Chapter II · HEROIC GODLINGS

Several stories, in addition to the legend of the Rāmāyana, are related of the birth of the god Hanumān. Dasharatha, king of Ayodhyā, being childless, once performed a sacrifice with the hope of thereby obtaining male issue. On the completion of the ceremony a heavenly being rose out of the sacrificial fire and presented the king with a celestial preparation, called pāyas, which he directed the king to give to his wives if he desired a son. The king divided the divine gift among his three queens; but the share of one of them was snatched away by an eagle. It was dropped into the hands of Anjanī, who was herself childless, and was practising austerities for the sake of obtaining a son. On partaking of the pāyas, Anjanī conceived, and the son born to her was afterwards known as the god Hanumān.

Another story relates how Anjanī was one of those persons who helped Indra in his evil designs on Ahalyā, the wife of Gautama. She had on that account been cursed by Gautama, and threatened with the birth of a fatherless child. To prevent the curse from taking effect, Anjanī buried herself in the ground as far as her waist, and began to observe religious austerities in the hope of propitiating Shiva. The latter was pleased with her devotion, and sent her a mantra through Nārada, who was ordered to deliver it in her ear. Vāyu, the god of wind, forced the mantra into her womb, and she conceived a son named Hanumān. This son had the form of a monkey, because, at the time of conception, Anjanī happened to behold a monkey, named Keshi, on a neighbouring tree.

There is a belief that Hanumān cries out once in twelve years, and those men who happen to hear him are transformed into hijadās (eunuchs).16

Of the days of the week, Saturday is the most suitable for the worship of Hanumān. Of all offerings, that of red lead and oil is the most acceptable to him.19 When Hanumān was carrying the Drona mountain to the battlefield before Lankā, he was wounded in the leg by an arrow from Bharata, the brother of Rāma. The wound was healed by the application of red lead and oil, and hence his predilection for these things.14 It is also said that after the death of Rāvana and at the time of the coronation of Bibhīshana, Rāma distributed prizes to all his monkey followers, when nothing was left for Hanumān except red lead and oil.

Bhīma never took food without first worshipping Mahādev. On one occasion no temple of Shiva could be found within easy distance, and in a rage, Bhīma turned his bowl upside down and set it up as Mahādev. Such was the first installation of Bhīmanāth Mahādev revered to this day by all Hindus.25

It is said that Bhīma once played at navateri (lit. nine and thirteen), i.e., he flung into the sky nine elephants with his right hand and thirteen with his left. The corpses of these animals were afterwards brought down to earth by Shukamuni to expiate king Janmejaya’s sin of Brahmahatyā (Brāhman-slaughter).26

Besides the above there are the temples of Shankar Tapakeshwar Mahādev and Mungeshwar Mahādev near the hill mentioned in the paragraph above and the temples of Pipaleshwar Mahādev and Rāmchandraji, to the south of Dhhank. There are also temples erected in honour of suttees known as Nomalmātā, Hulmātā, etc.40

The celebrated shrine of Husen-pir is situated in the vicinity of Ganod, and is much revered by the Khoja community, who hold a fair there on every Āso-sud-bij, i.e. the second day of the bright half of Āshvin. The fair lasts for seven or eight days, when Khojas from Bombay and even Zanzibar visit the place. A large building, the Khoja-khana, is set apart to the west of the shrine for the sabhā (or meeting). The largest fair was held in samvat 1940 (1884 A.D.), when H. H. the Agashah paid a visit to the shrine. There is a large gathering of people at the place every bij day.41

Husen-pīr was a native of Kadi and a Saiyed by birth. In his youth, with his father’s permission, he decided to remain unmarried, and took to travelling. In the course of his wanderings he halted for a week on the spot where his shrine stands at present, and was so charmed with the place, that he asked the owner of it, a Rabāri, Almora by name, for permission to reside there always. The Pīr was accompanied by two followers of the Mujāvar fakir sect. The present Mujāvar attendants at the shrine are descended from them, and stand in the 12th or the 15th degree of descent.41

One evening (it was the 5th day of the dark half of Bhādrapad) the Pīr accompanied by his two followers went to the Bhādar to offer the evening prayers. After the prayers were over, he told his followers that a flood was soon coming in the river, and asked both of them to leave him and return with their horses. One of them left the place as directed: but the other placed his head on the Pīr’s lap and was drowned along with his master in the flood, which came down as if in obedience to the Pīr’s words. Before dying the Pīr granted a boon to the Mujāvars that their line of descent would never fail for want of their heirs, and that their heirs would always be his attendants.41

There is a hollow log of wood on the boundary of Lath, a sub-village of Gondal and a mile to the South of Ganod. Long ago a fakir, while accompanying a band of outlaws bārvatias, was killed in a scuffle and was buried here. A bābul tree grew over his tomb, and came to be known afterwards as Lakkad Pīr (the wooden Pīr). The tree after a time withered till its stem was reduced to a small log with a hole in the centre. People observe vows in honour of this Pīr for the cure of cough and bronchitis in children. After recovery, the children are made to pass through this bākān or hole and an offering of kansār is made to the Pīr. It is not only the Musalmāns who observe vows in the Pīr’s honour: Hindus also have the same strong faith in him.43

To the north of Charadwa there is a field-goddess, named Motisāri Meldi Mātā, in whose honour persons who are afflicted by diseases take a vow of presenting a tavā (a cake fried in oil in a pan). There is also a serpent-god named Charmaria who receives an offering of lāpsi on every Aso-sud-bij, i.e., the second day of the bright half of Ashvin.60

Besides these there are four temples of Shiva, one of Shaktimātā, one of Hanumānji and two Mahomedan Pīrs in the village.60

Vows in honour of Khodiar Mātā are efficacious in the prevention of such epidemics as cholera. The Khiyado Māmo quells evil spirits, bhūts and prets. The Khodo Māmo cures such diseases as cough and bronchitis. In the temple of Rāmnāth, a brahmabhoj—a feast to Brahmans—is given on the last day of Shrāvan.61

There is a well-known place called Vāchhdā-solanki about eight miles front Zinzuwada. Once a Rajput boy, aged sixteen, was going round the marriage-altar at the time of his wedding, in the village of Kuar, when he heard a piteous cry from a distressed cowherd, whose cows were being carried away by freebooters. The boy immediately ran to rescue the cows; but he was killed in the encounter. A temple was built on that spot in his honour. There is a small kund near the temple, the water in which is believed never to dry up and to possess the quality of curing hydrophobia.

Goradia Hanumān lies three miles from Zinzuwada, and there is a tradition that there is a treasure hidden near by. Many vows are observed in honour of Dhamā Hanumān, whose place is at a distance of two miles from Zinzuwada.64

The holy kund of Zilānand is one mile from Zinzuwada. It is a custom of the neighbourhood to throw the bones of deceased persons into this kund, and a fair is held annually at the place on the last day of Bhādrapad. The Bhotāvo kund is one mile distant from Zilānand kund: the bottom of this kund presents a bluish appearance, and the water always remains hot. It is said that there are sulphur mines below.64

A princess of Marwar used to worship five gods: Sumaria Ganesh, Kanaknāth, Ratneshwar Mahādev, Nāgnāth and Hanumān; and she had taken a vow never to take food before she had worshipped all of them. The gods followed her everywhere in all her tours, but they had made one condition, that they would stop if she looked behind at them on the way. The princess happened to look back at Ganpati on the ridge of Sumaria near Keshia, three miles to the east of Jodia. So Ganpati would not leave Sumaria, and was installed there as Sumaria Ganesh. The same happened to Ratneshwar near Badanpur; to Kanaknāth, at a place midway between Kanakpuri (the modern Kunad) and Badanpur; and to Hanumān, near Kunad. In the same manner, Nāgnāth was installed near the Balambha gate of Jodia. The old town of Kanakpuri was buried by an earth-quake, and the image Kunadia Hanumān was found among its ruins.

The attendants of Sumaria Ganesh are Atīts. A fair is held there on the 4th day of Vaishākh, when thousands of Dheds flock to the place. The usual offering to the god consists of sweet balls. Kanaknāth is attended upon by Atīt Bāvās who share among themselves whatever is offered to the god. Shaivas hold a fair here on the 8th day of the dark half of Shrāvan.

One mile to the north-west of Jodia, towards the sea, there is a stone image of a horse set up on a pedestal, known as Rāval Pīr. A heroic Girāsia of the Dāl sect, named Rāval, was once shipwrecked while on an expedition from Cutch, and is said to have landed at the spot where Rāval Pīr stands at present. He received a hearty reception at the hands of the then ruling prince of Jodia (who was a Khavās) and was installed in the Durbār as Nana Rāval Pīr.

The present site of Lilapur was formerly uninhabited, and the village stood nearly one mile off. Once the goddess Bhavānī directed the patel of the village in a dream to reside on the present site, and promised him that he would be always happy and that none of his descendants for seven generations would die of cholera. In testimony of the reality of the dream a box of red lac, a cocoanut, a reel of red thread—called nādāsādi and chunadi—were found under the patel’s pillow. The village was then removed to its present site. The descendants of the patel are called Yadodā. The Mātā chose to take a Bharvād to be her attendant. On the 15th day of the bright half of Shrāvan offerings are burnt before the Mātā, when the attendant bhuvā has to offer sweetmeats worth five rupees. Every Bharvād family spends a rupee and a quarter every third year in honour of the Mātā.

The Shakta Mātā in the western part of the same village prevents the Joganīs or female fiends from spreading contagious diseases.67

The Surdhans near the gates of Lilapur represent two heroes who were killed in an encounter with freebooters in the Samvat year 1836 (1780 A. D.). The knots of the marriage-scarves of the descendants of the Surdhans are untied before them, and any of their female descendants visiting the images without a veil on their faces, are subjected to serious calamities.67

On the Chitalia hill, two miles from Jasdan, there is a temple of Shitalā, the goddess of small-pox, where children who have lately recovered from that disease are taken to offer salutations to the goddess. Silver images of human eye, milk, sugar, curds, grapes, cocoanuts, a sheet of blank paper, and a number of other things are presented to the goddess on such an occasion. Some persons vow to visit the goddess with a burning hearth on their heads. Such vows are discharged on a sātem, i.e., the 7th day of the bright or the dark half of a month. On Shili Sātem, the 7th day of the dark half of Shrāvan, there is a large gathering of people at the place.69

There is a bedā tree near Movaiya about which the following story is told. Long ago there was a kanbi (farmer) in Movaiya who used to see a boy moving in front of him with an uncovered head whenever he was ploughing his field. One day the kanbi lopped off the hair from the boy’s head who followed him to his home, entreating him to return the lock of hair. The kanbi however did not heed him, and concealed the lock of hair in a jar containing gram. The boy then served the kanbi as a field-boy, when one day he was asked by his master to take gram out of the jar for sowing. The boy, who was a bhut, found his lock of hair there, and when once he had obtained it, he took a very heavy load of gram to the kanbi and bade him good-bye. But before the boy had fled with his lock of hair, the kanbi begged of him a boon that a bedā tree should grow in his field, where vows could be observed in honour of the bhut.72

The villagers in Sayala accompanied by several bhuvās and by musicians who beat the dhols and the dānklān go outside the village to visit the temple of Khodiār Mātā on the 15th day of the bright half of Shrāvan. The bhuvās wind a piece of cotton-thread round the village, and sometimes pour out milk or water in the same place in order to secure its safety from any epidemic. On the same occasion four divers, who are generally healthy young athletes, are presented with an earthen pot each and are made to stand in the village-tank till the water reaches to their necks. They are asked to dive simultaneously in the water at a signal from the headman of the village, and to get out immediately. Each of them is named after one of the four months of the rainy season and the amount of water in the pot of each is supposed to indicate the amount of rain which would fall in the respective months of the next year. After leaving the water the divers break the pots on the spot, and the fragments are taken away by the people, to be kept in their jars of corn, in the belief that they will bring prosperity in the ensuing season. The four divers are then made to run a race on the maidan, and he who wins the race gets a small plough and a cocoanut as a prize. The winner is called hālino-jityo, and it is believed that he will be successful in all his undertakings.

The new settlement may be named after the deity whose advice brought about the move or after the headman. It is sometimes named after the particular incident which drove the people to seek their new home.86

A failure of the harvest is in most cases due to the irregularity of the rains. It is therefore ascribed to the displeasure of Indra, the god of rain, and Varuna, the god of water. The mode of propitiating these gods has already been described.

Sometimes a cessation of rains is attributed to the wrath of the village-gods, whereupon the festival of Ujāṇi is celebrated in order to appease them. One day, preferably a Sunday, all the inhabitants go outside the village, and rich viands are cooked to be offered to the village-gods. At the same time, the headman performs a homa sacrifice and the dainties are partaken of after the villagers have thrown cocoanuts into the sacrificial fire.

भुक्तिमुक्तिदायकं प्रशस्तञ्चारुविग्रहम्‌ ।

भक्तवत्सलं स्थितं समस्तलोकविग्रहम्‌ ॥

निष्क्वणन्मनोज्ञहेमकिंकिणीलसत्कटिम्‌ ।

काशिकापुराधिनाथं कालभैरवं भजे ॥ १ ॥

(I worship Kāl-bhairav, the giver of food and of salvation, of auspicious and comely appearance, who is kind to his devotees.)

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The tufts round the shell of a cocoanut are pulled out, the nut is besmeared with chalk, and marks representing two eyes and a nose are painted on it. (Or the nut is so placed that the two spots on its surface represent eyes, and the pointed tuft of fibres between them serves the purpose of a nose). A bowl is placed on a piece of cloth stretched on a wooden stool, and the cocoanut is placed over the bowl. It is then dressed in elegant female attire, and a ghi lamp is kept constantly burning near it. This completes the sthāpan or installation of Randal Mātā. Women bow down before this representation of the Mātā, and sing melodious tunes in its presence. On the morning of the following day, the image is carried to the temple of the village Mātā, the cocoanut is deposited there, and the garments are brought home. The cocoanut is subsequently taken by the Brahman attendant of the Mātā.

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