Chapter 25 of 36 · 3144 words · ~16 min read

Part 25

When a girl attains maturity, she is under pollution for nine days, at the conclusion of which the Bichadi receives a small present of money from her parents. Her husband, and his agnates (people of his sept) also have to observe pollution, and, on the ninth day, the cooking pots which they have used are thrown away, and they proceed to the Bichadi, to whom they make a present of money, as they have probably broken the tribal rule that smoking is forbidden when under pollution. On the ninth day, the girl and her husband throw water over each other, and the marriage is consummated.

The dead are usually buried, lying on the left side. On the second day, food is offered to crows and Brahmani kites. On the eleventh day, a mat is spread on the floor of the hut, and covered with a clean sheet, on which balls of food are placed. The dead person is invoked by name, as the various people deposit the food offering. The food is finally put into a winnowing basket, and taken to the bank of a tank (pond). A small hut is made there, and the food is placed therein on two leaves, one of which represents the Yama Dutas (servants of the god of death), the other the deceased.

Boori (cake).--An exogamous sept of Mala.

Bosantiya.--The Bosantiyas are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "Oriya cultivators found in the northern taluks of Ganjam. They are said by some to have been originally dyers." I am informed that the caste name has reference to the fact that the occupation thereof was the collection of the fruits of Mallotus philippinensis, and trade in the dye (bosonto gundi) obtained therefrom. The dye, commonly known as kamela, or kamala, is the powdery substance obtained as a glandular pubescence from the exterior of the fruits. The following note on the dye was published in the Indian Forester, 1892. "Among the many rich natural products of Ganjam, probably the most esteemed in commerce is the red kamela dye, the valuable product of the Mallotus philippinensis. This tree, with its lovely scarlet berries and vivid emerald green foliage, is a marked feature of forest scenery in Ganjam. The berries are coated with a beautiful red powder, which constitutes the dye. This powder is collected by being brushed off into baskets made for the purpose, but the method of collection is reckless and wasteful in the extreme, the trees being often felled in order to reach the berries more easily. The industry is a monopoly of the Hill Khonds, who, however, turn it to little advantage. They are ignorant of the great commercial value of the dye, and part with the powder to the low-country dealers settled among them for a few measures of rice or a yard or two of cloth. The industry is capable of great development, and a large fortune awaits the firm or individual with sufficient enterprise to enter into rivalry with the low-country native dealers settled among the Khonds, who at present enjoy a monopoly of the trade. It is notorious that these men are accumulating vast profits in respect of this dye. The tree is cultivated largely by the Khonds in their forest villages."

The Bosantiyas seem to have no sub-divisions, but exogamous gotras, e.g., nagasira (cobra) and kochimo (tortoise) exist among them. Socially they are on a par with the Bhondaris, and above Pachchilia Gaudos and Samantiyas. They have a headman called Bissoyi, who is assisted by a Bhollobaya, and they have further a caste messenger called Jati Naiko. The caste titles are Bissoyi and Nahako.

Most of the Bosantiyas are Saivites, but a few follow the Paramartho form of Vaishnavism. They also worship various Takuranis (village deities), such as Kotaru and Chondi.

In the Vizagapatam Manual (1869), Bosuntea is described as a caste of Paiks or fighting men in the Vizagapatam district (Jeypore).

Bottada.--The Bottadas are, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [153] "a Class of Uriya cultivators and labourers, speaking Muria or Lucia, otherwise known as Basturia, a dialect of Uriya. Mr. Taylor says the caste is the same as Muria, which is shown separately in the tables, and in Mr. H. G. Turner's notes in the Census Report of 1871. But, whether identical or distinct, it seems clear that both are sub-divisions of the great Gond tribe."

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There is a current tradition that the caste originally dwelt at Barthagada, and emigrated to Vizagapatam long ago. It is vaguely mentioned that Barthagada was situated towards and beyond Bastar, near which place there are still to be found people of this caste, with whom those living in the Vizagapatam Agency intermarry. The caste is divided into three endogamous divisions, viz.:--

(1) Bodo, or genuine Bottadas; (2) Madhya, descendants of Bottada men and non-Bottada women; (3) Sanno, descendants of Madhya men and non-Madhya women. The Bodos will not interdine with the other two sections, but males of these will eat with Bodos.

The following notes refer to the Bodo section, in which various exogamous septs, or bamsa, exist, of which the following are examples:--

Kochchimo, tortoise. Kukkuro, dog. Bhag, tiger. Makado, monkey. Goyi, lizard (Varanus). Cheli, goat. Nag, cobra.

Girls are married either before or after puberty. A man can claim his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage. When a marriage is under contemplation, the prospective bridegroom's parents take maddho (liquor) and chada (beaten rice) to the girl's house, where they are accepted or refused, according as her parents agree to, or disapprove of the match. After a stated period, further presents of liquor, rice, black gram, dhal, salt, chillies, and jaggery (crude sugar) are brought, and betel leaves and areca nuts given in exchange. Two days later the girl's parents pay a return visit to those of the young man. After another interval, the marriage takes place. Nine days before its celebration, paddy (unhusked rice) and Rs. 2 are taken to the bride's house as jholla tonka, and a feast is held. At the bridegroom's house, a pandal, made of nine sorghi or sal (Shorca robusta) posts, is erected, with a pot of turmeric water tied to the central post. The bride is conducted thither. At the marriage rites the Desari officiates. The ends of the cloths of the contracting couple are tied together, and their little fingers are linked together, while they go, with pieces of turmeric and rice in their hands, seven times round the pandal. The sacred fire, or homam, is raised, and into it seven or nine different kinds of wood, ghi (clarified butter), milk, rice and jaggery are thrown. Turmeric-rice dots are put on the foreheads of the bride and bridegroom by the Desari, parents, and relations. They are anointed with castor-oil, and bathed with the water contained in the pot tied to the post. New cloths are presented to them, and a caste feast is held.

Widow remarriage is permitted, and a younger brother often marries the widow of his elder brother. If, however, she marries any one else, her new husband has to pay rand tonka, consisting of liquor, a sheep or goat, and rice, as a fine to the caste, or he may compound for payment of five rupees. Divorce is permitted, and, if a man divorces his wife, he usually gives her some paddy, a new cloth, and a rupee. If the woman divorces herself from her husband, and contracts an alliance with another man, the latter has to pay a fine of twenty rupees to the first husband, a portion of which is spent on a feast, at which the two husbands and the woman are present.

The dead are burned, and death pollution is observed for ten days, during which no agricultural work is done, and no food is cooked in the bamsa of the deceased, which is fed by some related bamsa. On the day following cremation, a new pot with water, and some sand are carried to the spot where the corpse was burnt. A bed of sand is made, in which a banyan (Ficus bengalensis) or pipal (Ficus religiosa) is planted. A hole is made in the pot, and the plant watered. On the tenth day, on which a bath is taken, some fried rice and a new pot are carried to the burning-ground, and left there.

The Bottadas have the reputation of being the best cultivators in the Jeypore Agency, and they take a high position in social rank. Many of them wear the sacred thread, at the time of marriage and subsequently, and it is said that the right to wear it was acquired by purchase from former Rajas of Jeypore.

Bottu Kattoru (those who tie the bottu).--A sub-division of Kappiliyans, who are Canarese cultivators settled in the Tamil district of Madura. The bottu (marriage badge) is the equivalent of the Tamil tali.

Bovi.--The name of the palanquin-bearing section of the Mogers of South Canara. Some Besthas from Mysore, who have settled in this district, are also called Bovi, which is a form of Boyi (bearer).

Boya (see Bedar).--Boya has also been recorded [154] as a sub-division of Mala, a name for Ekari.

Boyan.--A title of Odde.

Boyi (see Bestha).--It is also the title of one of the chief men among the Savaras.

Brahman.--The Brahmans of Southern India are divided into a number of sections, differing in language, manners and customs. As regards their origin, the current belief is that they sprang from the mouth of Brahma. In support thereof, the following verse from the Purusha Suktha (hymn of the primæval male) of the Rig Veda is quoted:--From the face of Prajapathi (Viratpurusha) came the Brahmans; from the arms arose the Kshatriyas; from the thighs sprang the Vaisyas; and from the feet the Sudras. Mention of the fourfold division of the Hindu castes is also made in other Vedas, and in Ithihasas and Puranas.

The Brahmans fall into three groups, following the three Vedas or Sakas, Rig, Yajus, and Samam. This threefold division is, however, recognised only for ceremonial purposes. For marriage and social purposes, the divisions based on language and locality are practically more operative. In the matter of the more important religious rites, the Brahmans of Southern India, as elsewhere, closely follow their own Vedas. Every Brahman belongs to one or other of the numerous gotras mentioned in Pravara and Gotra Kandams. All the religious rites are performed according to the Grihya Sutras (ritual books) pertaining to their Saka or Veda. Of these, there are eight kinds now in vogue, viz.:--

All Brahmans claim descent from one or more of the following seven Rishis:--Atri, Bhrigu, Kutsa, Vashista, Gautama, Kasyapa, Angiras. According to some, the Rishis are Agasthya, Angiras, Atri, Bhrigu, Kasyapa, Vashista, and Gautama. Under these Rishis are included eighteen ganams, and under each ganam there are a number of gotras, amounting in all to about 230. Every Brahman is expected to salute his superiors by repeating the Abhivadhanam (salutation) which contains his lineage. As an example, the following may be given:--"I, Krishna by name, of Srivathsa gotra, with the pravara (lineage) of the five Rishis, Bhargava, Chyavana, Apnuvana, Aruva, and Jamadagni, following the Apasthamba sutra of the Yajus Saka, am now saluting you." Daily, at the close of the Sandhya prayers, this Abhivadhanam formula should be repeated by every Brahman.

Taking the Brahmans as a whole, it is customary to group them in two main divisions, the Pancha Dravidas and Pancha Gaudas. The Pancha Dravidas are pure vegetarians, whereas the Pancha Gaudas need not abstain from meat and fish, though some, who live amidst the Pancha Dravidas, do so. Other differences will be noted in connection with Oriya Brahmans, who belong to the Pancha Gauda section. In South India, all Brahmans, except those who speak the Oriya and Konkani languages, are Pancha Dravidas, who are divided into five sections, viz.:--

1. Tamil, or Dravida proper. 2. Telugu or Andhra. 3. Canarese, or Carnataka. 4. Marathi or Desastha. 5. Guzarati.

The Tulu-speaking Shivalli Brahmans are included among the Carnatakas; the Pattar and Nambutiri Brahmans (see Nambutiri) among the Dravidas proper.

From a religious point of view, the Brahmans are either Saivites or Vaishnavites. The Saivites are either Saivites proper, or Smarthas. The Smarthas believe that the soul of man is only a portion of the infinite spirit (atman), and that it is capable of becoming absorbed into the atman. They recognise the Trimurtis, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as separate gods, but only as equal manifestations of the supreme spirit, and that, in the end, these are to be absorbed into the infinite spirit, and so disappear. Saivas, on the other hand, do not recognise the Trimurtis, and believe only in one god, Siva, who is self-existent, and not liable to lose his personality. Of Vaishnavites there are three kinds, viz., those who are the followers of Chaitanya, Ramanuja, and Madhvacharya. Like the Smarthas, the Vaishnavites recognise Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, but Vishnu is supposed to be the chief god, to whom the others are subordinate.

"Vaishnavas," Monier Williams writes, [155] "are believers in the one personal god Vishnu, not only as the preserver, but as above every other god, including Siva. It should be noted, too, that both Saivites and Vaishnavas agree in attributing an essential form of qualities to the Supreme Being. Their one god, in fact, exists in an eternal body, which is antecedent to his earthly incarnations, and survives all such incarnations." He adds that "it cannot be doubted that one great conservative element of Hinduism is the many sidedness of Vaishnavism. For Vaishnavism is, like Buddhism, the most tolerant of systems. It is always ready to accommodate itself to other creeds, and delights in appropriating to itself the religious idea of all the nations of the world. It admits of every form of internal development. It has no organised hierarchy under one supreme head, but it may have any number of separate associations under separate leaders, who are ever banding themselves together for the extension of spiritual supremacy over ever increasing masses of population."

The Oriya Brahmans, who follow the creed of Chaitanya, are called Paramarthos, and are confined to the Ganjam district. There is no objection to intermarriage between Smartha and Paramartho Oriya Brahmans.

Sri Vaishnavas (who put on the namam as a sectarian mark) and Madhvas are exclusive as regards intermarriage, but the Madhvas have no objection to taking meals with, and at the houses of Smarthas, whereas Sri Vaishnavas object to doing so.

According to the Sutras, a Brahman has to go through the following samskaras (rites):--

1. Garbhadana. 6. Annaprasanam 2. Pumsavanam. 7. Chaulam. 3. Simantam. 8. Upanayanam 4. Jatakarmam. 9. Vivaham. 5. Namakaranam.

These rites are supposed to purify the body and spirit from the taint transmitted through the womb of the mother, but all of them are not at the present day performed at the proper time, and in regular order.

The Garbhadhana, or impregnation ceremony, should, according to the Grihya Sutras, be performed on the fourth day of the marriage ceremonies. But, as the bride is a young girl, it is omitted, or Vedic texts are repeated. The Garbhadhana ceremony is performed, after the girl has attained puberty. At the time of consummation or Ritu Santhi, the following verse is repeated:--"Let all pervading Vishnu prepare her womb; let the Creator shape its forms; let Prajapathi be the impregnator; let the Creator give the embryo."

Pumsavanam and Simantam are two ceremonies, which are performed together during the seventh or ninth month of the first pregnancy, though, according to the Grihya Sutras, the former should be performed in the third month. At the Pumsavanam, or male producing ceremony, the pregnant woman fasts, and her husband squeezes into her right nostril a little juice from the fruit and twig of the alam tree (Ficus bengalensis), saying "Thou art a male child." The twig selected should be one pointing, east or north; with two fruits looking like testicles. The twig is placed on a grinding-stone, and a girl, who has not attained puberty, is asked to pound it. The pulp is wrapped in a new silk cloth, and squeezed to express the juice. On the conclusion of the Pumsavanam, the Simantam, or parting the pregnant woman's hair, is gone through. After oblations in the sacred fire (homam), the woman's husband takes a porcupine quill, to which three blades of dharbha grass, and a twig with fruits of the aththi tree (Ficus glomerata) are attached, and passes it over the woman's head from before backwards, parting the hair.

The Jatakarmam, Namakaranam, Annaprasanam, and Chaulam rites are ordinarily celebrated, one after the other, on the Upanayanam day. Jatakarmam consists in smearing some ghi (clarified butter) and honey on the tongue of the baby, and repeating the following verses from the Rig Veda:--"Oh! long lived one, mayst thou live a hundred years in this world, protected by the gods. Become firm as a rock, firm as an axe, pure as gold. Thou art the Veda called a son; live thou a hundred years. May Indra bestow on thee his best treasures. May Savitri, may Sarasvati, may the Asvins grant thee wisdom."

At the Namakaranam, or naming ceremony, the parents of the child pronounce its name close to its ear, and repeat the Vedic prayer to Indra and Agni "May Indra give you lustre, and Indra semen, wisdom, and children."

The Annaprasanam, or food-giving ceremony, should be performed during the sixth month after birth. A little solid food is put into the child's mouth, and the following Vedic verses are repeated:--"Agni who lives on plants, Soma who lives on soma juice, Brahmans who live on the Vedas, and Devatas who live on amartam (ambrosia), may they bless you. As the earth gives food to plants and water, so I give you this food. May these waters and plants give you prosperity and health."

At the Chaulam, or tonsure ceremony, the child is seated in his mother's lap. The father, taking a few blades of dharbha grass in his hand, sprinkles water over the child's head. Seven times he inserts blades of dharbha in the hair of the head (three blades each time), saying "Oh! divine grass, protect him." He then cuts off the tips of the blades, and throws them away. The father is expected, according to the Grihya Sutras, to shave or cut the child's hair. At the present day, however, the barber is called in, and shaves the head, leaving one lock or more according to local custom.