Ashadi Ekadashi

Today is Ashadi Ekadashi.

Read about its importance in my earlier articles on the same -

This is Utkarsh Speaking: Ashadi Ekadashi – Vithoba of Pandarpur

This is Utkarsh Speaking: Vithoba of Pandarpur – Pundalik 

Kharchi Puja

The week long Kharchi Puja commenced in Tripura this week from July 16^th. This is the most important festival of the North-Eastern state and the entire state is in the mood of a carnival.

The festival is interesting, as it blends the tribal as well as the Brahminical aspects of religion very well. The festival is characterised by the worshipping of fourteen gods, more importantly, the heads of fourteen gods, by the royal priest called Chantai. There are different legends lending credence to the festival. Let us look at one of the most important of them.

According to history, the King of Tripura, Trilochan had two sons, Dripakti the elder and Dakshin the younger son. Dripakti was adopted by his maternal grandfather, the King of Cachhar, as he did not have any heir. Soon the King of Cachhar died and Dripakti became the King of Cachhar. On Dripakti’s adoption, Trilochan, declared his younger son, Dakshin as the heir apparent of Tripura. When Trilochan died, Dakshin took the throne. Dripakti on learning about his father’s death claimed to be the rightful heir to the throne as he was the eldest. When Dakshin resisted, a battle waged for seven days, where Dakshin was defeated and Dripakti became the King of Tripura. Dakshin escaped with the heads of fourteen soldiers and set up his kingdom in the area of central Cachhar. Since then the descendants of Dakshin worshipped the heads of the fourteen soldiers who were deified by then. It is said that after the death of Dripakti, his descendants too started worshipping the fourteen ‘deities’ and soon it became a practice.

The tribal language of Kak-barok had tribal names for the fourteen deities. They were Katar, Katar-ma, Burachha, Mailoma, Khuloma, Subrai Raja, Lampra, Toi Bubagra, Sangrama, Harung Bubagra, Nangkhtai Bubagra, Bachhua Bubagra, Thunirok and Banirok. But with the influence of the Brahminical religion, the names soon changed into the gods from Hindu pantheon. Today the fourteen deities are called Prithvi (Earth), Uma (Parvati), Har (Siva), Hari (Vishnu), Kumar (Kartikeya), Ma (Lakshmi), Bani (Saraswati), Ganesh, Brahma (Creator), Kamdev (God of Love), Samudra (Ocean God), Ganga, Agni (Fire), and Himalaya (God of Mountains).

Another version says that the festival is celebrated as

a worship of Goddess Earth. Kharchi or ‘khya’ means the earth and worshipping the earth which provides sustenance to all aspects of life. Interestingly, the Kharchi Pua takes place fifteen days after Ambu bachi. Ambu bachi is the menstruation of the Earth and as thought by the ancient people, menstruation was an ‘unclean’ aspect of a woman. In the ancient times, during Ambu bachi no ploughing or digging activity was taken place. The soil was considered ‘unclean’ and women were prohibited from conducting any auspicious function during Ambu bachi. Even a priest whose wife was in menstruation at that time was prohibited from conducting any ceremony. Kharchi Puja is also considered to be the ritual cleansing of the Mother Earth of its post-menstruation mess! Many even compare this cleansing to the ‘shraadh’ ceremony (after death) from when everything becomes normal! Ambu-bachi is very important in Assam for a similar reason, which we will take up on some different day.

The rituals are marked with the bathing of the fourteen heads of the deities. Sacrifices of goats and pigeons form an integral part of the rituals. The worshipping of the heads, a tribal influence, remains.

The most important aspect of the festivities is the coming together of both the tribal’s as well as the non-tribal’s in the festivities. A festival which has its origin in history gets integrated with both tribal and Hindu mythology which hasn’t lost its significance even today, is an interesting subject for mythologists. Earlier, we have seen instances of popular myths getting ‘tribalised’, but here is an example of the tribal myth getting ‘Hinduised’ (apologies for the English bloomers!). The same integrates very well with the cult of Mother Goddess, which is a significant aspect of worship in the Eastern parts of India.

An excellent example of integration of myths!

3rd Anniversary!!

My Blog is 3 today!

On this day, I would like to thank all who have made this Blog what it is!!

Utkarsh Patel

Course Announcement on Comparative Mythology

Only for people in Mumbai, India.
 
Admissions close on July 15, 2013

Classes start from July 20, 2013

Right to Snoop

The recent revelations by Edward Snowden that Big

Brother (read USA) has been snooping into mails, etc. of people across the world has sparked off a debate and outrage across the world. Do we as individuals and as a nation have the Right to Privacy? Can anybody, irrespective of the power they wield, snoop in on anybody? Should this be deplored as a breach of privacy or for the larger cause of flushing out terrorism, be endured?

Not negating an individual’s Right to Privacy, the basic debate leads to the question – can anyone be snooping into your life and learn your secrets, even if they do not threaten the nation or breach any law, both personal and national?

I draw my inspiration from mythology and seek answers in them. Let us analyse some of the characters and incidents that have raised the question of Privacy.

Kunti from the epic Mahabharata was amongst the most private of all the characters of Mb. Her life was shrouded with private moments that she could never share with anybody. Her secret of having a son, prior to her marriage weighs heavy on her throughout the epic and right till the end, when she has to reveal the secret only to benefit those from who she had hidden it all her life. Many scholars feel that had Kunti revealed the secret much before she actually did, the course of the Epic would have been different. None of us could vouch for the positive outcome of it, but then, Kunti had simply exercised her right to privacy, till she felt the need to reveal, and that too herself.

In Greek Mythology, Zeus was full of secrets; however, his secrets were all of an amorous nature and all to be kept away from his wife, Hera. Zeus, despite the fact that Hera was jealous of his extra-marital affairs, never gave up his habit of courting goddesses, nymphs and mortals, and keeping all of them secrets. But unfortunately, in many a case it was the partner, who had to bear the brunt of Hera’s anger or jealousy, if she ever found out, which wasn’t too often. Zeus guarded his privacy very well, very often by foul means, but manage he did!

Revelation of secrets has always led to action, and sometimes drastic actions. At times, they change the course of destiny and at times they lead to the fall of high and mighty. Let us look at an example where the revealing of a secret leads to the fall of the mighty. During the final war in Ramayan, Ravan was invincible and no amount of Ram’s right intentions could kill Ravan. Only Vibhishan knew that Ravan could be killed only by shooting an arrow at his navel. Had this secret been not revealed to Ram at the right time, the outcome of the epic Ramayana could just have been different. In case of Ravan, he had not guarded his secret well and had to pay the price with his life.

Sometimes, the revelation of secrets has led to funny incidents too. According to a Greek Myth, Midas (of the golden touch fame) was once asked to judge a musical competition amongst a group of gods. Though, Midas was honest in his judgement, he judged wrong, and as a punishment, Apollo, gave him the ears of an ass, which also stood for his stupid musical sense. Midas was quite ashamed of this and would usually hide the long ears under a cap. Though he managed to hide them from all, he could not do so from his barber. He had sworn his barber on oath, not to reveal this to anybody ever. But it was too much of a secret for him to withhold. So the barber dug a hole in the ground and whispered in it Midas’s secret and covered it back. During spring, reeds grew up there and during a light breeze, when it stirred the reeds, the reeds whispered the hidden truth to one and all. Along with the secret, it also sent a message to all that never arbitrate between gods and if one still has to, then side with the powerful one!

Going back to the basic question, should snooping, however harmless, be allowed by anybody, unless the person being snooped on has dubious credentials? Should a nation at large have rights superseding an individual’s right, even where there is no threat perception from the alleged target?

There is never the right answer to questions like these. There will be ifs and buts and exceptions to any rule. Modern times are more complicated than mythical times. The gods and goddesses didn’t have WikiLeaks and Phone tapping or Snowden in their times. In mythical times, a whistleblower could be killed, but today, you would have the Human Rights team after your life, for taking the life of a whistle-blower! And in more recent times, an enemy nation could offer asylum to the fugitive whistle-blower!

The mythical times didn’t have processes which were either democratic, theocratic or autocratic – they simply did what they thought was right, as they knew that the modern day mythologist would find some symbolism in it and justify their acts! But the mortals of today, take care – don’t speak and don’t do anything in private that you can’t do in public – but I can sense some exceptions here too!