The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1

17. Previous exposure of the dead, and migration of souls

Some of these customs are peculiar and interesting. It has been seen that for three days the home is impure, and no food is cooked in it except what is given to dogs; and since on the third day offerings are made on the spot where the body lay, it seems to be supposed that the dead man’s spirit is still there. On the fourth day is the funeral feast, in which all relations and friends join, and after this the house becomes pure, it being presumably held that the dead man’s spirit has taken its departure. For these three days food is cooked in the house and given to dogs, and immediately after the man is dead a dog is brought in to look at his face. It has been suggested that the manner of laying out the body recalls the time when it was simply exposed. But when it was exposed the body would have been devoured principally by dogs and vultures, and the customs connected with dogs seem to arise from this. The cooked food given to dogs for three days is perhaps a substitute for the flesh of the dead man which they would have eaten, and the display of the body to a dog is in substitution for its being devoured by these animals, who now that it is exposed in a tower of silence no longer have access to it. It has further been seen how during the marriage rites, after an invitation has been issued to the ancestors to attend, a woman comes in barking like a dog. The other women drive her away and laughingly eat everything they can lay their hands on, perhaps in imitation of the way dogs devour their food. This custom seems to indicate that the Pārsis formerly believed that the spirits of their ancestors went into the dogs which devoured their bodies, a belief which would be quite natural to primitive people. Such a hypothesis would explain the peculiar customs mentioned, and also the great sanctity which the Pārsis attach to dogs. On the same analogy they should apparently also have believed that the spirits of ancestors went into vultures; but it is not recorded that they show any special veneration for these birds, though it must be almost certain that they do not kill them. The explanation given for the custom of the exposure of the dead is that none of the holy elements, earth, fire or water, can be polluted by receiving dead bodies. But, as already stated, towers of silence cannot be a primitive institution, and the bodies in all probability were previously exposed on the ground. The custom of exposure probably dates from a period prior to the belief in the extreme sanctity of the earth. It may have been retained in order that the spirits of ancestors might find a fresh home in the animals which devoured their bodies; and some platform, from which the towers of silence subsequently developed, may have been made to avoid defilement of the earth; while in after times this necessity of not defiling the earth and other elements might be advanced as a reason justifying the custom of exposure.

18. Clothes, food and ceremonial observances

Pārsi men usually wear a turban of dark cloth spotted with white, folded to stand up straight from the forehead, and looking somewhat as if it was made of pasteboard. This is very unbecoming, and younger men often abandon it and simply wear the now common felt cap. They usually have long coats, white or dark, and white cotton trousers. Well-to-do Pārsi women dress very prettily in silks of various colours. The men formerly shaved the head, either entirely, or leaving a scalp-lock and two ear-locks. But now many of them simply cut their hair short like the English. They wear whiskers and moustaches, but with the exception of the priests, not usually beards. Neither men nor women ever put off the sacred shirt or the thread. They eat the flesh only of goats and sheep among animals, and also consume fish, fowls and other birds; but they do not eat a cock after it has begun to crow, holding the bird sacred, because they think that its crowing drives away evil spirits. If Ahura Mazda represented the sun and the light of day, the cock, the herald of the dawn, might be regarded as his sacred bird. Sometimes when a cock or parrot dies the body is wrapped in a sacred shirt or thread and carefully buried. Palm-juice toddy is a favourite drink at almost all meals in Gujarāt, and mahua spirit is also taken. Parsis must never smoke, as this would be derogatory to the sacred element fire.370

Temple of Siva at Bāndakpur, near Damoh

Saiva, Shaiva, Sivite Sect

Saiva, Shaiva, Sivite Sect.—The name given to Hindus who venerate Siva as their special god. Siva, whose name signifies ‘The Propitious,’ is held to have succeeded to the Vedic god Rudra, apparently a storm-god. Siva is a highly composite deity, having the double attributes of destroyer and creator of new life. His heaven, Kailās, is in the Himalayas according to popular belief. He carries the moon on his forehead, and from the central one of his three eyes the lightning flashes forth. He has a necklace of skulls, and snakes are intertwined round his waist and arms. And he has long matted hair (jata), from which the Ganges flows. It seems likely that the matted locks of the god represent the snow on the Himalayas, as the snow is in reality the source of the Ganges; the snow falling through the air and covering the peaks of the mountains might well suggest the hair of a mountain-god; and this interpretation seems to be accepted in Mr. Bain’s In the Great God’s Hair. Siva has thus three components from which the idea of death might be derived: First, his residence on the Himalaya mountains, the barren, lifeless region of ice and snow, and the cause of death to many pilgrims and travellers who ventured into it. Secondly, he is the god of the moon, and hence of darkness and night, which are always associated with death. In this light he might well be opposed to Vishnu, the god of the sun and day, and the source of growth and life; their association as the two supreme deities representing the preservation and destruction of life, would thus, to some extent, correspond to the conflict of good and bad deities representing light and darkness among the Zoroastrians. Thirdly, Siva is a snake-god, and the sudden death dealt out by the poisonous snake has always excited the greatest awe among primitive people. The cobra is widely revered in India, and it is probably this snake which is associated with the god. In addition the lightning, a swift, death-dealing power, is ascribed to Siva, and this may have been one of his earliest attributes, as it was probably associated with his Vedic prototype Rudra. Whether Siva obtained his character as a god of destruction from one only of the above associations, or from a combination of them, is probably not known. Two great forces lend the deity his character of a god of reproduction, the bull and the phallic emblem. The bull tills the soil and renders it fertile and capable of bringing forth the crops which form the sustenance of mankind; while the phallic emblem is worshipped as the instrument of generation. It is believed that there is a natural tendency to associate these two objects, and to ascribe to the bull the capacity of inducing human fertility as well as the increase of the earth. It is in these two attributes that Siva is worshipped in the rural tract; he is represented by the emblem referred to standing on a circular grooved stone, which is the yoni, and in front of him is a stone bull. And he is revered almost solely as a beneficent deity under the name of Mahādeo or the Great God. Thus his dual qualities of destruction and reproduction appear to be produced by the combination in him of different objects of worship; the Himalayas, the moon, the cobra and the lightning on the one hand, and the bull and the emblem of regeneration on the other. Other interesting characteristics of Siva are that he is the first and greatest of ascetics and that he is immoderately addicted to the intoxicating drugs gānja and bhāng, the preparations of Indian hemp. It may be supposed that the god was given his character as an ascetic in order to extend divine sanction and example to the practice of asceticism when it came into favour. And the drugs,371 first revered themselves for their intoxicating properties, were afterwards perpetuated in a sacred character by being associated with the god. Siva’s throat is blue, and it is sometimes said that this is on account of his immoderate consumption of bhāng. The nilkanth or blue-jay, which was probably venerated for its striking plumage, and is considered to be a bird of very good omen, has become Siva’s bird because its blue throat resembles his. His principal sacred tree is the bel tree,372 which has trifoliate leaves, and may have been held sacred on this account. The practice of Sati or the self-immolation of widows has also been given divine authority by the story that Sati was Siva’s first wife, and that she committed suicide because she and her husband were not invited to Daksha’s sacrifice.373 Siva’s famous consort is the multiform Devi, Kāli or Pārvati, of whom some notice is given elsewhere.374 The cult of Siva has produced the important Sākta sect, who, however, venerate more especially the female principle of energy as exemplified in his consort.375 Another great sect of southern India, the Lingāyats, worship him in the character of the lingam or phallic emblem, and are noticeable as being a Sivite sect who have abolished caste. The Sivite orders of Gosains or Dasnāmis and Jogis also constitute an important feature of Hinduism. All these are separately described. Apart from them the Hindus who call themselves Saivas because they principally venerate Siva, do not appear to have any very special characteristics, nor to be markedly distinguished from the Vaishnavas. They abstain from the consumption of flesh and liquor, and think it objectionable to take life. Their offerings to the god consist of flowers, the leaves of the bel tree which is sacred to him, and ripe ears of corn, these last being perhaps intended especially for the divine bull. The sect-mark of the Saivas consists of three curved lines horizontally drawn across the forehead, which are said to represent the tirsūl or trident of the god. A half-moon may also be drawn. The mark is made with Ganges clay, sandalwood, or cowdung cakes, these last being considered to represent the disintegrating force of the deity.376

Images of Siva and his consort Devi, or Pārvati, with the bull and tiger

Sākta, Shakta Sect

Sākta, Shakta Sect.—The name of a Hindu sect, whose members worship the female principle of energy, which is the counterpart of the god Siva. The metaphysical ideas of Sāktism are thus described by Sir Edward Gait:377

“Sāktism is based on the worship of the active producing principle, Prākriti, as manifested in one or other of the goddess wives of Siva (Durga, Kāli, Pārvati) the female energy or Sakti of the primordial male, Purusha or Siva. In this cult the various forces of nature are deified under separate personalities, which are known as the divine mothers or Mātrigan. The ritual to be observed, the sacrifices to be offered, and the mantras or magic texts to be uttered, in order to secure the efficacy of the worship and to procure the fulfilment of the worshipper’s desire, are laid down in a series of religious writings known as Tāntras. The cult is supposed to have originated in East Bengal or Assam about the fifth century.”

Dr. Bhattachārya states378 that the practical essence of the Sākta cult is the worship of the female organ of generation. According to a text of the Tāntras the best form of Sākti worship is to adore a naked woman, and it is said that some Tāntrics actually perform their daily worship in their private chapels by placing before them such a woman. A triangular plate of brass or copper may be taken as a substitute, and such plates are usually kept in the houses of Tāntric Brāhmans. In the absence of a plate of the proper shape a triangle may be painted on a copper dish. In public the veneration of the Sāktas is paid to the goddess Kāli. She is represented as a woman with four arms. In one hand she has a weapon, in a second the hand of the giant she has slain, and with the two others she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two dead bodies, she wears a necklace of skulls, and her only clothing is a garland made of men’s skulls. In the Kālika Purān379 the immolation of human beings is recommended, and numerous animals are catalogued as suitable for sacrifice. At the present time pigeons, goats, and more rarely buffaloes, are the usual victims at the shrine of the goddess. The ceremony commences with the adoration of the sacrificial axe; various mantras are recited, and the animal is then decapitated at one stroke. As soon as the head falls to the ground the votaries rush forward and smear their foreheads with the blood of the victim. It is of the utmost importance that the ceremony should pass off without any hitch or misadventure,380 and special services are held to supplicate the goddess to permit of this. If in spite of them the executioner fails to sever the head of the animal at one stroke, it is thought that the goddess is angry and that some great calamity will befall the family in the next year. If a death should occur within the period, they attribute it to the miscarriage of the sacrifice, that is to the animal not having been killed with a single blow. If any such misfortune should happen, Dr. Bhattachārya states, the family generally determine never to offer animal sacrifices again; and in this way the slaughter of animals, as part of the religious ceremony in private houses, is becoming more and more rare. If a goat is sacrificed, the head is placed before the goddess and the flesh cooked and served to the invited guests; but in the case of a buffalo, as respectable Hindus do not eat the flesh of this animal, it is given to the low-caste musicians employed for the occasion. Wine is also offered to the goddess, and after being consecrated is sprinkled on every kind of uncooked food brought before her. But the worshipper and his family often drink only a few drops. The Sāktas are divided into the Dakshinachāris and Bāmachāris, or followers of the right- and left-handed paths respectively. The Dakshinachāris have largely abandoned animal sacrifices, and many of them substitute red flowers or red sandalwood as offerings, to represent blood. An account of those Bāmachāris who carry sexual practices to extreme lengths, has been given in the article on Vām-Mārgi. The sect-mark of the Sāktas is three horizontal lines on the forehead made with a mixture of charcoal and butter. Some of them have a single vertical line of charcoal or sandalwood. In the Central Provinces Sākta is a general term for a Hindu who eats meat, as opposed to the Vaīshnavas and Kabīrpanthis, who abjure it. The animals eaten are goats and chickens, and they are usually sacrificed to the goddess Devi prior to being consumed by the worshippers.

Devotees, possessed, embracing each other, while supported on tridents, at Siva’s fair at Pachmarhi

Satnāmi

1. Origin of the sect

Satnāmi Sect 381 (A worshipper of the true name of God).—A dissenting sect founded by a Chamār reformer in the Chhattīsgarh country of the Central Provinces. It is practically confined to members of the Chamār caste, about half of whom belong to it. In 1901 nearly 400,000 persons returned themselves as adherents of the Satnāmi sect, of whom all but 2000 were Chamārs. The Satnāmi sect of the Central Provinces, which is here described, is practically confined to the Chhattīsgarh plain, and the handful of persons who returned themselves as Satnāmis from the northern Districts are believed to be adherents of the older persuasion of the same name in Northern India. The Satnāmi movement in Chhattīsgarh was originated by one Ghāsi Dās, a native of the Bilāspur District, between A.D. 1820 and 1830. But it is probable that Ghāsi Dās, as suggested by Mr. Hīra Lāl, got his inspiration from a follower of the older Satnāmi sect of northern India. This was inaugurated by a Rājpūt, Jagjīwan Dās of the Bara Banki District, who died in 1761. He preached the worship of the True Name of the one God, the cause and creator of all things, void of sensible qualities and without beginning or end. He prohibited the use of meat, lentils (on account of their red colour suggesting blood) of the brinjal or eggplant, which was considered, probably on account of its shape, to resemble flesh, and of intoxicating liquors. The creed of Ghāsi Dās enunciated subsequently was nearly identical with that of Jagjīwan Dās, and was no doubt derived from it, though Ghāsi Dās never acknowledged the source of his inspiration.

2. Ghāsi Dās, founder of the Satnāmi sect

Ghāsi Dās was a poor farmservant in Girod, a village formerly in Bilaspur and now in Raipur, near the Sonakān forests. On one occasion he and his brother started on a pilgrimage to the temple at Puri, but only got as far as Sārangarh, whence they returned ejaculating ‘Satnām, Satnām.’ From this time Ghāsi Dās began to adopt the life of an ascetic, retiring all day to the forest to meditate. On a rocky hillock about a mile from Girod is a large tendu tree (Diospyros tomentosa) under which it is said that he was accustomed to sit. This is a favourite place of pilgrimage of the Chamārs, and two Satnāmi temples have been built near it, which contain no idols. Once these temples were annually visited by the successors of Ghāsi Dās. But at present the head of the sect only proceeds to them, like the Greeks to Delphi, in circumstances of special difficulty. In the course of time Ghāsi Dās became venerated as a saintly character, and on some miracles, such as the curing of snake-bite, being attributed to him, his fame rapidly spread. The Chamārs began to travel from long distances to venerate him, and those who entertained desires, such as for the birth of a child, believed that he could fulfil them. The pilgrims were accustomed to carry away with them the water in which he had washed his feet, in hollow bamboos, and their relatives at home drank this, considering it was nectar. Finally, Ghāsi Dās retired to the forests for a period, and emerged with what he called a new Gospel for the Chamārs; but this really consisted of a repetition of the tenets of Jagjīwan Dās, the founder of the Satnāmi sect of Upper India, with a few additions. Mr. Chisholm382 gave a graphic account of the retirement of Ghāsi Dās to the Sonakān forests for a period of six months, and of his reappearance and proclamation of his revelation on a fixed date before a great multitude of Chamārs, who had gathered from all parts to hear him. An inquiry conducted locally by Mr. Hīra Lāl in 1903 indicates that this story is of doubtful authenticity, though it must be remembered that Mr. Chisholm wrote only forty years after the event, and forty more had elapsed at the time of Mr. Hīra Lāl’s investigation.383 Of the Chamār Reformer himself Mr. Chisholm writes:384 “Ghāsi Dās, like the rest of his community, was unlettered. He was a man of unusually fair complexion and rather imposing appearance, sensitive, silent, given to seeing visions, and deeply resenting the harsh treatment of his brotherhood by the Hindus. He was well known to the whole community, having travelled much among them; had the reputation of being exceptionally sagacious and was universally respected.”

3. The message of Ghāsi Dās

The seven precepts of Ghāsi Dās included abstinence from liquor, meat and certain red vegetables, such as lentils chillies and tomatoes, because they have the colour of blood, the abolition of idol worship, the prohibition of the employment of cows for cultivation, and of ploughing after midday or taking food to the fields, and the worship of the name of one solitary and supreme God. The use of taroi385 is said to have been forbidden on account of its fancied resemblance to the horn of the buffalo, and of the brinjal386 from its likeness to the scrotum of the same animal. The prohibition against ploughing after the midday meal was probably promulgated out of compassion for animals and was already in force among the Gonds of Bastar. This precept is still observed by many Satnāmis, and in case of necessity they will continue ploughing from early morning until the late afternoon without taking food, in order not to violate it. The injunction against the use of the cow for ploughing was probably a sop to the Brāhmans, the name of Gondwāna having been historically associated with this practice to its disgrace among Hindus.387 The Satnāmis were bidden to cast all idols from their homes, but they were permitted to reverence the sun, as representing the deity, every morning and evening, with the ejaculation ‘Lord, protect me.’ Caste was abolished and all men were to be socially equal except the family of Ghāsi Dās, in which the priesthood of the cult was to remain hereditary.

4. Subsequent history of the Satnāmis

The creed enunciated by their prophet was of a creditable simplicity and purity, of too elevated a nature for the Chamārs of Chhattīsgarh. The crude myths which are now associated with the story of Ghāsi Dās and the obscenity which distinguishes the ritual of the sect furnish a good instance of the way in which a religion, originally of a high order of morality, will be rapidly degraded to their own level when adopted by a people who are incapable of living up to it. It is related that one day his son brought Ghāsi Dās a fish to eat. He was about to consume it when the fish spoke and forbade him to do so. Ghāsi Dās then refrained, but his wife and two sons insisted on eating the fish and shortly afterwards they died.388 Overcome with grief Ghāsi Dās tried to commit suicide by throwing himself down from a tree in the forest, but the boughs of the tree bent with him and he could not fall. Finally the deity appeared, bringing his two sons, and commended Ghāsi Dās for his piety, at the same time bidding him go and proclaim the Satnāmi doctrine to the world. Ghāsi Dās thereupon went and dug up the body of his wife, who arose saying ‘Satnām.’ Ghāsi Dās lived till he was eighty years old and died in 1850, the number of his disciples being then more than a quarter of a million. He was succeeded in the office of high priest by his eldest son Bālak Dās. This man soon outraged the feelings of the Hindus by assuming the sacred thread and parading it ostentatiously on public occasions. So bitter was the hostility aroused by him, that he was finally assassinated at night by a party of Rājpūts at the rest-house of Amābāndha as he was travelling to Raipur. The murder was committed in 1860 and its perpetrators were never discovered. Bālak Dās had fallen in love with the daughter of a Chitāri (painter) and married her, proclaiming a revelation to the effect that the next Chamār Guru should be the offspring of a Chitāri girl. Accordingly his son by her, Sāhib Dās, succeeded to the office, but the real power remained in the hands of Agar Dās, brother of Bālak Dās, who married his Chitāri widow. By her Agar Dās had a son Ajab Dās; but he also had another son Agarman Dās by a legitimate wife, and both claimed the succession. They became joint high priests, and the property has been partitioned between them. The chief guru formerly obtained a large income by the contributions of the Chamārs on his tours, as he received a rupee from each household in the villages which he visited on tour. He had a deputy, known as Bhandār, in many villages, who brought the commission of social offences to his notice, when fines were imposed. He built a house in the village of Bhandār of the Raipur District, having golden pinnacles, and also owned the village. But he has been extravagant and become involved in debt, and both house and village have been foreclosed by his creditor, though it is believed that a wealthy disciple has repurchased the house for him. The golden pinnacles were recently stolen. The contributions have also greatly fallen off.