(Notes for an interpretation of Iyothee Thassars conception of the Tamil folk religious practices G.

. Aloysius) Introduction & Context This presentation is about a systematically conscious and largely coherent interpretation and intervention in the folk religio-ritual practices of the Tamil universe during the latter half of Colonialism by an insider-participant seriously committed to the process of emanicipation of his fellowmen as well as socio-moral reconstruction of the larger society. Iyothee Thassar (18 1!1"# was a Tamil savant$ %iddha medical practitioner$ social worker$ &ournalist$ modern 'uddhist$ rationalist and a humanist ideologue from the mass perspective$ articulating solely in one of the most important people(s languages of the Indian subcontinent$ Tamil. )ngaging himself with the whole range of colonialist-nationalist discourses of the crucial period of the early twentieth century through the columns of his weekly$ unfortunately short-lived (seven years# &ournal Tamilan (originally Oru Paisa Tamilan#$ this *organic intellectual( attempted to bring in a third and new dimension to the contemporary controversies through a happy combination of the several though interconnected spheres of his native knowledge and practice on the one hand and the emerging colonial modern inventions and discoveries on the other. +reliminary to the study of what he thought of the specific religio-cultural folk practices of the Tamil region$ certain introductory remarks of the comple, conte,t of his intervention both ob&ective and sub&ective are in place. The first general point to be made is about the times. The colonial period of the Indian history with all its ambivalences and ambiguities is when the subcontinent was coa,ed into modernity. -odernity as a socio-philosophical ambience had started its ine,orable encompassment of the affective-ideational universe of the subcontinent through multiple and even contradictory ways evoking inevitably similarly plural and more often than not$ contesting responses among the differentially developed social groups. To limit the story to the e,periences of the dispossessed masses$ two aspects of this interactive phenomenon have been important. /ne is the slow and tortuous

installation of the modern institutions based on the principle of rule of law with its underlying logic of social e0uality1 and two is the personal life and behaviour patterns of the individual foreigners which despite being racist towards and e,ploitative of the natives in general were innocent of the specific e,pressions of the invidious caste distinction and discrimination plaguing the mass of people on a day- to-day basis. These two$ among several other related e,periences had sparked off a plethora of imaginative-intellectual as well as concrete-social activities on the part of the deprived masses. Iyothee Thassar(s articulations and actualisations need first of all to be situated within this emergent modernity. The second aspect of the conte,t important for our purpose is the realignment of social forces brought about by the collaborative Colonialism. In concrete$ this meant the unprecedented rise$ spread and consolidation of the 'rahmanical power in structure as well as culture under the tutelage of the modernising colonial power. 'rahminism became dominant both in culture and economy. 2ong before the modern historians and others pointed out this fact$ Iyothee Thassar and also several other non-brahmanical ideologues had begun to grapple with the various aspects of this new phenomenon. Iyothee Thassar was of course one of the few who have elaborated on its religio-cultural dimensions. The corollary of this was the subordination and suppression almost to the point of elimination of the religio-cultural sub&ectivity of the subalternised masses. This indeed is the vorte,t from within which well up much of Iyothee Thassar(s insights and critical comments. The third aspect of the conte,t is sub&ective that is the +undit(s own specific location and emancipatory engagement as an insider-intellectual. This engagement had been at two levels. one$ towards re-conceptualisation and reconfiguration of an alternative social ordering1 and two$ towards a specific empowerment of the subalternised caste groups. %uch a vantage point gives him a broad view in terms both of time and space and also to muster all his different sources in order to net in the ma,imum by way of e,planation. 3hile such a passionate and imaginative enterprise does show up in certain e,cesses as

it usually does in the case of most original works of the kind$ the academic veracity of the main thrust of the argument instead of getting weakened$ indeed becomes forceful and also convincing in the main. It is necessary to keep this emancipatory tra&ectory constantly in mind while reading the +undit(s work. 4dded to this is the fact that the account is that of an enlightened insider who stubbornly refuses to brush aside the past and tradition as most of the better-known contemporaries have done but insist on interpreting them critically for the sake of establishing a continuity in modernity. The Festival of Goddess Mariamman in the Tamil Region The take off point here in the course of e,ploration of Iyothee Thassar(s understanding of Tamil folk-religious practices is his *e,planation( of the annual -ariamman festivals. The enormous significance that the goddess -ariamman holds in the lives of the multitude of the subalternised and also not so subalternised castes of the Tamil ethnicity has been duly taken note of ever since the time of 'arthelomew 5ieganbalg through 6.7. +ope and 6ustav /ppert towards the turn of the nineteenth century and also by modern historians and ethnographers. -ost of these are minutely empirical and they all agree among themselves in the matter of broad description. %uch empirical descriptions of the annual festival of -ariamman are certainly not new to most people in this audience. The point of referring to them is the contrast they all provide to the interpretative te,t offered by Iyothee Thassar and the vista of controversy opened out through it both at the micro and macro levels. )xplanation of Remembering the mman in the Month of di 4bout a thousand and five hundred years ago 8ing %undaravagu of +unnadu of the %outhern part of the 'haratha continent had a girl-child named 4mbika. 9rom a very tender age 4mbika was meditatively inclined and having heard about the holy life and wondrous activities of the %akya 6urunathar 'uddha$ she was engaged in ceaseless concentration of mind in an attempt to follow him and his ways. 3hen she came of age she approached her father and e,pressed her desire to become

a nun in the monastery. 4ccordingly having completed the formalities necessary for the situation (that is$ a formal marriage ceremony with her maternal uncle# with the permission of the Samana monks became a bhikkuni in the women(s viyaram of 7mala :adu. 3ith singleness of purpose as a bhikkuni$ 4mbika went through the sadhanas and studies and realised the inner truth. %ubse0uently she used to sit under the neem tree opposite the viyaram and teach the young and old the truths of the tripitakam in simple and easy style as trivasakam. 4s she was known the teacher and announcer of pitakam she was called the pidari. +eople also called her vembadiambal. In those days the country known as :agai :adu underwent severe drought$ with no rains and poisonous bacterias called samalai emerged causing widespread epidemic-mari of vaisuri or small po, and poisonous dysentery. This put the entire population both the human and animal to untold misery and suffering. 9ear gripped the people and having heard of this holy lady they rushed to the amman seated in the shade of neem tree across the viyaram of 7malam$ hoping that she might suggest some remedy. The amman through the power of her internal eye ; Ulvizhi- realised the truth and e,plained to the people that because you have filled your heart with feelings of revenge$ greed$ &ealousy and ill-will instead of compassion and aram$ the rains have failed and the poisonous bacterias have emerged. Therefore even now repent$ removing the ill-will from your mind$ cleanse your heart1 and along with this$ clean your houses and streets1 smoke your houses and everywhere else with mattipal and camphor1 tie festoons of neem leaves on your door frames and entrances1 boil the grains without salt and distribute them to the poor$ also gift to the poor unboiled rice flour and gruel. If you do all these$ on account of your clean hearts$ physical hygiene and also the flavour of neem as well as the smoke of camphor and avri$ the samalai worms will recede and the epidemic mari will disappear. The hard-pressed people of :agai :adu$ when they carried out the advice of the amman to the letter$ the poisonous bacterias indeed receded$ mari abated and peace returned to the country. The petty kings and other people of the area who witnessed the dramatic abatement of the mari at the word of

the amman became &oyous and surrounded her celebrating in gratitude by offering flowers. 4mman then instructed them in moral behaviour through such words so as everybody from the young to the old could understand. These instructions showing the way to :irvana came to be known as Tirivasa am$ !udurai$ Gnanakkural and "athinakaranda am. 4mman also e,plained that what has been taught by the Adiyun kadavul is the original teaching$ and those by <alluva :ayanar$ the secondary and the others including what she herself has taught are dependent instructions. Then 4mman e,plained that wherever and whenever rains fail and heat and humidity increases thirteen kinds of po,es and three kinds of dysenteries appear on account of the spread of minute worms called samalai which are invisible to human eye. In order to do away with these worms houses and streets are to be smoked with the smoke of neem and auri leaves and also camphor and mattippal. 4nd since the worms invade all living beings through nose and mouth the grains are to be eaten boiling them without salt and mi,ing them with neem leaves. Through this the worms fall off and body heat is abated and thus the mari disappears. The people listening to this in gratitude celebrated here as !ariyatthal that is amman who con0uered the mari. 4fter a long period of ceaseless instructions to the crowds of people who flocked around here in the different aspects of seelam and thanmam and the various kinds of nonbu for the control of mind$ tongue and senses$ 4mman sat in peace$ closed her eyes and attained nirvana on a po#rnami %unday the eighteenth day of the 4di month. The gathered population was overcome with emotion$ celebrated here in different names and installed her as the kulathevadhai and ramathevadhai and also $avalthevadhai. %he was celebrated as 4vvai the all knowing one$ +acchaiamman as the young one$ <adivudaiamman$ the beautiful one$ -anonmani$ the treasure house of all noble 0ualities$ <elkanni$ the one with sharp and shining eyes like a <el$ <ani as she could recite moral poetry$ %arasvati she had brought under control herself$ Thiripurandagi as she had con0uered hate$ anger and lust$ 4rachelvi as she preached the thanmam of the 'uddha$ 'agawati as she removed darkness and spread light$ and 4didevi being the first one among women to show the way. The people also built several viyarams in here

memory. If the viyaram was built in the moiddle of a street then she was called Thiruveedhi amman$ if on the boundary )llamman$ if in a delta area Thirukka=hiamman$ if in a forest land Thulirkanakaththamman$ if in a +almyra grove 8arukkamman$ if in a flower garden +un&olaiamman and if near a military settlement +alayaththamman. Invariably however$ wherever they built the viyaras$ they also planted togther pipal tree in memory of the 'uddha and neem tree in memory of the amman. )ver since the amman reached parinirvana every year on the powrnami day of the 4di month the people remembered and celebrated her. Ten days before the occasion the villagers stopped going away out of the village and remained at home taking care that the Pan%hapadha am ; murder$ theft$ lust$ consumption of li0uor and lying ; does not approach anybody. They also wore a $appu or $an anam in order to remind themselves or their resolve to stay in the righteous path. In this way the festival period was one of renewed vigour in the memory of the instructions given by the amman and enthusiasm for the moral observance. /n the tenth day all of them cooked rice in new mud pots and everybody(s rice was piled up together in a single place and the poor were fed$ they also floated clothes and other useful household articles in the river Caveri for the benefit of the poor. 3hile the glory of the amman spread all over the Tamil Country among the kings and farmers$ she was particularly remembered and celebrated in her own place 7mbalagramam or <anduvancherri and also in :agai :adu by installing <elangkanni viyaram. In these places amman festivals were celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion. +eople who suffered from specific illness affecting body or mind came to realise that due to their own non-control of their senses they have caused sufferings to others because of which the evils have returned to them. To help them in this realisation and strengthen them in their resolve to control their senses in future they pierced their tongues and mouths with silver or gold wires during the celebrations and then offered them to the ascetics of the viyaram. They also did an aprathakshanam to strengthen their resolve not to commit any of the panchapadhagam. 4nd they cooked and ate together with no distinction or discrimination and liberally contributed to the welfare of the

poor. They also had the custom of vowing to dedicate the sick children to the propagation of the thanmam when they are cured of their mortal illnesses. Thus in the days of the kingdom of 'uddha thanmam there prevailed moral-spiritual inspiration$ belief-behavioural consensus and non-descriminate unity. >owever with the invasion and the intervention of the mile%h%has from the northern boundary things have changed and distortion set in. thanmam declined$ intentions distorted$ festivals lost their substance and meaning$ and the unity and consensus among the people were shattered. 4nd the thanma leaders were driven away$ viyarams were captured$ pure$ wholesome and moral-spiritual practices were distorted in several ways but particularly in the direction of ritualisation and magicalisation. Those who persisted in the original thanmam despite heavy odds and pressure from the mile%h%has$ were persecuted and suppressed in all possible ways but the worst of them being degradation of the erstwhile moral-spiritual leaders into low-born and untouchable castes. In the specific case of the amman worship$ the moral-historical and human evolution of the bhikkuni-instructor 4vvaiyar into a peace-loving$ compassionate and remover of suffering goddess 4mbikapati amman was lost. The intervention of the northern mile%h%has in the worship changed its entire character. >er annual remembrances for the sake of strengthening one(s own individual and collective resolve to follow the righteous path got collapsed into worship of fearful goddesses of kannaka +arameswari and 8ali for the purpose of appeasing them as well as appealing for favours. The goddess of cure and dukka nivarana became the goddess of pestilence and revenge. The custom of offering?sharing coconut$ beaten rice and banana was changed to bloody and gruesome slaughter of animals precious for a draught economy. The noble tradition of piling up everybody(s cooked rice into a single kumbam and all including the poor sharing indiscriminately from that single pile has been substituted by fragmented and separate eating by the different castes. The symbolic act of punishing oneself and one(s own senses for the offences they have committed and of strengthening one(s resolve not to veer away in future from the righteous path$ has been elaborated into a gruesome and

bi=arre practices of meaningless and ritualistic religion by themselves. 3ith the detachment of historical personage from religion$ loss of e,istential meaning to ritual celebrations$ and the caste-division and degradation of the practitioners$ the popular religion of the Tamils ceases to be the e,pression of autonomy and identity and so sub&ectivity of the participants. The historical and interpretative research into the meaning of popular religion is aimed at retrieving the original inspiration if not the historically original form. In the case of the 4mman festivals$ the conclusion that Iyothee Thassar arrives at is that with the advanced stage of distortion and decay of the contemporary celebrations any attempt at restructuring them from within the current practice is not possible$ and therefore a separate attempt with fle,ible$ plural$ simple and meaningful practices e,pressive of the contemporary dilemmas and aspirations is the only way. >owever before such an attempt is even started it is necessary to understand critically how things historically came to pass. It is an a,iom with the pundit that the way of emancipation invariably lies in tracing and treading back the way of current degradation. uthentication through Cultural Intimac! %uch a functional$ summary and somewhat a bland presentation of Iyothee Thassar(s reading of the 4mman festival does not convey the impact that he succeeds in creating through his densely woven cultural te,t. The pundit consistently resorts to the popular and influential Tamil cultural ploy of philologicaletymological investigation of names and words for e,planation of material and non-material realities. 'esides$ these sciences themselves were becoming popular as tools for social sciences research. 3hile scores of e,amples could be cited easily from his writings three from his passages on 4mman would suffice. +idari is a common word used throughout the Tamil region in various conte,ts including in popular sayings. The +undit e,plains it as +itaku 4rivi meaning announcing the +itakam and the one who announces the +itakam. 8umbabisekam is another term which Iyothee Thassar e,plains as piling up of rice in a kumbam ; pile for offering?sharing. -ariattal is the most common form used for the amman. The +undit would e,plain it

as the one who cooled down ; 4atru$ the mari - the internal heat. /ne could also point out to his e,planation of the variants of the 4mman( name mentioned above. It is an une,plicitated presumption among the Tamils that most names are names with some reason behind that is they are indeed karanappeyarkal. Iyothee Thassar was also a Tamil savant. >is construction of the 'uddha and his thanmam in general and the story of amman in particular take off and move right up to the very end on the basis of liberal passages 0uoted from more than a hundred ancient and medieval Tamil te,ts$ some popular and others not so popular. The 'uddha(s teachings as they have been appropriated and transformed in this region are totally internal to its literature and culture in its growth and e,plicitation. The single most significant strategy of such a demonstration is to make the most popular and the most easily understood Tamil poet 4vvaiyar herself as the goddess -ariamman. 4s 4vvaiyar is clearly our own$ so is -ariamman and her image as the broadly 'uddhist &ukka Nivarani. Iyothee Thassar(s transformation of the moral-poet into the goddess of 4mman is certainly insightful and finds multiple resonances even if historically unauthenticated. In the popular lore 4vvaiyar is the teacher of morals$ of good and acceptable behaviour1 she also knows the medicinal properties of plants and fruits. 4ccordingly -ariamman is seen as curer of diseases and a referent of proper ways of social behaviour. The co-presence of pipal and neem trees is a common sight in the amman temples of the Tamil region and also elsewhere. Traditionally these two trees have represented the 'uddha and -ariamman respectively. Inscribing a historical (certainly not a divine# person into the very core of an acknowledgedly divine entity is central to Iyothee Thassar(s overall interpretation of 'uddhist religious philosophy and morality. @uoting profusely Tolkappium and 'eera (holium he tries to show that it is the very real men through life-long self-discipline and self-less compassion are called upon to become divinity. 4nd one in a million achieves this status. The theme of theosis is not new to several in the audience. The reinterpreted amman fits comfortably within the larger Tamil universe of folk and also kinship practices. 3hen the girl

of tender age insists upon becoming a bhikkuni against the approved custom of married women taking to asceticism$ it is her maman$ maternal uncle who goes through the ceremony of tying the tali as per local tradition to enable her to become a nun. 4gain the wearing of kappu in the festival period is still a common practice and Iyothee Thassar(s e,planation of it finds resonance with the current meaning and usuage of the term 8anganam as resolve or determination. In short the depiction of the popular Tamil poet and a moral preacher as an ascetic bhikkuni who eventually rises up to the position of the ethnic goddess of -ariamman$ makes the interpretative message of Iyothee Thassar indeed convincing and compelling. The Criti"ue and its #istorical Frame The central take off point for our +andit(s elaborate and meticulous religio-cultural hermeneutics is his criti0ue of the e,istent. that the present state of affairs in general and the folk religious practices in particular represents not the genuine$ original$ organic or autonomous. It is distortion of what once it was and also what one ought to be. The contemporary practices are not what they claim to be. They are some thing other than what appears to be on the surface. In other words the current religious practices cannot be taken for granted at their face value. 4nd this very consciousness leads one to find an interpretative e,planation as a condition precedent for a reconstruction along the presumed genuine direction. It needs to be pointed out however that criti0ue of the present as not being the genuine$ along with an e,planation was not uni0ue to Iyothee Thassar but was the prevalent sentiment among those concerned with the public issues of the day. >owever what is peculiar to the +undit was the specific vantage point from which he was articulating as well as the differential way in which he was synthesi=ing his material to find resonance among the subalternised castes of the region. Iyothee Thassar(s e,planation of the current distortion or decadence of the folk religio-cultural practices of Tamil :adu rests on double and mutually reinforcing imposition on the genuine from without. The first one takes off from the notion of

the Aravidian in contrast to that of the 4ryan which was becoming prevalent in Tamil circles ever since the times of )llis and Caldwell the +undit weaves his own intuitive web around the theme. The 4ryan?Aravidian discourse was a many layered entity. 3hile its linguistic dimension among the /rientalist scholars and its racial?racist dimensions among the ruling circles have been highlighted ever since its e,istential-casteist (or anticasteist# popular dimension particularly within its varied regional e,periences has not been paid sufficient attention to. It is this lacuna that Iyothee Thassar was e,ploring and e,ploiting. The second imposition has been less well known and much less formulated but in fact more important for the purpose on hand1 it is the overshadow of 'rahminism on %ramanism with their age-old and well recognised mutual antagonism and having competing claims to people(s allegiances. The 'rahminic?%ramanic discourse$ the best flower of %ramanism of course is 'uddhism1 however Iyothee Thassar moves back and forth from the broader notion of %ramanism encompassing a rational-liberative discourse to a narrower one of the teachingd of the >istorical 'uddha. %tudents of philosophy have noted the basic characteristics of both as religions of e,teriority and interiority or of rituality and spi-rituality respectively. The consistent contestation between the two down the religiocultural history of the subcontinent has been taken note of and elaborated only by a handful of scholars. >owever in e,plicitation of the mutations that the Tamil religious universe underwent Iyothee Thassar makes a capital use of it. The peculiarity of the +undit in handling this double imposition is to collapse one over the other in a bold stroke of insight. 4nd we have the historically formed Aravidian %ramanism overlaid by the alien and alienating 4ryan brahminism. This constitutes the historical dynamics of the distortion of the Tamil religio-cultural universe. 4t the level of the society the multitudinous occupational names of people are distorted into ascriptive caste names with a basic idea of high and low1 and at the level of the religion the internal? immanant reference or search is substituted with an e,ternally given or taken for granted.

%uch a overshadow of the Aravidian %ramanical by the 4ryan 'rahmanical in the conte,t of the religious festivals of the Tamil region to begin with changed their very meaning. 4s the +undit(s title of the various festivals shows Tamil folk festivals are +andigai and 7tsavam which he typically interprets as +andai meaning ancient eegai that is giving away$ distributing or sharing1 and utsavam means urchchagam a renenewed enthusiasm. The festival itself is a celebratory remembrance of 4mman of her moral instructions among whom e0ual consideration for one another and compassionate inclusion constitutes the most important$ it is also an occasion for the renewal and resolve to come back to and follow the righteous path. 'ut now under the shadow of 4ryan 'rahminism the reference shifts to a punishing or rewarding goddess outside of oneself and the festival is one of appealing for benefits or appeasement through bribery. The god or goddess itself from its being the historical 0uintessence of morality and perfection takes on several crude$ obscene and horrendous attributes. -eaningful$ plural and fle,ible festival practices become rigid$ monolithic and magical rites$ non-observance of which is said to bring down the wrath and whose technically correct-observance is said to deliver the desired results being even evil for one(s enemy. 2oss of e,istential meaning for the participants of the festivals e,cept as custom and tradition which cannot be abdicated is the radical change that has come over. %imultaneous to this loss of meaning is its alienation to the 'rahminical human agency which is increasingly taking over the management and interpretation of the scenario. 3ithin this new scenario$ the now subalternised lower castes or the folk are no more the sub&ect but easily become the ob&ect of manipulation of what has come to be known euphemistically as the great tradition or philosophical >induism. The central tra&ectory of Iyothee Thassar(s religio-cultural hermeneutics is this e,planation and recovery of meaning and through meaning the sub&ectivity of the masses religio-culturally but also simultaneously in the sphere of political economy. This emanicipatory endeavour of the +undit through a largely coherent and interpretative gathering up of the scattered Tamil oral and literary traditions$ folk and kinship practices and religio cultural celebratory

remembrances though addressed primarily to the subalternised communities also engages with the interpretation and reconstruction of the Tamil regional universe as well as that of the subcontinent as a whole. It is to the credit of +undit Iyothee Thassar that inspite of numerous mistakes and errors in details his broad thrusts and historical interpretations and increasingly being authenticated by researches in different spheres and disciplines.