Shib, Dharma and Ram in Chaitra

Shib, Dharma and Ram in Chaitra

Jawhar Sircar

Ananda Bazar Patrika, 14th April, 2017

(English Version)

In an unprecedented display of aggression that we witnessed in the name of Ram, we seem to be forgetting our good old Bangali deities of Chaitra. This has been the month of Shib, Shitala, Annapurana or Basanti and Dharma-Thakur and Bengalis were very clear that Durga came home in Ashwin, whether the bodhan is akal or not. What lent most colour to this month was Gajan , in the run up to which, several groups dressed up as Shib-Parvati, and wandered around singing, dancing and invoking Baba's name. It was our way of taking a religion to the streets, with devotion and pantomime, not with swords and threats. 19th ethnographers mention Rama Navami celebrated in north India, but do not mention Bengal, and we need to be very clear that there is a big difference between celebrating Durga's victory and Ram's birth. The two traditions are distinct that cross each other at the junction of Akal Bodhan in Ashwin. This is celebrated by Bengalis in Durga's name, while others observe Ashwin Navaratri and Dusshera in the name of lord Ram.

We have so many Manasa-talas, Shasti-talas, Chandi-talas, Dhrama-talas and even Rath-talas, but do we come across Hanuman-talas or too many Ram-mandirs? Exceptions like the Ramarajatala Rama Mandir are very few, and even this was reportedly set up by the Chowdhury family who came from north India. Bengalis have always chosen to differ, not only in politics, but in many other aspects of religion and culture: one of which is to fly kites on Biswakarma puja and not on Poush Sankranti like allotherIndiansIn fact, we accepted Shib only after he came came down from Kailash and became a poor peasant with a tattered gamchha, who is chased around with a jhaantaa by an exasperated Durga. Even the Bengali Durga differs from the standard image, as nowhere else in India does she appear with her full family, even though all her children look the other way as she fights Mahishashura in a desperate battle.

But, let us remember that Krittibas's Ramayan of the 15th century is an expression of the beautiful plurality and diversity of India that such regional traditions brought out, long before the Tulsidas swept north India. It began with the 12th century Tamil Kamba-Ramayanam, after which we have the Telugu SriRanganathaRamayanam, the Assamese KothaRamayana, as well as a Jaina version in Kannada in the 14th century. Tulsidas's sweet Awadhi Rmacharitamanas of the 16th century became immensely popular and

since then "Rama worship has been very widespread in north India and the places associated with his life are great places of pilgrimage, while his birthday is a day of great rejoicing". As this report of 1921 reveals, we may have missed outon this festival of fasting and reciting sacred texts because Ramchandra did not pass through this state. In any case, all the different Ram-traditions are excellent examples of our 'unity in diversity'. India has skilfully combined local cultural preferences and legends within a broad national framework initiated by the Sanskrit Ramayana, as a part ofthe great plural tradition of this subcontinent.

In 1904, John Murdoch's well known Hindu and Muhammedan Festivals reported that Basanti was worshipped in Bengal from the 7th day of Chaitra Shukla Paksha and "this yellow goddess was the third of the seven Shitala sisters invoked during dreadful diseases". She was Sanskritised later as Durga and worshipped in Chaitra, but as the report says, "not with such pomp and universality" as Sharadiya Durga. Incidentally, Shasthi who was worshipped on the 12th of Chaitra on Ashok Shasthi lost popularity once better medical care ensured that infant mortality was not a major worry and now family planning has dictated couples produce just one child or two, who has to be trained to stand first in everything.

What about Shib who reigns during Chaitra and Dharma the folk god Rarh Bangla who he has almost unseated? Their relation is indeed complex, as Brahmanism in Bengal had a very difficult task. Vedic gods were hardly known except in pandit-sabhas and the Pauranik deities that they introduced could not stop Buddhism from ruling Bengal for four centuries at the time of the Pal-rajas. They were not attractive enough to compete with the charismatic Pirs who came up after Islam stepped in. At the mass level, the mighty Shib and his wife were continuously beaten by the oneupmanship of the ugly, local snake deity Manasa, while Kalketu and Phullara represented the rise of the hunter-turned-farmer, blessed by the Bengali folk goddess Chandi. This autochthonous deity took care to retain her original name through a prefix like Betai, Pagla, Shibai, Khyepa, Olai, etc, to distinguish herself from the Brahmanical Chandi. Dharma or Dhammaraj ruled supreme in the western tract and ensured that his follower, the local folk hero, Lausen defeated Durga's upashak, Ichai Ghosh. When learned Brahmans could not win over the masses with their Sanskrit Purans and later the Upa-Purans, the rural purohits took up the challenge in middle Bangla, with the Chakraborty brigade leading with their Mangal Kavyas: Mukundaram, Rupram, Ghanaram and Khelaram. There was, of course, a Bijay Gupta or a Piplai, and some Dwijas, but the point is that almost all kabis were from the upper castes. As they absorbed the deities of the nimna barga, the worship of stones in sacred groves was as legitimate as praying to images in temples. Incidentally,

the tradition of placing terracotta hathi-ghora under trees, as manat, can be traced through the entire Deccan right upto the East, which thus represents a common cultural sub-strata. It was often retained by many who took to Islam: as as pirer ghora.

This is where we see how Shib comes inthrough the Shibayan poem as a peasant form who could be closer to the new agriculturalists: Byadhey, Gopey, Jeley, Teen Hoilo Heley! The Naths and Yogis had also tried for a breakthrough in Bengal with theirbrand of mass-level Shaibism and it is fascinating to note that the main intersection in old Kolkata was between Chowringhee, named after a Nath-guru, and Dharmatala where the ancient shrine of Dhramathakur stood: now shifted to near the Lotus cinema-hall. It was this Shib who finally appropriated a lot from the popular folk rituals of Dharma, including Gajan and Charak, butwhileDharma's rituals are mainly in Jaishtha, Shib's are in Chaitra, meeting again on Chaitra Sankranti. Ralph Nicholas, who spent many years in a village in Medinipur, was among the earliest to note the striking similarities in the worship and rituals of the two. The main attraction of charak was to see devotees swing high in the air with ropes that had big hooks inserted into their backs, and though this is officially banned, some Dharma's worshippers risk the law and their lives, even at present. The rites of self torture are still gruesome with devotees pushing sharp big needles into their tongues, cheeks and bodies or rolling over thick prickly bushes or dancing on fires. But, they do not bring out weapons to intimidate others, in the name of god.

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The God of the Bengali Peasant

The God of the Bengali Peasant

Jawhar Sircar, April, 2017

  

The unprecedented display of aggression that we witnessed in Bengal in April, all in the name of Rama Navami, has perhaps distracted attention of Bengalis who almost forgot their good old traditional deities of Chaitra. This month, from mid-March to mid-April, has always belonged to Shiva, Shitala, Annapurana or Basanti and the very indigenous Dharma-Thakur. Bengalis were very clear that Durga came home only in Ashwin and reserved ten full holidays to rejoice in her name. What lent most colour to this month was Gajan, which is so similar to Taai-pusam in Tamil country. Throughout the month, several people dressed up as Shiva-Parvati, and wandered around streets and localities: singing, dancing and invoking Mahadev. It was the Bengali way of taking a religion to the streets, with devotion and pantomime, not with swords and threats.

  From the reports of 19th century British and Indian ethnographers, we read a lot about Rama Navami being celebrated in north India, and also from other pockets, but do not find any mention of it in Bengal. There are countless mahallas or localities in the State that proudly carry the names of so many deities, Manasa, Shasti, Chandi, Dhrama-thakur, Shitala: all of who are fromthe pre-Brahmanised indigenous pantheon. We even come across many named after Jagannath's Rathas, but we hardly ever come across Hanuman-localities or too many medeival Rama-mandirs. Exceptions do exist, like the Ramarajatala Rama Mandir of Howrah but they are very few, and even this temple was set up by a north Indian family.

       In any case, we need to be very clear that there is a big difference in celebrating Durga's victory and the nine days leading to Rama's birth. The two traditions are quite distinct and they cross each other primarily at the junction of Akal Bodhan in Ashwin.This was when Rama is said to have prayed to Durga for her blessings: the twain do come face to face briefly, but say goodbye to each other immediately thereafter. While most Indians observe the Ashwin Navaratri and Dussherain the name of Lord Rama, Bengalis do not worship it in Rama's name: they pray to Durga, Durga and only Durga. Bengalis have this strange trait of choosing to differ in every possible domain. In politics, for instance, they have created a Guinness record by electing those parties to power for forty long years, who were invariably opposed to those who assumed power at the Centre. Even, when all Indians actually "go and fly kites" on Makar Sankranti day in mid-January, no self respecting Bengali would ever do so, even with woollen mufflers and caps that would do justice in the North Pole. So, the congenitally different Bengalis fly kites in September in honour of their variant of Vishwakarma, a post-industrial god of machinery. And they fly kites with the full gusto of football matches, as if East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were fighting with little flimsy coloured paper, high in the skies. We shall soon see more such 'differences'.

    At this juncture, let us remember that the Ramayana was not the property of any particular region or language. In fact, the Tamils were the first to celebrate it in their own style and profusion of emotional expressions, with their Kamba-Ramayanam that was created in the 12th century, full four hundred years before Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas swept the Ganga-Yamuna belt. There are other versionsthatalso precede Tulsidas's poem, like the Telugu SriRanganathaRamayanam, the Assamese KothaRamayanaand even a JainaRamayana in Kannada. These regional traditions underline the beautiful plurality of India and are excellent examples of our 'unity in diversity'. They combine, quite adroitly, local cultural preferences and legends within a broad national framework that was initiated by the Sanskrit Ramayana: and none of them was more 'national' than the other.Tulsidas's Ramcharitamanas of the 16th century was not in Hindi, but in the very sweet Avadhi dialect and it became immensely popular among the masses in the north. This created an ambience for "Rama worship to be very widespread in north India and the places associated with his life (became) great places of pilgrimage, while his birthday is a day of great rejoicing". As this report of 1921 reveals, the East and the North East may have missed out on the Rama Navami tradition of fasting and reciting sacred texts, perhaps because Ramchandra did not pass through their lands.

      It is time now to return to our theme on what exactly did the Bengalis worship in Chaitra. Well, it was Shiva and not Rama who loomed larger than life here, for it was primarily his month. But this Shiva was not the all powerful and often-fearsome Rudra of Kailash. This Shiva who ruled Bengalwas a very peasantised mutant: a jolly, ganja-loving, pot-bellied,playful leader of mischievous ganas. From medieval Bengali literature, the Mangal Kavyas folk ballads, that were so popular between the 15th and the 17th centuries, we find that the 'high god' version Shiva was repeatedly losing out to the 'ugly' indigenous deities at the box offices of religion in Bengal. It was only when Shiva discarded his regal demeanour and transformed himself into a poor rice-cultivating peasant did he win the votesof the masses in Bengal. People simply loved his mingling with the common distressed folk, dressed in a tattered gamchha, who is chased around with a jhaaru quite often byan exasperated Durga. It is the same Bengal that lionised the farmers ofSingur who shooed away the mighty Tatas, and even punished their own indulgent Communist comrades after three long decades, for even dreaming of re-industrialisation! By the way, the Bengali Durga is quite also different, as nowhere else in India does she appear with her full family: even though one wonders why all her children look the other way as she fights the terrible Mahishasura.

        Let us now return to the other folk deities that the Bengalis have worshipped for centuriesin the month of Chaitra. From John Murdoch's well-known Hindu and Muhammedan Festivals of 1904 we learn that Basanti was worshipped in Bengal from the 7th day of Chaitra Shukla Paksha and that "this yellow goddess was the third of the seven Shitala sisters invoked during dreadful diseases". She was sanskritised later as 'Durga' and worshipped in Chaitra, but as the report says, her celebration was "not with such pomp and universality" as the 'real Durga' of autumn. Incidentally, people invoked another goddess, Shasthi, on the 12th of Chaitra that was known asA-shoka Shasthi, the sixth lunar day that drives away shoka or bereavement. This poor goddess lost her popularity quite a bit once better medical care ensured greater chances of infants surviving that dreaded 'post-natal mortality' phase.The local goddess of small-pox Shitala's ratings also dipped as this terrible disease has been eradicated. And then came family planning that propagated the two-child norm while hard economics ensured that one single child became the rule. Being Bengalis, these poor kids are trained rigorously from birth to stand first in everything, from studies to music, but avoid physical stress like the plague. Unlike the south, where one Mariamman takes care of several diseases like a 'general physician', finicky Bengalis require a whole pantheon of choices of deities who were like mono-ailment specialists, much like the annoying narrow expertise that modern doctors flaunt.

But the most popular ancient folk god of westernBengal was Dharma-thakur and his name is an obviously sanskritised one. It was he who reigned supreme during Chaitra, before being  unseated by a more strategic Shiva. Their inter serelations are rather complex and difficult to understand. Let us remember, Brahmanism in Bengal had really an uphill task for several centuries as did the in most of India that lies beyond 'Aryavart'. Vedic gods were hardly known in this State except in pandit-sabhas and the Puranic deities that Brahmans introduced could not stop Buddhism from ruling Bengal for four centuries, at the time of the Palas. Their repertoire was just not attractive enough to compete with the charismatic Pirs who came up after Islam stepped in. We need to recall that ultimately two-thirds of the Bengali-speaking people voted for Islam. As hinted, the mighty Shiva and his wife were continuously beaten in the game of one-upmanship by Dharma-Thakur as well as by the local snake deity, Manasa. The medieval ballads of Kalketu and Phullara actually represented the rise of the darker people, the hunters and herdsmen who turned to farming, blessed as they were by another Bengali folk goddess Chondi. This autochthonous deity took care to retain her original name through a prefix like Betai, Pagla, Shibai, Khyepa, Olai, etc, to distinguish herself from the Brahmanical Chandi.Dharma or Dhammaraj ensured that his devotee, the local folk hero, defeated a mighty chieftain, who had made the mistake of choosing an 'up-country' goddess.

When learned Brahmans could not win over the masses with their Sanskrit Puranas and later the Upa-Puranas,it were the rural purohits took up the challenge as it was their livlihood that was at stake. They simply switched deities and started singing in praise of local gods and goddesses. Medieval Bangla literature reveals that almost all kavis were from the upper castes. As they absorbed "the gods of small men", the worship of 'crude stones' and sacred groves was considered as legitimate as praying to Brahmanic images in temples. Incidentally, the tradition of placing terracotta hathi-ghora under trees, as mannat, can be traced through the entire Deccan right upto the East, which thus represents a common cultural sub-strata. It was often retained by many who took to Islam: as their 'the horse of the Pir saheb'.

Before concluding, we need to unravel how the 'peasant god' could make this break-through in Bengal with a new brand of mass-level Shaivism. Before this, the Go-kshetrainspiredNaths of the Gorakshanathculthad tried with their Yogis and mendicants, but could not win. It is fascinating to note that the main intersection in Calcutta is still between Chowringhee road, named after a Nath-guru, and Dharma-tala where the ancient shrine of Dhrama-thakur stood. It was later shifted to a site a kilometre away. The Bom-Bhola Shiva did the trick in Bengal by subsuming large doses of the autochthonous Dharma cult. For instance, the popular folk rituals of Dharma, including the festival of Gajan and the ritual of Charak were associated with Dharma. Peasants carried out these rites during blazing summer as prayers to the sun: to move on and crack the clayey earth with so well that the plough and its accompaniments could break down the soil with lesser effort. Ralph Nicholas of Chicago U, who spent many years on folk gods in Medinipur, was among the earliest to notice the striking similarities in the worship and rituals of the earlier Dharma deity and the peasant Shiva. The main attraction for the crowds at the Charak ritualwas to see how devotees swung high in the air with ropes that had big hooks inserted into their backs. Though this was officially banned for a century, some of Dharma's worshippers and Shiva's still risk the law and their lives, in the name of god. The rites of self torture are still quite gruesome, as devotees push sharp big needles into their tongues, cheeks and bodies or rollover thick prickly bushes or dancing on burning flames and red-hot coals for never-ending periods.

But, all said and done, the tradition was, and is, to inflict a lot of pain but on their own bodies. They did not bring out weapons to intimidate others, for none will believe that Bhagawan Ramachandra ever did so. 

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(Published in 'The Wire' on 21st April, 2017) 

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Krishna's Long Journey : From Sacred Text to the Popular Arts

Krishna's Long Journey : 

From Sacred Text to the Popular Arts 

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