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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