Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan

by A. M. T. Jackson

The Tulsi plant is worshipped daily by the Hindus in general, and women in particular, by keeping the plant near their houses. The god Vishnu is worshipped particularly by the leaf of this plant.[17] The Tulsi plant is considered by the people to represent the goddess Luxmi, the wife of Vishnu. Hindu women will not take their meals before worshipping the Tulsi plant daily in the morning. It is also said that the god Vishnu, in his eighth incarnation called Krishna, had loved Vrunda, the wife of a demon. After her death she was burnt, but on her burning ground there grew the Tulsi plant. As Krishna loved Vrunda very dearly, he began to love this plant also, and hence the image of Bál Krishna, or the god Vishnu, is married to this plant every year on the 12th day of the bright half of Kártik (November).[18] As it is also believed that the god Vishnu resides in the Tulsi plant, the worship of this plant is equivalent to the worship of the god Vishnu.[19]

Besides the above mentioned trees, the Palus (Butea frondosa), the Bel, a tree sacred to god Shiva, and the Shami (Prosopis spicigera), a tree sacred to god Ganpati the son of Shiva, are considered to be holy by the Hindus.[20]

A common custom among Hindus is for a person who has lost his two wives and wishes to marry a third, to be first married to a Rui plant, and then to the actual bride. His marriage with the Rui plant is considered as a third marriage. After the marriage, the Rui plant is cut down and buried, and thus the marriage with the third bride is considered to be a fourth marriage. The marriage with the Rui plant has been adopted in the belief that the third wife is sure to die unless the spirit of the deceased is made to enter the Rui plant.[21]

When a girl is born under the influence of inauspicious planets which may be harmful to her husband, she is first married to a tree or an earthen pot, and then to the bridegroom. The marriage with the earthen pot is called Kumbhaviváha, or the pot-wedding. It is believed that, by observing this practice, the danger to her husband is avoided. The danger passes to the tree to which she is first married.[22]

Among the lower classes in the Thána District[23] a poor man unable to marry owing to his poverty is first married to a Rui plant and then to a widow. This marriage with a widow is called pát lávane. This remarriage of a widow among the lower classes is generally performed at night, and under an old mango tree. It is never performed in the house. A widow who has remarried cannot take part in any auspicious ceremony such as a marriage, etc.[23]

At Vankavli in the Ratnágiri District there is a custom among the low class Hindus of a woman who has lost her second husband and wishes to marry for the third time, first marrying a cock, i.e., she takes the cock in her arms at the time of her marriage with the third husband.[24]

Persons who have no children make a vow to Khandoba at Jejuri that the firstborn, male or female, shall be offered to him. The females, offered in fulfilment of such vows are called Muralis. They are married to the god Khandoba, and have to earn their livelihood by begging in villages. A male child thus offered to the god is called a Vághya.[25]

There is a custom of offering children to the deities Yallamma and Khandoba in fulfilment of vows made in order to get a child. The child is taken to the temple of these deities, accompanied with music. The temple ministrant asks the child to stand on a wooden board on a heap of rice in front of the deity, and puts into its hands a paradi—a flat basket of bamboo, tying to its neck the darshana of the deity. A female child is married to the dagger—Katyár—of the deity. When once this ceremony has been performed, parents abandon their rights to such children. When these children come of age, the males can marry but the females cannot. The latter earns her livelihood begging jogava in the name of the goddess Amba with a paradi in her hand. A male child offered to the goddess Yallamma is called jogata, and a female, jogatin. Children dedicated to the goddess Máyáka are called Jogi and Jogin. Children offered to Firangái and Ambábái are called Bhutya (male) and Bhutin (female).[26]

In the Konkan districts there is a class of women known as Bhávinis who are said to be married to Khanjir, i.e., a dagger belonging to the god. They are also called deva yoshita, i.e., prostitutes offered to the god. They have no caste of their own. They retain the name of the caste to which they originally belonged, such as Maráthe Bhávini, Bhandári Bhávini, Sutár Bhávini, etc. The following account is given of the origin of the sect of Bhávinis. A woman wishing to abandon her husband goes to the temple of a village deity at night, and in presence of the people assembled in that temple she takes oil from the lamp burning in the temple, and pours it upon her head. This process is called Deval righ̄ane, i.e., to enter into the service of the temple. After she has poured sweet oil from the lamp upon her head, she has no further connection with her husband. She becomes the maid servant of the temple, and is free to behave as she likes. Daughters of such Bhávinis who do not wish to marry, undergo the process of shesa bharane, and follow the occupation of their mothers. The sons of the Bhávinis have an equal right to the property of their mother, but any daughter who marries a lawful husband loses her share in the property of her mother. A Devali follows the occupation of blowing the horn or cornet, and is entitled to hold the torches in the marriage ceremonies of the people in the village. Many of them learn the art of playing upon the tabour—mrudunga—and are useful to Kathekaris, i.e., those who recite legends of the gods with music and singing. Some of them become farmers while others are unoccupied.

Bhávinis follow the occupation of a maid-servant in the temple, but their real occupation is that of public women. They are not scorned by the public. On the contrary, they are required to be present at the time of a marriage to tie the marriage-string—Mangalsutra—of a bride, for they are supposed to enjoy perpetual unwidowhood—‘Janma suwásini.’ Some of the houses of Bhávinis become the favourite resorts of gamblers and vagabonds. In the absence of a daughter, a Bhávini purchases a girl from a harlot, and adopts her as her daughter to carry on her profession.[27]