In Mumbai, one cannot miss the red splatter stains of betel quid where ever you look. The visuals of the blood-red ‘paan’ stains splattered over building corners, staircases, bus stops, railway subways etc not only create an unpleasant visual experience but also reminds us that this is definitely one such ‘Indian’ habit that does not fit within the urban environment.
However, paan or betel quid chewing has a very ancient history in India and gets its mention in Vedic and Puranic texts. There are some interesting narratives stating how betel leaf was discovered by the gods. Skanda Purana narrates that after Amrita-Manthan episode, Mohini having distributed Amrita among the gods realised that a few drops of Amrita or nectar were still left in the pot. Realising the importance and value of the nectar, she left the pot with Indra’s elephant Nagaraja for the safekeeping. As time passed a vine grew out of the pot. Some of the gods got curious, plucked a few leaves and tasted it. Lo! They got intoxicated. They immediately rushed over to Vishnu and reported the matter. Vishnu asked Dhanavantari, the physician of the gods to verify the fact. A few days later, Dhanavantari came out with his findings suggesting betel leaf has indeed pleasant intoxicating qualities. Having found this Vishnu began offering betel leaf to his important guests. Thus the custom of offering paan to guests was set up and is still followed in many regions in India.
If you are lucky on the eve of Diwali, then you may be a winner all the way through the New Year!
That’s the belief which prompts people of India to gamble the whole night long before they usher in Hindu new year during Diwali festival. Traditionally gambling is prohibited in Hindu religious doctrines except on the night before Diwali.
Interestingly, chaupar the game of dice as it was called in ancient India was a very popular form of gambling. It gets its mention in Rig Veda as well as in Atharveda. Rigveda records the story of sage Kavasa Ailusa, who was a great sage but a diehard gambler and eventually lost everything in his life to the game of dice.
A chaupar ‘board’* is traditionally an embroidered cloth in the shape of a cross. Each arm of the cross is divided into three columns and each column is divided into eight squares. The ‘dice ‘are seven cowry shells or oblong wooden dice known as pasa, pasak, parsa .
There are archeological finds that reveal that chaupar was played in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa during 2500 BCE. The same dice game was also used for divination purposes and the text written in 4 C. AD. called ‘Pasak Kevali’ is a manual dedicated to reading the signs of dice throws for the purpose of divination. In the epic Mahabharata, the game of dice, plays a central role in the plot, suggesting that this game of dice was much more than a common game played solely for the sake of entertainment.
It is 11.58 pm. The temple head priests rushes in with an axe and key in his hands to open the doors of the temple. He has to hurry and open the doors of the temple exactly in two minutes.The axe he carries is precisely for the purpose, to hack open the doors of the temple within the two minutes if the keys fails to unlock it in that limited duration. You may ask what is the hurry? Because the god is very hungry!
Thiruvarpu temple in Kottayam district of Kerala is a 2000 year old unique temple dedicated to Lord Krishna . However, locals believe the main idol is much older and originally belonged to Pandavas. The temple is unique because it remains open for 23.58 hours of the day for 365 days to feed its hungry god. The temple is closed precisely for two minutes from 11.58 to 12 am. And then the priest has to rush to open the door to feed the god. ( Apparently, this custom has changed and now the temple is closed in the afternoon for two hours)
Why is the god so hungry?
It is believed that the idol in the temple is that aspect of Krishna who has just returned home after killing Kamsa and is exhausted and hungry. So the god needs to be fed immediately and often. The rituals associated with the hungry god is also very unusual. After giving a ceremonial bath to the god, head of the idol is dried first and naivedyam* is offered to the god, and only then his body is dried. It is said this is the only temple in India when as many as 10 Naivedyam pujas are offered to the deity. According to the legend, the idol originally belonged to the Pandavas and was worshiped by them while they were living in exile in the jungles of Kerala. It is believed that the idol was given to the Pandavas by Lord Krishna himself so that he would be always with them.
Every household near the Idukki dam in northern Kerala knows this tale that links Rama the mythic hero with the construction of the arched bridge in Idukki. How does these two entities that belong to different eras get linked through the history of Idukki?
Oorali tribals narrate the following story about Rama. After Sita was abducted by Ravana and taken to Lanka, Rama was in despair for he could not trace her wherabouts. He searched each and every forest he could find, day and night, looking for his beloved wife. On the way Rama reached the forest land of Idduki occupied by Oorali tribals. In the forest lived a newly married young tribal couple with the name Kuravan and his wife Kurathi. The newly weds were madly in love with each other and oblivious of everything else. Rama was who was passing through the forest, stopped by their home expecting hospitality and rest for a short while before continuing his search for Sita. But Kuruvan and Kuruthi were so engrossed in their lovemaking that they neither noticed Rama enter their home nor did they welcome him with an offering of water to quench his thirst, as Rama had expected.
After driving through the thick forest for hours in the tiny village of Loliem at Canacona South Goa, we finally managed to locate the Betal shrine. The very first sight of Betal was unsettling to say the least. There was no shrine* but a towering black basalt stone idol of Betal, stark naked with his piercing gaze stood amidst thick green foliage of the rainforest. The smell of freshly soaked earth in first monsoon showers combined with the pregnant silence made the setting poignant. We were awestruck by the beauty and grace of the solitary god who stood mutely watching over his territory.
Wadars are a wandering community found on the border area of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh (Today’s Telangana) and Karnataka. Every year during Dasara and Gudi Padva they gather near the river bank at Pune, to perform a ritual called Jaladi or Gangasthal.
Dasara and Padva being a Hindu new year, it is also an occasion for the members of Wadar community to come together and recite oral tales of their clan. This annual ritual is an important reunion for the Wadars as it consists of many important rituals such as repainting of traveling shrine they carry with them. The mobile wooden structure or shrine, measuring two feet by one and half foot is called ‘Gudi’ meaning temple in Telgu. These shrines are in shape of palanquin covered with painted images in ‘patachitra’ style of Andhra Pradesh. The tradition of narrating stories through these patachitras is known as jatipurana or clan stories. Jatipuranans are particularly significant to wandering Wadaries, since it helps them to identify with their history and provides a unique identity to the clan.
The narratives of the Jatipurana invariably establish a link with Ramayana and Mahabharata. Here is a story about a curious custom followed by Wadari women to identify themselves with the plight of Sita.
The mythological world of gods and goddesses is not immune to the array of emotions that ordinary mortals are captive to — sadness, happiness, anger, revenge, joy, deceit, you name it and there will be a narrative illustrating it. The following are two such narratives or local beliefs that record jealousy and petty competition among the gods of Kerala.
According to popular belief, the Vaikom and Ettumanoor* deities are not on good terms with each other. Ironically both shrines are dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Back in 1798, Maharaja of Travancore, had a dream that the Vaikom deity- Shiva Mahadeva had asked for an offering of eight elephants. The Maharaja immediately ordered for eight wooden elephants plated in gold to be made and sent these with his trusted men to the Vaikom temple. As the entourage carrying the elephants reached Ettumanoor temple, the hungry and tired men handed over the elephants to temple guards for the safekeeping and went to bathe and eat. When they returned, they were taken aback to find that every single elephant had a serpent coiled on it with its hood spread in an attacking posture. The Maharaja’s men tried every trick in the book, but the snakes wouldn’t budge. Helpless and crestfallen as they could not reclaim the elephants the men went back to the king and reported the strange incident. The Maharaja immediately consulted his astrologers and found out that the Ettumanoor deity was unwilling to let go off the elephants** and was staking claim on the gift meant for the Vaikom deity.
As there was no other way out, the Maharaja decided to get another set of eight elephants made and sent to Vaikom deity. That night the Vaikom deity approached the Maharaja in his dream saying he is no longer interested in the offering of elephants and instead a special ritual should be conducted for him using the same expense. This was done immediately. However this did not bring peace between two deities. It is believed that the two deities are still not on ‘talking terms’ with each other. This is confirmed by the practice of Ettumanoor residents boycotting the Vaikom celebrations on Ashtami day every year.
On my recent visit to conduct a workshop at Aurangabad, I visited a Jain temple on the way to Shahpur near Nasik, Maharashtra. The temple is popularly known as Manas Mandir and stands atop a hill. It is considered to be a replica of famous temple complex of Palitana, which is a great pilgrimage site for Jainas. While entering the huge temple complex, I could see many different temple spires and found out that it had been built a few years ago by a very famous Jaina monk, Shri Bhuvan Bhanu Vijayji with help from his disciples.
Surrounded by many small temples, each devoted to Jaina Sutra, I walked towards the main temple which appeared very big. The main idol here is that of the first Tirthankar Rishabhdev (also known as Adinath). Apart from his idol there are those of many other Tirthankaras in the sanctum sanctorum.
We were a small group of archaeologists, historians, folklorists, anthropologists and some students like me who had been invited by the villagers of Chandor to watch this special performance of musal dance. Musal is a pounding stick and the dance is performed during harvest time by the people of Chandor, the ancient capital of Goa.
Nestled between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, the tiny state of Goa has a unique history. Ruled for 1500 years directly or through local feudatories by different dynasties like the Bhojas, Mauryas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Shilaharas, Kadambas, Yadavas, Bahamanis, the Vijayanagara and Adilshahi dynasties before Portuguese colonized it in 1510 AD, the state and its people have developed a culture that has influences from all over the world. All rulers have left behind their social and cultural footprint. The musal dance is one such confluence of memories where the people of Chandor, dance in honour of their dear king, recounting the myth and history of Chandrapur.
As the night grew darker, an elderly village head or Gaonkar as he is known locally, stepped out of an old Portuguese hacienda and addressed the gathering. He told us this: It is believed, the tradition of musal dance started somewhere in the 11th century. The village, Chandrapur was the capital of Goa in the 7th or 8th century- and Chandreshwar Bhutnath was its patron deity. Only the original inhabitants of the village can participate in the dance. As the time passed the number of eligible dancers have dwindled and this year there were just ten men. “Very soon we may not have any performances left”- he declared with a heavy voice.
During the Muslim invasion, the Chandranath temple was destroyed. Except for some stray ruinous remnants the invaders left nothing behind. The temple was completely destroyed by the Portuguese who established a chapel at the spot the temple once stood, thereby erasing all visible signs of Hindu culture from that region. The Portuguese rechristened Chandrapur to Chandor and converted most of the local inhabitants to Christianity. Few of the local Hindus fled the village. The Portuguese banned all the Hindu traditions including musal dance. Anyone found performing this dance or following any Hindu ritual was tortured to death. Still the tradition has survived.
When the Portuguese invaded Chandrapur it had a Kadamba King as its ruler. The people of Chandrapur did not defend him in the battle with the Portuguese and the king was killed. The queen was furious at her apathetic subjects. She committed suicide but not before cursing the villagers. “Henceforth every woman of this village will become a widow!” she pronounced as she beat her feet on the stone outside the temple. That stone with her foot print is still maintained. The queen’s curse made neighboring villages stop giving their daughters to the men of Chandrapur and its people fell on hard times.
As the village elder finished narrating the lore- a small group of ten men dressed in traditional dress- a dhoti, kurta and a patka
(head dress) formed a circle holding a musal in their hands and singing the song in local language ( Konkani):
“Hari haracho khel khelayta,
Khel durgabhayr shivo dita”
The opening lines recounted the glorious times of King Harihar of Vijaynagar and his magnificent fort and went on to narrate how the fort was eventually captured. Finally it spoke about the total destruction of the town of Chandrapur and its people. For centuries the people of Chandor have refused to forget this tragic history. Every year during the harvest season, they recount this tragic past and dance for the king they had failed to defend.
Story collected by : Janaki Sincro
Location : Goa
Image courtesy and copyright: Sharvani
Vilwamangalam Sawmiyar, believed to be one of the enlightened men of ancient Kerala and credited with instituting many shrines and temples across Kerala, had the special ability to see “divine beings” with his eyes. Once as he was passing through a jungle, he chanced upon seven maidens bathing in a pond, without a care in the world. Curious, he went closer to see who they were and (given his gift) immediately recognized them as goddesses. As he boldly walked towards them, they ran helter-skelter and finally jumped into seven different ponds to escape him. He went ahead and pulled out six of the maidens one by one, enshrining them near the ponds as divinities for worship. The seventh one had jumped into a mud pond that was actually a quagmire. He tried to pull her out of the slippery mud but she refused to come out. By now she was covered from head to toe with the black slippery ooze and kept slipping off from his grip.
After hours of futile attempts Swamiyar was so exhausted and angry that he caught her by her hair and pulled her out, while hurling abuses at her. But he could only pull her head (Thala) out of the mud or ‘Cher’ as it is called in Malayalam. In the process, some of the hair from her head was pulled out too, leaving holes on her scalp. And the place where the goddess is enshrined came to be known as Cherthala (mud-head), and the goddess is identified as Kaarthyayani- an aspect of mother goddess Parvati.
An interesting aspect of this deity is that the Swamiyar, in his sheer exasperation and anger kept abusing the goddess even as he built a shrine for her. And to this day during the pooram festival celebrated in the month of Edavam (May- June), her devotees playfully abuse the goddess. The goddess accepts the abuses as a prayer and in return she bestows her devotees with prosperity and happiness. In the sanctum sanctorum, only the head of the goddess Karthyayani is visible as the rest of the body could never be pulled out and is hence considered to be below the earth. The head of the deity also shows the marks where Swamiyar pulled out the hair. The shrine of Karthyayani of Cherthala is one of the important Shakti-peethas in the south.
