38.Earliest Indian Tribes

The oldest known human fossils of homo sapiens, designated Omo I and Omo II, were discovered from the Omo river valley in Ethiopia by Richard Leakey and were dated to be 195,000 years old. The journey of mankind from 165,000 to 8000 years before present, coinciding with the pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer nomadic phase of human evolution, inferred based on the genetic studies of mtDNA and Y- chromosomes, reveals that almost entire globe was populated by the mankind before 8000 years as result of incessant migrations during the last 150,000 years. With such extensive migratory trends it can assumed that mankind almost evolved and perfected verbal/lingual communications in this huge period. The factors of time, distance, environment and tribes have introduced so many variations in the languages of the world that simple genetic connections between languages can be hardly deciphered.
The data in the compilation of journey of mankind suggests that:
1). 85,000-75,000 years ago.
The first phase (batch) of human migration from Africa to India. The earliest Indian settlers.
2). 74,000 years ago.
The massive volcanic eruption documented at Mt. Toba in Sumatra. It was followed by heavy dust storms that led to nuclear winter in the entire south Asian region with volcanic dust dissipations spreading up to India for six years. Volcanic activity was followed by a millennium of ice age. Widespread devastation of the human beings, animals and plants possibly occurred in most of the southern Asia.
3). 74,000-65,000 years ago. A group of tribal people entered India from the north east Assam and Bengal from the Borneo side.
4).65,000 -52,000 years ago.
Two way coastal migrations into India have been visualized:
(a).One branch from NW India migrating along the West Coast. This is second phase of migration from Africa, possibly more evolved anatomically than the first batch.
(b).Other branch from Bengal side migrating via East coast. This is the first batch returning from the tour of South-east Asia and Australia. Possibly this branch represents the advent of Austro-Asiatic (Munda) tribes into India.
5) 10,000 years ago. The global Ice Age also called the Last Glacial Maximum(LGM).
The Glaciation caused lowering of sea levels to the tune of about 100m.This facilitated human migrations across the continents and land masses as many of the land bridges were exposed and people were able to cross the sea routes through the exposed land bridges.
The sea had retreated exposing wider land coastal mass and the land bridge between India and Srilanka (‘Ram Sethu’ or the Adams bridge) was more accessible for human migrations across the sea from India to Srilanka and vice versa. These geological-geographic aspects have ramifications that inspired some of the famous folklores of India.

37. Early Human migrations

Earliest known human beings originated in the eastern Africa some 165,000 years ago as understood by the anthropological studies based on the occurrence of oldest known human fossils found in the Ethiopia. Genetic studies of mtDNA and Y chromosomes coupled with paleontology, paleo-climate and archeology point out that early human beings originated in East Africa and migrated to different continents as hunters and gatherers wandered in the ensuing period.
The broad trends of global migration in the earliest human history are outlined below based on the compilations of Bradshaw foundation based on the data from Prof. Stephen Oppenheimer. The data are limited to the period 160,000 and 10,000 years before past. Migrations after the prominent ice age (10,000 years before present), introduction of agriculture (8000 years before present) and the development of civilizations, therefore, are grossly missing in the studies done so far.

Years ago. Broad Human Migration events and climate
160,000. Origin of homo sapiens in East Africa
160,000-135,000. Hunters and gatherers. Migration along four divergent paths from Ethiopia. First generation mtDNA gene type L1
135,000-115,000. Migrations: Sahara> Nile>Levant
115,000-90,000. Levant branch died out. Desertification of North Africa. Reoccupied by Neanderthal man
90,000-85,000. Migrations: Red Sea> Arabian Coast> India. All non-African races evolved from this branch.
85,000-74,000. Migrations:Srilanka>IndianOcean>W.Indonesia>Borneo>S.China
74,000. Volcanic eruption at Mt.Toba, Sumatra. Indian subcontinent covered by Volcanic fly ash deposits almost depopulated.
74,000-65,000. Migrations: Timor> Australia>New Guinea. Repopulation of Indian subcontinent
65,000-52,000. Warming of climate around 52,000 years
52,000-45,000. Mini -ice age. Paleolithic culture.
45,000-40,000. Migrations: 1.East Asia coast >Central Asia >Steppe >NE Asia.2.Pakistan>Central Asia.3.Indochina>Tibet
40,000-25,000. Migrations: Central Asia>East Europe. Cave arts in France
25,000-22,000. Migrations: Siberia>Alaska through Bering land bridge. Native Americans
22,000-19,000. North Europe Asia, North America almost depopulated.
19,000-15,000.Last Glacial Maximum, 18,000 years ago. Bradshaw rock paintings, Australia.
15,000-12,500. Amelioration of global climate. Simple stone tools, flaxes, cobbles
12,500-10,000. Reoccupation of West America. Ice Age 10,000 years
10,000-8,000. End of Ice Age. Heralded agriculture. Sahara was grassland. Recolonization of Britain and Scandinavia.

36. Planets as Tulu proper names

One more aspect of the Pirak phase (ca. 2000-500 BC) of civilization of early Tulu tribes is the adoption of names of planets of our solar system as proper names. The group of sages who settled in the NW Indian subcontinent and composed the Vedas worshipped various planets and other forces of the nature and the environment. Animal, hero and spirit worship were in vogue among the contemporary Tulu and other tribes of the day. Brahma/Bermer worship was initiated there. The practice of astrology was popular at that time. It is reported that even Abraham practiced astrology in the beginning. Therefore, it is but natural that several tribes living there at that time adopted the names of the planets of the solar system.
Prof .Mariappa Bhat pointed out in one of his research papers regarding the prevalence of names of various planets and Sun in the proper names of Tulu people. The names also correspond with the names of the seven days of the week and are as follows:

English Sanskrit .>. Tulu*

Sun Aditya Aitha
Moon Soma Soma/Toma
Mars Angaraka Angare
Mercury Budha Booda
Jupiter Guru Guruve
Venus Shukra Tukra
Saturn Shani Taniya
*[Tulu proper names were used with suffixes of –anna,-appa or aiha]

Tulu people earlier preferred these proper names extensively but nowadays these are being discontinued as being out of fashion and in favour of modernity. Out of the Sanskrit equivalents only Aditya, Soma and Guru are still preferred and the rest have become almost obsolete.
The astrological studies in the NW Indian subcontinent continued and the basic scientific and mathematical principles were refined further in the later historical years. The astrological study centres spread into the Indian mainland regions like Jaipur and Delhi, with Jantar Mantar being the major showcase of our heritage in astronomical studies.
The existence of these recently vanishing planetary names among Tulu people are indicative of their historical heritage dating back to the approximate period 2000 to 500 BC.


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35. Ancient Spirit worship: Horse mounted heroes

Many are under the impression that the spirit worship is characteristically restricted to the coastal Tulunad (‘Bhutārādhane’) and Kerala (‘Teyyam’).The impression is created by the persistence and growth of the spirit cult in to an elaborate art forms in these regions.
The primitive cult of worshiping of spirits after the death of their mass heroes, under the belief that potent souls continue to live after death, existed widely the early historical societies. The spirit of Brahma, derived from the mass hero Abraham was one of the earliest spirit worships in the early civilizations around 2000-500 BC. Migrating Tulu tribes and their associates carried Bermer (<. Brahma) cult around 500 BC from the NW Indian subcontinent to the Karavali (coastal Karnataka) which became their subsequent homeland, the Tulunadu. The Tulu Bermer was imaged originally as a horse riding hero, probably a bearded one like Abraham. Similar horse riding hero image was retained for Bommayya (<. Brahma) by Halakki and other tribes of Uttara Kannada district. The Uttara Kannada area is in the migration route of the early Tulu tribes.
The image of horse riding Bermer was a dominating cult and concept for several subsequent centuries and the image was applied to many subsequently added spirits of that time. The spirit worship continued in the region.
The spirit worship was widespread in southern India in the beginning centuries of the Christian era. Khandoba and Mallanna are spirits of that time in the Deccan region. These spirits were shown in the images of horse riding heroes.
Khandoba is an ancient spirit deity worshipped originally by shepards and hunters in Maharastra.The spirit/ folk deity is also known as Khanderao, Khanderaya, and Malhari Martand. In Andhra Pradesh, the equivalent spirit is called Mallanna and in Karnataka he was variously called Mallappa, Mallaya, Mallara or Mailara Linga. The original image of Khandoba or Khanderao or Mallappa was in the form of a hero riding on a horse (or a bull as a later modification).
In Tulunadu, Mundittaya, a hero turned spirit, possibly dated back to 5th century AD, is also shown a horse riding spirit. Mundittaya possibly represents a hero from the Munda community that prevailed in the coastal region during early historical days.
With the ascent and domination of Shiva worship, between 6th and 10th centuries AD, the concept of Kandoba/ Mallappa spirit was modified and considered as Mārtanda Bhairava, an incarnation of Shiva. Mailara Linga was depicted in the form of a Lingam.

It appears that the Shiva cult or the Shaivism was also introduced to south India by Dravidian tribes that migrated to southern India and settled in the present Tamilnad, possibly during the period 500 to 100 BC.

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34. Ten incarnations of Vishnu

A number of several older theological faiths and beliefs prevalent in the northern Indian society at that time in the history (ca.300 BC or later) were synthesized into a uniform model of incarnations. The ten divinities conceived by earlier civilization sects were recomposed and unified into the concept of ten avatāras of Lord Vishnu. The words ava (=downward) + tāra (=passage) refers to the descent of God into earth in human/animal forms. These include:
1. Matsya -The fish God
2 Koorma-The Tortoise
3. Varāha-The Boar
4. Narasimha- The Lion Man
5. Vāmana-The Dwarf
6. Parashurāma-The Axe Rama
7. Rāma
8. Krishna
9. Balarām/ Buddha and
10. Kalki.
All these incarnations are essentially adoption and mythification of ten different faiths that prevailed at different time periods of evolution of civilization in the Indian subcontinent.
The stories are also more or less, probably unknowingly, arranged according to evolution of life starting with the primitive vertebrate fish and culminating with most evolved human beings
1. The acceptance of ‘Matsya’ or The Fish God as an avatar throws light into one of the major disputes relating to the deciphering of Indus valley civilization. The seals unearthed from the archeological sites of Indus valley civilization, like Harapa and Mohenjodaro, contain a large number of images of fish pictograms. These fish symbols were interpreted as representing stars according to Iravattam Mahadevan (on the basis of dual meaning of the word “meen” in Dravidian languages); whereas Asko Parpola maintained that these represent the Fish God revered by the inhabitants of the Indus valley. It appears that the interpretation of Asko Parpola is more in order. The concept of the Fish God worshipped by the Indus valley people (mainly Dravidians?) remained in the mindsets of the people long after the destruction of Indus valley civilization. Later in the history, the same concept/myth was adopted into Vaishnavism (Vishnu cult) as Matsya avatār, the initial incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
2. The role of the Giant Tortoise, the Koorma avatār, is remembered in the occasion of mythological churning of the Sea (Samudra mathana) for obtaining the amrutha. The rivalry between the Sura (divine persons) and Asura (demons) groups manifested in this legend is an exaggerated version of churning of buttermilk for obtaining butter. During the early history cattle grazing and dairy activities were widespread in the subcontinent. Even Krishna belonged to the family of cattle keepers (Yadavs). The mythical legend visualizes Mount of Meru placed on the Koorma as the churning rod tied with Adishesha ( the serpent associated with Vishnu), as the churning rope pulled in a tug of war fashion by Sura and Asura groups on opposite ends. The whole churning process is done in the sea (instead of buttermilk pot) and ‘amrutha’ (the elixir) is sought out of this churning instead of butter. The entire mythical fantasy glorifies the rivalry and animosity between Vedic Aryan and Jew tribes that shared similar and contemporaneous cultural evolution during the time.
3. Similarly the Great Boar was worshipped in northwestern subcontinent during the early historical period. The Boar spirit-god (‘daiva’) ‘Panjurli’ worshipped by Tulu tribes must have been the original source of this myth. According the legend of ten incarnations, the Boar God (Varaha) rescued the Earth from the fury of the Sea and it also eliminated Hiranyaksha, the brother of Hiranyakashipu.
4. The Narasimha (the Lion-man or the half man-half lion avatār) represents the story of an innocent boy Prahlada rescued from the clutches of the tyrant father Hiranyakashipu, but with lot of fantasies attached to it. According to legends, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha were the Asura brothers born to sage Kashyapa, the grandson of Lord Brahma. Sage Kashyapa had four wifes namely Diti, Aditi, Vinita and Kudroo. Diti and Aditi were sisters of Gauri, the wife of Lord Shiva. Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha were born to Diti. The Sura class (Gods) were born to Aditi. Vinita gave rise to Garuda (the Eagle), the carrier of Vishnu. Kudroo gave rise to Nagas, the serpent class. The Naga worship was in vogue since earliest days of civilization.
The Garuda (eagle) concept itself is interesting. Abraham, the prophet, was traveling on horse-back. The original Brahma derived from Abraham, was also horse mounted. (However, the Brahma’s configuration subsequently changed with time.) In the fashion of original Brahma, it became a convention later to depict swift carrier animals (sole vehicles of that time) for all Gods. Incidentally the eagle is also the killer of snakes. Thus myth creators chose Garuda as vehicle for the Vishnu, maybe also to subjugate the dominance of the Naga cult.
We can see amalgamation of several myths in these legends. The origin of Gods (Sura class), Demons (Asura class), Naga class and Garuda were theologically explained in these fantasies. The word ‘daitya’ (=giant) has come from Diti. Apparently, the daityas (the Asura class), were huge in build: possible connotation to tall Caucasian race.
5. The story of Vamana, the dwarf, is somewhat perverse. It demonstrated the glorification of the mischievous demand of a dwarf who asked land for placing three steps and cunningly subjugated the righteous King Bali, who was a very popular king respected and loved by his subjects. The respect for King Bali continued among his subjects even after he was vanquished to ‘Patala’. Tulu and Malayali people since ages traditionally celebrate a special night of lights, in honour of King Baliyendra, during every Deepavali. Thinking in terms of natural justice, there was no fault on the part of King Bali except that he belonged to the so called Asura class.
6. The Parashurama was a determinant, powerful man who killed many Kshatriya kings to avenge the insult done to his family. To distinguish from the Rama proper of Ramayana, this man was called Parashu-ram, the word ‘parashu’ referring to the weapon which he carried with him, the axe.
But the real fantasy attached to the Par ashram in the West Coast of India, Konkan Karavali and Malabar, is that he retrieved the coastal land from the Lord of Sea. He made agreement with the (Arabian) Sea that land upto where he can throw his axe, be vacated by the Sea. This is an interesting story of retreat of the Sea attributed to a fantasy superhuman character. Regression and transgression of the Seas is a phenomenon that has occurred all over the globe at during the historical past. The most recent regression documented in the West coast is about 6000 years ago, according to geologists. People living during the time of regression of the Sea, witnessed the dumbfounding phenomenon and the story was passed down the history through oral transmission from older to younger generations. After a few generations the story was attributed to this hero Parashurama, who they imagined could do this kind of feat using his superb axe.
7. The story of Rama may be a prehistoric pre-Vedic folk-tale told and retold to generations from elder members to younger ones. The characteristic presence of monkeys or primitive human beings (apes or ape-like hairy men) puts the date to prehistory. The story was blended with mild doses of fantasy and was repackaged by Valmiki, a hunter turned poet approximately during the period 500 to 800 BC. At the time of re-composition of the Ramayana, the concept of Brahma was evolving from the primitive concept of horse-mounted tribal hero based on the life of Abraham (Tulu Brahma: the Bermer) to four headed God of creation. Brahma was eulogized and blown into a fantasy of greatness as analysed in detail by S.S N. Murthy. He was also pictured as a ten-headed deity. It is interesting to note that much of the geography of southern India and Srilanka have been described in Ramayana. People must have been freely traveling by foot at that time in these areas.
8. The Krishna again was a mass hero, popular since his childhood days. The epic of Mahabharata is an unbelievably expansive canvas of blow-ups and fantasies built around an actual late to post-Vedic war of ten kings, as analysed by S.S.N.Murthy and others.
Both Rama and Krishna are hailed as blue-skinned (eulogy for the pleasantly dark- skinned) God incarnates. The emphasis on ‘blue skin’ reveals that there were light skinned people at that time. It also indicates that these Rama and Krishna were from the dark-skinned natives of that time.
9. Balarām, Krishna’s brother, was considered as one of the incarnations in the beginning but later was replaced by Buddha, who was more popular at the time of synthesis of the concept of ten incarnations.
10. Kalki is the futuristic fantasy of the ten incarnations that hopefully wishes that God shall come again to set things right, if bad continues to prevail on the world. It was an empty slot reserved for the unseen future mass Hero.
The Balaram-Buddha changes suggest that the list of incarnations were compiled at the time of Buddha and peak of Buddhism.
I have recounted the simplistic analysis of the sociological growth and evolution of theological concepts in our land. For theological documentation of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, kindly peruse Guru Vishwanath’s blog posts dated August-September 2005.
In Tulunadu and Kerala, initially, at least from ca. 500 BC, it was the dominance of spirit worship that has continued to sway even today. Shiva and Ganesha temples were introduced after 5th Century AD by Kadamba Kings, who dominated over local Alupa chieftains. The Kadamba Kings followed Shiva cult possibly under the influence of Pallava Kings.
By the time of Acharya Shankara (ca 9th Century AD), the Krishna cult spread to Tulunadu and Kerala. According to legends, the Krishna was the deity in the family of Shankara. Madhvacharya of Udupi further popularised the Krishna cult during the 12th century in the West Coast.

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33. Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh

The historical evolution of theological concepts and pantheon in the Indian subcontinent is very interesting for the sociological studies. Primitive Indian societies believed in the special powers of the generative organs to procreate. Thus male and female sexual organs were ritually worshipped. The phallus (Linga) worship later was absorbed into Shaiva cult and the Linga became a representation of Shiva. On similar lines the primitive cult of vulva (Yoni) worship and Mother Godess worship amalgamated with Shakti/ Devi worship.
Brahma is probably the earlier major God in this subcontinent. Until then Vedic Aryans worshipped various elements of the nature in the form of Indra, Agni, Marut, Mitra, Varuna etc.
The legend of Abraham, the mass leader of Jews, who is also credited to have built the Kaaba at Mecca in association with his father, was so powerful in the region that any communities resorted to the worship of his spirit after his death. The Tulu settlers absorbed the Brahma legend in original form northwestern India, carried the concepts when they subsequently migrated south, still retain the vestiges of early forms of Brahma worship in the coastal Karavali Karnataka. The other migrant people also carried the concepts but these concepts changed with time and changes in the concept of Brahma. Apparently the ancient Jainism also adopted the concept of Brahma.
With ascendance of concept Brahma, the natures Gods were reduced to minor or lesser Gods. Brahma originally a horse mounted, bearded hero slowly evolved into a four headed creator, the four heads representing the four Vedas. Ramayana also showcased the ten headed Brahma. Myths and fantasy were added with detailed poetic imaginations and fantasies to elevate the status and power of the divine elements at popular level.
At the same time Shiva and Vishnu came into prominence among different cultural groups that made the Indian society at that period. Similar to Brahma, the original legends and characters of Shiva and Vishnu might have been based on the lives of exceptional mass heroes of that time. Incidentally both of these Gods were dark or black skinned like their natives of that time but were poetically called ‘blue skinned’ (Shyamala Varna).The dark skin indicates that these were Gods of dark skinned Dravida/ Munda tribes.
The Vedic Aryans when they moved out of their settlements into domains of various provincial kings they had serve under the Dravida/Munda kings for livelihood. Dravida/ Munda Kings who believed in their dark skinned Heroes turned to Gods rather than Vedic Gods (like Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Agni) or the white- skinned bearded Brahma (derived from Abraham). The Vedic Aryans then subsequently converted into Brahmins because of their knowledge of Vedas, had to switch over from Vedic Gods to native dark skinned Gods like Vishnu and Shiva (Mahesh).
At a point in the history, especially after witnessing development of three lines of divine concepts an effort was made to integrate the trilinear faiths into an unified concept of trinities: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the keeper) and Maheswara (the destroyer) were amalgamated into trinity. The famous Trimurthy sculptures of Elephanta caves, Mumbai is an example of this acceptance of merging of three faiths.

It is interesting that Tulu and the Malayali people were not influenced by these Gods in the beginning, especially the later-evolved four headed Brahma, the Vishnu and the Shiva.Shiva was being worshipped by Tamils,settled in Madurai, at least since the beginning of the Christian era (Sangam literatuire period).
Shiva temples were introduced in Tulunad during 5th Century AD, coinciding with Kadamba dynasty at Banavasi.And Vishnu and Krishna concepts came to Tulunad still later.
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32. Origin of Animal and Spirit worship

The existence, nature and form of God have been contested since thousands of years without conclusive answers. However, those who have reposed faith on some form of God have succeeded in their missions since ages because of the power of their faith. Thus it is important to have faith and belief in ones worship in the style of positive thinking. The exact nature or form of God is not important as far as goal is concerned. During the long years of evolutions of human civilization men have worshipped animal gods and their spirits in the beginning. Subsequently they switched over to hero worships and later to Gods in human forms. These evolutionary developments ultimately led to the concept of formless God.

Boar:Panjurli
Earliest form of worships in human civilizations of the Indian subcontinent was animal worship followed by spirit worship. When early nomadic tribal people became agriculturists and settled into habitations and colonies around their agricultural fields (6000 to 4000 BC), their main concern were guarding crops from wild boars. They were unable to tame them or predict their attacks in the beginning. Probably they also held the belief that these boars have a leader or reigning God and wished that by worshipping that Boar God they would be free from the pestering of boars. Apparently this is the way how boar began to be worshipped by the early primitive civilizations. The wild Boar God was the ‘Panjurli’ bhoota or ‘daiva’ of Tulu tribes.
The term ‘bhoota’ refers to spirit of the dead creatures. ‘Daiva’ refers to God. Early societies including primitive Tulu tribes attributed godly status (‘daiva’) to various spirits. The early societies believed that all living creatures continue to live as spirits even after death. This led to the development of the concept of reincarnation.

Serpent:Naga
Similar another mysterious creature that appeared suddenly around their inhabitations, sometimes biting one of their members fatally was cobra or the serpent. Sometimes it did not bite due to unexplainable reason for them at that time. They held in awe the mysterious power of the snakes to kill humans with just a poisonous bite. This led to the concept of serpent or Naga worship in the primitive tribal societies of the Indian subcontinent.
Both these forms of worship (Panjurli and Naga) were later absorbed into the pantheon of Indian Gods Panjurli, the boar revered by the early tribes became the Varāha, the third incarnation of Vishnu. Naga worship was absorbed as serpent around Shiva’s neck and as Adishesha, the poetic mattress and umbrella for the reclining Vishnu. In southern India, at places the Naga worship has subsequently been merged with the worship of Murugan or Subramanya.
. The concept of Panjurli and Naga worship was carried from the northwestern Indian subcontinent to Tulunad along with migrating Tulu tribes, where it is continued to be followed even today. The list of Spirit Gods has grown during the long historical past and the individual Tulu families believe in specific spirits since ages. Even those who subsequently embraced the worship of major Hindu Gods like Shiva Vishnu/Krishna and Shakti /Durga or even Jainism still ardently worship the spirits perpetuated by their lineages.

Fish God
Thinking on similar vein, it appears that the fish symbols portrayed in the Indus valley seals represent the Fish God worshipped by the inhabitants of Indus Valley. The citizens of Indus valley were particularly apprehensive of the floods that characterized the Indus and its tributaries. To ward off floods, possibly they believed in the Fish God that controls the rivers and the Sea. The memories of the Fish God culture survived long after the Indus Valley perished. The legend was absorbed later in the history as the first incarnation of Vishnu.
Another animal figure found in Indus seals is that of bull or bison. Subsequently the bull was adopted as the vehicle of Shiva.

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