi is depicted only with the head. The place called Mahur in Maharashtra
is supposed to be where her head had fallen. Only the head of Renuka Devi is
the object of worship here {4}.
Renuka Devi in Mahur.
The head-alone image of the Devi is seen with various names
throughout Peninsular India but generally absent in North India (north of
Vindhyas). Yellamma, Mariamma and the whole range of Amman images found in
Tamil nadu have only the head as the main deity. Compared to this, the image of
Chhinnamasta seems to be the oldest one before Renuka worship was formed as a
cult. Chhinnamasta depicts a scene of
losing her head, even though it is shown as a self-inflicted one.
The presence of Chhinnamasta in the vicinity of a sacred
place of Santals shows that Renuka worshipers or Parashurama-followers had a
presence there. Something forced the Santals to leave this place and migrate to
Chota Nagpur regions. Generally there were two causes for migration of people
anywhere in ancient India in the past– one due to famine and another due to
invasion by an unfriendly king. Rajrappa
is on the banks of Damodar river and therefore there is no scope to believe
that the Santals migrated in search of food. The only other cause seems to be
some mortal threat- the threat seems to have come from Parashurama, as Santals
were of kshatriya kind.
The Santals claim themselves to be
kshatriyas and are known to be doing martial dances even now. They go for
hunting which they celebrate as a festival by name “Disum Sendra” – a name that sounds like
Tamil “Disai sendra” –which has an equivalent in
Sanskrit “dik vijaya”. Parashurama’s agenda
against warriors must have driven them out of the Damodar valley. But they had
come back to keep up with their tradition, once the situation had improved. By
then the Chhinnamasta worship had come to stay in the place which Parashurama
had ‘cleansed’ of Kshatriyas. This offers a logical explanation for why the Santals
who make pilgrimage to this place for ancestral worship, are not known to have
worshipped this Devi. A supportive proof comes from the company they keep in
their new settlement. The Santals had joined Savaras who escaped from
Parashurama. They had also joined Mundas whose first generation ancestors were
known to have escaped from an enemy. All of them are known to have lived away
from others in these settlements for ages.
Parashurama and Renuka cult.
Parashurama is considered as an
avatar perhaps due to the reason that he virtually changed demographic map of
India and ushered in a new cult. Renuka cult with the head-alone feature
wherever it is seen, is perhaps the proof of spread of Parashurama’s followers.
The names vary, but the deity in worship is seen only with the head.
It is no coincidence that the tantric worship of Shakthi has
been attributed to Parashurama. Parashurama
Kalpasutra, originally given by Parashurama might have been the
result of resurrecting the image of his mother and helping people to draw
benefits by worshiping her in different forms and in different ways. Even the nine day festival of Navratri or Dussehra could
have had its origins in Renuka cult from the times of Parashurama. The Shakthi Puja and Navaratri puja come
along with worship of the head of the Goddess mounted on a sacred pot.
This festival seems to have a basis in the Soma sacrifices done
for nine nights in the Vedic culture. It is stated in the 4th
anuvaka of the 2nd prashna of 7th kanda of the Taittriya samhita that Prajapati created the
9-night Soma sacrifices for the sake of progeny and to
relieve people from illnesses. The nine nights are divided into 3 parts
of 3 nights each dedicated to terrestrial, atmospheric and celestial
derivations (Bhu- Bhuvah- Sva as Jyotis, Go and Ayus). The end result was to
attain freedom from sickness and attain immortality.
Usually there are two popular navaratris – vasantha and
sharad navaratri. The Sharad navaratri coming in Kanya month is dedicated to
Devi worship, since it is the time of Dakshinayana. The Sharad navaratri homa
seems to have given way for Shakthi worship, with leanings on Renuka cult. The
various forms of Shakthi or Renuka Devi were worshiped throughout India cutting
across rural, tribal or urban differences mostly in times
of epidemics, diseases like chicken pox, drought conditions and hardships. One can note the similarity with the 9-day Soma Yajna
with reference to the aim of worship in seeking freedom from sickness.
Pre-Renuka culture of Mundas .
Absence of Renuka-cult worship of head-alone is a
striking feature among Mundas. Their cultural practices and specific
festivals that seem to be indigenous and age-old resemble a cultural set-up of
Renuka’s times or before. For example the regular feature in Renuka’s life was
to go to the river (water source) everyday, make a pot freshly and carry water
back home. It is difficult to believe that a freshly made pot gets dried so
soon that it can carry water. Leaving aside the mythical part, it can be
interpreted that Renuka was skilful in making mud pots from river sand. Her
very name Renuka signifies that she is known for something to do with fine
particles of sand. Perhaps this name was related to her skill in making pots
from river sand.
On a particular day she did not return home in time. And when she returned she did not bring water
too. That infuriated her husband, Jamadagni who had actually
suspected her fidelity. He did not hesitate for a moment to deliver the
punishment. In a surprising parallel we
find similar ideas among Mundas.
The pond (in the absence of a river near the Mundari
settlements) plays an integral part in the life of the Munda people. It is called
Pukur – a word which is similar to “Pukar” in Tamil which refers to the estuary of a river
(the region of entry of the river into the sea). Pumpukar in Tamilnadu is also
known as Pukar. Pukur is considered sacred for the Mundas. For every celebration,
the water from this sacred pond is collected in ceremonial ways.
During all these occasions, the Mundas have traditional
songs to be sung. One of the themes of these songs is surprisingly similar
to what Jamadagni could have thought!!
It says, ‘many wives have gone to bring drinking water, but they have
not come back quickly; the morning, the afternoon and the evening came but they
have not returned. So the husbands ask very anxiously to the people ‘have you
seen my wife’?”
This is reflective of a mindset of a community having
insecure feelings about the wife. The only occasion she goes out without the
company of the male folk is when goes to the water source to fetch water for
household purposes. The suspicion on her fidelity is manifest at one of
ceremonies at the time of marriage in Munda community. This is called as “cutting the water” in which the sisters of the bride
and brothers of the groom go to Pukur, cut the water with a sickle and collect
the water (as though water is cut and collected). This water is used to bath
the bride and the groom after which they enter into a blood bonding ceremony of
taking blood from the little finger. This blood is collected in a mango leaf
and at the end of the marriage ceremony thrown into Pukur. For them this water
(pukur) is the witness to the bonding of the couple and also the fidelity of
the bride.
The Munda practice of ‘cutting the water’ at marriage and
ceremonial songs exhibiting worries over the wife not returning from the water
source do remind of the times of Renuka. The water-cutting ceremony reflects a
very ancient practice that “symbolises the right of the injured husband to kill the
unfaithful wife or her paramour” {5} These traits in the practice of the Mundas are
same as how they existed in Renuka’s times. This could have existed in any
community where women had to go out alone to fetch water. Jamadagni’s anger was
reflective of the reaction of a male in such a setup. But Renuka’s episode
could have helped in churning the conscience of the people of that time.
However such suspicions would continue to persist as it is to do with human
nature but not necessarily or not only with water-related practice as Mundas do.
Mundas seem to have frozen in time with the ideas of
the period of Jamadagni. It seems they were cut off in Time once they had
entered into seclusion.
Next to Karam Puja, the most important puja of the Mundas is
Monsa Puja. The deity for this puja is just a pot filled with water. This
is comparable with how the kalash puja is done
during Navratri. The kalash puja done on any occasion of Devi puja has
the head of the Devi kept on the mouth of the water-pot. This feature is absent in the Monsa
Puja of Mundas. They seem to be continuing with an age old custom of
worshiping the water-pot alone.
After Renuka-episode, the head has been added in the puja of
the water pot in rest of India – a practice that continues till today. Worship
of the Goddess of any form of Shakthi comes with the head of the Goddess placed
on top of the water pot. Some illustrations are shown below.
Varalakshmi Puja
(pic courtesy http://www.ikolam.com/varalakshmi-pooja-8
)
Gowri Habba
The head-alone worship of the Goddess in the water-pot is
found in household worship and it is found in almost all the Amman temples of
Tamilnadu. Whatever is the description or posture of the Goddess in the temple,
the main deity is a head-alone female.
The above picture shows the temple image of the head-only of the Goddess
at the ground level and the full form of the deity at the background. This kind
of depiction is found in all Amman temples of Tamilnadu. This form is the result of tantric mode of
worship that had come up with or after Parashurama and after the episode
involving Renuka.
Looking for places where head-alone feature is seen, they
are present in places outside India. It will be discussed in the next part.
(continued in Part 4)
References:
{1} “History, Religion and Culture of India” Vol 4, edited
by Gajram
{5} Ponette (1978:132) “Social water management among Munda
people in the Sundarban” Vol 3
