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PRIMAL ELEMENTS : THE ORAL TRADITION

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D. R. Purohit, Poornanand & Richa Negi

The folk beliefs of Garhwal, on the basic constitution of man, differ from the Pauranic tradition. Two origin myths of Garhwal narrate the constitution of man and the cosmos. The first myth, found in Lata village on China border in the lap of Nanda Devi range, is the most plausible of all Nanda myths of Garhwal.

According to this myth, in the beginning there was only water, and water everywhere — having an a priori existence. From the whirls of water originated Shakti, the goddess. She longed for a companion, and started churning the waters. First came up twelve seeds of grain, then twelve species of grasses and plants which were kept safe in patal Lok, the underworld. Next came up the Kapila cow, then Kalp Vriksha, Dev Kanya, the pitcher of nectar, and the pitcher of poison. It was followed by Brahma. The Goddess wanted to woo him as her husband, but he refused saying that he was borne of her. Then came Vishnu, who also rejected her on the same grounds. She then rubbed her thighs, and out came Ishwar Raja, Siva. Siva also rejected her prayer, but with a concession that they could marry after an interval equal to twelve generations. Shakti became so infuriated on his refusal that she spit upon his thighs and up grew his genital from there. It continued growing up to sky with such a speed that the Goddess had to stop it by creating dense smoke around and above it. It stopped but the sweat which seeped down in the process gave birth to two cells of algae on the right and left of the genital. The cells were broken and inside them were found two frogs, Dendkhi and Mendkhi. The frogs started woozing out saliva at an enormous speed, giving birth to bubbles. The goddess then created a fish of silver, put life into it and asked it to break open the bubbles. Out of many bubbles broken, the two bubbles revealed two celestial beings, Nal and Nalini, the brother and the sister. In order to test their celestialness, she threw upon them her agni-patt sara (the fire cloth), and hasanda jyundal (smiling sacred rice). The test was successful.

Nal and Nalini grew as adolescent. But they started having an amorous relationship. The goddess then separated and sent them to far north and south. There they planted their incestual sin upon the cows, buffaloes, wild animals, birds and natural vegetation. The remaining sin was left upon a stone. After twelve years they returned and decided to marry. Nalini started bearing children now.

When the first child was born, it slipped to Naglok and got transformed into various parts of Naglok. Its head was transformed into sky; its eyes, the stars; its bones, mountains and valleys; and its flesh, the soil.

The same was repeated with the second issue which slipped into Martya Lok. There Nal found that Ishwar Raja was the king. Ishwar Raja loved to have human beings as his companions/subjects. Therefore Nal wanted to create man. He first tried to make the body of man with various metals, but failed. Ultimately, he made it of ashes, phlegm, dust, and mud and succeeded. But the man would not hear. So ears were planted on his body. Many words were tried to get a response from this man. At last he answered to the word ann, food. Nal thus created everything that was needed for human existence — grains, oxen, fire, wind, cow, sleep, measurements, insects, etc.

The third issue was lost into Swarg Lok, the ether, which was ruled by Anchali Raja; Nal created nine planets, yagya, etc.

In this way the myth provides explanation for every object of the universe. But it does not explain the constitution of the human soul and the five bhutas separately. On the basis of the myth and popular beliefs and practices, the following points have been explained.

The Gross and Subtle

Folk myths of Garhwal nowhere give the mathematical details of the constitution of each bhuta (elements of nature). However, a recognizable pattern of the gross and subtle is found in the form of the concrete matter and the all powerful souls of gods, goddesses, man, animals and birds. All such souls are believed to be the subtle forms of the pancabhutas. Finding expressions in their human vehicle, they assume all powers of a gross form. The case of ran bhuta (soul of man dying at battle), and gharya bhuta (soul of a man dying prematurely with wishes left unfulfilled) is an evidence.

Thus all Bhumyals, Bagdwal, Latu, Heet, Khetrapal, Bheldeo, are the subtle forms of earth. All goddesses and Dropadi, Jakh, Narsingh are the subtle forms of fire. Bayal, an invisible procession of divine spirits represents air. Shankar and Nad-Budh Bhairav are the subtle forms of sky as they are the presiding deities of dhol, Garhwali folk drum. The myth of the dhol also says that in Dwapar, Vam Dass Drummer of Mandhata had a dhol called gagan, sky. Chhaya is the soul of water.

Characteristic Features

The beliefs of the folks of Garhwal about the cosmos and the human world are strongly patterned. There is incest among the human, animal and vegetal world because Nal and Nalini did it first. Ishwar Raja’s agreement with Shakti is the cause of not marrying into the same clan for at least twelve generations. Strikingly, not a single act of the universe exists which has no explanation in the myth.

When souls of gods and goddesses are invited to the community, they are given a gross forms of ensigns animated with the help of the following: sacred ashes of the shrines of Trijugi-Narayan and Kalimath (fire), soil of the all sacred shrines, like Tholingmath, Mathyana, etc., and soil under the bed of a lion (earth), water from Ganga at Hardwar and Vasudhara, Gangotri, Yamunotri, etc. (water). The sky element is omnipresent in the form of aerophonic and membranophonic instruments. Besides, there is a practice of fire and water rituals. Jal Jatra (water procession), is a common ritual of tree worship. The bonfire in the dance arena is for ritual worship, and is later used as a test for the powers of gods who jump into it for the purpose. In profane rituals, the use of all four elements is a must without which the spirits cannot be aroused.

Following the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts thesaurus project, a number of words concerning the five elements have been collected for understanding the folk aesthetics of Garhwal. Since the work is still in progress, I have presented in the Appendix, by way of example, a few related words, such as smell (an attribute of earth), sound (an attribute of sky), burning (an attribute of fire), etc.

The Garhwali dialect, according to Grierson, is a later growth of Khash or Darad language (Linguistic Survey of India, 1914). Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee in the Origin and Development of Bengali Language also supports Grierson’s view. This view was held for a long time till Govind Chatak came up with a more convincing theory in this Garhwali Bhasha, Aik Bhasha Shastriya and Vyakaranic Adhyayan (1959), where he propounds that Garhwali dialect originated from Shorseni Apabhransh.

Nothing has so far been written on the folk aesthetics of Garhwal. While serious efforts have been made on the dictionary of Garhwali words. The first work of Jazat Chand Ramola, considered to be comprehensive, is available only with ‘a’ and 'aa'. Next, the dictionary prepared by late Baldev Prasad Nautiyal could print only 'a' and 'aa' alphabets. This work is still thought to be the most comprehensive and authentic. Unfortunately it is still lying unpublished in the custody of his son. The only dictionary which has so far been published is by the late Jay Lal Verma’s Garhwali Bhasha ka Shabdkosh (1982), published posthumously.

Since all critical works on folklore of Garhwal have been either in Hindi or English, no pattern of poetics in folk idioms has emerged so far. The scholars have only been using the tenets of Sanskrit poetics to the folk literature. However, the corpus of this folklore is so rich with aesthetic words, motifs, symbols, metaphors, idioms, proverbs and mythic structures that a sustained and concentrated effort alone will be able to document it completely.

This chapter has only tried to collect random words under the following broad categories : mythopoetic, sensory, figurative and emotive.

The first characteristic feature of aesthetic words and idioms of Garhwal is its synthetic quality. It suggests its growth from the intimate interaction of the humans with the objects of nature. Still holding the passion and energy of natural symbols, just word or expression is capable of drawing a complete metaphor. Thus a sensitive being is a kafuwa shareel, like the consciousness of a kafee bird, and a heart is a neeli paraan, the heart of a neeli bird.

The second feature is the multiplicity of synonyms, homonyms and homographs. For example, there are scores of words for a single expression of smell:

kikran is burning of woollen stuff.

kutran is burning of cotton.

kumran is burning of human hair.

kaunkhan is smell of rotting of grains.

khikraan is burning of chilly.

chiraan is smell of urine.

bhujyaan is smell of roasting grains.

kachyaan is smell of half-cooked things.

mankhyaan is smell of humans.

The same richness is found for the expressions of temperature, taste, touch and sound. Dozens of words are used for various sounds:

araat is sound of being smothered.

kaklaat is sound of noise.

kanaat is sound of light groaning.

kiraat is sound of crying of a baby in pain.

kilkanu is sound of shrieks.

khaklat is sound of water.

khikchaat is sound of free laughter.

gablaat is sound of gutteral speech.

gamgyaat is sound of fast water current.

gumnaat is sound of whispers.

ghungyaat is sound of fast wind or engine.

Homonyms are also found in plenty. The word bathaun is used for air, telling, talks and a vegetable.

The most striking feature is the use of motifs in structural unit of the sentences. The motifs work with force and efficacy on the reader/audience. These words serve the purpose of imparting an aura of the past to the present in rituals and dance and in mythifying the present.

rui ki gholyansi, sutalya doodh : coziness of cotton, milk feeding with pot

chalaunya si teer, pathaunya si beer : like a ready arrow, and ready warrior

wonsi ku jharwalu — bata ku gadhwalu : flapper of dew and pioneer of journey

mati jaise ann — dhungyun jaise dhann : grains plenty as soil and riches plenty as stones

alu khaye mass — chhale peene khoon : ate hot flesh and drank unclotted blood

rang si dhalaki — fool si alasi : transformed like a colour and withered like a flower

chaukhamba tiwari — chhatish awash : an arched palace and multiple of chambers

bara gaun tai lagai dheet — bhanja tai lagai peeth : feast dozen villages and discard your own nephew

A major portion of the words is onomatopoetic. The sound of the words brings in the association of the theme. Words like humankar, dumankar, jalankar, udankar, are redolent of the sounds of Vedic mantras.

Mythopoeic

Figurative

jealous

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