On the background of
socio-religious setting, words are born out of ideas and experiences in
physical and mental planes, as well as objects and events. Some words possess
acquired or derived meanings,besides the original, with a tint of sacredness as
we have seen in the case of ‘Odi’ elsewhere in our Tulu Studies. Gadi and Gaduvaadu are the words, which have
acquired sacredness in Tulu psyche over the years.
Beliefs and Rituals
As Voltaire* says, “If God
did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him”. Religion is a
system of beliefs, inter alia, involving worship of natural and super natural
powerful forces or beings. Awe and fear inspiring phenomena are the basis of
all religions from primitive era to present and are ever evolving in various
levels of advancement of mankind.
In organized religions of
civilized societies, known as ‘large-scale societies’, there are priests and priestesses.
In small-scale societies, we see mediums, shamans and mediators. Believers in
unorganized societies live in isolated pockets ofvillages and hilly tracts and
mountainous areas.
Natural religion is the
religion of primitive races, who still live in tribal communities. Their Gods are personification of natural
forces. Their family bond-ship is paramount
in contrast to large-scale societies. They are very much active in recreating
and revitalizing their own culture when threatened of acculturation to the
culture of another society that dominates them. This millenarian movement was
evident when Brahmanism entered Tulu Nadu many centuries before pre-Christian
era (qv Parashurama legend). Brahmans were
brought again to Tulu Nadu by Kadamba King Mayurvarma. Subsequently even they espoused animanism and
started worshipping ancestral spirits and other spirits, embodied in natural
objects. Now,many Brahmin households have their own family deities in Tulu
Nadu, besides Vedic Gods.The assimilation of Vedic culture and Non-Vedic
culture is evident in the worship of Divine spirits within the precincts of
Temples, under the supervision of Brahmins, local feudal chieftains and
merchant class and community leaders.
Rituals,
irrespective of various cultures, are performances in a peculiar style at a
place and at a set location and arerepetitive in nature year after year. These rituals are both religious and
non-religious, i.e. secular. Secular
things are mostly worldly and are specific customs of a village or group of
villages.
Gadbad vs. Gaduvādu
While travelling in an Express
Bus during my recent visit to native place,I descried the word Gaduvaadu
in a banner about a Kola or Nema (=annual celebration) of a certain Bhoota
(=Divine Spirit). I had heard of ‘Gadbad Kola’ in my formative days in native
place. The notion being entertained by
me then was that it is an annual celebration full of noise, disturbance and
confusion (a mixed up thing as is ‘Gadbad Ice Cream’, which is a preparation of
milk and fruit varieties mixed and cooled, giving varied tastes).
Let us study relevant words,
surrounding spirit worship, which acquired ‘sacredness’ from the word ‘gadi’.
Gadi and Gadu
Means a boundary, limit and
frontier, signifying authority. In day
to day usage, gaDi (D pronounced as
in Daughter) means wound, cut, opening, path, part of a broken coconut, and
space in time and place. There is an opinion that ‘gaDi’ is derived from ‘gati’,
which means support and protection.
Gaduvādu
The word means ‘stay or
halt’. The place of halting is called ‘gaduvādu jāge’ (qv. Tulu Lexicon, p. 1047). In Divine Spirit (Bhoota) worship, it means
‘a dedicated place for performing Bhoota Kola around a temple or shrine. So it signifies to jurisdiction of a spirit
in between two localities. Here, we can visualize the confrontation between
divine spirits over the lordship of an area. Specific ‘paDdanas’ highlight
heroic deeds of these spirits. It is not possible to delve deep into these
Ballads for the sake of brevity.
Gadivādu/Gaduvādu Bhoota
A Bhoota worshipped in a fixed
place or a locality or border of a region (qv. TL, p. 1046).
Gadupadi Kola
It is a ritual of Bhoota
worship arranged in a fixed time. (TL, p.1045)
Gadi Maryāde
It means the honour given to
the head of a village or community (TL,p. 1044).
Gadi Enne Korpuni
Before initiating a patri or
impersonator for ‘Darshan’, i.e. possession of a deity on the medium, coconut
oil is given with a prayer. He applies this oil to his head and take a bath and
stands ready for Darshan.
Gadipattuni
It is a ‘preliminary ritual in
Bhoota worship, in which the impersonator goes towards the border regions
coming under the influence of that shrine to establish his authority over the
region.
Gadi
Prasada
It
is a ‘prasada’ (symbolic blessings of the deity, in the form of sandal paste in
a betel leaf with flowers), given at the border of jurisdiction of the
deity. In temple procession, it is the
‘prasada’ given to the organizer of by the ‘patri’, carrying the idol.
Gaditta
Bante
He
is the ‘guardian angel of a village’.
Superstition & Daivāradhane
Superstition is a belief in
super natural causation that one event leads to the cause of another without any
natural process. It is a blindly
accepted belief or notion on particular
thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding or the like. Two events are linked here, as we find in
astrology, omen, witchcraft, etc.
There was a political move to
bring in a Bill to prohibit superstitions, inter alia, bringing ancient Daivaaradhane
culture (Worship of Divine Spirits), vibrant in Tulu Nadu and tribal belts,
under the purview of Superstitions. This
move was abandoned on popular uproar and discussions in social forums. Men in authority glossed over the matter that
the move was a loud thinking.
Conclusion
It is worthwhile to consider
whether Daiva (Divine Spirit) worship is a superstition or otherwise. It is a
universal belief that souls or spirits are indestructible. Modern Science also
admits this. They are only the subtle parts of the manifested forms of the
Absolute Power or Energy (Para Brahma)at rest or not manifest. They acquire super natural power or divinity
on death of bodies in which they reincarnated.
They are worshiped as family deities and deities of a village or
communities spanning several villages.
They don the garb of a secular deities to punish wrong-doers and protect
the upright.
The act of
interceding with deities is done by a guttinaar, gurikara (village head or
community leader) or any honourable person. They are all anointed
persons. Daivaaradhane is a time-honoured custom, having a psychologically
healing effect
*Note on Voltaire
Francois-Maire Arouet(1694-1778), a French writer, philosopher,
playwright and historian with Penname “Voltaire”, was famous for his wit, his
attacks on the established Catholic Church and advocacy of freedom of religion,
freedom of expression and separation of Church and State. His unorthodox views cost him imprisonment
several times by monarchial regime. He was against the then prevailing
conception on historyof documenting only of political, military and diplomatic
events. He emphasized on the cultural
history - the arts, the science and the customs. His own words on God are:
“It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme intelligent
being. This is no matter of faith but of
reason.”
Suggested Reading:
· Our previous Posts Nos. 62 (Characterisation
of Spirits-1), 233 (Panjurli), 250 (Olasari to Varsari), 306 (Mayandaal), etc.
·
Anthropology of Religion
·
Tulu Nadu by Dr. Padur Gururaja Bhat.
-Hosabettu Vishwanath, Pune
These supernatural forces in which people of Tulunadu have extreme faith on, do they protect our land from people driven with evil intent?. I mean those individuals, trying to rob our land of it's rich resources. Given there have never been any natural calamity which has hit our shores, but won't the degradation of our natural resources, cause our divine deities to enrage.
ReplyDelete- Madhavi Pujari.
Well, your disappointment with the cults is quite clear. ( I do not want to dispute)
DeleteI think we as a society are responsible for the evils that plague us and plunder the nature beyond basic needs. Maybe it is too much to expect from the Spirits to interfere or control greedy people.