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Monday, November 21, 2011
The Taming of the “Savage”1; Economic Underpinnings of Beliefs and Myths - Dr.Dilip K.G
Abstract
This paper is a modest attempt to examine the importance of beliefs and myths of a tribal community in Wynad, Kerala, from the point of view of the economic meanings associated with their manifestations. It analyzes the role and function of the beliefs and myths of the Paniyans in maintaining their position in the socio-economic milieu. Hence it is important to review the Paniyan’s beliefs and myths in the light of the socio-economic relations that the community has with that of the larger community. The study mainly follows the classical Marxist methodology which stress the economic basis and historical conditions from which the ideology and beliefs have originated. Thus according to this approach, in order to understand the socio-cultural phenomena, it also look into the Mode of Production – the social relations, especially the class relations – existed in the Purakkadi village.
Multiple tools were employed to collect the necessary data for the study. A village network survey was conducted to understand the social and economic relations existed in the village. Extensive interviews were conducted with several individuals – often in the night – to collect the details regarding the beliefs and myths. One of the important tools of data collection was observation and this method has been employed frequently, especially during occasions like temple festivals, marriage ceremonies, death ceremonies and rituals.
The basic conclusion is that, in a society, where people have been ascribed different socio-economic and political status, due to historical reasons, the dominant ideas prevalent will be those which present the reality concealed from the comprehension of the masses. As part of the supernatural myths, beliefs and rituals, these ideas grow into the society’s ideology and help to perpetuate the existing social system.
Multiple tools were employed to collect the necessary data for the study. A village network survey was conducted to understand the social and economic relations existed in the village. Extensive interviews were conducted with several individuals – often in the night – to collect the details regarding the beliefs and myths. One of the important tools of data collection was observation and this method has been employed frequently, especially during occasions like temple festivals, marriage ceremonies, death ceremonies and rituals.
The basic conclusion is that, in a society, where people have been ascribed different socio-economic and political status, due to historical reasons, the dominant ideas prevalent will be those which present the reality concealed from the comprehension of the masses. As part of the supernatural myths, beliefs and rituals, these ideas grow into the society’s ideology and help to perpetuate the existing social system.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of beliefs and myths of a tribal community in Kerala, from the point of view of the economic meanings associated with their manifestations. The role of these beliefs and myths and the functions they perform for the tribal communities are important from the point of view of the people’s consciousness, i.e., how these beliefs and myths are understood, experienced and articulated by the individual members and the community at large. In the myths of the tribal is enshrined in a poetic and imaginative garb, the philosophy of these folks, their spiritual struggle to make sense of themselves and the world around them as expressed in the belief system. The questions of their understanding of life in the context of their beliefs and myths would reveal that these beliefs and myths legitimize and build into their conception of their place in the world. Every tribe has several myths, often contradictory, and in these myths gods and men live together in a supernatural world. There are also other types of myths whose sole function is to compel obedience to social customs by pointing out how so-and-so was punished by the supernatural powers for such and such offense.
Some important considerations that led to the study of the belief system or the ideological subsystem of culture2 are the following;
Firstly, most of the existing studies on the beliefs and myths confronts us with the innumerable empirical accounts but fails to give us a clear theoretical analysis linking the empirical evidences with some general theoretical framework. Accordingly, even when attempts are made to study the belief system of a particular tribal people, it still fails to understand the actual role and function of these beliefs and myths which play in the everyday life of the people.
Secondly, other studies though emphasize the socio-economic backwardness of the tribal do not attempt or fails to venture into the underlying reasons of their backwardness, bringing forth the role of the belief system in maintaining the status-quo of the system.
Lastly, and the most important reason for the present study is the sociological and anthropological fact that whatever be the manifestations of religious beliefs and myths, the people’s conception of these beliefs and myths in relation to themselves and their society is historically and culturally conditioned. In other words, while the religious beliefs and myths of the tribal people play a key role in shaping the world view of the people, their beliefs and myths themselves are conditioned by the society and its requirements.
Myth
In common parlance myth denotes sacred and explanatory stories which form a major part of the oral tradition of every society. Generally it comes under the broader classification of belief system. The original Greek term for myth (from mythos) denotes ‘word’ in the sense of a final pronouncement (Kees W Bolle, 1978:793-803). The myth as defined by Kimball Young is the imaginary interpretation of past, present or future events (Kimball Young, 1969: 196). Some definitions even denies the myth as having any historical base as they consider myths as collective believes for which historic evidence is lacking or which historic evidence denies (Arnold W Green, 1964:548). This may be true if we study myth as an ancient historical record as kept by the oral tradition but this assumption may be misleading if we ascribe or try to find in them specific historical character or event. However, we certainly could see the myth as reflecting some conditions once existed or still existing in a community (D D Kosambi, 1971:26). Myth is also a term used by many social scientists as a synonym for error or fallacy. But in a narrow technical sense myth refers to a narrative or story believed to be true by the people who tell it (Alan Dundes, 1976:279). Others define myth as a sacred or religious story and classify every other kind of tale as something different -in this case an oral literature. They identify two modern application of the word myth. Firstly, as a narrative story or a series of songs which are of religious significance - a ‘sacred story’, and secondly, as a ‘false belief’. It is true that even ordinary stories may be admonitory or instructive, point to a moral or imparting information in an agreeable easy way (G S Kirk, 1971: 26).
Myths are value impregnated beliefs and notions that men hold, that they live by or live for and are definitely a social product. Hence a student of social formation and myths cannot overlook religious ideology and ritual practices in isolation from changes in material life. Myths and rituals do not grow out in a vacuum or barren soil. They owe their origin to certain material and social environment which they sub serve and perpetuate. It is not reality that dictates to society or to individuals their social behavior but through the myths the society imposes its laws and customs upon individuals in a picturesque, effective manner; it is under a mythical form the group imperative is indoctrinated into each conscience. Through such intermediaries as religion, tradition, language, tales, songs, movies, myths penetrates even into such existences as one most harshly enslaved to material realities (Simone de Beauvoir, 1968:116). These myths take a position of reality. That is directly experienced or conceptualized on a basis of experience; in place of fact, value significance, knowledge, empirical law, it substitute a transcendental idea, timeless, unchangeable, because it is beyond the given, it is endowed with absolute truth (Ibid:110).
Hence most of the myths are guided by interests and have roots in the spontaneous attitudes of people towards their own existence and towards the world around them. It prescribes taboos and injunctions for ensuring morality, good behaviors, and manners but hardly refers to any primordial cause nor establishes any connection between human conduct and supernatural favor or disfavor (R K Mukherjee, 1949:1-3). The function of these myths is to prevent people from understanding what their social life is all about. Every day consciousness therefore cannot explain itself. It owes its existence to a developed capacity to deny the facts that explain its existence. For instance, the myth of women that claim women for hearth and home define her sentiment, inwardness and immanence is an example for such myths.
Theoretical and Methodological Perspective
The lacunae of most of the approaches to mythology have been their inability to make a link between the belief system and the socio-economic behavior of the society because these approaches may seem to provide explanations with which the ideologues of anthropology content themselves - overlooking the economic and historical conditions from which originated the ideology and law whose manifestation they observe (Claude Meillassoux, 1981:87).
The Marxist studies of myth and ritual tries to analyze the tribal societies and kinship relationship from the perspective of primitive modes of production (Tom Bottomore, 1983:23). The building-like metaphor of base and superstructure is used by Marx and Engels to propound the idea that the economic structure of society (the base) conditions the existence and form of the state and social consciousness (Jorge Larrain, 1983:42-44). In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite state of development of their material powers of production. The sum total of the relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society - the real foundation on which rise the legal and political superstructure (Karl Marx, 1968:182). But there are circumstances in which the superstructure determines what was happening in the base, ideological and political factors which affect the economy, the extent of bringing about or venting a transformation in the mode of production (Susan Himmelweit, 1983:335-37). In other words, maintaining the status- quo. Hence a student of the belief system cannot overlook the material and social environment in the formation of myths and beliefs and the particular function they perform to restrict change. For instance, many Indian epic myths serve as a social charter which defines the rights and privileges of various classes to social and economic power (R S Sharma,1983:152).
Mode of production is an organizing concept developed by Marx to explain the structure and dynamics of any given society. Mode of production means an articulated combination of relations and forces of production (Barry Hindes and Paul Hirst, 1977: 94). Marx’s thesis that “the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general” has been dogmatised by later followers and earned itself the reputation of “mechanical determinism” or “vulgar materialism” (Leslie Sklair, 1983:245-7). It was Louis Althusser’s analysis which was mainly responsible for the current widespread use of the theory in sociology and other cultural studies. Althusser’s conception postulates a mode of production and the social formation for which it is primarily responsible as a structure in ‘dominance’ in which relations of production and means of production (the economic level) dominate land and are locked into a structure of politics and ideology. Thus mode of production is not mere economy but it is the structural relationships between the means of production (raw materials, labour, land, tools, etc.) and the relations of production (the ownership of the means of action and the social relationship they entail). This emphasis on the structural relationships of the components of modes of production and social formations makes more plausible the historical analysis of any given mode of production and its political ideological (cultural) effects (Ibid).
The cultural expressions of a society or social formations are an out-growth of (though never mechanically determined by) its mode or modes of production and in societies where antagonistic class relation exist there will never be simply one “value system” accepted more or less by all members of society. Rather diverse and conflicting values represent the needs and interests of dominant and dominated class (Gail Omvedt, 1980:15-22). It was in this sense Emmanuel Terray, elucidating the primitive socio-economic formation of Guro - quoting Althusser - said that the primitive social formation is the result of the combination of at least two distinct modes of production, one of which is dominant and the other subordinate and produces specific effects which account for the concrete form taken on by the juridico-political and logical superstructure (Emmanuel Terray,1972:179). Hence the so-called primitive society can be explained in terms of the co-operation of labour existing in that society. But this criterion alone is not enough with reference to the antagonistic socio-economic formations which not only appropriates the nature but also is subjected to social exploitation (Jagnath Pathy,1982:279).
Paniyans of Purakkadi
The mode of production in Purakkadi village – as elsewhere in Wynad – was a general transition from tribalism to feudalism to capitalism. The most enduring and influencing phase was the feudalism which left an indelible impression on the minds of the native people. The Paniyans of Wynad is one of the numerically dominant tribal community in Kerala, whose main occupation is agricultural labour. The current mythology and the belief system of the Paniyans are the vestiges of the earlier mythopoeic period i.e., the feudalism. The original beliefs and myths belonging to the past tribal period is no longer cherished but if at all remembered, are remembered only in the cosmology or changed to suit the feudal relations. An attempt is made to analyze the interrelation between the beliefs and myths and the production relations. Although the Purakkadi village is selected for this study, occasional de tours are adopted in the collection of the beliefs and myths because the belief system cannot be confined to a smaller geographical area.
The main concern of this paper is to analyze the role and function of the beliefs and myths of the Paniyans in maintaining their position in the socio-economic milieu. Hence it is important to review the Paniyan’s beliefs and myths in the light of the socio-economic relations that the community has with that of the larger community. Such an analysis may bring out the interrelationship between the two and the role and function of the belief system in perpetuating the existing social structure. Multiple tools were employed to collect the necessary data for the study. A village network survey was conducted to understand the social and economic relations existed in the village. Extensive interviews were conducted with several individuals – often in the night – to collect the details regarding the beliefs and myths. One of the important tools of data collection was observation and this method has been employed frequently, especially during occasions like temple festivals, marriage ceremonies, death ceremonies and rituals.
The scheme of the following analysis is based on the mythological motif index classified by Stith Thompson and the agricultural cycle is analyzed on the basis of the calendar order. (Stith Thomson, 1966:29-35).Tracing down to the present religious beliefs and practices of the Paniyans reveals a striking pattern of the simultaneous existence of the traditional belief and Hindu belief, though the traditional beliefs find limited spread and circulation among the present generation. More and more Paniyans were positively Hinduised and it is logically follows that the Hindu agricultural ceremonies are reflected as part of the Paniyan belief system.
MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS
1. Creation and Ordering of Human Life.
a. Primeval Pair:
Every tribe will have numerous myths about the origin of the tribe. In their own opinion, the history of the Paniyans is as follows.
The history of the Paniyans begins at the Baralam Kotta mala (the Banasuran mountain) in the north Wynad. The Ippi mala (the Ippi hill) of the Paniyans imagination is supposed to be the Banasuran mountain or simply the Banan kotta. According to the myth there was a temple on the Ippi mala called Ippi mala myla for the god Ippi mala teyya (God of the Ippi mala), One elder achen (Brahmin priest) and a Goundan (Jain) priest performed pooja at the temple. An Uralikuruman attended to the cleaning of the temple and the surrounding and washed the vessels of the temple in a nearby pool. He often came across two children, one girl and a boy picking the rice petals strewn at the bank. The girl looked elder to the boy. They fled at the sight of the Uralikuruman. With the consent of the priest he trapped them and kept them in captivity. All attempts to trace their parents or people of their appearance in the forest around Ippi mala were futile. Gradually, under the care of the temple priest they learned to dress and live like human beings. As the children became familiar, they started to assist their masters. The boy grazed the cattle of the Goundan and the girl assisted the Uralikuruman in cleaning. Since the attempts to find out their whereabouts were futile the temple priest and the Uralikuruman decided to get them married with the advice that they are sister and brother from waist up of the body and husband and wife from the waist down. They later had ten children, five boys and five girls. When these children grew up, to facilitate the marriage they were separated and made to stay in separate houses and were later married. According to the myth they were the foremost ancestors and the Paniyans refer to them as pantheerappanmara, meaning twelve ancestors. The Paniyans have great respects especially to the first two who are separately referred to as the ippi mala muthassi and ippi male muthappe (great grandparents of the Ippi mountain). The legend further says that from Ippi mala onwards they had been under the control of the Goundan and people of his community and made to work in their fields. The Goundan later on sold them to others like the Chettys and the Nairs. It is quite clear that after they had come in contact with the peasant communities they have been over-powered by the latter and were in a state of continued servitude (Kulirani B.F,1984).
A second variation of the history of the Paniyans starts at the Baralam Kotta mala (Banasuran mountain) in the north Wynad. The Ippi mala of the Paniyan’s imagination is here. The Paniyans are the children of the Ippi mala. It is said that the Paniyans were germinated (oothi mulakkukka) by the Padachavan (Creator) at the Ippi mala. In the beginning there were only two of them, one brother and one sister. They wandered about nakedly in the forest for wild fruits and roots. The Paniyans version of the relation between the two is as follows;
‘Arena meethalekku aangalum penkalum
Arena thakekku aanum pennum’
(brother and sister above the navel
husband and wife below the navel)
Since they were alone in the forest they could not keep their brother-sister relation and they mated and reproduced. Their number grew and in the night they came out from the caves where they dwelt and tried to steal the crops of the Goundan and Chetty. The Goundan and Chetty succeeded in trapping a Paniyan with the help of a net during the kayama paddy (a variety of paddy) cultivation. All the other Paniyans ran off. The Goundan and the Chetty fed the trapped Paniyan with good food and made them happy and then later on released them. Giving freedom to the captive was a tactics. The Paniyans who enjoyed the happiness of the modern life went back to his people only to take them with him to the modern world. They started working for the Goundan and Chetty. As the Paniyans were found to be good workers the Goundan and the Chetty engaged them as their permanent laborers. Thus they became the Paniyan (worker) of the Goundan, Chetty, Kurichiyan, Thiyya, etc. (Somasekharan Nair P,1976: 54-60)
A third variation about the primeval pair is as follows. Long ago, there lived the Uthappan and Uthamma, the great grandparents of all Paniyans. Above the navel they were brother and sister, below they were man and woman. They called themselves kachavan – meaning, ‘the savages’. One day they were wandering through the jungle in search of fruit. They were seen by the Ippi mala Goundan (One Paniyan said it was Ippi mala Nambiar). He baited them with some food. A fibre net to catch them was fabricated by the Bettakuruman (UraliKuruman) of the Ippi mala. The net was cast. Uthappan and Uthamma arrived to eat the remains of the cooked food and they were caught.
The Bettakuruman brought the two before the Goundan, who asked them, “Of which caste are you? Which clan? ” and they replied, “We are the lowest caste, lower than all castes, all classes” (‘Naanka chaatilekkum thaantha chaathi’).
The Goundan made them his slaves and the kachavan became a Paniyan. The Goundan wanted more slaves and so he asked them to increase their tribe. It seems a trick was played on them. The powder of a certain herb was sprinkled on them. It made them itch all over. They tried to soothe each other and were aroused and mated. They gave birth to five sons and five daughters (Baby K.J, 1985:34-50)
b. The Origin of the Tribe and the Origin of the Servitude
The three versions of the origin of the tribe point to the domestication of the Paniyans. Though the details slightly differ in each version, the main theme is centered on how the primitive food gathering tribe was made the laborers of an affluent class. The representative of the affluent class is always a Goundan (follower of Jainism) who with the help of an already servile tribe viz., the BettaKuruman or Uralikuruman ensnared the Paniyan into their fold as the laborers. Hence the Goundans (Jains who were powerful before the age of the British or the Kottayam kings) must be the first people who ‘owned’ the Paniyans. The purpose of their capture was to secure enough workers and there was the need of prolific reproduction so that their landlord played the trick of the powder on them and consequently they multiplied. This corresponds to the Paniyans wish to have at least ten children. Baiting the people who were in the food gathering stage with cooked food is also significant. The uncertainty of procuring the next food was resolved and that too in a tasty manner. The steady supply of food made them stay on with their masters even though that meant work. In the first version, we get the idea of how the wandering Paniyans were initiated into work not directly related to food gathering. They started by assisting the already servile Uralikuruman in grazing the cattle and washing the vessels. Gradually they became the transferable commodity and they became the slaves of almost all other communities. For example, Chettiyane Paniyan (of the Muslims), Tiyyane Paniyan (of the Thiyya), and Achane Paniyan (of the Kurichiyan) and of the other Hindus.
The myth of the origin of the Paniyan tribe finds specific point of reference since the myth mentions a geographical land mark, the Banasuran mountain in the north Wynad from where the primordial pair started their life. The mythical landscape bears testimony in the native’s mind of the truth of the myth. Here the mythical word receives sustenance in the hill and all these bring the mythological world close to the native and make it tangible and permanent (Michael W Young, 1981: 237).The high degree to which the mythical world is related to the detailed features of the actual world is a main feature of the mythical world of primitive belief. Not only is every clan and local group defined in terms of the ancestral progenitors and the mythical events of settlement, every mountain, rock and tree is explained in terms of the actions of or the mythical beings (Bellah R N, 1969: 270).
The myth of the origin of the Paniyan actually is a societal myth or myth of social identification which give order and structure to particular societal group. Through the myth the Paniyans position as a slave laborer who had been caught and domesticated by others who were in a higher level viz., the Jain or Hindu landlords is established. Hence the myth functions to define the group limits and explain why varying social levels exist (Gerald A Lorane, 1975: 21). The question arises now as to the Paniyans adherence to Hinduism rather than to Jainism which is assumed to be the dominant group ideology during the Paniyans domestication. It is a well-known fact that the age of Jainism declined in Wynad by the advent of Hinduism and whatever allegiance the Paniyan held towards Jainism might have transferred to Hinduism by the passage of time. It is true that the values to which lower status groups aspire may not be Brahmanical, but these groups, just coming into the Hindu system or striving to raise their status tend to be responsive to the values and practices of the dominant group in their immediate locality. (David M. Morris, 1967:588-607)
The production relation between the Paniyan and the other communities and the position of Paniyan in it is prescribed through the myth and the perpetual servitude of the Paniyans to their masters is secured. Even if the Paniyan tried to show his consternation and rage at being the slave, the other beliefs and myths made him helpless and resigned as the following analysis manifest.
C. Determination of Span of Life.
The reason for death is usually attributed to the completion of period of life in this world and the death occurs at the injunction from the Padachavan (Creator) to the Paniyan. This is known as the vayasethi or samayamethi maranam (death due to the person’s life coming to an end). The other reasons for death are odivekkal and maaranam (sorcery and black magic).
The Paniyan conceive of two soul components. The nizhelu and the pene. The nizhelu (shadow of the person) goes, after the death to the akaasam (the sky) which is the abode of Padachavan. The other, the pene or badha remains as an ancestral spirit and goes to the keeyu loka or kee naadu (The land below or the land of the dead). The Paniyan believe that the living persons live in the me naadu (the earth) and the dead persons are transformed into the pene and the body of the person also goes to the kee naadu to be merged with it. In the akaasam the nizhelu cannot speak to the other nizhelus for seven days until the ceremonies of the kakka pola, are over. Until then the nizhelu is believed to be chained around the waist and hanged in order not to escape from the akaasam. Only after the seventh day’s ceremony the dead person’s nizhelu will be joined with other nizhelus of the akaasam. The nizhelu is not allowed to go to the kee naadu also as it is believed that the pene living there will destroy the nizhelu. The nizhelu is believed to go to the akaasam in the form of the human figure. The Padachavan takes the nizhelu and give it to another of his creation - another Paniyan. Hence the nizhelu perpetuate forever. In every janmam (birth) the Paniyan is already under a master. There is no escape for the nizhelu other than to be reborn as a Paniyan over and over. Even the master will not change. The same master, the same slave in all births. (Baby K J, 1985: 34-50)
The other soul component, the pene, travels to another world, which is called the kee naadu or the keeyu loka. Both the good and the bad goes to the same place. There are no different concepts like the hell or the heaven. In the keeyu loka, the dead or the pene will have the same occupation as they were on the earth. They will work under the same master even in the keeyu loka. The bondages in the material world continue in the yonder world also. In short, there is no freedom for the Paniyan neither in the me naadu nor in the kee naadu.
The Kalenkankoranan (the god of death in the Paniyan mythology) is the lord of the keeyu loka. Once there, the dead person’s pene, begins work as a watcher over the fields of the Kalenkonkaranan. While one is keeping watch the Kalenkonkaranan’s cattle comes and feeds on the crop. The pene escapes from the guard post during the agitation and runs into the forest, evading the eyes of the Kalenkonkaranan. The pene climbs up a huge palm tree in the middle of the forest and hides among the palm leaves. The Kalenkonkaranan comes and finds out the hiding pene to whom he says that he has pardoned it for its misdemeanor and to be careful in future. The pene comes down and the Kalenkonkaranan introduces it to all its ancestors dwelling in the deathless keeyu loka. The pene goes along with them to work for whom-so-ever it worked in its life in the me naadu. It is still the lowest of all castes but deathless.
Nobody dares to doubt this belief since it is feared that the rebels of the kee naadu would be thrown into the sea. There is nothing to be done other than to pray to the penas who are supposed to be benevolent to the living in the me naadu. Hence they pray to the dead;
“Thou who died yesterday, do look after me;
Thou who faded away yesterday do look after me”.
The song is called penappattu or chathappattu and is sung during the pola (rituals for the dead) in order to appease the penas who have love and regard for their living relatives in the me naadu.
Paniyans used to shift from one dwelling to another after the death of a person in the hamlet because they believed that the dead Person’s pene will come to visit its previous homestead to make sure that it is honored even after its death. To avoid the disturbances from the pene they destroy all the huts and shift to a new dwelling after the kakka pola ceremony. The landlord was also favorable to the shifting because he will get a new patch of his forest cleared without much effort. More than a superstition of the Paniyan, this may be a tradition taught by the janmis (landlords). Another belief is that the dead person’s pene would come to the living to do good or bad for its relatives. To receive the good services from a dead person is called moradakkuka and if some good things happened to a person he will ascribe the incident to the dead person with whom he had made friendship.
d. Origin of Sex Functions
Even after the primeval pair started living as husband and wife, the woman did not conceive or gave birth to a child. So in order to produce off-springs, an oracle has been summoned and he chanted some prayers and produced some medicine which he mixed with some cooked rice. He told the man to give the rice to the woman and not to eat the rice himself and should give it only to the woman. But the man forgot the warning of the oracle and ate the rice. As a result the man conceived but was not able to give birth to a child due to the lack of sex organs. The woman also conceived from him and was able to give birth to a child. One version of the story says that the man died because he could not deliver the child and the other version says that from him the woman gave birth to ten children, five boys and five girls.
The Paniyans believe that the children are god-given and to let a child die of neglect is a cardinal sin. In the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy, they observe the rituals called poota aattu or muri aattu in order to ward-off evil spirits which might have influenced the pregnant woman, while she was outside the house. If the infant died, the death is ascribed to some fault in the poota aattu or due to the spiritual possession of some ancestors or to the incomplete payment of bride price.
2. Acquisition of Culture.
a. Acquisition of Livable Environment: The Legend of Modaikantan
Culture is the veritable solution to basic adaptive problems of every community and every community cherish some idea of how they happened to possess certain material and non-material cultural items. The Paniyans are also no exception. They have a story to relate the geographical features of Wynad and the adjoining Mysore Plateau. More than a mere description of the land and its terrains, the story is an expression of the Paniyans pent-up capacity to adapt to and even change the face of earth.
After the first Paniyan pair was originated at the Ippi mala, they were married and lived as husband and wife. They bore ten children; nine were healthy and started living in different parts of the land. The tenth boy was a cripple of one leg and one hand. His name was Kantan. As the children grew up, Kantan said to his siblings that he will not stay with them as he would become a burden to them. So he wanted to go away to some other place where he could see a vast stretch of land unobstructed by hills and valleys. His healthy brothers and sisters could work the undulating stretch of Wynad. So he went eastwards, away from his kin. He leveled vast stretches of land with tava or njavari (a wooden instrument to level the paddy fields) and as he proceeded to the Mysore plains he filled his fields with water to show to his landlords that the land has become perfectly level. His mother seeing the leveled land become astonished with her son’s fete blessed him and said that he will thereafter be known as Modaikantan (The cripple Kantan).
b. Acquisition of Food Supply: How Humans Got Paddy
In olden times, the Paniyans subsisted on wild tubers and ragi (millet). The Paniyan became fed-up with eating only ragi and tubers and their life was a misery. Their life was explained as,
“Naalu mala mela naareyum verum
Moonu mala mela muttiyum theeyum”.
This means that the Paniyan had subsisted on the wild roots called naaran from the four mountains and the firewood from the three mountains. It was a fish named thodan or mattan who helped the Paniyans to bring paddy to them. In the past only the kings and rulers had paddy. The ragi told to the paddy that they can go to the other land where the Paniyans lived. But the paddy denied the offer by saying that, “I would not come, because the people will eat me up, you can go for yourself”. So the ragi with the help of the thodan fish bored a hole on the nose of the paddy and put a thread through it and dragged him to the land. On their way the thodan fish and the ragi consoled the paddy by saying that “even though we are eaten by the humans, we are also cultivated by them”. The dent on the paddy grain is said to be the hole made by the thodan fish and ragi.
c. Acquisition of Other Necessities: The Tools
As the early ancestors of the Paniyan started living at Ippi mala after the creation, the Padachavan (the Creator) started to give the occupation, tools and other implements to all who had gathered there. Each section of the people took whatever they got. As the distribution of the tools and implements progressed, and when the plough was about to be given away, the Paniyan didn’t go to take the plough. One old Paniyan woman (morathi) said, “Don’t take it, we will get something in the end, we will take whatever is left over after all other communities take their due”. Hence what the Paniyan got in the end was a small digging hoe (kothalu kaikottu). They took the small hoe and started digging with it which resulted in getting them many edible roots and tubers. The first thing they were able to dig out was the naaran kizhangu (a wild tuber). Subsequently they were able to dig out chama (panicum), cucumber, pepper, cholam (sorghum) etc.
d. Acquisition of Crafts: How They Became Agriculturists
The Paniyan ascribe the acquisition of different crafts by different communities to the ordaining of their theyya (the god). For instance, the theyya ascribed the duties of collection of the forest produces like the honey to the Kattunaikan or Jenu kuruman, the jobs like felling trees, pottery, etc., to the Uralikuruman and the agriculture to the Paniyan. The Paniyans were given the work related to the cheru (mud) and they have a saying among them;
“the one who is walking in front is with head and horn,
the one who is walking behind belongs to the mud” (chettadium)
The one who walks in front signifies the draught animals while the one who walks behind the plough is the Paniyan. To the Paniyans, the Kattunaikans are malayadium
(belonging to the mountain and forest) because their occupation is the collection of the forest produces.
The main theme of the above mentioned mythological motifs of culture is basically centered on the Paniyans occupation, viz., the agricultural labor. The explanatory nature of the narrations on the present status of the Paniyan as agricultural laborers is reinforced over and over through these myths. The super human effort of leveling vast stretches of undulating land, narrated in the legend of the Modaikantan is to be analyzed symbolically in the light of the Paniyans claim of developing most of the land in Wynad. The claim gives the Paniyan a lot of self-esteem, though they were mere workers to the others. The symbolic achievement of leveling the undulating land single-handedly reminds the Paniyan of his innate capacity to work hard and Modaikantan’s work was rewarded in the end by earning him a permanent place in the mind of the Paniyans. This is important because the Paniyans are considered “lazy” by their employers, due to their nature of abstaining from going to work if they have something to eat. Their usual nature is to work for some days, earn some money or rice and keep away from going to work, if they can, till the money or rice is exhausted. The presence of the landlord in the story and the Paniyan as a laborer who tries to please his landlord again reinforces the Paniyan’s position as a laborer.
The importance of paddy cultivation over the other crops has been stressed in the explanatory myth of how the humans got paddy as a food item. It is important that the innate contradiction contained in the myth that the paddy had to be forcefully brought to the human world where the superior class had already the knowledge of the grain and were eating it. The statement gain historical meaning when we analyze the fact that the paddy cultivation was practiced by the non tribal communities in the distant past where as the tribals subsisted on the shifting cultivation of millet on the hill slopes. The nostalgic thoughts about the previous food gathering stage is also mentioned in the myth. The myth functions to the acceptance of a superior class of paddy consumers to that of the ragi consumers. Hence the paddy had to be brought to the Paniyans by using supernatural means.
The Paniyan beliefs related to the paddy cultivation is numerous. It is interesting to note that no associated rituals can be seen with regard to the cash crops like tea, coffee, pepper or even to the food crops like ragi, wild tubers, etc. The cultivation of ragi have no related beliefs or ceremonies unlike the paddy which is considered as the anna rajavu (king of food). The rice is supposed to be the food of both the living and the dead or rotten. (chathathelekkum kettathekum ulla annam). To throw away rice is considered a sacrilege by the Paniyans.
Sowing of paddy during the month of Kumbhom (February- March) has a variety of rituals associated with it. The landlord directed the Paniyan to sow the seed and the Kootan, taking a bath early in the morning, performs the sowing. He takes up a lighted lamp and a winnow full of seeds to the ploughed paddy field and sows the seed. The call of a chempuppan bird (the crow pheasant) heard during the sowing is considered auspicious. The Paniyan is given food, betel leaves and arecanuts, etc., by the landlord.
As mentioned later in the analysis of the kaithakuthal and kathirukettal (thulapath) ceremonies, the myth is a logical consequence of imbibing the ruling class ideology by the ruled.
The acquisition of crafts and other necessities by the Paniyan by the myths (2.c and d) points to the divine ordination of the Paniyans status as an agricultural laborer from that of the food gatherer. Mountford, in his analysis of the Australian aboriginal mythology says about the stone age people that these people have myths which link, lightening, thunder and the stone axe (Charles P Mountford,1955:129). Similar association of myths with that of the production process could be found among almost all communities. For instance, the Yanomamo myth of the first beings narrates the specific function of the first beings such as creating a useful plant or object, many of them bear the names of plants and animals that are important in the Yanomamo economy (Napoleon Chagnon, 1968:45) and among the Trobriand Islanders as described by Malinowski where there is no beliefs and magic related to Trobriand fishing in the inner lagoon done in an easy and absolutely reliable manner (where man can rely completely upon his skill and knowledge) and extensive rituals and beliefs connected with dangerous angling of open sea, where there is full of danger and uncertainty (Bronislaw Malinowski, 1954:28-30). Hence the supernatural elements comes into play at points of stress in the economic and social order where ordinary procedures and arrangements are insufficient to sustain the system (Marshall D Sahlins, 1968:98)
3. Distribution and Differentiation of People
a. Origin of Different Classes: Social and Professional
The political institution like the kootan and koima is of rather recent origin - during the reign of the Kottayam kings. The rajas (Kings) were known as valampiri or mattomkottu tampuran. The king collected revenue through the Nair landlords. The kootan’s or koima’s duty was to assist the landlords to collect the paattom and carry it to the mattomkottu tarwad (family). The Paniyan got three sers or one kulagom3 of paddy as transporting and service charges. The myth in which the Paniyans were brought to work for the mattomkottu tampuran is as follows:
Adiyans were the workers attached to the mattomkottu tamparan. At the instruction of the malankari daivom (the goddess of the Mattomkottu temple) the tampuran discarded the Adiyan laborers as they were considered ‘impure’ (Adiya women observed only one day’s menstrual pollution). The goddess instructed the tampuran to replace Adiyans with the Paniyans who observed three days menstrual pollution. The goddess also wished that the Paniyans from a place called Adayattu to be brought to work in the fields and temple of the tampuran. These Paniyans belonged to four lineages that were given powers over all the other Paniyans in Wynad by the malankari daivom. The goddess also gave them an office called mattomkottu kootan. The tampuran gave the insignia of the office viz., the vadi (stick), kuda (umbrella) and the bale (brass bangle) to the head of the Koyimuttan lineage. The Nattilappadan was also given a paricha (shield) along with the above insignia. The lineages Moothedan and Padikkan were given certain roles to assists the first two in the socio-economic, religious and political activities. These four illoms (lineages) among the numerous Paniyan illoms are associated with a special status and the elders of the above four illoms constituted the supreme political authority of the Paniyan tribe and were known as the mattomkottu koyma. An illom would have more than one chemmi with a specific area of operation called naadu. The chemmi is the religious head who supervise marriage and death ceremonies and conducts services like daivom thullal or kooli urayal (divination) and sastram nokkal or maniyidal (astrological prediction) on request.
b. Characteristics of Various Peoples in Their Personal Appearance; How They Got Their Dress
The Padachavan had convened all the people at a place and told them to dress up in whatever materials they got - leaves or cloths. An Urali tribal women tried to tie the cloth around her waist but was failed to do so. A Paniyan woman used a long cloth (the araatti) to tie the dhoti around her waist. The Uralichi tried for a long time and managed to wrap the cloth around her armpits very loosely. That is how each group has a different style of dressing.
Justification for Political Power
Divine ordination of political power to a section of a society, or a family or an individual is a usual method by which the political power is held and transferred from one generation to the other. The Paniyan myth of the selection of the headman is also no exception. The relatively recent origin as evidenced by the particular mention of the royal dynasty points to the fact that the office of the kootan was instituted by the ruling power for the benefit of their vested interest, replacing whatever tribal institution the Paniyans might have had. The claims of ritual purity of Paniyan over the Adiyans acts as a morale booster for the former as it gives them some measure of superiority than the community of almost, equal standing. The myth provides a validation for the political authority. They are rather a means of expressing the attitudes and values which are current in the society (John Beattie, 1972:160). Its function always is to maintain the status-quo and to validate the existing order. The myths show that it is right for the rulers to rule and the governed to be governed. And it is reasonable to suppose that the subject may find subjection less irksome and the rulers rule with more assurance, when all share the conviction that the existing order is divinely inspired (Ibid:161). Commenting on the Chola mythical genealogies, Spencer comments that authenticating a ruling family’s ancestral credentials customarily prompted eulogists to compare a story of miraculous origin and impressive descent, so one might suppose that credibility, not just rhetorical virtuosity, of these accounts was relevant to establishing dynastic legitimacy (George W Spencer, 1984:415-432). Meillassoux, elaborating on the myth and social control says that when class domination is established over such communities it is expressed in the language of kinship even when it originate from outside. The ruling class or the sovereign, who represents it, is identified with the elder or with the father (Claude Meillassoux, 1981:86).
THE ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL CYCLE AND FESTIVALS
In the following passages an attempt is made to analyse the annual agricultural cycle and the associated festivals. (See table. 1)
4. Agricultural Cycle
The beginning of the agricultural year is from the month of Meenam (March-April) because it was then the new farm-hands were recruited by the landlords in the pre-capitalist period. The recruitment used to coincide with the Valliyoorkaavu festival which is usually conducted from Meenam first to the fourteenth. When the harvest of the second crop (punja) gather momentum, the landlord is in search of the required number of laborers, avoiding the weak and the unskilled. The Valliyoorkaavu system or kundalpani provided the congenial condition for such a selection.
There are many myths which relate the origin of the goddess of Valliyoorkaavu. The most popular among them is the Hindu version of the incarnation. This is connected with a sword. The Naluveetil Nambiars were the velichappadanmar (oracles) of the Kodungallur Bhagavati temple. They carried the sword − the Bhagavati’s sign − with them wherever they went. One day two of them on their way to Thirunelli, lost their way in the forest. The more they tried to find their way out the more lost they seemed. Tired at last, they decided to take a dip in the nearby river. After bath, pooja was done to the sword and it was placed on top of an ant-hill. Then the two velichappedanmar lay down nearby to take a short nap. When they woke up the sword had disappeared. They grew frantic. A Kurichiya tribal shepherd boy brought the news that a sword was found dangling from creepers which grew on top of a hill. As their efforts to free it from the creepers failed, they prayed to the Bhagvati; “valli ooramma” (Mother, remove the creepers). The Edachana Nair and Vemom Nambiar (two caste Hindu landlords) heard of this strange happening and came to the place. When they arrived the sword just fell down and disappeared into the earth. The goddess (through the oracle) ordered the Kottayam raja who had arrived at the scene, that the goddess wishes to settle there in three forms - as vana durga (goddess of the forest), where the sword fell; as jala durga (goddess of the river) and bhadra kali (an aspect of durga - usually ferocious) in between the two shrines. The Kottayam raja built the kaavu (temple) and the kaavilamma (goddess) enshrined.
The tribals were supposed to have received importance in the affairs of the temple because they helped to find the divine sword. The kootan Paniyan of the valliyoorkaavu was given the hereditary right to collect the fire wood and plantain leaves for the temple’s requirements.
However the myths regarding the origin of the Valliyoorkaavu differ from one tribe to another in which some significant part was played by the respective tribals. The myth of Valliyoorkaavu narrated by Palan of Karimath hamlet in Purakkadi village is as follows:
The whole place where the present temple is situated was a thick, dark jungle where the Paniyans used to go to gather the wild roots and tubers. Once two Paniya sisters went there to gather naaran kizhangu ( a kind of wild tuber) and they found somebody swinging on a creeper beside the river. They got afraid and ran to their hut to report the matter. The kootan Paniyan went to the scene and found the goddess who told him that she is there for their wellbeing and benefit. The goddess asked the Paniyan to keep the whole incident a secret and asked him to follow her. They reached the river bank and as the Paniyan was hesitated to get into the water, the goddess made the river water move along the two sides making a path across the river. The Paniyan and the goddess crossed over to the other side of the river where the Paniyan found a new house. The goddess awarded the Paniyan the required land and wealth to look after her by building a shrine. The Paniyan even after receiving the land and wealth was not assured of his ability to carry out the temple duties. He started speaking the matter to the people outside and later left the rights, land and wealth to the Hindu landlords. This action of the kootan of leaving the rights and wealth of the goddess even after she had bestowed on him all rights and wealth angered the goddess who cursed the Paniyan that a person - young or old in the family - would die during the annual festival of the temple. The dead body was supposed to be kept inside the hut till the end of the festival and nobody outside would know about the death. The kootan Paniyan of the Valliyoorkaavu however got some attached rights like collecting the fuel wood, plantain leaves and holding the flag and lamp during the festivals.
The Goddess and the Element of Fear : So much for the importance of this myth for inculcating an element of fear in the minds of the Paniyans about the wrath of the goddess for not fulfilling the wishes of her whims. The deviance from the allegiance would be dealt with severely - with the utmost punishment - death. The Paniyans believe that the Valliyoorkaavu bhagavati (balleeramma in Paniyan language, here the meaning may be ‘ballee irunna amma’ - the mother who sat on the creeper) will fulfill any wish or hardship if proper offerings are made.
The bonded labor system of Wynad in which the Valliyoorkaavu played a prominent role has to be analyzed in this context. The Valliyoorkaavu gave a certain order to the slave labor in Wynad and made it a festival-centered system of one year bondage at a time - from one Valliyoorkaavu to the next. The paraphernalia of the festival - the crowds, the traders, the entertainments, etc., attracted the tribals to the festival grounds from all parts of Wynad. With the nilpu panam or Valliyoorkaavu panam which varies from place to place and was about Rs. 10/- per adult male and Rs 8/- per adult female and Rs. 2/- to Rs. 5/- per child in the age group 10 to 18 which they received in advance as they proceeded to the temple. Instead of this money sometimes a fixed amount of paddy known as kundal4 was paid to a Paniyan household. All the Paniyan households who had agreed to work with a landlord were to be feasted on the eve of the festival before they proceeded to the temple. The Paniyan women were to husk the necessary paddy required for the feast. (Kulirani B.F,1984). Once the nilpu panam is accepted from an employer, a laborer has to work under him for the whole of the next year. The Valliyoorkaavu festival became an inevitable aspect of the bonded labor system in Wynad. The festival served mainly two functions. It was there the landlords and the laborers met and the landlords selected the required number of laborers. It was here the laborers made themselves bonded for a year. The Paniyans were afraid to break the unwritten deed since the agreement was made in front of their fearsome goddess. The awe and reverence for the goddess is reinforced by the ceremonies of the annual festival. Unlike most of the other temples the tribals suffered no restrictions for the entry into the temple. This gave the tribals the feeling that the temple and festival as their own. The purpose of the non-restriction seems to be intentional, that is to allow the believers including the tribals to see and understand the dreadful consequence of not obeying the goddess.
Though the Valliyoorkavu festival was celebrated from the first of Meenam to the fourteenth, the important ceremonies are conducted in the last four days i.e., from 11th to 14th. The important special ceremonies other than the usual poojas conducted during the two weeks are ari alavu (measuring the rice for the feast), dehannum charthal (starting the culinary work) and kazhnam murikkal (slicing the vegetables) indicating that free meals will be served for the devotees during the festival days. These are ritualized invitation for the tribals to participate in the festival who are assured of a free meal and they are the main customers. The other rituals are kalamezhuthupattu, (song sung in front of the designs on the ground drawn with indigenous colors), kalathilattom (dancing over the kalam), ganapathi homam (pooja offered to the god ganapathi), oppana varavu (arrival of the Bhagavati’s ornaments and dress), thidambu ezhunnallikkal (taking out the idol in procession), adiyara varavu (paying homage to the goddess by bringing tender coconuts tied to a stick and carried on the shoulders), aarat (ritual bathing) etc.
The Ganapathi homam is conducted early in the morning for the entire two weeks to appease the god for the smooth, un-hindered functioning of the festival ceremonies. The right to bring the festival flag post of bamboo was with the Katharothu Kurichcha tribal family. The most important ceremony in the festival is connected with the oppana darsanam (seeing the true form of the Bhagavati). The ceremonies like oppana varavu, thidembu ezhunnallikkal, kalamezhuttu pattu, kalathilattom etc, are associated with each other and preliminary to the oppana darsanam. The oppana koppukal (the holy ornaments) of the goddess which was kept at the Cherankot Namboothiri illom was taken out ceremoniously at about ten o’ clock in the night from the Mele kaavu and brought to the Thazhe kaavu on caparisoned elephants. This is called thidambu ezhunnallikal. The flag and the torch bearers belonged to the Paniyan tribals. Tribal girls participated in the thaalapoli (a customary way of propitiating gods by young girls in rows holding plates containing, lamps, flowers, rice, etc.) The kannadi (mirror idol) is placed inside a small enclosure (manippattu) in front of the thazhe kavu. Meanwhile a kalam (design) is drawn on the floor with various indigenous color powders inside the thazhe kavu. Three persons belonging to the Kuruppan caste sing a song called paattu. A Brahmin priest performs a pooja in front of the kalam called kalam pooja. After the pooja a participant of the paattu starts to perform a ritual around the kalam wielding the ceremonial sword which is handed over to him by the poojari (priest). The oracle cuts away the hanging flowers one by one simultaneously wiping the kalam with his legs. The ritual gradually gathered momentum and the oracle starts to utter some harsh sounding calls. He runs around the kalam several times in a trance which recedes after some time. All the while the devotees belonging to Nair, Thiyyan, tribals and others watch the performance. It is important that the Paniyan kootan of the Valliyoorkavu hamlet is present at the ceremony along with some of his tribesmen. During the performance of the oracle some preparations are done inside the temple. After sometime, the priest and the oracle take one sword each and stand in front of the sanctum sanctorum. Suddenly the door opens partially while all persons present there stand in prayers with folded arms. The priest and the oracle moves aside after having a glimpse of the oppana, enabling others to have a look. The doors are opened only partially and is closed after two or three seconds and again opened and closed. The process is repeated for about five minutes. It is during the momentary instances of opening and closing that one is able to see the life-size swaroopam (the actual image of the goddess) of the Bhadra kaali. The swaroopam is so horrifying a sight that children turns their head from the specter out of fear. The life-sized image is black with red cloths, the eyes bulged, the tongue protruded through the blood stained teeth, a sword pointed to strike and the golden ornaments shined in the dim lit sanctum sanctorum. Some tribals including the Paniya men, women and children are among the spectators. This ceremony is conducted for the last three days of the festival. The manifestation of the goddess in her ferocious mood is an obvious warning to the devotee of the potential nature of the anger of the goddess when provoked. This image cast an indelible fear in the minds of the tribals which was reinforced with the aforementioned myth of the origin of the goddess and the tribals role in it as the victim of the goddess’ wrath.
Another belief which the Paniyan hold about the Valliyoorkaavu pertained to the jala devata (goddess of the river) which was supposed to inhabit the maltsya theerthom (holy ghat of the fishes) in the river Kabani - here the river is known as Mannanthavady puzha. The fish in the ghat was considered holy since they are thought to be the vassals of the jala devata. The tribals offers pori (fried paddy) in the belief that if the fish eat the offering there is nothing to worry about death in the near future for the person who has made the offering and if the fish did not take the offering it is believed that it was the indication that the longevity of the one who offered it is shortened.
The aforementioned incidents throw light on some of the underlying aspects of the tribal belief. To the first myth, their role in finding the lost sword had earned them the right to supply the necessary pooja materials to the temple, thus making them associate with the affairs of the Hindu belief. The Hindu hegemony and the dominance of the caste Hindus were justified as they allowed the tribals certain roles to play during the festivals and ceremonies like bringing the fire wood and plantain leaves, carrying the festival flags and torches, etc. And it was necessary to ensure all the other tribals participate in the Hindu festival thereby making them group together at a single place. What else is there than free food available to lure the communities who depended on the forest or as chattel slaves of the early Canarese farmers of the eastern Wynad? The conformity to the Hindu fold was literally forced upon the tribals in the form of the ‘fear of death’ as depicted in the origin myth of the Valliyoorkaavu Bhagavati and the belief about the jala durga. The fear of the divine anger runs as an undercurrent of any institutionalized religion (Upton Sinclair, 1936:24). And only when we correlate the fear of death - the ultimate punishment for a non-conformist - to that of the Valliyoorkaavu system or kundal pani of assuring the supply of uninterrupted labor force for the coming agricultural season, in a world free from bondage and plenty of forest to lead a tribal way of life, that we could positively assume that the tribal myth and belief were accessory to the Valliyoorkavu system and not the other way round. The ‘religion’ in this sense becomes a natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation (Ibid:17) As Harris observes, these wrappings give a people a social identity and a sense of social purpose, but they conceal the naked truths of social life (Marvin Harris, 1975:5)
5. Agricultural Cycle and Related Festivals:
The agricultural operations have a definite bearing with the related festivals. Accordingly, a perusal of the festivals associated with the cultivation becomes necessary.
On Meenam fourteenth, the Valliyoorkavu festival comes to an end, and the employers and their laborers agree upon a contract and the new servants will return carrying the purchases of the master. The agricultural activities in Medom (April-May) were to harvest the summer crop (punja) and to plough the fields, prepare the field ready to broadcast (theli vitha) the seeds for summer showers. This is called valia vithakkl (large-scale broadcasting). This is the principal crop of the year (nunja). The daily routine was work-break-work (pani kayari pani) which started at 7 o’ clock in the morning till 6 o’ clock in the evening with a break of one and a half hours in the afternoon. The wages were paid in kind. A day’s wage for men was 2 sers and 1 1/2 sers for women plus the midday meal and if without the midday meal it was 2 1/2 sers and 2 sers respectively.
The important festival during this month is the vishu and traditionaly the bonded Paniyans were entitled for the vishu vally (special wages in kind paid during vishu) which consisted of a dhoti (mundu), 5 kulagoms (10 sers) of paddy, 2 panam (50 ps.), some chilies , coconut oil, etc. The avakasom (rights) of the Paniyans were to reassure the loyalty to their master and was sometimes called kutti urappikkal (to refix the deal). The Paniyans were feasted in the noon. After returning to their huts the Paniyans performed the vishu kolu (ritual observation during the vishu to the ippi mala teyya, guliyan, iditheyya, malankari, ippimala muthappan and muthassi - all tribal gods, goddesses, ancestors or ancestress). The ritual was performed collectively at the settlement level by the chemmi (or kootan) who undergoes a trance (kooli urayal) and pronounces the instructions of the gods to the audience. The purpose of the ritual was to offer the thanks giving treat and to ensure constant protection throughout the coming year and to obtain recognition of the new master by the Paniyan laborer under the kootan.
Table. 1 Agricultural Cycle and Related Festivals
Season Thottapani Vayalpani Festival
& ceremonies To whom and purpose How performed
Meenam
(March- April) pepper & Coffee
plucking. Punja Harvest Valliyoorkayu
festival Bhagavathi Annual festival of Hindus Ritual partici-pation by the Paniyans
Medam
(April- may) Punja Harvest over. Nanja begining (valia vithakkal Vishu (April 14) vishu kolu kuttiurappikal (vishu vally) Guliyan Pantherrappanmar
Thanks giving and toensure protection for coming year. Kooliurayal settlement level performance.
Edavom
(May- june) Nunja tilling ploughing, planting valiavitha. Mari kolu Kuli (kad Bhagavathi) Mariamman. As remedial measure for small pox Kooli urayal settlement level performance
Mithunam
(June- July) Cofee and Pepper planting Nunja planting over
Karkkidakam
(July- August) Kambalam Karkkidaka Sankaranthi (distribution of karikkan) Ancestors - to appease karneemara Kooli urayal Lineage level
Chingom
(Aug-Sep) Cofee pruning (kavath) weeding (katcharaveesal) manuring, fencing Onam- onakou onakazcha onavally Ancestors - to appease karneemara Kooli urayal lineage level
Kanni
(Sep –oct) Tottam Kothu (digging) podikothu) Nunja harvest begins. Punja cultivation begins Kanni Sankranthi Kaitha kuthal To deter Lekshmi devi from going to Coorg. At each paddy field.
Thulam
(Oct- Nov) Nunja Havesting Punjaculti-
vation continues Thulapath- Puthari Oonu, Kathiru kettal Ancestors
To celebrate harvesting Feasting with fresh grains.
Vrichikam (Nov- Dec) Nunja Harvesting Punja Cultivation Continues)
Dhanu
(Dec- Jan) Coffee and Pepper plucking starts Nunja harvesting over. Punja planting over Purakkadi festival Devi. Annual festival of Hindus. Participation by Paniyans.
Makaram
(Jan- Feb) Coffee and Pepper plucking continues Kakka pola (Karuvalli) funeral ceremony for dead relatives for 3 successive years Hamlet level
Kunbhom
(Feb- Mar) Coffee and Pepper plucking continues Punja harvesting begins Uchaal (Mattom) Uchal pola Dead ancestors- to appease ancestors every 3-4 years Hamlet level.
During the months of Edavam-Mithunam (June-July), the south-west monsoon sets in and the main agricultural activities are wet land ploughing, leveling, preparing bonds and paddy transplanting. By the end of Midhunam the nunja cultivation is finished and spare time is utilized for planting coffee and pepper. It is during the month of Edavom, the marikolu (ritual observation to the Maariamma, the goddess of disease) is conducted. The ritual is performed to appease the Maariamma and Kaadubhagavati as a remedial measure for preventing small-pox and chicken pox. The kootan or chemmi conducts the ceremony by entering a trance at the settlement level. The interesting aspect to note here is that the Maariamma is a Hindu goddess while the Kadubhagavati is a tribal goddess.
In the month of Karkkidakom (July-August) scarecrows have to be placed in the paddy- fields. The Paniyan who does this work gets an extra meal. If the paddy planting operation were not over by now the owner will propose to conduct a kambalam which was an exploitative practice in Wynad, to carry out collective labour with the accompaniment of music and dance. Gradually all the works ceased and the laborers slip into a state of abject poverty. Now a square meal is a welcome change and that was exactly the situation provided by the karkidaka sankranthi - a ceremony for ancestral worship. The landlord served a feast for his laborers and presented them each with seven feet of coarse cloth called kaarikkan or purakkali mundu. In addition to these each household was given two kulagoms of paddy. These gestures indicate the necessity of the landlord to keep his laborers satisfied during the time of hardship. The karneemara (ancestors) were worshiped at the lineage level by the chemmi who performed his duty through the usual kooli urayal.
The wet land agricultural activities are over by the month of Chingom (Aug-Sept) but the Paniyan had work in the coffee and pepper plantations. The jobs include katchara veesal (clearing the shrubs) manureing, kavaath (coffee pruning) fencing, etc.
For Onam festival also there is ona vally which may amount to 7 kulagoms of paddy, coconut oil, coconut, chilly and salt. A dhoti to each householder was also given. A feast was also served in the day of Onam. The Paniyans were obliged to bring ona kazhcha (presents of plantains, yams and vegetables) to the landlord. The Paniyan perform the ona kolu to appease the ancestors during Onam in which the chemmi undergo the ritual trance and pronounce the attitude and wishes of the ancestors.
By Kanni (Sept-Oct) the nunja crop started ripening and the preparations are on the way to make the paddy seedling nursery for the punja (second crop). The other jobs included the weeding and digging in the coffee and pepper plantations. This is called podikothu. The important ritual in which the Paniyan had to participate during this month was the ritual kaitha kuthal (erecting a pandanus branch in the middle of the paddy field). This was done on the new moon day (kanni sankranti) by the kootan who received a midday meal for his work. The kaitha kuthal was supposed to be done to ward off evil eye from the paddy fields and in the expectation that the paddy will grow as luxuriantly and green as the pandanus plant. Another variation about this ritual narrates about a precautionary measure to keep the Lakshmi devi (the goddess of wealth and plenty) in Wynad from going over to Coorg to participate a festival celebrated in favor of Maha vishnu, her consort, during this period. It was believed that she would cancel her journey as seeing the pandanus which was considered a bad omen, resulting the Wynad remain bountiful.
Thulam and Vrichikom (Oct-Nov-Dec) are marked by hectic wet-land agricultural activities. Nunja harvesting was in full swing. At night, the men had the work of guarding the crops from wild boars and elephants. The Paniya women reaped the paddy while the men carried the paddy bundles to the threshing ground (okkalu kalam). The Paniyan get their usual wages only. On the last day of reaping there was no wage. They can collect the thala mani - the first grains that fall down when threshed. The men separated the grain by okkal using bullocks (eru) and threshing stone okkalu kallu. After the okkal the straw is removed and the grain is collected. When the straw is again removed to another place, there will be some grains beneath it. The Paniyans can have them. It is called vithayadi.
It was during Thulam the harvest festival called puthari oonu (starting the consumption of the newly harvested paddy) was conducted in which the Paniyan had some definite role to play. On the thulappath (Thulam 10th), it was the duty of the kootan of each hamlet to collect some paddy spikes from the landlord’s field and carry it on his head to the temple to be sanctified by the priest. The spikes were carried back to the janmi’s house where a few spikes were hanged at the door entrance and four corners of the house to bring in prosperity and wealth. Some spikes were also hanged at the entrance of the Paniya households. For this service the landlord gave the Paniyan two or three kulagoms (3 or 4 kgs) of paddy. Only after the ceremony of hanging the spikes the newly harvested paddy should be cooked and served, lest, the Paniyan believe that snakes would appear at their thena (the raised holy portion inside the Paniya hut where the gods and ancestors are supposed to inhabit). Similar ceremonies are conducted at the Valliyoorkavu temple from where the devotees take the paddy spikes to their home to hang up. Another interesting aspect is that the tribes traditionally cultivated only ragi as a food crop using the method of shifting cultivation. But they did not have any rituals regarding the ragi cultivation while they observe the Hindu rituals regarding the rice cultivation. They think that they observe reverence to the rice because it is considered the annarajavu (king of food). This traditional harvest festival is also celebrated by the tribal communities like the Kurichchans, Kurumans, Adiyans and the Jain landlords of the Coorg. The Kurichchans and the Kurumans used to conduct collective hunting expeditions with their bows and arrows while the female folks engaged in fishing in the rivers with the help of the chaada (basket net).
Now the tribal tradition of hunting has been given way to the mere celebration of the kathirukettal and the consumption of the new rice. These three ceremonies indicate how the landlord’s, hence, the Hindu religious practice has become the Paniya way of life.
By the end of Dhanu (Dec-Jan), the nunja harvesting, drying, storing and the punja planting would be over. The Paniyans had work only in the pepper and coffee plantations. The pepper and coffee plucking start in this period in some places. The celebration of the Purakkadi temple festival is in this month.
The participation of Paniyan in the daily routines and festivals of the temple is limited to the cleaning of utensils, collection of plantain leaves and firewood, holding of festival flags and torch, and participation in the thaalapoli. Unlike the Valliyoorkavu temple, the tribals were not permitted to enter inside the temple. The Mullakurumar started participating in the affairs of the Purakkadi temple for the past twenty years while the Paniyans started to participate in it for the past two years only, though they were engaged for cleaning the utensils and the temple premises and collection of fuel wood.
The Paniyans of the Karimath and the Adichiladi hamlets hold great belief that the Purakkadi devi wished them, to be near her i.e., to be in service of the goddess. They narrate a tale to substantiate this belief;
The whole land in the Purakkadi village belonged to a janmi and his kaaryasthan (manager) oppressed and tormented the laborers in many ways. He used to beat up the Paniyan for even silly faults. As the harassment became unbearable, they planned to leave their janmi stealthily in the night. They completed the day’s work and after having their food, prepared to leave. They started to walk and they walked all night. As the day light broke they realized that they were in the same place from where they started their journey. They understood that it was the goddess who held them there. She told them that they were not the one to go but it was the kaaryasthan and he died in the next morning. The Paniyans of Purakkadi believe that the goddess felt the services of the Paniyans like cleaning the temple utensils, collecting the fuel wood, etc. were unavoidable for the functioning of the temple.
This narration is an obvious justification of the Paniyans duties to the temple. But it has another function hidden behind it. It was a well known fact that in the past some of the Paniyans tried to elope from one landlord even after their unwritten pledge with their employer in front of the powerful goddess of Valliyoorkaavu. This kind of reasoning might have helped to discourage such tendencies.
In Makarom (Jan-Feb) the punja crop planted in the month of Virchikom (Feb-March) became ready for harvesting, but the major share of their work was done in the plantation, plucking of coffee or pepper. The ceremonies conducted by the Paniyan in these months is the kaakka pola or karuvelli held for three years in succession in the month of Makarom and the maattom pola or uchal pola held once in every three or four years as a memorial service in honor of those who are specially respected. In the first week of Kumbhom the Paniyan celebrated the feast in memory of their ancestors and up to Kumbhom 7th they abstained from work. The ritual season is known as uchal and the Paniyan called it maattom. The uchal pola was conducted at every settlement to commemorate the ancestors and to appease them and to ensure their constant guardianship (Kulirani B.F,1984).
These two polas seems to be the only genuine ceremonies of the Paniyans. No wonder they are funeral ceremonies - related to death, a phenomenon which the they find difficulty in comprehending. But the timing and the abstention from doing work during the uchal pola is interesting because in fact the uchal or ucharal is a religious rite conducted in devi temples by the Hindus of the central Kerala at the end of Makarom. This was supposed to be the period when, after the second summer crop (punja) the heat from the underground of earth rises to the surface. The first three days of the ceremony was considered as the menstrual period of the Bhoomi devi (goddess earth). During this period, the opening of the granary, taking or measuring paddy or undertaking agricultural activities are prohibited. Only on the fourth day the agricultural activities shall be resumed (Vishnu Namboothiri, 1980:22). Hence it can be deduced that even the funeral ceremonies of the Paniyan were adapted to suit the religious ideology of the dominating class.
After the uchal pola the Paniyans gradually resume their work of punja harvesting with the anticipation of the next Valliyoorkaavu festival, his heart filled with the expectation of the money he received as nilpu panam with which he hoped to purchase cloths for his children, utensils for the kitchen or a thakke (metal ear ornament) for his wife perhaps under a new master and the cycle continued.
Conclusion
Among the classical theoretical approaches to the study of the belief system, the Functionalist approach considers beliefs and myths as charters of validation which aims to provide a sanction for current situation. As a charter of belief it serves to protect cultural continuity and provides a cultural equilibrium. The Structuralist approach centers around two perspectives, one on the sequence of order of events and two, the scheme of organization of the sequence at different levels. In other words, Structural analysis is concerned with the quest for understanding the significance of Nature and culture. The Marxist method stress the economic basis and historical conditions from which the ideology and beliefs have originated. Thus according to this approach, in order to understand the socio-cultural phenomena, it is also necessary to look at the social relations, especially the class relations.
The basic perspective of such an approach is that, in a society, where people have been ascribed different socio-economic and political status, due to historical reasons, the dominant ideas prevalent will be those which present the reality concealed from the comprehension of the masses. As part of the supernatural myths, beliefs and rituals, these ideas grow into the society’s ideology and help to perpetuate the existing social system. Consequently, such inverted perceptions hold the dominant place in the ideological sphere. Such beliefs and myths are reproduced in order to shield away the material realities associated with the socio-economic relations and conditions from the cognition of the masses. Such a reproduction of the ideology helps for the dominant classes to make their exploitation easy and to stabilize their class hegemony. By glorifying certain ideas and institutions which have been adopted and justified during the course of cultural evolution, the dominating class effectively propagates their revivalist ideas through the misinterpretation of history.
In conclusion, it may be said that the belief system of the Paniyans is intricately entwined with the production relations existing in the village. The various elements in these myths and beliefs act as the reinforcing factors of the Paniyan’s position in the given socio-economic milieu. The major mythological motifs discussed viz., the creation and ordering of human life, acquisition of culture, distribution and differentiation among the people, etc., have certain aspects which pre-supposes the Paniyan’s position as a servile group to the dominant community. The myths and beliefs discussed, especially about the primeval pair, origin of the tribe, the legend of Modaikantan, acquisition of food supply, acquisition of tools, for instance, are examples of how a food gathering tribal community was transformed into an agricultural community. More than Just describing the present day conditions of the community, these beliefs, sometimes in the term of self-esteem and some times in the form of coercion of fear make the Paniyan meekly accept the exploitative conditions as natural and commonplace. The festival cycle and the various rituals and ceremonies associated with the cultivation are further examples of how the dominant class is benefitted from the perpetuation of the beliefs and myths. The myths and beliefs associated with the Valliyoorkaavu, the customary rights of the Paniyans during the Hindu festivals like Vishu, Onam, etc., are conducive to the perpetuation of the socio-economic status-quo.
Notes
In fact, the generic name of the Paniyans is no longer known. They used to call themselves kachavan, meaning “savages”, apparently a name they found for themselves or given to them by others. The term Paniyan, presumably was a later nomenclature ascribed by the non-tribals.
Evelyn S Kessler defines belief system or the ideological subsystem of a culture as including the religious beliefs, values, myths, legends, art, music, dance or in short, all the aesthetic components of the culture. Evelyn S Kessler, 1976:10)
One ser is a measure about ¾ Kg. Kulagom is a pear shaped rattan basket which contain approximately 1.5 Kg paddy.
The quantity is about 40 to 80 Kg and the system is hence sometimes called kundal pani
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Some important considerations that led to the study of the belief system or the ideological subsystem of culture2 are the following;
Firstly, most of the existing studies on the beliefs and myths confronts us with the innumerable empirical accounts but fails to give us a clear theoretical analysis linking the empirical evidences with some general theoretical framework. Accordingly, even when attempts are made to study the belief system of a particular tribal people, it still fails to understand the actual role and function of these beliefs and myths which play in the everyday life of the people.
Secondly, other studies though emphasize the socio-economic backwardness of the tribal do not attempt or fails to venture into the underlying reasons of their backwardness, bringing forth the role of the belief system in maintaining the status-quo of the system.
Lastly, and the most important reason for the present study is the sociological and anthropological fact that whatever be the manifestations of religious beliefs and myths, the people’s conception of these beliefs and myths in relation to themselves and their society is historically and culturally conditioned. In other words, while the religious beliefs and myths of the tribal people play a key role in shaping the world view of the people, their beliefs and myths themselves are conditioned by the society and its requirements.
Myth
In common parlance myth denotes sacred and explanatory stories which form a major part of the oral tradition of every society. Generally it comes under the broader classification of belief system. The original Greek term for myth (from mythos) denotes ‘word’ in the sense of a final pronouncement (Kees W Bolle, 1978:793-803). The myth as defined by Kimball Young is the imaginary interpretation of past, present or future events (Kimball Young, 1969: 196). Some definitions even denies the myth as having any historical base as they consider myths as collective believes for which historic evidence is lacking or which historic evidence denies (Arnold W Green, 1964:548). This may be true if we study myth as an ancient historical record as kept by the oral tradition but this assumption may be misleading if we ascribe or try to find in them specific historical character or event. However, we certainly could see the myth as reflecting some conditions once existed or still existing in a community (D D Kosambi, 1971:26). Myth is also a term used by many social scientists as a synonym for error or fallacy. But in a narrow technical sense myth refers to a narrative or story believed to be true by the people who tell it (Alan Dundes, 1976:279). Others define myth as a sacred or religious story and classify every other kind of tale as something different -in this case an oral literature. They identify two modern application of the word myth. Firstly, as a narrative story or a series of songs which are of religious significance - a ‘sacred story’, and secondly, as a ‘false belief’. It is true that even ordinary stories may be admonitory or instructive, point to a moral or imparting information in an agreeable easy way (G S Kirk, 1971: 26).
Myths are value impregnated beliefs and notions that men hold, that they live by or live for and are definitely a social product. Hence a student of social formation and myths cannot overlook religious ideology and ritual practices in isolation from changes in material life. Myths and rituals do not grow out in a vacuum or barren soil. They owe their origin to certain material and social environment which they sub serve and perpetuate. It is not reality that dictates to society or to individuals their social behavior but through the myths the society imposes its laws and customs upon individuals in a picturesque, effective manner; it is under a mythical form the group imperative is indoctrinated into each conscience. Through such intermediaries as religion, tradition, language, tales, songs, movies, myths penetrates even into such existences as one most harshly enslaved to material realities (Simone de Beauvoir, 1968:116). These myths take a position of reality. That is directly experienced or conceptualized on a basis of experience; in place of fact, value significance, knowledge, empirical law, it substitute a transcendental idea, timeless, unchangeable, because it is beyond the given, it is endowed with absolute truth (Ibid:110).
Hence most of the myths are guided by interests and have roots in the spontaneous attitudes of people towards their own existence and towards the world around them. It prescribes taboos and injunctions for ensuring morality, good behaviors, and manners but hardly refers to any primordial cause nor establishes any connection between human conduct and supernatural favor or disfavor (R K Mukherjee, 1949:1-3). The function of these myths is to prevent people from understanding what their social life is all about. Every day consciousness therefore cannot explain itself. It owes its existence to a developed capacity to deny the facts that explain its existence. For instance, the myth of women that claim women for hearth and home define her sentiment, inwardness and immanence is an example for such myths.
Theoretical and Methodological Perspective
The lacunae of most of the approaches to mythology have been their inability to make a link between the belief system and the socio-economic behavior of the society because these approaches may seem to provide explanations with which the ideologues of anthropology content themselves - overlooking the economic and historical conditions from which originated the ideology and law whose manifestation they observe (Claude Meillassoux, 1981:87).
The Marxist studies of myth and ritual tries to analyze the tribal societies and kinship relationship from the perspective of primitive modes of production (Tom Bottomore, 1983:23). The building-like metaphor of base and superstructure is used by Marx and Engels to propound the idea that the economic structure of society (the base) conditions the existence and form of the state and social consciousness (Jorge Larrain, 1983:42-44). In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite state of development of their material powers of production. The sum total of the relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society - the real foundation on which rise the legal and political superstructure (Karl Marx, 1968:182). But there are circumstances in which the superstructure determines what was happening in the base, ideological and political factors which affect the economy, the extent of bringing about or venting a transformation in the mode of production (Susan Himmelweit, 1983:335-37). In other words, maintaining the status- quo. Hence a student of the belief system cannot overlook the material and social environment in the formation of myths and beliefs and the particular function they perform to restrict change. For instance, many Indian epic myths serve as a social charter which defines the rights and privileges of various classes to social and economic power (R S Sharma,1983:152).
Mode of production is an organizing concept developed by Marx to explain the structure and dynamics of any given society. Mode of production means an articulated combination of relations and forces of production (Barry Hindes and Paul Hirst, 1977: 94). Marx’s thesis that “the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general” has been dogmatised by later followers and earned itself the reputation of “mechanical determinism” or “vulgar materialism” (Leslie Sklair, 1983:245-7). It was Louis Althusser’s analysis which was mainly responsible for the current widespread use of the theory in sociology and other cultural studies. Althusser’s conception postulates a mode of production and the social formation for which it is primarily responsible as a structure in ‘dominance’ in which relations of production and means of production (the economic level) dominate land and are locked into a structure of politics and ideology. Thus mode of production is not mere economy but it is the structural relationships between the means of production (raw materials, labour, land, tools, etc.) and the relations of production (the ownership of the means of action and the social relationship they entail). This emphasis on the structural relationships of the components of modes of production and social formations makes more plausible the historical analysis of any given mode of production and its political ideological (cultural) effects (Ibid).
The cultural expressions of a society or social formations are an out-growth of (though never mechanically determined by) its mode or modes of production and in societies where antagonistic class relation exist there will never be simply one “value system” accepted more or less by all members of society. Rather diverse and conflicting values represent the needs and interests of dominant and dominated class (Gail Omvedt, 1980:15-22). It was in this sense Emmanuel Terray, elucidating the primitive socio-economic formation of Guro - quoting Althusser - said that the primitive social formation is the result of the combination of at least two distinct modes of production, one of which is dominant and the other subordinate and produces specific effects which account for the concrete form taken on by the juridico-political and logical superstructure (Emmanuel Terray,1972:179). Hence the so-called primitive society can be explained in terms of the co-operation of labour existing in that society. But this criterion alone is not enough with reference to the antagonistic socio-economic formations which not only appropriates the nature but also is subjected to social exploitation (Jagnath Pathy,1982:279).
Paniyans of Purakkadi
The mode of production in Purakkadi village – as elsewhere in Wynad – was a general transition from tribalism to feudalism to capitalism. The most enduring and influencing phase was the feudalism which left an indelible impression on the minds of the native people. The Paniyans of Wynad is one of the numerically dominant tribal community in Kerala, whose main occupation is agricultural labour. The current mythology and the belief system of the Paniyans are the vestiges of the earlier mythopoeic period i.e., the feudalism. The original beliefs and myths belonging to the past tribal period is no longer cherished but if at all remembered, are remembered only in the cosmology or changed to suit the feudal relations. An attempt is made to analyze the interrelation between the beliefs and myths and the production relations. Although the Purakkadi village is selected for this study, occasional de tours are adopted in the collection of the beliefs and myths because the belief system cannot be confined to a smaller geographical area.
The main concern of this paper is to analyze the role and function of the beliefs and myths of the Paniyans in maintaining their position in the socio-economic milieu. Hence it is important to review the Paniyan’s beliefs and myths in the light of the socio-economic relations that the community has with that of the larger community. Such an analysis may bring out the interrelationship between the two and the role and function of the belief system in perpetuating the existing social structure. Multiple tools were employed to collect the necessary data for the study. A village network survey was conducted to understand the social and economic relations existed in the village. Extensive interviews were conducted with several individuals – often in the night – to collect the details regarding the beliefs and myths. One of the important tools of data collection was observation and this method has been employed frequently, especially during occasions like temple festivals, marriage ceremonies, death ceremonies and rituals.
The scheme of the following analysis is based on the mythological motif index classified by Stith Thompson and the agricultural cycle is analyzed on the basis of the calendar order. (Stith Thomson, 1966:29-35).Tracing down to the present religious beliefs and practices of the Paniyans reveals a striking pattern of the simultaneous existence of the traditional belief and Hindu belief, though the traditional beliefs find limited spread and circulation among the present generation. More and more Paniyans were positively Hinduised and it is logically follows that the Hindu agricultural ceremonies are reflected as part of the Paniyan belief system.
MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS
1. Creation and Ordering of Human Life.
a. Primeval Pair:
Every tribe will have numerous myths about the origin of the tribe. In their own opinion, the history of the Paniyans is as follows.
The history of the Paniyans begins at the Baralam Kotta mala (the Banasuran mountain) in the north Wynad. The Ippi mala (the Ippi hill) of the Paniyans imagination is supposed to be the Banasuran mountain or simply the Banan kotta. According to the myth there was a temple on the Ippi mala called Ippi mala myla for the god Ippi mala teyya (God of the Ippi mala), One elder achen (Brahmin priest) and a Goundan (Jain) priest performed pooja at the temple. An Uralikuruman attended to the cleaning of the temple and the surrounding and washed the vessels of the temple in a nearby pool. He often came across two children, one girl and a boy picking the rice petals strewn at the bank. The girl looked elder to the boy. They fled at the sight of the Uralikuruman. With the consent of the priest he trapped them and kept them in captivity. All attempts to trace their parents or people of their appearance in the forest around Ippi mala were futile. Gradually, under the care of the temple priest they learned to dress and live like human beings. As the children became familiar, they started to assist their masters. The boy grazed the cattle of the Goundan and the girl assisted the Uralikuruman in cleaning. Since the attempts to find out their whereabouts were futile the temple priest and the Uralikuruman decided to get them married with the advice that they are sister and brother from waist up of the body and husband and wife from the waist down. They later had ten children, five boys and five girls. When these children grew up, to facilitate the marriage they were separated and made to stay in separate houses and were later married. According to the myth they were the foremost ancestors and the Paniyans refer to them as pantheerappanmara, meaning twelve ancestors. The Paniyans have great respects especially to the first two who are separately referred to as the ippi mala muthassi and ippi male muthappe (great grandparents of the Ippi mountain). The legend further says that from Ippi mala onwards they had been under the control of the Goundan and people of his community and made to work in their fields. The Goundan later on sold them to others like the Chettys and the Nairs. It is quite clear that after they had come in contact with the peasant communities they have been over-powered by the latter and were in a state of continued servitude (Kulirani B.F,1984).
A second variation of the history of the Paniyans starts at the Baralam Kotta mala (Banasuran mountain) in the north Wynad. The Ippi mala of the Paniyan’s imagination is here. The Paniyans are the children of the Ippi mala. It is said that the Paniyans were germinated (oothi mulakkukka) by the Padachavan (Creator) at the Ippi mala. In the beginning there were only two of them, one brother and one sister. They wandered about nakedly in the forest for wild fruits and roots. The Paniyans version of the relation between the two is as follows;
‘Arena meethalekku aangalum penkalum
Arena thakekku aanum pennum’
(brother and sister above the navel
husband and wife below the navel)
Since they were alone in the forest they could not keep their brother-sister relation and they mated and reproduced. Their number grew and in the night they came out from the caves where they dwelt and tried to steal the crops of the Goundan and Chetty. The Goundan and Chetty succeeded in trapping a Paniyan with the help of a net during the kayama paddy (a variety of paddy) cultivation. All the other Paniyans ran off. The Goundan and the Chetty fed the trapped Paniyan with good food and made them happy and then later on released them. Giving freedom to the captive was a tactics. The Paniyans who enjoyed the happiness of the modern life went back to his people only to take them with him to the modern world. They started working for the Goundan and Chetty. As the Paniyans were found to be good workers the Goundan and the Chetty engaged them as their permanent laborers. Thus they became the Paniyan (worker) of the Goundan, Chetty, Kurichiyan, Thiyya, etc. (Somasekharan Nair P,1976: 54-60)
A third variation about the primeval pair is as follows. Long ago, there lived the Uthappan and Uthamma, the great grandparents of all Paniyans. Above the navel they were brother and sister, below they were man and woman. They called themselves kachavan – meaning, ‘the savages’. One day they were wandering through the jungle in search of fruit. They were seen by the Ippi mala Goundan (One Paniyan said it was Ippi mala Nambiar). He baited them with some food. A fibre net to catch them was fabricated by the Bettakuruman (UraliKuruman) of the Ippi mala. The net was cast. Uthappan and Uthamma arrived to eat the remains of the cooked food and they were caught.
The Bettakuruman brought the two before the Goundan, who asked them, “Of which caste are you? Which clan? ” and they replied, “We are the lowest caste, lower than all castes, all classes” (‘Naanka chaatilekkum thaantha chaathi’).
The Goundan made them his slaves and the kachavan became a Paniyan. The Goundan wanted more slaves and so he asked them to increase their tribe. It seems a trick was played on them. The powder of a certain herb was sprinkled on them. It made them itch all over. They tried to soothe each other and were aroused and mated. They gave birth to five sons and five daughters (Baby K.J, 1985:34-50)
b. The Origin of the Tribe and the Origin of the Servitude
The three versions of the origin of the tribe point to the domestication of the Paniyans. Though the details slightly differ in each version, the main theme is centered on how the primitive food gathering tribe was made the laborers of an affluent class. The representative of the affluent class is always a Goundan (follower of Jainism) who with the help of an already servile tribe viz., the BettaKuruman or Uralikuruman ensnared the Paniyan into their fold as the laborers. Hence the Goundans (Jains who were powerful before the age of the British or the Kottayam kings) must be the first people who ‘owned’ the Paniyans. The purpose of their capture was to secure enough workers and there was the need of prolific reproduction so that their landlord played the trick of the powder on them and consequently they multiplied. This corresponds to the Paniyans wish to have at least ten children. Baiting the people who were in the food gathering stage with cooked food is also significant. The uncertainty of procuring the next food was resolved and that too in a tasty manner. The steady supply of food made them stay on with their masters even though that meant work. In the first version, we get the idea of how the wandering Paniyans were initiated into work not directly related to food gathering. They started by assisting the already servile Uralikuruman in grazing the cattle and washing the vessels. Gradually they became the transferable commodity and they became the slaves of almost all other communities. For example, Chettiyane Paniyan (of the Muslims), Tiyyane Paniyan (of the Thiyya), and Achane Paniyan (of the Kurichiyan) and of the other Hindus.
The myth of the origin of the Paniyan tribe finds specific point of reference since the myth mentions a geographical land mark, the Banasuran mountain in the north Wynad from where the primordial pair started their life. The mythical landscape bears testimony in the native’s mind of the truth of the myth. Here the mythical word receives sustenance in the hill and all these bring the mythological world close to the native and make it tangible and permanent (Michael W Young, 1981: 237).The high degree to which the mythical world is related to the detailed features of the actual world is a main feature of the mythical world of primitive belief. Not only is every clan and local group defined in terms of the ancestral progenitors and the mythical events of settlement, every mountain, rock and tree is explained in terms of the actions of or the mythical beings (Bellah R N, 1969: 270).
The myth of the origin of the Paniyan actually is a societal myth or myth of social identification which give order and structure to particular societal group. Through the myth the Paniyans position as a slave laborer who had been caught and domesticated by others who were in a higher level viz., the Jain or Hindu landlords is established. Hence the myth functions to define the group limits and explain why varying social levels exist (Gerald A Lorane, 1975: 21). The question arises now as to the Paniyans adherence to Hinduism rather than to Jainism which is assumed to be the dominant group ideology during the Paniyans domestication. It is a well-known fact that the age of Jainism declined in Wynad by the advent of Hinduism and whatever allegiance the Paniyan held towards Jainism might have transferred to Hinduism by the passage of time. It is true that the values to which lower status groups aspire may not be Brahmanical, but these groups, just coming into the Hindu system or striving to raise their status tend to be responsive to the values and practices of the dominant group in their immediate locality. (David M. Morris, 1967:588-607)
The production relation between the Paniyan and the other communities and the position of Paniyan in it is prescribed through the myth and the perpetual servitude of the Paniyans to their masters is secured. Even if the Paniyan tried to show his consternation and rage at being the slave, the other beliefs and myths made him helpless and resigned as the following analysis manifest.
C. Determination of Span of Life.
The reason for death is usually attributed to the completion of period of life in this world and the death occurs at the injunction from the Padachavan (Creator) to the Paniyan. This is known as the vayasethi or samayamethi maranam (death due to the person’s life coming to an end). The other reasons for death are odivekkal and maaranam (sorcery and black magic).
The Paniyan conceive of two soul components. The nizhelu and the pene. The nizhelu (shadow of the person) goes, after the death to the akaasam (the sky) which is the abode of Padachavan. The other, the pene or badha remains as an ancestral spirit and goes to the keeyu loka or kee naadu (The land below or the land of the dead). The Paniyan believe that the living persons live in the me naadu (the earth) and the dead persons are transformed into the pene and the body of the person also goes to the kee naadu to be merged with it. In the akaasam the nizhelu cannot speak to the other nizhelus for seven days until the ceremonies of the kakka pola, are over. Until then the nizhelu is believed to be chained around the waist and hanged in order not to escape from the akaasam. Only after the seventh day’s ceremony the dead person’s nizhelu will be joined with other nizhelus of the akaasam. The nizhelu is not allowed to go to the kee naadu also as it is believed that the pene living there will destroy the nizhelu. The nizhelu is believed to go to the akaasam in the form of the human figure. The Padachavan takes the nizhelu and give it to another of his creation - another Paniyan. Hence the nizhelu perpetuate forever. In every janmam (birth) the Paniyan is already under a master. There is no escape for the nizhelu other than to be reborn as a Paniyan over and over. Even the master will not change. The same master, the same slave in all births. (Baby K J, 1985: 34-50)
The other soul component, the pene, travels to another world, which is called the kee naadu or the keeyu loka. Both the good and the bad goes to the same place. There are no different concepts like the hell or the heaven. In the keeyu loka, the dead or the pene will have the same occupation as they were on the earth. They will work under the same master even in the keeyu loka. The bondages in the material world continue in the yonder world also. In short, there is no freedom for the Paniyan neither in the me naadu nor in the kee naadu.
The Kalenkankoranan (the god of death in the Paniyan mythology) is the lord of the keeyu loka. Once there, the dead person’s pene, begins work as a watcher over the fields of the Kalenkonkaranan. While one is keeping watch the Kalenkonkaranan’s cattle comes and feeds on the crop. The pene escapes from the guard post during the agitation and runs into the forest, evading the eyes of the Kalenkonkaranan. The pene climbs up a huge palm tree in the middle of the forest and hides among the palm leaves. The Kalenkonkaranan comes and finds out the hiding pene to whom he says that he has pardoned it for its misdemeanor and to be careful in future. The pene comes down and the Kalenkonkaranan introduces it to all its ancestors dwelling in the deathless keeyu loka. The pene goes along with them to work for whom-so-ever it worked in its life in the me naadu. It is still the lowest of all castes but deathless.
Nobody dares to doubt this belief since it is feared that the rebels of the kee naadu would be thrown into the sea. There is nothing to be done other than to pray to the penas who are supposed to be benevolent to the living in the me naadu. Hence they pray to the dead;
“Thou who died yesterday, do look after me;
Thou who faded away yesterday do look after me”.
The song is called penappattu or chathappattu and is sung during the pola (rituals for the dead) in order to appease the penas who have love and regard for their living relatives in the me naadu.
Paniyans used to shift from one dwelling to another after the death of a person in the hamlet because they believed that the dead Person’s pene will come to visit its previous homestead to make sure that it is honored even after its death. To avoid the disturbances from the pene they destroy all the huts and shift to a new dwelling after the kakka pola ceremony. The landlord was also favorable to the shifting because he will get a new patch of his forest cleared without much effort. More than a superstition of the Paniyan, this may be a tradition taught by the janmis (landlords). Another belief is that the dead person’s pene would come to the living to do good or bad for its relatives. To receive the good services from a dead person is called moradakkuka and if some good things happened to a person he will ascribe the incident to the dead person with whom he had made friendship.
d. Origin of Sex Functions
Even after the primeval pair started living as husband and wife, the woman did not conceive or gave birth to a child. So in order to produce off-springs, an oracle has been summoned and he chanted some prayers and produced some medicine which he mixed with some cooked rice. He told the man to give the rice to the woman and not to eat the rice himself and should give it only to the woman. But the man forgot the warning of the oracle and ate the rice. As a result the man conceived but was not able to give birth to a child due to the lack of sex organs. The woman also conceived from him and was able to give birth to a child. One version of the story says that the man died because he could not deliver the child and the other version says that from him the woman gave birth to ten children, five boys and five girls.
The Paniyans believe that the children are god-given and to let a child die of neglect is a cardinal sin. In the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy, they observe the rituals called poota aattu or muri aattu in order to ward-off evil spirits which might have influenced the pregnant woman, while she was outside the house. If the infant died, the death is ascribed to some fault in the poota aattu or due to the spiritual possession of some ancestors or to the incomplete payment of bride price.
2. Acquisition of Culture.
a. Acquisition of Livable Environment: The Legend of Modaikantan
Culture is the veritable solution to basic adaptive problems of every community and every community cherish some idea of how they happened to possess certain material and non-material cultural items. The Paniyans are also no exception. They have a story to relate the geographical features of Wynad and the adjoining Mysore Plateau. More than a mere description of the land and its terrains, the story is an expression of the Paniyans pent-up capacity to adapt to and even change the face of earth.
After the first Paniyan pair was originated at the Ippi mala, they were married and lived as husband and wife. They bore ten children; nine were healthy and started living in different parts of the land. The tenth boy was a cripple of one leg and one hand. His name was Kantan. As the children grew up, Kantan said to his siblings that he will not stay with them as he would become a burden to them. So he wanted to go away to some other place where he could see a vast stretch of land unobstructed by hills and valleys. His healthy brothers and sisters could work the undulating stretch of Wynad. So he went eastwards, away from his kin. He leveled vast stretches of land with tava or njavari (a wooden instrument to level the paddy fields) and as he proceeded to the Mysore plains he filled his fields with water to show to his landlords that the land has become perfectly level. His mother seeing the leveled land become astonished with her son’s fete blessed him and said that he will thereafter be known as Modaikantan (The cripple Kantan).
b. Acquisition of Food Supply: How Humans Got Paddy
In olden times, the Paniyans subsisted on wild tubers and ragi (millet). The Paniyan became fed-up with eating only ragi and tubers and their life was a misery. Their life was explained as,
“Naalu mala mela naareyum verum
Moonu mala mela muttiyum theeyum”.
This means that the Paniyan had subsisted on the wild roots called naaran from the four mountains and the firewood from the three mountains. It was a fish named thodan or mattan who helped the Paniyans to bring paddy to them. In the past only the kings and rulers had paddy. The ragi told to the paddy that they can go to the other land where the Paniyans lived. But the paddy denied the offer by saying that, “I would not come, because the people will eat me up, you can go for yourself”. So the ragi with the help of the thodan fish bored a hole on the nose of the paddy and put a thread through it and dragged him to the land. On their way the thodan fish and the ragi consoled the paddy by saying that “even though we are eaten by the humans, we are also cultivated by them”. The dent on the paddy grain is said to be the hole made by the thodan fish and ragi.
c. Acquisition of Other Necessities: The Tools
As the early ancestors of the Paniyan started living at Ippi mala after the creation, the Padachavan (the Creator) started to give the occupation, tools and other implements to all who had gathered there. Each section of the people took whatever they got. As the distribution of the tools and implements progressed, and when the plough was about to be given away, the Paniyan didn’t go to take the plough. One old Paniyan woman (morathi) said, “Don’t take it, we will get something in the end, we will take whatever is left over after all other communities take their due”. Hence what the Paniyan got in the end was a small digging hoe (kothalu kaikottu). They took the small hoe and started digging with it which resulted in getting them many edible roots and tubers. The first thing they were able to dig out was the naaran kizhangu (a wild tuber). Subsequently they were able to dig out chama (panicum), cucumber, pepper, cholam (sorghum) etc.
d. Acquisition of Crafts: How They Became Agriculturists
The Paniyan ascribe the acquisition of different crafts by different communities to the ordaining of their theyya (the god). For instance, the theyya ascribed the duties of collection of the forest produces like the honey to the Kattunaikan or Jenu kuruman, the jobs like felling trees, pottery, etc., to the Uralikuruman and the agriculture to the Paniyan. The Paniyans were given the work related to the cheru (mud) and they have a saying among them;
“the one who is walking in front is with head and horn,
the one who is walking behind belongs to the mud” (chettadium)
The one who walks in front signifies the draught animals while the one who walks behind the plough is the Paniyan. To the Paniyans, the Kattunaikans are malayadium
(belonging to the mountain and forest) because their occupation is the collection of the forest produces.
The main theme of the above mentioned mythological motifs of culture is basically centered on the Paniyans occupation, viz., the agricultural labor. The explanatory nature of the narrations on the present status of the Paniyan as agricultural laborers is reinforced over and over through these myths. The super human effort of leveling vast stretches of undulating land, narrated in the legend of the Modaikantan is to be analyzed symbolically in the light of the Paniyans claim of developing most of the land in Wynad. The claim gives the Paniyan a lot of self-esteem, though they were mere workers to the others. The symbolic achievement of leveling the undulating land single-handedly reminds the Paniyan of his innate capacity to work hard and Modaikantan’s work was rewarded in the end by earning him a permanent place in the mind of the Paniyans. This is important because the Paniyans are considered “lazy” by their employers, due to their nature of abstaining from going to work if they have something to eat. Their usual nature is to work for some days, earn some money or rice and keep away from going to work, if they can, till the money or rice is exhausted. The presence of the landlord in the story and the Paniyan as a laborer who tries to please his landlord again reinforces the Paniyan’s position as a laborer.
The importance of paddy cultivation over the other crops has been stressed in the explanatory myth of how the humans got paddy as a food item. It is important that the innate contradiction contained in the myth that the paddy had to be forcefully brought to the human world where the superior class had already the knowledge of the grain and were eating it. The statement gain historical meaning when we analyze the fact that the paddy cultivation was practiced by the non tribal communities in the distant past where as the tribals subsisted on the shifting cultivation of millet on the hill slopes. The nostalgic thoughts about the previous food gathering stage is also mentioned in the myth. The myth functions to the acceptance of a superior class of paddy consumers to that of the ragi consumers. Hence the paddy had to be brought to the Paniyans by using supernatural means.
The Paniyan beliefs related to the paddy cultivation is numerous. It is interesting to note that no associated rituals can be seen with regard to the cash crops like tea, coffee, pepper or even to the food crops like ragi, wild tubers, etc. The cultivation of ragi have no related beliefs or ceremonies unlike the paddy which is considered as the anna rajavu (king of food). The rice is supposed to be the food of both the living and the dead or rotten. (chathathelekkum kettathekum ulla annam). To throw away rice is considered a sacrilege by the Paniyans.
Sowing of paddy during the month of Kumbhom (February- March) has a variety of rituals associated with it. The landlord directed the Paniyan to sow the seed and the Kootan, taking a bath early in the morning, performs the sowing. He takes up a lighted lamp and a winnow full of seeds to the ploughed paddy field and sows the seed. The call of a chempuppan bird (the crow pheasant) heard during the sowing is considered auspicious. The Paniyan is given food, betel leaves and arecanuts, etc., by the landlord.
As mentioned later in the analysis of the kaithakuthal and kathirukettal (thulapath) ceremonies, the myth is a logical consequence of imbibing the ruling class ideology by the ruled.
The acquisition of crafts and other necessities by the Paniyan by the myths (2.c and d) points to the divine ordination of the Paniyans status as an agricultural laborer from that of the food gatherer. Mountford, in his analysis of the Australian aboriginal mythology says about the stone age people that these people have myths which link, lightening, thunder and the stone axe (Charles P Mountford,1955:129). Similar association of myths with that of the production process could be found among almost all communities. For instance, the Yanomamo myth of the first beings narrates the specific function of the first beings such as creating a useful plant or object, many of them bear the names of plants and animals that are important in the Yanomamo economy (Napoleon Chagnon, 1968:45) and among the Trobriand Islanders as described by Malinowski where there is no beliefs and magic related to Trobriand fishing in the inner lagoon done in an easy and absolutely reliable manner (where man can rely completely upon his skill and knowledge) and extensive rituals and beliefs connected with dangerous angling of open sea, where there is full of danger and uncertainty (Bronislaw Malinowski, 1954:28-30). Hence the supernatural elements comes into play at points of stress in the economic and social order where ordinary procedures and arrangements are insufficient to sustain the system (Marshall D Sahlins, 1968:98)
3. Distribution and Differentiation of People
a. Origin of Different Classes: Social and Professional
The political institution like the kootan and koima is of rather recent origin - during the reign of the Kottayam kings. The rajas (Kings) were known as valampiri or mattomkottu tampuran. The king collected revenue through the Nair landlords. The kootan’s or koima’s duty was to assist the landlords to collect the paattom and carry it to the mattomkottu tarwad (family). The Paniyan got three sers or one kulagom3 of paddy as transporting and service charges. The myth in which the Paniyans were brought to work for the mattomkottu tampuran is as follows:
Adiyans were the workers attached to the mattomkottu tamparan. At the instruction of the malankari daivom (the goddess of the Mattomkottu temple) the tampuran discarded the Adiyan laborers as they were considered ‘impure’ (Adiya women observed only one day’s menstrual pollution). The goddess instructed the tampuran to replace Adiyans with the Paniyans who observed three days menstrual pollution. The goddess also wished that the Paniyans from a place called Adayattu to be brought to work in the fields and temple of the tampuran. These Paniyans belonged to four lineages that were given powers over all the other Paniyans in Wynad by the malankari daivom. The goddess also gave them an office called mattomkottu kootan. The tampuran gave the insignia of the office viz., the vadi (stick), kuda (umbrella) and the bale (brass bangle) to the head of the Koyimuttan lineage. The Nattilappadan was also given a paricha (shield) along with the above insignia. The lineages Moothedan and Padikkan were given certain roles to assists the first two in the socio-economic, religious and political activities. These four illoms (lineages) among the numerous Paniyan illoms are associated with a special status and the elders of the above four illoms constituted the supreme political authority of the Paniyan tribe and were known as the mattomkottu koyma. An illom would have more than one chemmi with a specific area of operation called naadu. The chemmi is the religious head who supervise marriage and death ceremonies and conducts services like daivom thullal or kooli urayal (divination) and sastram nokkal or maniyidal (astrological prediction) on request.
b. Characteristics of Various Peoples in Their Personal Appearance; How They Got Their Dress
The Padachavan had convened all the people at a place and told them to dress up in whatever materials they got - leaves or cloths. An Urali tribal women tried to tie the cloth around her waist but was failed to do so. A Paniyan woman used a long cloth (the araatti) to tie the dhoti around her waist. The Uralichi tried for a long time and managed to wrap the cloth around her armpits very loosely. That is how each group has a different style of dressing.
Justification for Political Power
Divine ordination of political power to a section of a society, or a family or an individual is a usual method by which the political power is held and transferred from one generation to the other. The Paniyan myth of the selection of the headman is also no exception. The relatively recent origin as evidenced by the particular mention of the royal dynasty points to the fact that the office of the kootan was instituted by the ruling power for the benefit of their vested interest, replacing whatever tribal institution the Paniyans might have had. The claims of ritual purity of Paniyan over the Adiyans acts as a morale booster for the former as it gives them some measure of superiority than the community of almost, equal standing. The myth provides a validation for the political authority. They are rather a means of expressing the attitudes and values which are current in the society (John Beattie, 1972:160). Its function always is to maintain the status-quo and to validate the existing order. The myths show that it is right for the rulers to rule and the governed to be governed. And it is reasonable to suppose that the subject may find subjection less irksome and the rulers rule with more assurance, when all share the conviction that the existing order is divinely inspired (Ibid:161). Commenting on the Chola mythical genealogies, Spencer comments that authenticating a ruling family’s ancestral credentials customarily prompted eulogists to compare a story of miraculous origin and impressive descent, so one might suppose that credibility, not just rhetorical virtuosity, of these accounts was relevant to establishing dynastic legitimacy (George W Spencer, 1984:415-432). Meillassoux, elaborating on the myth and social control says that when class domination is established over such communities it is expressed in the language of kinship even when it originate from outside. The ruling class or the sovereign, who represents it, is identified with the elder or with the father (Claude Meillassoux, 1981:86).
THE ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL CYCLE AND FESTIVALS
In the following passages an attempt is made to analyse the annual agricultural cycle and the associated festivals. (See table. 1)
4. Agricultural Cycle
The beginning of the agricultural year is from the month of Meenam (March-April) because it was then the new farm-hands were recruited by the landlords in the pre-capitalist period. The recruitment used to coincide with the Valliyoorkaavu festival which is usually conducted from Meenam first to the fourteenth. When the harvest of the second crop (punja) gather momentum, the landlord is in search of the required number of laborers, avoiding the weak and the unskilled. The Valliyoorkaavu system or kundalpani provided the congenial condition for such a selection.
There are many myths which relate the origin of the goddess of Valliyoorkaavu. The most popular among them is the Hindu version of the incarnation. This is connected with a sword. The Naluveetil Nambiars were the velichappadanmar (oracles) of the Kodungallur Bhagavati temple. They carried the sword − the Bhagavati’s sign − with them wherever they went. One day two of them on their way to Thirunelli, lost their way in the forest. The more they tried to find their way out the more lost they seemed. Tired at last, they decided to take a dip in the nearby river. After bath, pooja was done to the sword and it was placed on top of an ant-hill. Then the two velichappedanmar lay down nearby to take a short nap. When they woke up the sword had disappeared. They grew frantic. A Kurichiya tribal shepherd boy brought the news that a sword was found dangling from creepers which grew on top of a hill. As their efforts to free it from the creepers failed, they prayed to the Bhagvati; “valli ooramma” (Mother, remove the creepers). The Edachana Nair and Vemom Nambiar (two caste Hindu landlords) heard of this strange happening and came to the place. When they arrived the sword just fell down and disappeared into the earth. The goddess (through the oracle) ordered the Kottayam raja who had arrived at the scene, that the goddess wishes to settle there in three forms - as vana durga (goddess of the forest), where the sword fell; as jala durga (goddess of the river) and bhadra kali (an aspect of durga - usually ferocious) in between the two shrines. The Kottayam raja built the kaavu (temple) and the kaavilamma (goddess) enshrined.
The tribals were supposed to have received importance in the affairs of the temple because they helped to find the divine sword. The kootan Paniyan of the valliyoorkaavu was given the hereditary right to collect the fire wood and plantain leaves for the temple’s requirements.
However the myths regarding the origin of the Valliyoorkaavu differ from one tribe to another in which some significant part was played by the respective tribals. The myth of Valliyoorkaavu narrated by Palan of Karimath hamlet in Purakkadi village is as follows:
The whole place where the present temple is situated was a thick, dark jungle where the Paniyans used to go to gather the wild roots and tubers. Once two Paniya sisters went there to gather naaran kizhangu ( a kind of wild tuber) and they found somebody swinging on a creeper beside the river. They got afraid and ran to their hut to report the matter. The kootan Paniyan went to the scene and found the goddess who told him that she is there for their wellbeing and benefit. The goddess asked the Paniyan to keep the whole incident a secret and asked him to follow her. They reached the river bank and as the Paniyan was hesitated to get into the water, the goddess made the river water move along the two sides making a path across the river. The Paniyan and the goddess crossed over to the other side of the river where the Paniyan found a new house. The goddess awarded the Paniyan the required land and wealth to look after her by building a shrine. The Paniyan even after receiving the land and wealth was not assured of his ability to carry out the temple duties. He started speaking the matter to the people outside and later left the rights, land and wealth to the Hindu landlords. This action of the kootan of leaving the rights and wealth of the goddess even after she had bestowed on him all rights and wealth angered the goddess who cursed the Paniyan that a person - young or old in the family - would die during the annual festival of the temple. The dead body was supposed to be kept inside the hut till the end of the festival and nobody outside would know about the death. The kootan Paniyan of the Valliyoorkaavu however got some attached rights like collecting the fuel wood, plantain leaves and holding the flag and lamp during the festivals.
The Goddess and the Element of Fear : So much for the importance of this myth for inculcating an element of fear in the minds of the Paniyans about the wrath of the goddess for not fulfilling the wishes of her whims. The deviance from the allegiance would be dealt with severely - with the utmost punishment - death. The Paniyans believe that the Valliyoorkaavu bhagavati (balleeramma in Paniyan language, here the meaning may be ‘ballee irunna amma’ - the mother who sat on the creeper) will fulfill any wish or hardship if proper offerings are made.
The bonded labor system of Wynad in which the Valliyoorkaavu played a prominent role has to be analyzed in this context. The Valliyoorkaavu gave a certain order to the slave labor in Wynad and made it a festival-centered system of one year bondage at a time - from one Valliyoorkaavu to the next. The paraphernalia of the festival - the crowds, the traders, the entertainments, etc., attracted the tribals to the festival grounds from all parts of Wynad. With the nilpu panam or Valliyoorkaavu panam which varies from place to place and was about Rs. 10/- per adult male and Rs 8/- per adult female and Rs. 2/- to Rs. 5/- per child in the age group 10 to 18 which they received in advance as they proceeded to the temple. Instead of this money sometimes a fixed amount of paddy known as kundal4 was paid to a Paniyan household. All the Paniyan households who had agreed to work with a landlord were to be feasted on the eve of the festival before they proceeded to the temple. The Paniyan women were to husk the necessary paddy required for the feast. (Kulirani B.F,1984). Once the nilpu panam is accepted from an employer, a laborer has to work under him for the whole of the next year. The Valliyoorkaavu festival became an inevitable aspect of the bonded labor system in Wynad. The festival served mainly two functions. It was there the landlords and the laborers met and the landlords selected the required number of laborers. It was here the laborers made themselves bonded for a year. The Paniyans were afraid to break the unwritten deed since the agreement was made in front of their fearsome goddess. The awe and reverence for the goddess is reinforced by the ceremonies of the annual festival. Unlike most of the other temples the tribals suffered no restrictions for the entry into the temple. This gave the tribals the feeling that the temple and festival as their own. The purpose of the non-restriction seems to be intentional, that is to allow the believers including the tribals to see and understand the dreadful consequence of not obeying the goddess.
Though the Valliyoorkavu festival was celebrated from the first of Meenam to the fourteenth, the important ceremonies are conducted in the last four days i.e., from 11th to 14th. The important special ceremonies other than the usual poojas conducted during the two weeks are ari alavu (measuring the rice for the feast), dehannum charthal (starting the culinary work) and kazhnam murikkal (slicing the vegetables) indicating that free meals will be served for the devotees during the festival days. These are ritualized invitation for the tribals to participate in the festival who are assured of a free meal and they are the main customers. The other rituals are kalamezhuthupattu, (song sung in front of the designs on the ground drawn with indigenous colors), kalathilattom (dancing over the kalam), ganapathi homam (pooja offered to the god ganapathi), oppana varavu (arrival of the Bhagavati’s ornaments and dress), thidambu ezhunnallikkal (taking out the idol in procession), adiyara varavu (paying homage to the goddess by bringing tender coconuts tied to a stick and carried on the shoulders), aarat (ritual bathing) etc.
The Ganapathi homam is conducted early in the morning for the entire two weeks to appease the god for the smooth, un-hindered functioning of the festival ceremonies. The right to bring the festival flag post of bamboo was with the Katharothu Kurichcha tribal family. The most important ceremony in the festival is connected with the oppana darsanam (seeing the true form of the Bhagavati). The ceremonies like oppana varavu, thidembu ezhunnallikkal, kalamezhuttu pattu, kalathilattom etc, are associated with each other and preliminary to the oppana darsanam. The oppana koppukal (the holy ornaments) of the goddess which was kept at the Cherankot Namboothiri illom was taken out ceremoniously at about ten o’ clock in the night from the Mele kaavu and brought to the Thazhe kaavu on caparisoned elephants. This is called thidambu ezhunnallikal. The flag and the torch bearers belonged to the Paniyan tribals. Tribal girls participated in the thaalapoli (a customary way of propitiating gods by young girls in rows holding plates containing, lamps, flowers, rice, etc.) The kannadi (mirror idol) is placed inside a small enclosure (manippattu) in front of the thazhe kavu. Meanwhile a kalam (design) is drawn on the floor with various indigenous color powders inside the thazhe kavu. Three persons belonging to the Kuruppan caste sing a song called paattu. A Brahmin priest performs a pooja in front of the kalam called kalam pooja. After the pooja a participant of the paattu starts to perform a ritual around the kalam wielding the ceremonial sword which is handed over to him by the poojari (priest). The oracle cuts away the hanging flowers one by one simultaneously wiping the kalam with his legs. The ritual gradually gathered momentum and the oracle starts to utter some harsh sounding calls. He runs around the kalam several times in a trance which recedes after some time. All the while the devotees belonging to Nair, Thiyyan, tribals and others watch the performance. It is important that the Paniyan kootan of the Valliyoorkavu hamlet is present at the ceremony along with some of his tribesmen. During the performance of the oracle some preparations are done inside the temple. After sometime, the priest and the oracle take one sword each and stand in front of the sanctum sanctorum. Suddenly the door opens partially while all persons present there stand in prayers with folded arms. The priest and the oracle moves aside after having a glimpse of the oppana, enabling others to have a look. The doors are opened only partially and is closed after two or three seconds and again opened and closed. The process is repeated for about five minutes. It is during the momentary instances of opening and closing that one is able to see the life-size swaroopam (the actual image of the goddess) of the Bhadra kaali. The swaroopam is so horrifying a sight that children turns their head from the specter out of fear. The life-sized image is black with red cloths, the eyes bulged, the tongue protruded through the blood stained teeth, a sword pointed to strike and the golden ornaments shined in the dim lit sanctum sanctorum. Some tribals including the Paniya men, women and children are among the spectators. This ceremony is conducted for the last three days of the festival. The manifestation of the goddess in her ferocious mood is an obvious warning to the devotee of the potential nature of the anger of the goddess when provoked. This image cast an indelible fear in the minds of the tribals which was reinforced with the aforementioned myth of the origin of the goddess and the tribals role in it as the victim of the goddess’ wrath.
Another belief which the Paniyan hold about the Valliyoorkaavu pertained to the jala devata (goddess of the river) which was supposed to inhabit the maltsya theerthom (holy ghat of the fishes) in the river Kabani - here the river is known as Mannanthavady puzha. The fish in the ghat was considered holy since they are thought to be the vassals of the jala devata. The tribals offers pori (fried paddy) in the belief that if the fish eat the offering there is nothing to worry about death in the near future for the person who has made the offering and if the fish did not take the offering it is believed that it was the indication that the longevity of the one who offered it is shortened.
The aforementioned incidents throw light on some of the underlying aspects of the tribal belief. To the first myth, their role in finding the lost sword had earned them the right to supply the necessary pooja materials to the temple, thus making them associate with the affairs of the Hindu belief. The Hindu hegemony and the dominance of the caste Hindus were justified as they allowed the tribals certain roles to play during the festivals and ceremonies like bringing the fire wood and plantain leaves, carrying the festival flags and torches, etc. And it was necessary to ensure all the other tribals participate in the Hindu festival thereby making them group together at a single place. What else is there than free food available to lure the communities who depended on the forest or as chattel slaves of the early Canarese farmers of the eastern Wynad? The conformity to the Hindu fold was literally forced upon the tribals in the form of the ‘fear of death’ as depicted in the origin myth of the Valliyoorkaavu Bhagavati and the belief about the jala durga. The fear of the divine anger runs as an undercurrent of any institutionalized religion (Upton Sinclair, 1936:24). And only when we correlate the fear of death - the ultimate punishment for a non-conformist - to that of the Valliyoorkaavu system or kundal pani of assuring the supply of uninterrupted labor force for the coming agricultural season, in a world free from bondage and plenty of forest to lead a tribal way of life, that we could positively assume that the tribal myth and belief were accessory to the Valliyoorkavu system and not the other way round. The ‘religion’ in this sense becomes a natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation (Ibid:17) As Harris observes, these wrappings give a people a social identity and a sense of social purpose, but they conceal the naked truths of social life (Marvin Harris, 1975:5)
5. Agricultural Cycle and Related Festivals:
The agricultural operations have a definite bearing with the related festivals. Accordingly, a perusal of the festivals associated with the cultivation becomes necessary.
On Meenam fourteenth, the Valliyoorkavu festival comes to an end, and the employers and their laborers agree upon a contract and the new servants will return carrying the purchases of the master. The agricultural activities in Medom (April-May) were to harvest the summer crop (punja) and to plough the fields, prepare the field ready to broadcast (theli vitha) the seeds for summer showers. This is called valia vithakkl (large-scale broadcasting). This is the principal crop of the year (nunja). The daily routine was work-break-work (pani kayari pani) which started at 7 o’ clock in the morning till 6 o’ clock in the evening with a break of one and a half hours in the afternoon. The wages were paid in kind. A day’s wage for men was 2 sers and 1 1/2 sers for women plus the midday meal and if without the midday meal it was 2 1/2 sers and 2 sers respectively.
The important festival during this month is the vishu and traditionaly the bonded Paniyans were entitled for the vishu vally (special wages in kind paid during vishu) which consisted of a dhoti (mundu), 5 kulagoms (10 sers) of paddy, 2 panam (50 ps.), some chilies , coconut oil, etc. The avakasom (rights) of the Paniyans were to reassure the loyalty to their master and was sometimes called kutti urappikkal (to refix the deal). The Paniyans were feasted in the noon. After returning to their huts the Paniyans performed the vishu kolu (ritual observation during the vishu to the ippi mala teyya, guliyan, iditheyya, malankari, ippimala muthappan and muthassi - all tribal gods, goddesses, ancestors or ancestress). The ritual was performed collectively at the settlement level by the chemmi (or kootan) who undergoes a trance (kooli urayal) and pronounces the instructions of the gods to the audience. The purpose of the ritual was to offer the thanks giving treat and to ensure constant protection throughout the coming year and to obtain recognition of the new master by the Paniyan laborer under the kootan.
Table. 1 Agricultural Cycle and Related Festivals
Season Thottapani Vayalpani Festival
& ceremonies To whom and purpose How performed
Meenam
(March- April) pepper & Coffee
plucking. Punja Harvest Valliyoorkayu
festival Bhagavathi Annual festival of Hindus Ritual partici-pation by the Paniyans
Medam
(April- may) Punja Harvest over. Nanja begining (valia vithakkal Vishu (April 14) vishu kolu kuttiurappikal (vishu vally) Guliyan Pantherrappanmar
Thanks giving and toensure protection for coming year. Kooliurayal settlement level performance.
Edavom
(May- june) Nunja tilling ploughing, planting valiavitha. Mari kolu Kuli (kad Bhagavathi) Mariamman. As remedial measure for small pox Kooli urayal settlement level performance
Mithunam
(June- July) Cofee and Pepper planting Nunja planting over
Karkkidakam
(July- August) Kambalam Karkkidaka Sankaranthi (distribution of karikkan) Ancestors - to appease karneemara Kooli urayal Lineage level
Chingom
(Aug-Sep) Cofee pruning (kavath) weeding (katcharaveesal) manuring, fencing Onam- onakou onakazcha onavally Ancestors - to appease karneemara Kooli urayal lineage level
Kanni
(Sep –oct) Tottam Kothu (digging) podikothu) Nunja harvest begins. Punja cultivation begins Kanni Sankranthi Kaitha kuthal To deter Lekshmi devi from going to Coorg. At each paddy field.
Thulam
(Oct- Nov) Nunja Havesting Punjaculti-
vation continues Thulapath- Puthari Oonu, Kathiru kettal Ancestors
To celebrate harvesting Feasting with fresh grains.
Vrichikam (Nov- Dec) Nunja Harvesting Punja Cultivation Continues)
Dhanu
(Dec- Jan) Coffee and Pepper plucking starts Nunja harvesting over. Punja planting over Purakkadi festival Devi. Annual festival of Hindus. Participation by Paniyans.
Makaram
(Jan- Feb) Coffee and Pepper plucking continues Kakka pola (Karuvalli) funeral ceremony for dead relatives for 3 successive years Hamlet level
Kunbhom
(Feb- Mar) Coffee and Pepper plucking continues Punja harvesting begins Uchaal (Mattom) Uchal pola Dead ancestors- to appease ancestors every 3-4 years Hamlet level.
During the months of Edavam-Mithunam (June-July), the south-west monsoon sets in and the main agricultural activities are wet land ploughing, leveling, preparing bonds and paddy transplanting. By the end of Midhunam the nunja cultivation is finished and spare time is utilized for planting coffee and pepper. It is during the month of Edavom, the marikolu (ritual observation to the Maariamma, the goddess of disease) is conducted. The ritual is performed to appease the Maariamma and Kaadubhagavati as a remedial measure for preventing small-pox and chicken pox. The kootan or chemmi conducts the ceremony by entering a trance at the settlement level. The interesting aspect to note here is that the Maariamma is a Hindu goddess while the Kadubhagavati is a tribal goddess.
In the month of Karkkidakom (July-August) scarecrows have to be placed in the paddy- fields. The Paniyan who does this work gets an extra meal. If the paddy planting operation were not over by now the owner will propose to conduct a kambalam which was an exploitative practice in Wynad, to carry out collective labour with the accompaniment of music and dance. Gradually all the works ceased and the laborers slip into a state of abject poverty. Now a square meal is a welcome change and that was exactly the situation provided by the karkidaka sankranthi - a ceremony for ancestral worship. The landlord served a feast for his laborers and presented them each with seven feet of coarse cloth called kaarikkan or purakkali mundu. In addition to these each household was given two kulagoms of paddy. These gestures indicate the necessity of the landlord to keep his laborers satisfied during the time of hardship. The karneemara (ancestors) were worshiped at the lineage level by the chemmi who performed his duty through the usual kooli urayal.
The wet land agricultural activities are over by the month of Chingom (Aug-Sept) but the Paniyan had work in the coffee and pepper plantations. The jobs include katchara veesal (clearing the shrubs) manureing, kavaath (coffee pruning) fencing, etc.
For Onam festival also there is ona vally which may amount to 7 kulagoms of paddy, coconut oil, coconut, chilly and salt. A dhoti to each householder was also given. A feast was also served in the day of Onam. The Paniyans were obliged to bring ona kazhcha (presents of plantains, yams and vegetables) to the landlord. The Paniyan perform the ona kolu to appease the ancestors during Onam in which the chemmi undergo the ritual trance and pronounce the attitude and wishes of the ancestors.
By Kanni (Sept-Oct) the nunja crop started ripening and the preparations are on the way to make the paddy seedling nursery for the punja (second crop). The other jobs included the weeding and digging in the coffee and pepper plantations. This is called podikothu. The important ritual in which the Paniyan had to participate during this month was the ritual kaitha kuthal (erecting a pandanus branch in the middle of the paddy field). This was done on the new moon day (kanni sankranti) by the kootan who received a midday meal for his work. The kaitha kuthal was supposed to be done to ward off evil eye from the paddy fields and in the expectation that the paddy will grow as luxuriantly and green as the pandanus plant. Another variation about this ritual narrates about a precautionary measure to keep the Lakshmi devi (the goddess of wealth and plenty) in Wynad from going over to Coorg to participate a festival celebrated in favor of Maha vishnu, her consort, during this period. It was believed that she would cancel her journey as seeing the pandanus which was considered a bad omen, resulting the Wynad remain bountiful.
Thulam and Vrichikom (Oct-Nov-Dec) are marked by hectic wet-land agricultural activities. Nunja harvesting was in full swing. At night, the men had the work of guarding the crops from wild boars and elephants. The Paniya women reaped the paddy while the men carried the paddy bundles to the threshing ground (okkalu kalam). The Paniyan get their usual wages only. On the last day of reaping there was no wage. They can collect the thala mani - the first grains that fall down when threshed. The men separated the grain by okkal using bullocks (eru) and threshing stone okkalu kallu. After the okkal the straw is removed and the grain is collected. When the straw is again removed to another place, there will be some grains beneath it. The Paniyans can have them. It is called vithayadi.
It was during Thulam the harvest festival called puthari oonu (starting the consumption of the newly harvested paddy) was conducted in which the Paniyan had some definite role to play. On the thulappath (Thulam 10th), it was the duty of the kootan of each hamlet to collect some paddy spikes from the landlord’s field and carry it on his head to the temple to be sanctified by the priest. The spikes were carried back to the janmi’s house where a few spikes were hanged at the door entrance and four corners of the house to bring in prosperity and wealth. Some spikes were also hanged at the entrance of the Paniya households. For this service the landlord gave the Paniyan two or three kulagoms (3 or 4 kgs) of paddy. Only after the ceremony of hanging the spikes the newly harvested paddy should be cooked and served, lest, the Paniyan believe that snakes would appear at their thena (the raised holy portion inside the Paniya hut where the gods and ancestors are supposed to inhabit). Similar ceremonies are conducted at the Valliyoorkavu temple from where the devotees take the paddy spikes to their home to hang up. Another interesting aspect is that the tribes traditionally cultivated only ragi as a food crop using the method of shifting cultivation. But they did not have any rituals regarding the ragi cultivation while they observe the Hindu rituals regarding the rice cultivation. They think that they observe reverence to the rice because it is considered the annarajavu (king of food). This traditional harvest festival is also celebrated by the tribal communities like the Kurichchans, Kurumans, Adiyans and the Jain landlords of the Coorg. The Kurichchans and the Kurumans used to conduct collective hunting expeditions with their bows and arrows while the female folks engaged in fishing in the rivers with the help of the chaada (basket net).
Now the tribal tradition of hunting has been given way to the mere celebration of the kathirukettal and the consumption of the new rice. These three ceremonies indicate how the landlord’s, hence, the Hindu religious practice has become the Paniya way of life.
By the end of Dhanu (Dec-Jan), the nunja harvesting, drying, storing and the punja planting would be over. The Paniyans had work only in the pepper and coffee plantations. The pepper and coffee plucking start in this period in some places. The celebration of the Purakkadi temple festival is in this month.
The participation of Paniyan in the daily routines and festivals of the temple is limited to the cleaning of utensils, collection of plantain leaves and firewood, holding of festival flags and torch, and participation in the thaalapoli. Unlike the Valliyoorkavu temple, the tribals were not permitted to enter inside the temple. The Mullakurumar started participating in the affairs of the Purakkadi temple for the past twenty years while the Paniyans started to participate in it for the past two years only, though they were engaged for cleaning the utensils and the temple premises and collection of fuel wood.
The Paniyans of the Karimath and the Adichiladi hamlets hold great belief that the Purakkadi devi wished them, to be near her i.e., to be in service of the goddess. They narrate a tale to substantiate this belief;
The whole land in the Purakkadi village belonged to a janmi and his kaaryasthan (manager) oppressed and tormented the laborers in many ways. He used to beat up the Paniyan for even silly faults. As the harassment became unbearable, they planned to leave their janmi stealthily in the night. They completed the day’s work and after having their food, prepared to leave. They started to walk and they walked all night. As the day light broke they realized that they were in the same place from where they started their journey. They understood that it was the goddess who held them there. She told them that they were not the one to go but it was the kaaryasthan and he died in the next morning. The Paniyans of Purakkadi believe that the goddess felt the services of the Paniyans like cleaning the temple utensils, collecting the fuel wood, etc. were unavoidable for the functioning of the temple.
This narration is an obvious justification of the Paniyans duties to the temple. But it has another function hidden behind it. It was a well known fact that in the past some of the Paniyans tried to elope from one landlord even after their unwritten pledge with their employer in front of the powerful goddess of Valliyoorkaavu. This kind of reasoning might have helped to discourage such tendencies.
In Makarom (Jan-Feb) the punja crop planted in the month of Virchikom (Feb-March) became ready for harvesting, but the major share of their work was done in the plantation, plucking of coffee or pepper. The ceremonies conducted by the Paniyan in these months is the kaakka pola or karuvelli held for three years in succession in the month of Makarom and the maattom pola or uchal pola held once in every three or four years as a memorial service in honor of those who are specially respected. In the first week of Kumbhom the Paniyan celebrated the feast in memory of their ancestors and up to Kumbhom 7th they abstained from work. The ritual season is known as uchal and the Paniyan called it maattom. The uchal pola was conducted at every settlement to commemorate the ancestors and to appease them and to ensure their constant guardianship (Kulirani B.F,1984).
These two polas seems to be the only genuine ceremonies of the Paniyans. No wonder they are funeral ceremonies - related to death, a phenomenon which the they find difficulty in comprehending. But the timing and the abstention from doing work during the uchal pola is interesting because in fact the uchal or ucharal is a religious rite conducted in devi temples by the Hindus of the central Kerala at the end of Makarom. This was supposed to be the period when, after the second summer crop (punja) the heat from the underground of earth rises to the surface. The first three days of the ceremony was considered as the menstrual period of the Bhoomi devi (goddess earth). During this period, the opening of the granary, taking or measuring paddy or undertaking agricultural activities are prohibited. Only on the fourth day the agricultural activities shall be resumed (Vishnu Namboothiri, 1980:22). Hence it can be deduced that even the funeral ceremonies of the Paniyan were adapted to suit the religious ideology of the dominating class.
After the uchal pola the Paniyans gradually resume their work of punja harvesting with the anticipation of the next Valliyoorkaavu festival, his heart filled with the expectation of the money he received as nilpu panam with which he hoped to purchase cloths for his children, utensils for the kitchen or a thakke (metal ear ornament) for his wife perhaps under a new master and the cycle continued.
Conclusion
Among the classical theoretical approaches to the study of the belief system, the Functionalist approach considers beliefs and myths as charters of validation which aims to provide a sanction for current situation. As a charter of belief it serves to protect cultural continuity and provides a cultural equilibrium. The Structuralist approach centers around two perspectives, one on the sequence of order of events and two, the scheme of organization of the sequence at different levels. In other words, Structural analysis is concerned with the quest for understanding the significance of Nature and culture. The Marxist method stress the economic basis and historical conditions from which the ideology and beliefs have originated. Thus according to this approach, in order to understand the socio-cultural phenomena, it is also necessary to look at the social relations, especially the class relations.
The basic perspective of such an approach is that, in a society, where people have been ascribed different socio-economic and political status, due to historical reasons, the dominant ideas prevalent will be those which present the reality concealed from the comprehension of the masses. As part of the supernatural myths, beliefs and rituals, these ideas grow into the society’s ideology and help to perpetuate the existing social system. Consequently, such inverted perceptions hold the dominant place in the ideological sphere. Such beliefs and myths are reproduced in order to shield away the material realities associated with the socio-economic relations and conditions from the cognition of the masses. Such a reproduction of the ideology helps for the dominant classes to make their exploitation easy and to stabilize their class hegemony. By glorifying certain ideas and institutions which have been adopted and justified during the course of cultural evolution, the dominating class effectively propagates their revivalist ideas through the misinterpretation of history.
In conclusion, it may be said that the belief system of the Paniyans is intricately entwined with the production relations existing in the village. The various elements in these myths and beliefs act as the reinforcing factors of the Paniyan’s position in the given socio-economic milieu. The major mythological motifs discussed viz., the creation and ordering of human life, acquisition of culture, distribution and differentiation among the people, etc., have certain aspects which pre-supposes the Paniyan’s position as a servile group to the dominant community. The myths and beliefs discussed, especially about the primeval pair, origin of the tribe, the legend of Modaikantan, acquisition of food supply, acquisition of tools, for instance, are examples of how a food gathering tribal community was transformed into an agricultural community. More than Just describing the present day conditions of the community, these beliefs, sometimes in the term of self-esteem and some times in the form of coercion of fear make the Paniyan meekly accept the exploitative conditions as natural and commonplace. The festival cycle and the various rituals and ceremonies associated with the cultivation are further examples of how the dominant class is benefitted from the perpetuation of the beliefs and myths. The myths and beliefs associated with the Valliyoorkaavu, the customary rights of the Paniyans during the Hindu festivals like Vishu, Onam, etc., are conducive to the perpetuation of the socio-economic status-quo.
Notes
In fact, the generic name of the Paniyans is no longer known. They used to call themselves kachavan, meaning “savages”, apparently a name they found for themselves or given to them by others. The term Paniyan, presumably was a later nomenclature ascribed by the non-tribals.
Evelyn S Kessler defines belief system or the ideological subsystem of a culture as including the religious beliefs, values, myths, legends, art, music, dance or in short, all the aesthetic components of the culture. Evelyn S Kessler, 1976:10)
One ser is a measure about ¾ Kg. Kulagom is a pear shaped rattan basket which contain approximately 1.5 Kg paddy.
The quantity is about 40 to 80 Kg and the system is hence sometimes called kundal pani
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Encyclopedia Sociology, London: MacMillan Press.
Spencer, George W. (1984)”Heirs Apparent: Fiction and Function in Chola Mythical Genealogies”,
The Indian Economic and Social History Review. Vol. XXI, No. 4.
Terray, Emmanuel (1972) Marxism and Primitive Societies, New York: Review Press.
Thompson, Stith (1966), Motif Index of Folk Literature, London: Indiana University Press, Vol.1.
Young, Michael W. (1981) The Ethnography of Malinowski, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Young, Kimball (1969) Handbook of Social psychology London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Monks, Monasteries and Mahācaitya: Towards Reconstructing the Institutional Base of Early Buddhist Art Activity at Amarāvatī - N. J. Francis
Abstract
An examination of the interaction among the donor groups at Amaravati has brought out the institutional base of the early Buddhist art-activity and its social orientations. The Buddhist monastery emerges as the nodal point of the institutionalized form of Buddhism. The planning and construction of the Mahacaitya and the smaller caityas, and the subsequent renovations and sculptural embellishments involved processes of mobilization of human, natural and economic resources, and constituted the most significant socio-economic and cultural activity at Amaravati in the early centuries of the Christian era. Entrenched in the monasteries were the different cadres of the monks whose presiding and mediating functions included preserving the canons through a tradition of textual scholarship, fixing the architectural plans, selecting themes for the sculptural and narrative art, organizing patronage, supervising renovations and embellishments etc. The architectural tradition within the Caityaka monasteries and the monastic contributions to the ‘Amaravati School of Art’ have also been highlighted.
I
Preliminaries
The early Buddhist site of Amaravati in the eastern Deccan has long been known to the students of early Indian history, archaeology and art ever since the pioneering efforts of Colonel Colin Mackenzie of the Trigonometrical Survey of India, towards the end of the 18th century, at salvaging the ruins of the Buddhist stupa of the site from further ruination.1 The site was, since then, excavated many times, and the relief- sculptures that once adorned the structural parts of the stupa as well as the artefacts of the different phases of human occupation at the site were brought to light.2 Any historiographical glance over the discourse on Amaravati during the last two centuries can show that most studies centred either around the art and the sculptural styles of the stupa or on the architecture of the stupa with its shape, size and structural phases in focus, or on the chronology of the stupa.3 This overemphasis on art and architecture per se has vitiated a proper understanding of the historical dimensions of the construction of the mahacaitya and the linkages between the socio-economic processes and Buddhism on the one hand and art and architecture on the other.
This paper proposes to analyse select data from the corpus of the short label inscriptions recovered from Amaravati along with data from the archaeological excavations, art history and the Buddhist canonical texts for addressing certain conceptual issues of the interface between art and the socio-religious mechanism at Amaravati during the three centuries both before and after the beginning of the Christian era. The central concern of the paper is the reconstruction of the institutional base of the early art activity and the particular pattern of social interaction in the environs of Amaravati during the time span that has been chosen for the study. It highlights the role of early monastic Buddhism with its ideological, socio-religious and economic contents, and with the monastery as the institutional base, in accelerating the socio-economic processes and in providing focus to the typical social interactions and traits, structurally and functionally similar to those seen at the other early Buddhist centres of the period, like Sanci, Bharhut, Mathura etc. The paper is an attempt at understanding the most important institutional apparatus of Buddhism—the vihara or the monastery as the institutionalised form of the Buddhist sangha—during the period of the transition from the megalithic cultural stratum to the early historical period in the light of evidence from Amaravati-Dharanikota, the site that has yielded the largest quantity of material evidence of religious and socio-economic import in the eastern Deccan and had diffused cultural idioms or traits which were symptomatic of a new social formation in the eastern Deccan as a whole during the three centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era.
Although much headway has been registered in the archaeological excavations at, and the study of the art of, Amaravati, results of these researches remain more or less isolated blocks in time and space and have not been incorporated into historical studies. The studies on Amaravati have suffered from, as already pointed out, overemphasis on the art and architecture of the stupa. A gulf between archaeological excavations and historical research is also discernible as has been noticed by H. Sarkar: “... We failed to study Dhanyakataka and its neighbourhood as a complete city, leading to an improper understanding of its ecological factors and its role in the early history of Andhra."4 He admitted the fact that the stupas formed part of a larger social and economic fabric which was completely lost sight of.5 While most scholars took the sculptural art of Amaravati as a source of history to shed light on contemporary life, no serious attempt was made to historicise art or to identify and analyse the relationship between art and the socio-religious mechanism at Amaravati. Moreover, such a stance on the part of the scholars failed to address such crucial issues as the society, religion and economy promoting a school of art, and the historical and social dimensions of art.
The archaeological remains from Amaravati-Dharanikota include the debris of the structure of the mahacaitya; the relief-sculptures in lime-stone depicting incidents from the life of the Buddha, the Jataka stories and the symbolic and anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, which, when in situ, adorned the different structural parts of the mahacaitya; 6 the short donatory epigraphs, which are dated to the period between circa 2nd century B.C. and 3rd century A.D, and are engraved on the structural parts and sculptured slabs of the mahacaitya;7 the coins from excavations and hoards8; the remains of the material culture as seen in the archaeological stratigraphy,9 etc. Along with these may be used the Buddhist literary works, both canonical and secular, 10 though they do not contain direct reference either to the mahacaitya or to the Buddhist establishments of the site.
The assessment of the way the knowledge of Amaravati was accumulated in the 19th and 20th centuries brings forth certain observations pertaining to the debris unearthed so far at the site. The 'quite haphazard', non-professional, diggings of the last century11 and the absence of horizontal excavations have obliterated an integral and comprehensive picture of the structural and stratigraphical sequence of the ruins of the site. The remains were not monolithic i.e., these did not necessarily constitute a single monument, as for example the mahacaitya, in time and space as is proved by the existence of some smaller caityas12 near the mahacaitya. Evidently noticeable in and essentially interrelated to the different sculptural phases or styles are the large-scale renovations, attested to both by the inscriptional as well as the archaeological evidence. Once it is understood that there were also some smaller stupas as well as Buddhist monasteries like the mahavihara13 at Amaravati, it follows that the site was not simply a 'stupa-site' as it was represented to be in the archaeological reports but rather that the mahacaitya, the numerous smaller stupas and viharas, the nigama14 and gosthi,15 a navigational channel, a fortified settlement16 etc. together constituted a Buddhist complex in the midst of an early historical market-town.
The period covered by the study i.e., from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D. needs justification. It is only from the layers ascribed by the excavator to the 4th-3rd centuries B.C. that material remains in appreciable quantity have been collected. It is a period of transition from the megalithic to the early historical in the eastern Deccan. Cultural and commercial contacts of the lower Krishna valley with central and north India resulting in the spread of elements of material culture and Buddhism to the south-eastern Deccan are also attested to since the 3rd century B.C. Archaeologically, the period is noted for intensive 'structural activity'. The structural remains of the mahacaitya with the sculptured panels, the votive and donatory inscriptions, and the coins belong to the period taken up for study. The period about 3rd century A.D. marks the climax of structural activity to be followed by a general decline in structural activity and trade.17
Amaravati-Dharanikota is taken in this paper as a single unit of study and focal point in contrast to what has been done by the archaeologists who dug up these two sites as separate entities for study and excavation, with the exception of I. K. Sarma and H. Sarkar. The rationale for considering these two sites as an organic whole is that, first of all, the inscriptions recovered from both the sites refer to the location of the Buddhist establishments as 'Dhamnakata' or Dhanyakataka, 18 the ancient name of the locality, and attest to the common cultural affiliations. Secondly, the archaeological stratigraphy of both the sites, once placed side by side and read together, shows unmistakable correspondence. Thirdly, a Buddhist religious establishment as a centre of popular worship could not originate and prosper in cultural isolation, unconnected with a settlement and devoid of patronage, and still produce monumental buildings. The paper also presumes that the bent of mind that produced the systems of ancient Indian philosophy and literature also went into the production of early Indian art. The production and appreciation of art or architecture are integral features that identify a people or a society in any historical context, and especially so in an ancient context since religious beliefs, canonical prescriptions, mythology, folklore, social ethos, political and economic patronage, aesthetics etc. are involved in the production and appreciation of art. This paper stems out of the conviction that the study of art in society offers unexplored data and problems for a re-examination of the rise of a developed Buddhist complex in the midst of the megalithic Iron Age communities. There is, however, no glossing over of the limitations of the paper like the lack of direct reference in the sources to the problems that are being highlighted. Therefore, it is feared that a measure of speculation has crept into the analysis.
Situated in the lower Krishna valley on its southern bank in the fertile rice-growing area19 and close to the megalithic diamond mines,20 Amaravati-Dharanikota held a position of strategic importance though it is located at a distance of 62 miles from the mouth of river Krishna. Without the disadvantages and dangers of a situation on the coast of Coromandel, it enjoyed the benefits of communication with the sea. Growing as an inland port, it stood as the gateway of commerce along with Krishna which served to fertilise its fields, to disseminate its culture and to distribute its goods.21 The south-eastern Deccan was well-knit in the early historical routes of trade and communication that linked the whole of the Indian subcontinent.22 The Northern Black Polished Ware from stratigraphic sequence at Amaravati, which was a pre-Mauryan deluxe ware with an early Buddhist affinity, bears witness to the contacts with the early Buddhist centres of the north-east like Sravasti, Vaisali, Rajagrha and others.23 Trade routes passing through early Andhra converged towards the country of Vengi in the neighbourhood of Amaravati, lying between the lower vallies of Krishna and Godavari. The trade routes to Kalinga in the north-east, to Dravida/Tamilakam in the south, to Karnataka in the south-west, to Maharashtra in the north-west and to Kosala in the north converged here. Buddhist monastic sites grew along these caravan routes.24 Of more than the sixty Buddhist sites of the early historical period, located or exposed in Andhra Pradesh, the maximum concentration is in the Krishna delta and the fertile eastern coastal seaboard from Kalingapatam or Salihundam in the north to Ramtirtham on the river Pennar in the south.25 The Buddhist establishments at Amaravati came into existence in the centuries immediately preceding the beginning of the Christian era as part of a collective or 'community patronage' of the Buddhist monastic establishments, which was a prominent feature in peninsular India in the warmth of the commercial prosperity ushered in by the expansion of trade and agriculture.26
II
Primacy of the Sangha and Vihāra
The history of the evolution of Buddhism was such that the Buddhist monastic community was the prerequisite for the existence of Buddhism in a given society and that without the Sangha there was no Buddhism.27 Any search for the institutional apparatus of the early Buddhist movement begins from the sangha i.e., the monastic organisation, and the viharas i.e., the base of operation or function of the sangha. The sangha and the viharas are the two outfits which connected the doctrines, beliefs and practices of Buddhism with the life and culture of the people. However, structural remains of monasteries have not so far been properly identified at Amaravati though inscriptional references to them are concrete, supplemented by Hiuen Tsang's accounts. The Dharanikota Dharmacakra Pillar Inscription records the erection of Dhammacakka-dvaja at the eastern gate of the mahavihara28 at Dhanakada, while the prevalence of the different Mahasanghika monastic sects like the Caityakas, the Puvaseliya, Mahavanaseliya, Rajagirika, Siddhatthika, Jadikiya etc. may be taken for the existence of their respective monasteries29 at Amaravati at different times, many of which were later on found deserted by Hiuen Tsang30 in the 7th century A.D.
It was noticed as early as 1837 by James Prinsep that the origin of the Buddhist monuments at Amaravati owed much to endowments or donations.31 This was, later on, elaborated by Alexander Cunningham, E. Hultzsch and James Burgess who had brought out that the structural parts of the mahacaitya were donated by various socio-economic groups like bhikkhu, bhikkhuni etc., and lay groups like upasaka and upasika32 on the basis of the decipherment of the epigraphs found engraved on the debris at the site. A closer look at some of the groups mentioned in the epigraphs offers scope for understanding the nature of interaction among these groups, the participation of the donors in the construction of the stupa and their role in the social set up of the day, and more importantly, the nature of institutional formation in the south-eastern Deccan during the two or three centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era.
Monks and Nuns as Donors and as an Elite Group
Of all the donors mentioned in the epigraphs from Amaravati, the category of monks and nuns stand out in sharp contrast to the other categories of donors on more than one ground. They belonged, by the prescriptions of the Vinaya rules, to an apparently non-economic function but could still confer gifts to the mahacaitya; secondly, they are generally found to enjoy greater status than that of the other donors; and thirdly, certain specialised cadres among them formed what may be called a monastic elite, enjoying greater respectability and authority and organising those activities which arose in the context of the construction and renovation of the caityas. The source of income of the monks at Amaravati for sponsoring building activities is ambiguous. It has, however, been suggested with regard to the donations of the monks and nuns at Bharhut and Sanci, that the monks had strayed considerably away from the path of austerity and abstinence preached by early Buddhism and had begun to participate in mercantile activity in the two centuries preceding the beginning of the Christian era.33 Possibly, it was not necessary on the part of the monks and nuns to renounce all their wealth upon entering the brotherhood of monks in spite of the canonical prescriptions in the Vinayas to the contrary. As had been mentioned in the Jataka stories, monks had occasionally retained and enjoyed worldly possessions even after joining the sangha or amassed wealth by trading in clothes or selling vegetables or getting a living by being physicians.34 We accept the conclusion of Gregory Schopen on the question as to whether the Buddhist monks and nuns possessed private property in early India: “… the evidence we have, from all periods indicates that they did.”35
Hierarchy among the Buddhist World-Renouncers
The epigraphs from Amaravati do not refer to the monks as a monolithic group. While some are referred to as bhikhu and bhikhuni,36 most others are referred to with honorific titles like aya and ayira37 (worthy of); bhayata and bhayamta38 (reverend or venerable monk); dahara bhikhu39 (young monk); pavajitika (nun), samanika (nun) and samana40 (monk); and thera (elder) and mahathera41 (great elder). Some of the titles may be indicative of the inferior position accorded to the nuns, possibly on the basis of gender and scriptural learning, as compared with the monks42 whereas epithets like dahara, bhayata, thera, mahathera etc. are indicative of seniority, status and respectability. Although it had been maintained by earlier writers that no distinction in rank was made in ancient times among the Buddhist monks except that which was connected with age and superior knowledge and that there was no hierarchy among them,43 the inscriptional evidence from Amaravati can be taken to indicate the difference in status of the venerable monks and the ordinary lay worshippers who were casually referred to either by their professions and occupations or by their places of residence.44 It also vouches the suggestions of scholars that a specifically Buddhist character of the laity never got crystallised in the long history of Buddhism in India.45 Similar honorific titles occur at the other early Buddhist centres also like, Sanchi, Kanheri, Bhaja46 etc.
Specialists of Canons
A second group of monks figuring as donors bears titles indicative of specific ecclesiastical functions in a monastic context, as for example dhamakadhika47 (preacher of the dharma), mahadhammakadhika48 (the great preacher of the dharma), vinayadhara49 (learned in Vinaya), mahavinayadhara (the great scholar in Vinaya texts) and samyutakabhanaka51 (scholar or reciter of Samyukta Nikaya). Many of these titles occur in the inscriptions at Bharhut, Sanchi and Bodh Gaya52 also while referring to the donors. The titles point to the system among the Buddhist monks of the eastern Deccan of specialisation in the different branches of the Buddhist canons. They envisaged the two particular functions of reciting or discussing the sacred texts within a monastic and scholastic context for preserving and transmitting them, 53 and secondly, of preaching and teaching the lay devotees as well as the different social groups outside the monastic context. This division of monks into separate offices or bodies, each of which was meant to preserve a particular portion of the Buddhist scriptures, helped in safeguarding the purity of the basic teachings of the Buddha through a tradition of textual scholarship in a pre-literate context.54 It is significant that some of the offices or functions referred to above are mentioned in the Pali canons which shows that these offices were definitely anterior to the final compilation of the canons55 and can be dated back to the first Buddhist Council56. There are instances of these specialised offices having given rise to schismatic schools by their clinging on to particular portions of the Pitaka.57 If understood in terms of the descriptions in the canonical literature, the monks with such titles and status hailing from the north and south-east of India were participants in the Buddhist Councils and were the intellectual force behind the philosophical speculations and controversies enshrined in the Tripitaka and their commentaries.58 It may also be presumed that these offices had contributed to the growth of canons on the basis of their experience within the milieu of the eastern Deccan, though sifting those portions or ideas with such imprint and reconstructing the texts of the schismatic groups who held sway at Amaravati at different times may not be possible with the present state of knowledge of the Buddhist canonical literature. It has been shown by Nalinaksha Dutt, on the basis of epigraphical evidence from Amarāvatī and Nāgārjunakonda, that a Mahāsānghika canon in its three divisions existed in the eastern Deccan in the beginning of the Christian era.59
With regard to the status accorded to and commanded by the monks in question, a distinction can be made between the monks whose functions were undefined and unregistered, and the monks whose functions were defined and registered in the donatory epigraphs which were meant to be commemorative. The latter group stood out among the monks, commanding reverence and respectability from the general group of monks as well as the laity. It has already been shown by scholars that the monks are not represented as a uniform group in the Pāli texts.60 Moreover, the monastic practice of according rank and status on the basis of learning and the degree of asceticism was noticed by I-tsing also.61 The earlier custom among the Buddhologists of characterising the monks as a monolithic group without proper emphasis on the different functions or offices attached to them in different historical contexts will have to be reviewed in the light of the present evidence.
Monastic Specialists and Supervisors of Buddhist Art Activity
A curious function or office associated with the monks and frequently mentioned in the epigraphs is that of navakamaka,62 the overseer of building or renovation work, whose functions appear to be much different from that of the vinayadhara, dhamakadhika, samyutaka bhanaka etc., already referred to above. Navakamaka is met with at the other early Buddhist centres of the peninsula like Bharhut, Kanheri and Sonari63 also. This office too can be traced back to the early Buddhist canonical literature though not much of concrete evidence can be deduced from the textual sources on the real nature or style of their functioning, their status vis-a-vis the other functionaries among the monks and the laity, and the nature of their interaction with the community. The significance of the office of navakamika can be partially worked out from the Cullavagga wherein the Buddha permitted the bhikkhus to give new buildings in course of erection for the sangha in the charge of a navakamika. Such a bhikkhu was an overseer, should exert himself to the end that work on the vihara or other buildings might be brought to a rapid conclusion, and should afterwards cause repairs to be executed wherever the buildings have become broken or worn out.64 In the same text, the Master lays down procedures to be followed by the sangha on appointing a navakamika. The deliberations involved included seeking the willingness of the bhikkhu to undertake the duty, laying the matter before the sangha as a natti (motion) and seeking its approval of the appointment.65 He is an officer or functionary of the Buddhist sangha for the conduct of the multifarious activities of the sangha or the monastery.66 The appointment of senior monks as navakamika was found necessary for ensuring the ecclesiastical specifications of monastic buildings.67 Moreover, the actual process of collecting contributions or donations for the building activities of the stupa would have led to the taking up of the supervisory role by the monks which might gradually have included the supervision of the technical aspects of architecture and sculpture as well.68 The primacy of the monastic concerns has been pointed out by Gregory Schopen also: “Monks—and oftentimes learned monks—supervised and controlled building activities at monastic sites; they determined, it would appear, what was and what was not built and where it was to be placed. Their choices and their values are, again, what we see expressed at Buddhist monastic sites.”69
It has been shown that the status of the navakamika was dependent on the personal accomplishments of the concerned monk and the nature of the work that he was to supervise.70 They were artists of authority as distinguished from other classes of artisans like avesanin, the foreman of artisans, 71 or pasanika, the stone worker.72 Being master architects, they had other monks as pupils at Amaravati as in the case of thera bhayata Budharakhita who had bhikhuni Budharakhita as a female atevasi.73 This teacher-pupil relationship was conducive to specialisations and to the growth of particular schools of sculpture and architecture.74 The status accorded to these monk-supervisors at Amaravati amounted to that of the experts of canons, the teachers and the preachers as is clear from the epithet or phrase employed in the epigraphs—thera bhayata—to denote reverence and seniority. Similar evidence can be noticed at the other early Buddhist centres also. At Bharhut, the early Buddhist site to which the sculptural and artistic traditions of the early phase of the Amaravati art are heavily indebted, a navakamika donor was referred to as a bhanaka, 75 thereby indicating an association between the knowledge of the canons and the planning and the construction of the stupa. At Nagarjunakonda in the lower Krishna valley, a navakamika who knew Digha and Majjhima Nikaya by heart established the foundation of the Mahacaitya at the site.76 At Kanheri, a pavajita and a thera functioned as navakamikas.77
The epigraphs mention some more monk-functionaries associated with the renovations of the stupas like vedikanavakamika78 (supervisor of the renovation-work of the vedika), mahanavakamika79 (the great supervisor of the renovation-work) and navakamikapadhana80 (the chief supervisor of the renovation-work). These titles are suggestive of the extent of the construction/renovation that was going on at Amaravati in the two or three centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era, as well as of the prevalence of a hierarchy among the monk-supervisors, not recorded either in the early Buddhist literature or at the other early Buddhist centres. It seems that the most developed mode of stupa-construction of the early Buddhists was practised at Amaravati by the Caityakas, a schismatic group devoted to the construction and worship of caityas, whose beliefs and practices will soon be examined below. Furthermore, the corpus of the epigraphs as a whole is permeated with the references to the status accorded to the specialised categories of the monks.
Data on the inmates of the viharas at Amaravati indicate a structured monastic hierarchy with the various functionaries. The cadres of the preachers and teachers, and the monk-supervisors constituted a monastic elite that was in a position to interact with the different socio-economic and occupational groups. Interestingly enough, they are found registering their gifts along with the donors from various social groups. Analysis of the epigraphs brings forth the picture of a monastic community entrenched in the cloisters, but interacting with the people of the region at different levels.
Caityakas and their Doctrinal Base
Amaravati is the one site where all the philosophical and schismatic trends within early Buddhism got ample and continuous reflections in terms of inscriptional and sculptural evidence. Some of the early Buddhist schismatic groups that were enumerated in the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa and Kathavatthu-atthakatha have been referred to in the Amaravati inscriptions also and one particular group among them, the Caityakas, was in possession of the mahacaitya81 at Amaravati. The Caityakas were an off-shoot of the Mahasanghikas, the earliest seceders from the original Buddhist sangha and the forerunners of the Mahayana. Basically Hinayanists, the Mahasanghikas established themselves at Vaisali and Pataliputra in the north, but gained more influence subsequently at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in the eastern Deccan.82 Of the Mahasanghikas, the Caityakas were the most active and dominant at Amaravati as attested to by the epigraphs. They were occasionally also referred to as cetiya vamdaka83 and they might have had a separate literature of their own, which could have merged with or incorporated subsequently into the huge compilation known as Mahavastu.84 The epigraphs also mention four more monastic sects—the Pubbaseliyas, Aparaseliyas, Rajagiriyas and Siddhatthikas who are supposed to have branched off from the Caityakas. These four sects were given the collective name Andhaka by Buddhaghosha in his commentary to the Kathavatthu.85 Since all the Buddhist sects of Amaravati during the period belonged to either the Caityaka mother-sect or else the 'Andhaka' sects, the off-shoots of the Caityakas, it is reasonable to hold that the specialised cadres of the reverend monks who have been highlighted above, belonged to the Caityaka monasteries.
The doctrinal contributions of the Caityakas and their cultural practices brought about transformations in religious ideology and consequently, in the attitudes of the sangha towards the laity.86 They held that one could acquire great merit by the creation, decoration and worship of the caityas; even a circumambulation of the caitya as well as offerings of flowers, garlands, scents, etc. to the caitya were meritorious; and one could acquire religious merit by making gifts and donations, and the merit thus acquired could be transferred to one's relatives and friends.87 The socio-economic implications of these apparently ethical percepts coupled with the provision offered by the epigraphs for proclaiming and commemorating dana to the sangha may be deduced from the waves of donations and the prolonged construction and renovation activities spanning across nearly half a millennium at Amaravati. The intellectual emphasis of the Caityaka monasteries seemed to be twofold: one on canons as represented by the dhammakadhika, vinayadhara etc. and the other on subjects of pragmatic importance like architecture useful for the construction and upkeep of caityas and viharas as represented by the navakamika, mahanavakamika etc. Thus the Caityaka monasticism combined together scriptural and sculptural / artistic traditions.
The custom of building caitya or stupa to commemorate great personages was pre-Buddhist in origin, and all that the early Buddhists did was adapting an early Indian practice to suit the new purpose of motivating people and popularising the Buddhist doctrines by incorporating ritual veneration of the commemorative monument. The kernal of rationality or justification for the Caityaka attempt to focus the caitya has to be eventually sought for in the oft-quoted dialogues put into the mouth of the Buddha in the Mahaparinibbana Suttanta of the Digha Nikaya. According to that dialogue, the Buddha recommended that “At the four cross-roads a stupa should be erected to a Tathagata. And whosoever shall there place garlands or perfumes or paint or make salutation there, or become in its presence calm in heart—that shall long be to them for a profit and a joy."88 In the same Sutta, the Buddha while staying at Vaisali was said to have taught the Vajjians the seven conditions of welfare and prosperity, one of which was the support of their own tribal shrines. As long as they honoured, esteemed, revered and supported 'Vajjicetiyani' (the Vajjian shrines) in town or in country, the Buddha said, the Vajjians would surely prosper.89 This canonical justification of a pre-Buddhist practice became the central axiom of the Caityakas who gave to it formal expressions through an elaborate system of observances.90
The presence of the Caityakas at Amaravati is attested to by the inscriptions of the early Christian centuries A.D., whereas the earliest structural foundations of the Mahacaitya have been ascribed by the excavations to as early as the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. The earliest sculptural activity at Amaravati in particular and south-east India in general has also been traced to the 2nd century B.C. Furthermore, the theme of the earliest narrative art together with the labels engraved on a stele at Amaravati which placed Dhanyakataka along with the Caityaka centres like Vaisali, has been interpreted to mean the presence of the Caityakas by about the 2nd century B.C.91 The inscription, which reads bhikhuno pataliputato, looks back to corridors of contact between Pataliputra, the chief centre of the Mahasanghikas, and Amaravati in south-east India.92 Thus even the phase of the religious and artistic activity at Amaravati in the pre-Christian centuries can be traced to the cult of the raising, embellishing and worshipping of the stupa although these practices were yet to be theoretically formalised and institutionalised through the monasteries. The influence wielded by the Caityakas can be inferred from such characterisations in the inscriptions as mahacetiye cetikiyanam nikayasa parigahe i.e., the great caitya in the possession of the Cetika school.93 If the short but explicit descriptions of the intense devotion with which the mahacaitya was visualised in the epigraphs are indicators, we find the picture of various social groups getting more or less oriented to the caitya in the centuries immediately preceding and succeeding the beginning of the Christian era, reminiscent of a similar but later tradition of a temple-oriented society and culture in south India more than half a millennium later.94 What emerges is that the Caityakas were primarily responsible for bringing the Caitya at Amaravati into cultural foci and in systematising and popularising the characteristic practices of stupa worship.
The foregoing examination of the inscriptional evidence on the specialised functionaries of the monks attached to the monasteries and the discussion of their philosophical and schismatic base together form a prelude to counterpoising the overemphasis on the styles of art and to taking up the preeminent role of the monasteries in the cultural and socio-economic activities of the region, though any inquiry in this regard is bound to be handicapped due to the lack of direct evidence. However, discussions on the role of the monks and renouncers of ancient India galore and recourse is sought here to the insights thrown up by these erudite discussions.
Role of the Buddhist World-Renouncer and the Vihāras
The socio-ritualistic and economic role of the renouncers who include the monks too, has been a characteristic feature of ancient Indian civilization and they were symbols of authority within the society.95 The renouncer was believed to acquire supernormal powers and he accumulated in himself a complex inter-relation of social signals and became an alternative avenue of authority.96 The Buddhist sangha as a body of renouncers was equally considered as an alternative source of authority which governed social and religious life, and it was a channel of communication with the society.97 As providers of ethics and discipline for the lay community and as centres of intellectual, artistic and educational life in the community, the Buddhist monasteries acted as social catalysts.98 Thus, the Buddhist monasteries turned out to be not only repositories of learning and art but also centres of structured interaction with the lay community. Scholars have already shown in the case of the Buddhist monasteries of the western Deccan that they acted as pioneers and also as centres providing information on cropping pattern, markets and organisation of village settlements. Secondly, they helped in establishing channels of communication in the newly colonised regions, which could then be used by the state to enforce its authority. The picture that emerges in the western Deccan was one of a tripartite relationship involving the state, the monasteries and the tribal communities.99 Almost parallel instances have been noticed in northern India under the Kusana rule and in the contemporary China.100 As will be shown subsequently in this paper, the monasteries of Amaravati offer analogous trends.
Processes of Interaction between the Vihāra and the Society
The process of interaction that we are going to outline below between the bhikkhus centred in the viharas, and the laity, will help us in tracing different aspects of the institutional base of the early Buddhist art-activity as represented by the evidence at Amaravati. This interaction in itself was a consequence of the institutionalisation of the sangha and Buddhism which brought about changes in the way of life of the monks from one of the eremite or homeless wanderer to that of monastic habitude of the cenobite, and a transformation of the concept of dana.101 Though references do occur at Amaravati to the itinerant mendicants and forest-recluses, 102 who may be taken for a vanishing category, no precise chronological framework can be assigned for the transition from the former to the cenobites of the monasteries in the eastern Deccan. This gradual transformation from the vassavasa (rain-retreat) to the viharas like the mahavihara of Dhamnakata brought about changes in the patimokkha, the monastic code set out in the Vinaya, and debates on the details of which occupied the proceedings of the various Buddhist Councils and even contributed to the rise of new sects.103 The patimokkha was recited on the occasion of the celebration called uposatha in the monasteries, at the time of the new moon, for which the monks and the laity came together to participate. Thus the monasteries and the laity came into closer contact contributing to various levels of interactions. Two concerns of the vinaya rules were the dependence of the sangha upon the lay community and the appearance of the sangha in the eyes of that community, which gave the foundation for the greater interaction. In other words, points of contacts and interaction were incorporated into the vinaya rules, giving scope for the monastery to function as a viable social instrument.
The developments within Buddhist monasticism as briefly outlined above brought about a corresponding change in the monastic ideal as well: from that of the imperfect arhat to that of the Bodhisattva, the one on the path to Buddhahood, but as the one who would indefinitely delay his entry into nirvana in order to carry out his liberating activity for the benefit of all the sentient beings as long as possible through the accumulation and transference of meritorious actions. Though fully developed by the Mahayanists subsequently, the Mahasanghikas were the first people/sect responsible for the rise of punyaparinamana or transference of merit.104 Philosophical and sectarian differences apart, the concept contributed to dana or gifts to the sangha in return for religious merit and social status. Gift-giving in the context of the construction and decoration of stupas was idealised in the texts of the Mahasanghika sects, and the devotees were promised a sure path leading to the heavenly abodes.105 The Buddhist Avadanas are replete with references to the performance of dana in the context of the construction and embellishment of the caityas.106
Organisation of Resources and the Exchange of Values
An important context of interaction between the monks and the lay people, about which inscriptional evidence does exist, was the process of organisation of human and material resources contributory to the erection of the Buddhist establishments at Amaravati. Apart from properly articulated plans, the construction of the stupas would have required mobilisation of men, materials and money. Central to the problem here is dana or gift to the caityas as symbols of the sangha, by which the construction and renovations of the Buddhist establishments of Amaravati were sustained over half a millennium as is manifest by a couple of hundreds of votive or donatory inscriptions found engraved on the sculptured slabs and other debris of the site. Invariably all these inscriptions furnish names and professions of the donors, the places of their origin, and often the purpose behind the meritorious act of giving dana.107 The gifts were essentially in the form of different architectural parts constituting the caityas and not in terms of money or land as had often been the case with the Buddhist cave sites of the western Deccan.108 A gamut of interactions of varied dimensions may be postulated here since the community of the locality, belonging to different professions, of various means, and of different social cadres or status, offered generous gifts to the sangha as symbolised by the mahacaitya. This kind of community patronage was preceded by a range of interactions among the monks and the people of the locality, ranging from admonishing dana to the actual process of arranging sponsors and getting the gifts executed to the liking of the patrons.
A close reading of the corpus of the epigraphs brings forth the different forms of contact among the various groups of donors figuring in the epigraphs. While a gift was instituted in return for religious merit, it is apparent that the donor had already come under the orbit of punyaparinamana or transference of merit and that the antecedent stages of direct or camouflaged modes of teaching the religious ethics could be anticipated. Probably, the functions of the monks who are variously referred to in literature and inscriptions as dhamakadhika, samyutakabhanaka etc. and the pendapatika had much to do with such admonitions and didactic roles in an extra monastic context. In addition to the stated desire of acquiring merit for oneself and the relatives, what the donor expected in return was the unregistered desire for promotion in the social scale, which was made feasible by the dana to the sangha. Though different categories of donors occur, ranging from members of the ruling elite to the tribals and occasionally the villagers en masse with the traders, bankers, socio-economic institutions like nigama and gosthi, agriculturists, artisans etc. in the midst, the common unifying factor that acted as the intermediary was, of course, the Buddhist sangha, functioning as the focus and inspiring people to act in certain prescribed modes. Dana as an economic institution was central to the contemporary economy109 and as such a gift-economy constituted the base of the society during the period and in the region discussed in the present paper.
The enormous mobilisation of man-power necessary for building the Buddhist monuments held within its ambit the potential for exchange of values among the participating groups.110 Any such inquiry in the present context entails viewing architecture or art as a social object as well. Once a building is thus defined as a social object, layers of social relations and meanings, as well as of the religious and aesthetic implications, can be read out from the caityas of the site. Even changes of artistic or architectural styles could sometimes be linked to the uses of form or image as ideological signs.111 Both the sculptures and the epigraphs have preserved evidence to understand what the monks and the lay devotees understood of the mahacaitya. Stray descriptions in the epigraphs as well as depictions in the reliefs bring out the centrality of the mahacaitya in contemporary visual imagery and cultural life. The religious symbolism woven into the stupa might have played a significant role in bringing the space and form of a building into cultural focus. The dhatu or corporeal remains enshrined in the stupa ensured the continuing presence of the Buddha in the midst of the monastic and lay communities.112 The nature of evidence may not permit us to work out the precise manner in which the monumentality of the mahacaitya was articulated among the people, but the flocking together of the various socio-economic and ruling groups for sponsorship of building the mahacaitya at Amaravati is indication enough of a process of gradual exchange of values embodied in dana. This might have included, among other things, religious and devotional perceptions, literary and artistic sensibilities, aspects of technology and material culture etc. It was the long term and continuous association involved among different strata of people from across a wide geography for a collaborative venture that became pivotal in this gradual and bilateral cultural adaptation. The archaeological counterpart of this cultural adaptation is exhaustive and shows similarities of cultural layers with those noticed at the other early Buddhist centres of the peninsula.113
Modes of Patronage and the Interaction
The community patronage as represented by the epigraphs from Amaravati involves social relations and a conscious act of exchange among the donors and the Buddhist sangha. The stupa or the caitya i.e., the object of the dana, became the symbol of the Buddha and the sangha, and it even symbolised an alternative source or centre of power.114 Thus, the network of community patronage can be taken to demonstrate the close nexus between the vihara and the emergent socio-economic groups like gahapati, vaniya etc., and institutions like nigama, gosthi etc. at Amaravati—a pattern noticed throughout the Indian subcontinent during the heyday of Buddhism. It may also be suggested that one of the purposes of the donations was to seek association with the mahacaitya, the source of power, and seek legitimacy and validation for the donor-groups who were of relatively recent origin in the historical context of the eastern Deccan.
Architectural Layers as Indicators of the Process of Socio-economic Interactions
One particular feature of the debris unearthed so far at Amaravati that gets added significance in the context of the exchange of values is the large-scale renovations or reconstructions, which the monument underwent from time to time for nearly half a millenium. It is not sure as to the number of renovations that might have taken place or as to whether these were partial renovations or were additions as part of extensions. It is to be acknowledged, however, that the renovations were occasions of contact and association among the monks, the laymen, the traders, the architects and the sculptors. In fact, the renovations kept alive the culture-contact among the people involved in the process and ensured the continuity of the exchange of values in a fluent manner. The importance of the renovations was recognised by the ancient monks themselves and the prolonged process of reconstruction had even contributed to the rise of separate offices of monks or a category of specialised monks, as has been seen, within the monkish hierarchy, in charge of renovations as mentioned in the Buddhist canonical literature and the epigraphs. Though most archaeologists and epigraphists came across and noticed the renovations, they did not recognise the socio-economic implications that lay shrouded beneath the layers of the debris.
The Vihāras and the Megalithic Builders
Right from the late megalithic or early historical period onwards, say circa 4th-3rd centuries B.C. when the mahacaitya complex came into existence at least in a smaller scale, the harnessing of the resources for the construction the stupa had already begun stage by stage. Although the manner in which resources were channelised from the megalithic symbiotic economy of pastoralism and sedentary agriculture115 is not precisely known, the occurrence of megalithic burials at Amaravati both under the stupa as well as very close to it116 holds out possibilities of working out the nature of contact among the monks, the ruling elites, and the semi-pastoralists. The evidently funerary association of and the structural similarities between the caitya and the megaliths point to continuity in traditions and locations regarded as sacred and associated with the dead.117 Judging from the debris of the Amaravati stupa and what is said and vaguely reflected in the inscriptions, it is evident that the stupa stood as an imposing and monumental structure with much appeal to visibility and aesthetics. It is reasonable to suggest that the essential convergence of the structure of the megaliths and the stupa on the one hand, and the association of the cult of the dead inherent in the megaliths and of the mahaparinirvana symbolised by the stupa on the other promoted acculturation of the semi-pastoral and semi-agrarian people in the south-eastern Deccan during the period covered by the present study. The convergence of the artistic symbolism could be representative of the growth of receptiveness and acceptability on the part of the megalithic people towards the values and material culture of the migrant Buddhist religion and its cultural practices. Gregory Schopen has shown that immigrant Buddhist monastic communities intentionally chose to establish their viharas and stupas at sites already occupied by the proto-historical cemeteries. “Their choice of such sites would have placed the Buddhist complex at an already established focal point in the local landscape and in the local community. It would have established the Buddhist monastic community as the keepers, the guardians of the native dead, and claim thereby an important function for the newly arrived monks. It also would have assimilated the newcomers own central focus—the stupa—to local, pre-existing structures.”118
Amarāvatī as a Nodal Point
The flocking together of the donors to Amaravati from across a wide geography shows yet another dimension of the influence wielded by the monastic centre that cut across various socio-economic and religious groups. Donors hailed from places like Pataliputa119 (Pataliputra), Katakaselaka120 (Khandasala) etc. Organising potential donors from the near and the far flung parts of peninsular India and getting their devotional, artistic and financial sensibilities translated and incorporated into monumental art involved groups of specialised monk-functionaries, architects, sculptors and artisans in the process. Going by the reference to navakamika, the donors probably did not directly employ sculptors or artisans but instead got their gifts executed by the reverent monks who possessed the technical skill and scriptural knowledge to ensure that the relief-panels or architectural parts concerned were in accordance with the symbolic and religious meanings that were woven into the very structure of the caityas.
There is evidence for indicating aspects of interaction between the Buddhist monastic establishment and the successive political power-structures in the eastern Deccan represented by the Mauryas, the post-Mauryan locality chiefs, the Sātavāhanas and the Iksvākus. This interaction was based on a bilateral relationship: the Sangha providing networks of loyalty and legitimation, which could be used for political consolidation and the state providing patronage and protection to the monastic establishments.121
The close interaction between the monastic base and the tribes / lineage groups / communities of the south-eastern Deccan is vaguely represented in the epigraphs. The different tribes that appeared either as donors or else as collective identities of the donor/donor-groups like Koramucaka, Pakotaka, Padipudiya etc.122 were being accommodated into a unified political system under the later Sātavāhanas in the process of the cultural development in the south-eastern Deccan. Though nothing precise is known about the way in which they were accommodated into the political and social framework, their participation in the cult of the caityas—which was mediated by the Buddhist monastic base at Amarāvatī and was the chief mode of religiosity and cultic practices supported by the whole range of population in the region—is fairly clear enough.
The Monastic Centre and the Mercantile Groups
Although the location of Buddhist monastic establishments at strategic points along trade routes was a subcontinental feature and has been widely accepted, direct evidence is wanting with regard to the possible interactions between the monastic centre at Amaravati and the socio-economic institutions like nigama and gosthi who figure as donors at Amaravati. Trade in this region was controlled and organised by these institutions and, on the basis of parallels from the western Deccan, 123 they may be said to have exercised some form of autonomous urban administration. One of the epigraphs from the site speaks of the gift of a suci (cross-bar) by the bhadanigama (righteous townfolk) of Cadakica, which was headed by merchants or financiers.124 The reference to gosthi at Amaravati on a stele depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha and which specifically associated vamda nama gosthi with certain structures or architecture at Amaravati led scholars to surmise that the gosthi had an important role in the construction or reconstruction of the mahacaitya.125 By dint of their mercantile association, the nigama and gosthi could act as intermediaries between the monastic centre and the vaniya, and also in channelising support to the sangha from the trading and other occupational groups. The evidence from Bhattiprolu, also in the eastern Deccan, of a gosthi-samana126 or a monk belonging to a gosthi is noteworthy in this regard. The close relationship among the nigama, bankers, and the rich caravan leaders127 could strengthen or enhance the status of the Dhanyakataka nigama and the vamda nama gosthi as corporate socio-economic bodies which stood in comparison with the monasteries or sangha as a religious and ideological corporate, commanding influence over the society.
The Monastic Centre and the Gahapatis
The intercourse between the monks/monasteries and the gahapati at Amaravati can be prefaced with the canonical prescriptions—of course, norms suggested by the monks themselves—on the reciprocal duties of the householders and members of the sangha as formally set out in the Sigalavada Sutta of the Digha Nikaya. What was stressed in the Sutta was the householder's duty of providing generously for the material needs of the bhikkhus and, in return, the bhikkhu's duty of revealing to the householder the way to heaven.128 This relationship was more of complementariness and long-term exchange, which holds out a series of implications for the present inquiry.
The most obvious example of the interaction between the monks and the gahapatis are, again, the numerous gifts unfailingly registered in the epigraphs. A break-up of the donor-groups indicates that the highest percentage of donors hailed from among the gahapatis.129 The term stands for a landowner of substance, playing a crucial role in the extension of agriculture, and who distinguished himself from the rest of the socio-economic categories by a consciousness of position and pride in high birth.130 They were big peasant proprietors who were also leaders of the rural agricultural communities. The rise of the gahapati as a socio-economic institution can be taken as signaling an agrarian economy of which that category was the pivot.131 It was from the ranks of the gahapatis that the trading class and the financiers emerged132—an inter-relation that is attested to at Amaravati also as in the case of Samuda the vaniya, who was the son of Hamgha the householder, 133 and of a heranika, the treasurer.134 Similar evidence from the eastern Deccan as a whole has already been taken by scholars to indicate the repetition of that process of socio-economic development which had occurred earlier in the Ganga valley in the context of the second urbanization.135 Some gahapatis were prosperous enough to donate a caitya, a railing and a sculptured slab simultaneously.136 It is thus apparent from the inscriptions that an agricultural surplus had been produced in the eastern Deccan by this time, which was being invested in trade as well as in sponsoring Buddhist monastic and religious activities. The patronage extended by the gahapatis to the sangha and vice versa indirectly helped in forging new links in society, which were not based on kinship, as was the case in the earlier megalithic social stratum. The comparatively recent origin of the gahapatis could also be one of the reasons for their ample support to the sangha in exchange for legitimacy to their pursuits.137 As already pointed out at the outset, this type of community patronage was a marked feature of the early Buddhist sites of the peninsula where stupas or monastic establishments were constructed and embellished through the gifts from the community. The gahaptis were the backbone of this community patronage. The highest percentage of the gifts from this class and the origin of the monks from among the gahapati families are indicators of the volume of the interaction between the monastic centre and the gahapatis of the agrarian hinterland.
The Monastic Centre and Women
Extensive association between the nuns and the laity formed a regular feature of the interaction in the area around Amaravati as can be deduced from the epigraphs. Women appear at Amaravati as donors, upasika and bhikkhuni. The role of women in fostering/forming a Buddhist lay society in its cultural fullness remains to be inquired into though their part in the spread of the religion has already received scholarly attention. Buddhism would not have become the force that it did had it not been for the part which women played devotedly. What were previously highlighted were mainly the portrayals of women in the early Buddhist canonical texts,138 women’s religiosity and their struggle for nibbana or liberation,139 female roles in early Indian Buddhism,140 the female patronage of monastic establishments,141 the inscriptional evidence on the bhikkhunis142 etc. The problem here is the possible interactions between the bhikkhuni i.e., the women within the monasteries on the one hand, and the women outside the sangha on the other, as can the understood from the epigraphs. The context of the interactions could be, to begin with, preaching to the laity by the nuns as indicated by the references to the nuns as atevasin or antevasin of senior monks who were Vinayadharas.143 The presence of the nuns among the laity, especially among the womenfolk, and the consequent contact could be postulated as contributory to the dana instituted by women unaccompanied by their men folk. In channelising the gifts from the womenfolk, they would have played no less a significant part than that of the monks. The amazing number of female donors and their active participation in the religious life of the period as recorded in the epigraphs and the sculptural representations at Amaravati anticipate cultural and social contacts over a long period of time. As part of the monastic institution, the nuns along with the monks were successful in orientating social groups or categories by their presence as well as interactions.
The Monastic Centre and the Sculptors
The contrast between the artisan-donors and the sculptor-donors who were casually referred to by their names in the epigraphs on the one hand and the monk-supervisors of the art-activity who were also donors but commanded authority and status on the other is conspicuous. Nagabu, Nagabudhu, Dhamasa, Nadabhuti144 and many anonymous artisans were at work at Amaravati under the supervision of navakamika, navakamikapadhana, mahanavakamika, vedikanavakamika etc.
Implications of Selection of Sculptural Themes
A potential instance of the exchange of religio-cultural outlook had been the very selection of themes for the narrative art and its acceptance on the part of the donors. The role of the monks as experts of canon and art is unmistakable though their role in a context of fixing the themes for sculptural representation has to be made out from their supervisory roles. Moreover, the repetition of the themes of the narrative art at all the early Buddhist centres further clarifies the issue and shows the predominance of the sangha and the monasteries in the exchange of values and outlooks. Yet another instance of the interaction, which lies hidden in the phraseology and structure of the donatory inscriptions, was the way in which the socio-economic groups as donors whom we have enumerated were identified, known and recognised by the Buddhist religio-cultural centre through the monasteries and the caityas as the institutional base. As revealed by the inscriptional formula, the donors as representatives of the social groups were being drawn or absorbed into a new world of the acquiring and transferring of merit.
A full and satisfactory reconstruction of the forms of interaction which ensued the early Buddhist art activity at Amaravati has not been attempted here in the absence of a detailed recording of events, the kind of which is available for certain medieval Indian temple-complexes like that of the Sun Temple of Konarka.145 Some of the stages involved in the building process may be identified, albeit on the basis of the scanty evidence supplied by the Mahavamsa and Tupavamsa146 with the hope that the inter-personal and inter-group interactions can be viewed in proper historical perspective and context. The selection of the site, preparation of the plans, recruitment of architects and artisans, supervision by monks, collection and transportation of the lime-stones, organising the patronage, arrangement of the infra-structural facilities etc. are some of the stages involved in the process. A process of installing the mahacaitya into the centre-stage of life and culture of the region is also involved during the period that we have highlighted. As already pointed out, it was the art-activity at Amaravati, which spans nearly four or five centuries and involved different socio-economic categories and relations, religious beliefs and practices, mythology, folk culture, architectural and engineering skills etc. that provided the context for the various forms of interactions that we have outlined. In fact, the production and appreciation of art were being streamlined by religious and monastic institutions through their own mediation of the community patronage.
III
This exercise in examining the nature and forms of interactions among the donor-groups offering patronage brings out certain features of the institutional base of the early Buddhist art activity and the social orientations at Amaravati during the six hundred year span between circa 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. The monastery emerges as the most developed and organised nodal point of the institutionalised form of Buddhism irrespective of the changing phases of sway of the monastic sects of Mahasanghika origin. The Caityakas were the most entrenched of the Mahasanghikas in the area probably because of their doctrinal and practical disposition towards specialisation in the construction and worship of caityas. So far as the archaeological and inscriptional evidence goes, the planning and construction of the caityas and the subsequent renovations and sculptural embellishments spanning across half a millennium and which involved processes of mobilisation of human, natural and economic resources in a large scale, constituted the most significant socio-economic and cultural activity at Amaravati during the period. Entrenched in the monasteries were the different cadres of the monks whose presiding and mediating roles/functions included preserving the canons through a tradition of textual scholarship and preaching the way of the Master, fixing the architectural plans and designs of the caityas and selecting themes for the sculptural and narrative art, and organising patronage from the various socio-economic categories, the tribal kin-based groups, the urban and mercantile corporations, and the representatives of political power. The inquiry also brings out an architectural tradition, not highlighted so far, within the monasteries and of the monastic contributions to the 'Amaravati School of Art'. Facilitating these activities were the various specialised groups of monks who may safely be characterised as having formed a monastic elite.
A particular socio-cultural formation is found to have come into existence in the period as reflected in the data regarding the monumental construction at the site. The evidence allows us to place the Mahacaitya as the pivot around which the newly emerging socio-cultural formation was getting affiliated or identified, with the monasteries as the institutional base that offered focus and ethics to the construction and renovation activities which marked the transition from the megalithic phase to the agrarian householding economy in the area around Amaravati. The ideology behind the dana on the one hand and the urban and the mercantile ethos on the other, both of which contributed to the socio-economic interactions as depicted in the epigraphs, can be traced to the construction and the renovations of the mahacaitya as well as to its monastic base of the different Mahasanghika sects. It is also clear that the major socio-economic and cultural experiences revolved around the mahacaitya as a cultural symbol and its visual imageries and worship. The epigraphs also speak about the centrality of the mahacaitya in the socio-economic and cultural interactions as well as the layers of influence which the monasteries were able to wield among the different social groups.
The inquiry has also highlighted the historical dimensions of the construction and frequent renovations of the caityas at Amaravati. It tends to characterise the lead role of the Caityaka monasteries in that process as the essential content of an early Buddhist paradigm or model of religious and socio-economic expansion and growth with the monasteries as the institutional base. The concepts of punyaparinamana and dana offered the doctrinal foundation for this early Buddhist activity. The inclusion of the practice of honouring and supporting the caityas as one of the seven conditions which the Buddha taught the Vajjians for attaining welfare and prosperity further supports our argument. The process of the construction and the renovations further accelerated the socio-economic processes, which was already set in motion in response to the linking of the Krishna valley with the sub-continental network of trade and communication controlled by the Mauryan empire. We further suggest that the early Buddhist activities at Amaravati, like the construction and the frequent renovations of the caityas and the viharas, and the instituting of gifts as part of a network of community patronage inspired by the doctrine of punyaparinamana or transference of merit and mediated by the monasteries, contributed to the typical social interactions and orientations or traits, structurally and functionally similar to those traits seen at the other early Buddhist centres of the time. The social groups offering patronage to the caityas belonged to varying degrees of development and different life styles, from tribal to the urban, and were getting in return legitimacy and social status through the patronage of the mahacaitya which was the visible symbol of the Buddha and the sangha. The pattern of dana at Amaravati reveals aspects of the early Buddhist notions of social exchange implicit in the dana. Patronage of the caityas was met with social status. The proliferation of the dana can be related to the architectural evolution of the mahacaitya from the earlier simple and modest form to the complex and richly ornamented mahacaitya of the early Christian centuries A.D. Inversely, the enlargement and the beautification of the mahacaitya can be related to the increasing volume of association of the social groups with the monasteries. So inextricably interwoven are the links between art and the institutionalised form of Buddhism at Amaravati that art was both the context and a medium for the spread of cultural values. The inquiry has looked at the art of Amaravati as an essential ingredient or part of the socio-religious and economic mechanism, and has searched for art in society and not for society in art. What loom large behind the processes outlined above are the vihara and the mahacaitya, taken together, as the institutional base of the early Buddhist art-activity at Amaravati.
(* The author acknowledges his gratitude to Dr. M. R. Raghava Varier (formerly of the University of Calicut), Mr. Robert Knox (formerly the India Curator at the Department of Asia of The British Museum, London), Dr. Naman Ahuja (onetime Fellow, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and presently Associate Professor, Dept. Arts & Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi), and Dr. Akira Shimada (Associate Professor, New York State University), for going through a nascent version of this paper and for giving him their valuable suggestions.)
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Colonel Colin Mackenzie’s brief descriptions of the remains appeared posthumously first in the Calcutta Journal of 1822 and was reprinted in the Asiatic Journal, vol. XV, 1823 entitled ‘Ruins of Amravutty, Depauldina and Durnacotta', pp.464-78. Excerpts are quoted extensively in Robert Sewell, Report on the Amaravati Tope and Excavations on its Site in 1877, (repr., Delhi, 1973), pp.14-19 ; Bernard S. Cohn, ‘The Transformation of Objects into Artefacts, Antiquities and Art in the Nineteenth Century India’ in Barbara Stoler Miller ed., The Powers of Art: Patronage in Indian Culture, (Delhi,1992), pp.312-320; Jennifer Howes, ‘Mackenzie and the Stupa at Amaravati’, South Asian Studies, vol. 18, 2002, pp. 53-65.
2. Sir Walter Elliot excavated the site in 1845 though no report was published by him. The only account left by him was a letter which he had sent to Robert Sewell who published it along with the report of the latter’s excavation of the site in 1877. See, Robert Sewell, Report on the Amaravati Tope, pp.67-69. James Burgess conducted a major excavation in 1882. See his Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta in the Krishna District, Madras Presidency, Surveyed in 1882, (repr., Varanasi,1970). The excavations of Alexander Rea brought out, apart from sculptures and inscriptions, items of the material culture. A. Rea, ‘Excavations at Amaravati', Archaeological Survey of India Annual Report, 1905-06 (1909), pp.116-119. A.S.I.A.R. 1908-09 (1912), pp.88-91; for the excavations of R. Subramanyam and K. Krishna Murthy, see Indian Archaeology: A Review,1958-'59, p.5; I.K.Sarma's excavations of 1973-'74 and 1974-’75 were systematic and brought out the stratigraphical sequence. See I.A.R. 1973-'74,pp.4-5; 1974-'75, p.2; The adjacent site of Dharanikota was excavated in 1962-'63, 1963-'64 and 1964-'65, establishing a clear stratigraphy and chronology. See I.A.R., 1962-'63,pp.1-2; 1963-'64 p.p. 2-4; 1964-'65, pp. 2-3.
3. See the brief historiographical review in Anamika Roy, Amaravati Stupa,, 2 vols.
(Delhi, 1994), pp. 3-6.
(Delhi, 1994), pp. 3-6.
4. H. Sarkar, 'Emergence of Urban Centres in Early Historical Andhradesa', in B.M.Pande and B.D.Chattopadhyaya eds., Archaeology and History: Essays in Memory of Sri A.Ghosh, vol.ii, (Delhi,1987), p.632.
5 Ibid. , p. 632.
6. See note 2 above. Also, James Fergusson, ‘Description of the Amaravati Tope in Guntur', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, n.s., vol.3, (London, 1868), pp.132-166. Tree and Serpent Worship, (Indian repr., New Delhi,1971) ; C.Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures in the Madras Government Museum, Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum, N.S.,vol.iv, (repr., Madras, 1977); Douglas Barrett, Sculptures from Amaravati in the British Museum, (London,1954); Robert Knox, Amaravati:Buddhist Sculpture from the Great Stupa, (London,1992); H. Sarkar and S. P. Nainar, Amaravati, (New Delhi, 1960).
7. Brief notices of the contents of the epigraphs are given in Heinrich Lüders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions from the Earliest Times to About A.D. 400, Appendix to Epigraphia Indica, vol.X,(repr., Delhi,1973); for the texts of the inscriptions published so far, see James Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, (repr.,Varanasi,1972); Ramaprasad Chanda, ‘Some Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions’, pp. 271-304. E.l.,vol.XV (1919-1920), pp. 258-275; Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures; P.Seshadri Sastri, ‘Dharanikota Dharmachakra Pillar Inscription, E.I., vol, XXXIV(1937-'38), pp.256-60; D.C. Sircar, 'Fragmentary Pillar Inscription from Amaravati' E.I., Vo. XXV (1963-64), pp. 40-43; A. Gosh and H. Sarkar, 'Beginnings of Sculptural Art in South-East India : a Stele from Amaravati', Ancient India, nos. 20-21, 1964-65. pp 168-177; A. Ghosh, ‘The early Phase of the Stupa at Amaravati, South-East India’, Ancient Ceylon, no. 3, 1979, pp. 97-103; H. Sarkar, 'Some early Inscriptions in the Amaravati Museum', Journal of Ancient Indian History, vol. IV, pts. 1-2 (1970 - '71), pp. 1-13; I.K. Sarma, 'Some More Inscriptions from Amaravati Excavations and the Chronology of the Mahastupa', Studies in Indian Epigraphy, vol.i, 1975, pp.60-74. 'More Prakrit Inscriptions from Amaravati', S.I.E, vol.vii, 1980, pp. 18-21. ‘Early Sculptures and Epigraphs from South-East India: New Evidence from Amaravati', in Frederick M. Asher and G. S. Gai. eds., Indian Epigraphy : Its Bearing on the History of Art, (New Delhi, 1985) pp.15-23.
8. P. L. Gupta, The Amaravati Hoard of Silver Punch-Marked Coins, Andhra Pradesh Government Museum Series, no.6, (Hyderabad, 1963); D.D. Kosambi, Indian Numismatics, (New Delhi, 1981), pp.140-44; 1.K.Sarma, Coinage of the Satavahana Empire, (Delhi, 1980), pp.41, 253-255; P. R. K. Prasad, 'Sada Coins in Coastal Andhra', Studies in South Indian Coins, vol.3, 1993,pp.53-63; D. Raja Reddy, Coins of the Megha Vahana Dynasty of Coastal Andhra, (repr. Hyderabad, 1993).
9. 1.K. Sarma,‘Northern Black Polished Ware from Amaravati Excavations (1974-75) and C-14 Dates,’ Bharati, New Series, no.16 (Professor R.C. Majumdar Volume), pp.187-208. ‘C-14 Dates, N.B.P. Ware and Historical Archaeology of Peninsular India,’ Journal of Indian History, vol. LII, pp.49-56. Sarma’s entry on 'South-eastern Deccan' in An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, vol. i (New Delhi, 1989), pp.148-49. Entry on Amaravati in ibid.,vol.ii,pp.15-16; for details on Dharanikota, see K.Raghavachari’s entry on ‘Dharanikota’in ibid.,vol.ii,p.126. ‘Dharanikota and its Western Contacts’, Quarterly Review of Historical Studies, vol.xii, no.3, 1972-73, pp.167-170.
10. These belong to a group of texts of different languages and diverse chronological and geographical background, and include Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Cullavagga, Mahavastu, Jatakas, Kathavatthu, Mahavamsa, Tupavamsa, Divyavadana. References are cited in the concerned contexts.
11. The excavations of Sir Walter Elliot are typical examples. Yet, Amaravati was a crucial site for the maturing of colonial archaeology. See Tapati Guha-Thakurta, ' The museumised relic: Archaeology and the first museum of colonial India’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 34,1(1997), pp.35-38; the exploration and excavation of the mahacaitya was, ironically, accompanied by its dismemberment and disappearance. See Upinder Singh, ‘Amaravati: the dismembering of the Mahacaitya (1797 – 1886)’, South Asian Studies, vol. 17, 2001, pp. 19-40.
12. A.S.I.A.R. 1905-06, p.p.118-119. Ibid.1908-09, p.p. 88-91.
13. Seshadri Sastri,'Dharanikota Dharmachakra Pillar Inscription', pp. 257, 259.
14. Chanda, 'Some Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions’, nos. 4 and 5, pp. 262 - 263.
15. Ghosh and Sarkar, ‘Beginnings of Sculptural Art in South-East India’, p.175.
16. I.A.R., 1962 - 63, pp.1-2; Ibid 1963-64, pp.2-4; Ibid 1964-65, p.2.
17. R.S.Sharma,Urban Decay in India . (c.300-c.1000), (New Delhi,1987), pp. 95-97.
18. Chanda, ‘Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions,’ Nos. 4 and 5, pp.262 - 263; Seshadri Sastri, ‘Dharanikota Dharmachakra Pillar Inscription,’ p.259; Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.36, pp. 279 - 80.
19. Sarkar, ‘Emergence of Urban Centres,’ p. 639.
20. K.Krishnaswamy, India’s Mineral Resources, (Second Edition, New Delhi, 1979), pp.200-201; Burgess, Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta, p.21.
21. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in South India and Early Andhra History: 225 A.D. to 610 A.D. (repr. New Delhi, 1981), p.37.
22. H.P. Ray, ‘Early Historical Trade: An overview’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review,26, 4 (1989) p.p. 437-457. `Trade and contacts' in Romila Thapar ed., Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History, (repr. Bombay, 1996), p.p. 150,152.
23. I.K.Sarma, 'Northern Black Polished Ware from Amaravati', pp. 202-203.
24. See 'Forward’ by Jouveau Dubreauil in K.R.Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in South India, pp.v-vi; James Heitzman, ‘Early Buddhism, Trade and Empire’ in Kenneth A.R. Kennedy and Gregory L. Possehl eds., Studies in the Archaeology and Palaeoanth- ropology of South Asia, (New Delhi, 1984), pp.121-137; H.P. Ray, 'Trade and Contacts', p. 151.
25. H. Sarkar, ‘Emergence of Urban Centres,’ pp. 632-633.
26. See the discussions in Romila Thapar, 'Patronage and the Community' in Barbara Stoler Miller ed., The Powers of Art: Patronage in Indian Culture, pp. 19-34; Vidya Dehejia, 'The Collective and Popular Basis of Early Buddhist Patronage: Sacred Monuments, 100 B.C-A.D. 250' in ibid. Pp. 35-45.
27. This notion has been shared by a good number of experts over the years. For recent discussions, see Heinz Bechert and Richard Gombrich eds., The World of Buddhism : Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Society and Culture, (repr., London,1995), pp.7-8 ; Richard Gombrich, ‘lntroduction: The Buddhist Way’, in ibid., pp.9-14; Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism, (Oxford, 1998), p.92. With specific reference to early India, see Sukumar Dutt, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India, (repr. Delhi, 1988), pp.19-32.
28. Seshadri Sastri,'Dharanikota Dharmachakra Pillar Inscription', pp.259-60.
29. Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, pp., 19ff. Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta, pp.53, 104; Seshadri Sastri, 'Dharanikota Dharmachakra Pillar Inscription', p. 259; Also, Ajay Mitra Sastri,' Buddhist Schools as known from early Indian Inscriptions', Bharati, (Bulletin of the College of Indology), No.2, 1957-158,pp.41-45; Dipak Kumar Barua, Viharas in Ancient India, (Calcutta, 1969), pp.199-201.
30. Samuel Beal, SI-YU-KI: Buddhist Records of the Western World, vol.ii, Book x, (repr. Delhi, 1969), pp. 221-23.
31. James Prinsep, 'Translation of an Inscription on a Stone in the Asiatic Society’s Museum, marked No.2’, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 6:1, 1837, p. 220 as quoted in Cohn ‘Transformation of Objects’, p.314.
32. James Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship, Appendix ii.,pp. 67-69; Burgess, Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta,passim. Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, passim.
33. For a discussion on the source of gifts made by the monks and nuns, see Vijay Nath, Dana:Gift System in Ancient India, (New Delhi,1987), pp.76-78; Himanshu P. Ray, 'Bharhut and Sanchi—Nodal Points in a Commercial Exchange’ in Pande and Chattopadhyaya eds., Archaeology and History, vol. ii, p.627.
34. Devadhanna Jataka, Book i, no.6; Guna Jataka, Book II, no.157; Somanassa Jataka, Bk xv, no.505; Satadhamma Jataka, Book.II, no.179. See the discussion in H. P. Ray, The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia, (Delhi, 1998), pp. 148 -155.
35. Gregory Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India (Honolulu, 1997), p. 4.
36. See for e.g., Chanda, ‘Some Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions,’ no.3, p. 262; Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, p.30; B.C. Law, ‘Bhikkhunis in Indian Inscriptions’, E.I., vol.xxv, p.33.
37. Chanda, 'Some Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions', no. 55, p.274.
38. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, nos., 79 and 113, pp. 293, 300.
39. Ibid., no. 99, p. 297.
40. Ibid., nos. 80 and 100. pp. 293, 297.
41. Ibid., nos.5 and 126, pp. 274, 304.
42. Law, 'Bhikkhunis', p. 32.
43. H. Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism, (repr. Delhi, 1974) , p.84. For a contrary view, see B. G. Gokhale, ‘The Early Buddhist Elite’, Journal of Indian History, vol. XLIII, Part II, August 1965, pp. 391-402.
44. For a listing of the various place names and professions of the donors, see Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, Appendices iii-v, pp.326-342.
45. For similar views on the status of the laity, see B. G. Gokhale, ‘Early Buddhism and the Brahmanas' in A. K. Narain ed., Studies in History of Buddhism, (Delhi, 1980), P.76.
46. Upinder Singh, ‘Sanchi : The history of the patronage of an ancient Buddhist establish- ment’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 33, no.1(1996), pp.15-16; For Kanheri and Bhaja, see Lüders, List of Brahmi Inscriptions, nos. 984-1034, 1078-1085 respectively.
47. Chanda, 'Some Unpublished Amaravati Inscriptions', nos. 31, 40, pp. 268, 270.
48. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 5. 274.
49. Ibid., no. 70 p. 291.
50. Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, no. 78B. p. 44.
51. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.34, p. 279. The bhanakas or bhanas were central to the preaching of Buddhism in ancient Sri Lanka also. See Deegalle Mahinda, ‘Reconsidering Buddhist Preaching: Bana Tradition in Sri Lanka’, in Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti et. al. eds., Recent Researches in Buddhist Studies: Essays in Honour of Professor Y. Karunadassa, Colombo, 1997, pp. 427-465.
52. For Bharhut see, Lueders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions no.773; for Sanchi, see Ibid, no. 347; for Bodh Gaya, ibid., no.949.
53. Sukumar Dutt, Early Buddhist Monachism, 600 B.C.-100 B.C., (London, 1924), pp.18, 127-28; Nalinaksha Dutt, Buddhist Sects in India, (repr. Varanasi, 1977), pp. 44-46.
54 N. Dutt, Early History of the Spread of Buddhism and the Buddhist Schools, (First Indian ed., New Delhi,1980), pp. 114-116 ; S. Dutt, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India, (repr. Delhi, 1988), pp. 249-50; Also, T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, (9th ed., Delhi 1970) pp. 73-74.
55. Mahavagga, iv, 15, 4; T.W. Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the Buddha, vol.ii, (repr. London, 1923), pp. xii-xiii.
56. N. Dutt, Early History of the Spread of Buddhism, p.115.
57. Ibid.p.116; Also, N.Dutt, Buddhist Sects, p.46.
58. Hirakawa Akira, A History of Indian Buddhism:From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana, (Indian ed., Delhi,1993), p.70.
59. Buddhist Sects, pp.62-64; S. Dutt highlights the cloistral base of the growth of the canon. Early Buddhist Monachism, pp.127 - 128.
60. Narendra Wagle, Society at the Time of the Buddha (Bombay, 1996), p. 73.
61. Lal Mani Joshi, Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India during the 7th and 8th Centuries (Delhi, 1977), pp. 77-78.
62. Burgess, Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta, p.53; Cf. Lueders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions, no.1250, p.148.
63. Ibid., nos.773, 987, 154.
64. Cullavagga, vi, 5, 2
65. Cullavagga, vi, 5, 3
66. S. Dutt, Early Buddhist Monachism, p.188. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries pp.145, 149.
67. R. N. Misra, Ancient Artists and Art-Activity, (Simla, 1975), p.19.
68. Romila Thapar, 'Patronage and the Community', p.30.
69. Gregory Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, p. 191.
70. H. P. Ray, Winds of Change, p.144.
71. Misra, Ancient Artists and Art-Activity, pp.17-21.
72. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.119, p.302.
73. Burgess, Buddhist Stupas, p.53.
74. Misra, Ancient Artists and Art-Activity, P.18.
75. Lüders, List of Brahmi Inscriptions, no.773
76. E.l., Vol. xx. Inscriptions C.I. and C.2, pp. 17, 20. Also, Misra, Ancient Artists, p.18.
77. Lüders, 'List of Brahmi Inscriptions', no.987.
78. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.69, p.290.
79. Ibid., no. 33, p.278.
80. Ibid., no.1l, p.275
81. Burgess, Notes on the Amaravati Stupa, p. 27.
82. N. Dutt, Buddhist Sects in India, pp.12 ff. P.V. Bapat ed., 2500 Years of Buddhism, (6th repr., New Delhi, 1997), pp.99-100; A.M. Sastri', Buddhist Schools as known from early Indian inscriptions, pp. 41-42; Andre Bureau's entry on 'Hinayana Buddism' in Mircea Eliade ed., The Encyclopaedia of Religion, Vol. 2, (New York, 1987) pp. 445-447; Hermann Oldenberg, The Dipavamsa, (Repr., New Delhi), 1982, pp. 42 - 43; W. Geiger, The Mahavamsa, (Repr., New Delhi , 1986), p. 26.
83. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.70, p. 293.
84. The Mahavastu gives prominence to the worship of the caityas, formally associated with the Caityakas. But, the text as such professes to be a work of the Lokottaravadins, a branch of the Mahasanghikas. N. Dutt considered the Lokottaravadins to be identical with the Caityakas. See, Buddhist Sects in India, p.60; for the contents of the Mahavastu, see Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula, A Critical Study of the Mahavastu, (Delhi, 1978). The Avadanas also refer to a good deal of the rituals and modes of worship associated with the Caityakas. See Sharmishtha Sharma, Buddhist Avadanas, (Delhi, 1985), pp. 19, 150.
85. Andre Bareau and H.G.A. van Zeyst, 'Andhakas' in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Fascicule: A-Aca, (Colombo, 1961), p.602. See also note.29 above.
86. Amita Ray, Life and Art of Early Andhradesa, (Delhi, 1983), p.55
87. Bapat ed., 2500 Years of Buddhism, pp. 104-105; N. Dutt, Buddhist Sects in India, pp.123-125; Bareau and Zeyst, 'Andhakas', pp. 602-606;
88. Digha Nikaya, xvi, Mahaparinibbanasutta.
89. Ibid., xvi, Mahaparinibbanasutta.
90. The Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit texts like the Mahavastu contain portions on forms of stupa/caitya worship and the merit, which could be accrued thus. See Bhikkhu Telwatte Rahula, A Critical Study of the Mahavastu, pp.56-57, 168; W. G. Weeraratne, 'Avadana' in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, vol. ii, Fascicule 3, p.397; Sharmishtha Sharma, Buddhist Avadanas, p.19.
91. Ghosh and Sarkar, 'Beginnings of sculptural art in south-east India', pp. 168-177; H. Sarkar, Studies in the Early Buddhist Architecture of India, (Delhi, 1966), p.100.
92. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.19. p.276; Also, N. Dutt, Buddhist Sects in India, pp. 65-68.
93. Sivaramamurti,Amaravati Sculptures,no.5l, pp.283-84.
94. M.G.S. Narayanan, 'The Temple in South India, in Foundations of South Indian Society and Culture, (Delhi, 1994), pp.309-325; Kesavan Veluthat, 'The Temple Base of the Bhakti Movement in South India’ in K. M. Shrimali ed., Essays in Indian Art, Religion and Society, (New Delhi, 1987), pp.151-59. Rajan Gurukkal, The Kerala Temple and Early Medieval Agrarian System, (Sukapuram, 1992).
95. Romila Thapar, Cultural Transaction and Early India: Tradition and Patronage, (Delhi, 1994), p.13; Cf. Stanley J. Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand against a Historical Background,(Cambridge,1976). Also Trevor Ling, The Buddha: Buddhist Civilisation in India and Ceylon, (London, 1973), pp.137-139.
96. R. Thapar, Cultural Transaction, p.13.
97. Ibid., p.30; Romila Thapar, 'Renunciation : The Making of a Counter Culture?' in Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, (New Delhi,1984), p. 72.
98. R.Thapar, 'Ethics, Religion, and Social Protest in the First Millennium B.C. in Northern India' in Ancient Indian Social History, pp.59-60. 'Renunciation: The Making of a Counter Culture’ p.92
99. H. P. Ray, Monastery and Guild: Commerce Under the Satavahanas, (Delhi.1986), p.207.
100. Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, (Delhi, 1988), pp.121-23, 167-73. Silk and Religion, (Delhi, 1996), p.
101. S. Dutt, Early Monastic Buddhism. Particularly chapts.v and vi, pp.110-76. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India, pp.53-97; H. P. Ray, The Winds of Change, pp. 126-132; R. Gombrich, 'The Evolution of the Sangha' in Bechert and Gombrich eds., The World of Buddhism, pp. 77-89.
102. Such groups are referred to as ‘pendapatika’ who lived in places denoting forests. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 34, p. 279; no. 103, p. 298.
103. For the text and comparative studies of the pratimoksa of the Mahasanghikas see, Charles S. Prebish, Buddhist Monastic Discipline: The Sanskrit Pratimoksha Sutras of the Mahasanghikas and Mulasarvastivadins, (Indian ed. Delhi, 1996); the early Buddhist councils took up the points of difference on the Pratimoksa. See, Louis De La Vallee Pousin, The Buddhist Councils, (repr. Calcutta, 1976).
104. Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, (repr. Delhi, 1975). Particularly pp.188-193; M. R. Raghava Variar, 'Ideological Background of the Early South Indian Buddhist Inscriptions:A Case Study of the Amaravati Epigraphs,’ Paper presented at the Mythic Society Seminar, Bangalore, 1983 (Unpublished).
105. B. T. Rahula, A Critical Study of the Mahavastu, pp.56-57; 168-169
106. Sharmishtha Sharma, Buddhist Avadanas, pp.13-19; 39 ff.
107. For a detailed study of the economic and social contexts of dana in early India, see R. Thapar, ‘Dana and Daksina as forms of Exchange', in Ancient Indian Social History, pp.105-121; Vijay Nath, Dana: Gift System in Ancient India; Toshiichi Endo, Dana: The Development of its Concept and Practice (Colombo, 1987).
108. Vidya Dehejia, Early Buddhist Rock Temples, (London, 1972).
109. Vijay Nath, Dana:Gift System in Ancient India, p.190.
110. Barbara S. Miller, The Powers of Art, p.5.
111. Thomas A.Markus, Buildings and Power: Freedom and Control in the Origins of Modern Building Types, (London,1993), pp. xix-xx and pp.21,37; For a detailed discussion on the Buddhist symbolism of the stupa see, A.L.Dallapiccola and S. Z-A. Lellement eds., The Stupa: Its Religious, Historical and Architectural Significance,(Wiesbaden,1980) ; Karl Werner, Symbols in Art and Religion: The Indian and the Comparative Perspectives, (Indian edition. Delhi, 1991).
112. Gregory Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, pp. 114-147; Kevin Trainor, 'Constructing a Buddhist ritual site: stupa and monastery architecture’, Marg, vol. xivii, no.3, pp. 25, 32
113. See no.9 above.
114. R. Thapar,‘Patronage and the Community’, pp. 23 - 24; Cultural Transaction and Early India, pp. 28-30.
115. A comprehensive treatment of the megalithic culture of Andhra is given in V.V. Krishna Sastry, The Proto and Early Historical Cultures of Andhra Pradesh, (Hyderabad, 1983), pp.51-114; For the rise of an exchange network in the megalithic context, see Anjana Chatterjee, ‘Socio-economic Conditions in Early Andhra, 200 B.C.-300 A.D’, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1976, pp. 40-44; To see how such networks formed the basis of political formation, see Sudarshan Seneviratne, ‘Kalinga and Andhra’, The Indian Historical Review, vol. vii, nos. 1-2, 1980-81, pp. 54-69.
116. Archaeological Survey of India Annual Report, 1908-909, PP. 90-91.
117. Jorinde Ebert, ‘Parinirvana and Stupa: Was the Stupa only a Symbolical Depiction of the Parinirvana?’ in Dallapiccola and Lallement eds., The Stupa: Its Religious, Historical and Architectural Significance, pp.219228; S. Seneviratne, ‘Social Base of Early Buddhism in South East India and Sri Lanka (c.3rd Century B.C.-3rd Century A.D.)’. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1985, pp. 536-538; R. Thapar, ‘Patronage and the Community,’ p.24.
118. Gregory Schopen, ‘Immigrant Monks and the Proto-historic Dead: The Buddhist Occupation of Early Burial Sites in India’, Festschrift Dieter Schlingloff (Reinbek, 1995), p. 237.
119. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 19, p. 276.
120. Ibid., no. 37, p. 280
121. Sudarshan Seneviratne, ‘Kalinga and Andhra’; H. P. Ray, Monastery and Guild, pp. 175-183; Romila Thapar, The Mauryas Revisited (Reprint, Calcutta, 1993), p. 24.
122. For Koramucaka and Pakotaka, see A. Ghosh, ‘The Early Phase of the Stupa at Amaravati’, nos. 24, 25, p. 102; for Padipudini, see Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 22, p. 276.
123. Kiran Kumar Thaplyal, Guilds in Ancient India. (New Delhi, 1996), pp. 84-109.
124. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 87, p. 294.
125. Ghosh and Sarkar, 'Beginnings of Sculptural Art', p. 175.
126. H. Luüders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions, no. 1333, 158-159.
127. Moti Chandra, Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India, (New Delhi, 1977), p. 173. There is a reference to dhanikasattanika, wife of a rich caravan leader at Amaravati. See Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 108, p.299.
128. Digha Nikaya, xxxi, Sigalavada Suttanta.
129. Raghava Variar, 'Ideological Background of the Early South Indian Buddhist Inscriptions'.
130. Richard Fick, The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha’s Time, (Calcutta, 1920), p.253; for a comprehensive discussion on the subject, see Uma Chakravarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, (New Delhi, 1996), pp. 65-93; Romila Thapar, 'Early India: an Overview' in Interpreting Early India (Second Impression. Delhi, 1994), p.121.
131. Uma Chakravarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, pp. 85-86; R. Thapar, 'Early India: an Overview', p. 121.
132. R. Thapar, 'Early India: on Overview', p. 122.
133. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no. 102, p. 298.
134. Ibid, no. 86, p. 294.
135. R. Thapar, 'Early India: an Overview', p. 122.
136. Lueders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions, no. 1216, p. 142.
137. R. Thapar, From Lineage to State: Social Formations in the Mid-First Millennium B.C. in the Ganga Valley (Bombay, 1984). pp. 109-111.
138. I.B. Horner, Women under Primitive Buddhism, (Repr., Delhi, 1975) ; B.C. Law, Women in Buddhist Literature. (Repr., Varanasi, 1981).
139. Kathryn R. Blackstone, Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigatha (Surrey, 1998).
140. Peter Skilling, ‘Nuns, Laywomen, Donors, Goddesses: Female Roles in Early Indian Buddhism’, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2001, pp. 241-274.
141. Janice D. Willis, 'Female Patronage in Indian Buddhism' in Barbaba Stoler Miller ed., The Powers of Art, pp. 46-53. The article is not free from erroneous statements with respect to data on Amaravati. For example, Camtisiri, the sister of King Camtamula is taken as the principal donor at Amaravati though no known epigraph from the site refers to the person so referred to. See p. 50.
142. B. C. Law, ‘Bikkhunis in Indian Inscriptions’; Nancy J. Barnes, ‘The Nuns at the Stupa: Inscriptional Evidence for the Lives and Activities of Early Buddhist Nuns in India’, in Ellison Banks Findly, Women’s Buddhism: Buddhism’s Women, Boston, 2000, pp. 17-36.
143. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures, no.70, p. 291.
144. Ibid, no. 76, p. 292; H. Sarkar, 'Some Early Inscriptions in the Amaravati Museum,’ nos. 45, 46, 47, p. 4; Lüders, A List of Brahmi Inscriptions, no. 1298.
145. Alice Boner, 'Economic and Organisational Aspects of the Building of the Sun Temple of Konarka' in K.M. Shrimali ed., Essays in Indian Art, Religion and Society, Indian History Congress Golden Jubilee Year Publication Series, Vol. 1, (New Delhi, 1987), pp. 99-108.
146. Wilhelm Geiger, The Mahavamsa, (Reprint, New Delhi, 1986), pp. 187-219; B.C. Law, The Legend of the Topes, (Calcutta, 1945), pp. 64-92.
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