CHAPTER V
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION IN SPACE CHAPTER - V
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN SPACE
1) SACRED TERRITORY:
Ritualization of local territory, often the village territory, is found in tribal areas. Actual demarcation of the ritualized village space takes place periodically among tribal folks in Maharashtra, e.g., on the occasion of Gao Bandhani festival. Tribal bhagat demarcates the boundary by drawing a line with his spear round the village and burying hens, eggs, lemons, haldi and kumkum along it at night in the Kolam tribal community. No one is allowed to leave the village on the day of Gao Bandhini.
In an Hindu village the caste territory, a close sub-field of circulation and interaction, is clearly discernible in the distribution of castes, and is also made explicit in caste rules. The houses of the particular caste are located at specific place in Maharashtrian villages . The houses of Brahmins are at the centre of the village Rui (Kinwat tahsil) that in turn are surrounded by houses of Marathas (Refer Fig. No. 5.1A). The low caste Hindus and Muslims live on the periphery of the same village, as expected. The tribal Bhil community has settled beyond the road in the south. The houses of Brahmins and Marathas are close to the square in the village Nivall (BK.) (Refer Fig. No. 5.IB). The houses of the low caste Hindus (Mahar, Mang, SKETCH MAP OF:VILLAGE RUI (KINWAT TAHSIL) B B rahmin
lb Mohor Maratha
K Kumbhar
Field D Dhobi
0Nhav,
C Chonn bhar
=1 Mahar
Mong SKETCH MAP_OF: VILLAGE NIWALI(BK) Su Sutar JINTUR TAHSIL) -+ + ^J B 1S%<; -*-t Bh.l T M 3 B @ r* Shop Gram PanchyGt M aruli Temple FIG. 5-1 -103- Chambar, Kumbhar) are found on the fringe of the village, whereas, those of Muslims occur towards west i.e., facing Mecca. Maruti temple is located at entrance to the village, obviously, with a religious faith that the god will defend the villagers from calamities. 2) SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS PLACES IN MAHARASHTRA: The religious spirit, patronage of Royalty, devotion of people and nature of the landform were some of the causes for the establishment of temples dedicated to various gods, goddesses and saints through the past one and a half millennium in Maharashtra. Places having the privilege of being places of birth of saints, preaching religious gospels and/or composing religious works and where they took samadhis have invariably assumed religious importance as places of worship and pilgrimage. Specific examples discussed below will bring out these facts clearly. Alandi rose into religious prominence because Dnyaneshwara composed Bhavarth^aCdeepika and took samadhi at this place. Paithan is important religiously as it is the birth place of saint Eknath where he preached Hindu philosophy. Edlabad is important as Muktabai took samadhi at this place and Haji Malangwadi is a Muslim place of pilgrimage as Haji Malang Baba has been entombed there. Moreover, the Shilahara kings, the Yadavas of Deogiri and the Maratha rulers give patronage to several important Hindu and Muslim religious places. -104- Hinduism being one of the oldest religions and also of the majority of the population, there are innumerable temples dedicated to numerous Hindu gods, goddesses, saints etc. in villages and cities. However, the important places of worship of as of the Hindus Shiva, Ganesha, Vishnu, Bhavani and Datta deserve attention. Though the Muslims, followed by Christians, ruled over this territory during the past not many significant places of worship/prayer are found belonging to Muslims and Christians in Maharashtra. A) SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF HINDU RELIGIOUS PLACES; Spatial distribution of the important places of Hindu worship, as indicated in figure No. 5.2, reveals a concentration of such centres in the western part. This can be explained on the ground that the tract from Nasik-Tryamakeshwar to Pandharpur was traversed by ancient and mediaeval highways and thus, one finds a considerable concentration of Hindu places of worship in this historical area. Paithan, Edlabad, Amravati and Kolhapur also occur along mediaeval highways. The detailed maps Nos. 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 reveal the spatial distribution of Mahadeva, Khandoba and Viththala temples in Maharashtra (Refer Table No. 5.1). The Devi cult (mother goddess) is found all over Maharashtra and might represent one of the oldest deities worshipped from the 2 Mediterranean right upto India . w H w X < oc o 1•S ?°- u I Z 1/1 10 -g S 5 1 =! < 5 UJ < Q. * z 5 g - * 5 « 3 § S J * ? *z o 4J. •*< d< ±5 • « * • « m !• f* !• t 1/1 a • O UJ _i a. 0 -< 1 4 1 I 1 1— UJ oi — >> 0 0 1 • • ,- O < *• CD ' £ I O • • UJ •'5 * X O < • z: 1 *j\ 0 a. _c AH A _) Z Q. • - >• £ 51 LU JO a, -0 1— • • • • • • • • f - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • * • • • • • • • • 1? V/ • • • • • • • 9 f • • • -105- Mahadeva is the god of the Anaryas and has been incorporated into Vedic Hinduism that has been introduced in India by Aryans. A concentration of the temples dedicated to this god is found in Marathwada region and in Pune and Ahmadnagar, the upland districts of western Maharashtra. Khandoba an Anarya god, is the Kuldaivat (family deity) of so many families and temples dedicated to him occur mostly in basins of the rivers Bhima/ Neera, Krishna, Manjra and a few in Godavari valley. There are two or three of them along Arabian sea coast and almost none in north and eastern parts of Maharashtra. This shows that southern and central Maharashtra have much in common with Dravidian (non-Aryan) culture of the south. The inscriptional records of Pandurangapalli, i.e., Pandharpur go back nearly to 6th and 12th century respectively and the Varkari cult goes back to 13th century in Marathi litera- 3 ture . There are small temples of Viththala all over Maharashtra. A concentration of these temples is found in Ratnagiri, Raigad and Thana, the coastal districts of Maharashtra. They all were built after the famous temple of Viththala at Pandharpur. Several shrines dedicated to Viththala occur outside Maharashtra along routes traversed by Maratha armies and places established by them as capitals. General significance and location of representative places have been indicated below, for purpose of enhancing understanding. -106- i) KOLHAPUR: The city of Kolhapur is situated on the high bank not fdr away from the ford, on the river Panchaganga . The city of Kolhapur a class I settlement, enjoys a central position between the rugged terrain of the Western Ghats to the west and rolling plain in the east. Recent excavations at Brahraapuri have revealed that "a city of well-built brick houses stood on the banks of the Panchanganga river, when the Satavahana Emperor, Gautamiputra Satkarni ruled in the Deccan about A.D. 106-130" 5. The beginnings of this city were probably laid in the preceding one or two centuries. The important old road from Bijapur to the sea coast passed through Kolhapur. As a religious centre, Kolhapur is known as the Dakshin Kashi (Banaras) or the Kashi of the south, the ancient temple of Mahalaxmi being the main attraction. Mahalaxmi of Kolhapur is one of the four most important and popular deities of Maharashtra. The temple attracts a large congregation of devotees during nine day festival of 'Navaratra' preceding Dasara festival. Females visit the shrine during Navaratra and on Tuesdays and Fridays of the year on religious ground. ii) TULAJAPUR: Tulajapur is a town of Medium size and is situated on the western fringe of the Balaghat plateau. Tulajapur, however, is known for the sacred temple of goddess Bhavani whose antiquity -107- goes back upto 13th century A.D. . it is this goddess, the Kulswamini of Maharashtra, who is believed to have rewarded Chhatrapati Sivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, with the legendary Bhavani sword and inspired him to carve out the Maratha kingdom. Two fairs are held in honour of the goddess every year; one by the end of September or beginning of October and the other in the month of April. iii) TRYAMBAKESHWAR: Tryambakeshwar, the municipal town, is located at the base of the eastern spur of the Sahyadris. The Brahmagiri hills (Anjaneri range) surrounds the town on three sides and on the fourth side i.e. north side, there is the Neela hill. Nivrittinatha 7 samadhi is said to be about 700 years old . This place has acquired considerable religious importance due to the occurence of Mahadeva temple and Nivrittinatha' s samadhi. Two fairs are held every year at Mahadeva temple; one on Kartika full moon day and the other on Magha vad chaturdashi or the great shivaratri day. Another large fair is held at Samadhi temple of Nivrittinatha on Pausha Vad. 11 as he took samadhi on this day. iv) JEJURI: Historically Jejuri is an old place located along mediaeval highway to Bijapur. Due to its location along highway it was visited by passing Hindu and Muslim armies during the past. The temple of Khandoba, therefore, occurs on a small hill and is -108 duly fortified. It is popularly recognised as god of Dhanagars (shepherds), who occur in the droughtprone tract of Maharashtra in large number. Jejuri is located in Kama river valley and is not far off from the tip of spur on the top of which Kadepathar is located. It has been popular religious place over at least past thousand years . Khandoba of Jejuri, is one of the four important gods and goddesses worshipped in Maharashtra. Annual fairs are held at Jejuri at four times in a year. The Margashirsha fair (from Margashirsha Sud. 1 to 6) is the most important among them. v) PANDHARPUR: Pandharpur occurs at the junction of old trade routes and, therefore, had active links with Solapur, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Alandi and many other places during the historical past. It is situated on the right bank of the Bhima river, the main tributary of the Krishna. The city lies more or less in the centre of the Bhima and Upper-Krishna river basins, and therefore, the land around the city is fertile. The oldest mention of Pandharpur is 9 found in an inscription dating as far back as 516 A.D. . The principal deities in Pandharpur are those of Shri Viththala and his consort Rukhmani and, therefore, this place has acquired religious importance. Four fairs are held at Pandharpur annually, of which the Ashadhi fair is the largest of all. -109- B) SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS PLACES: Some sacred places belonging to Muslims and Christians are also found in the study area (Refer Table No, 5.2 and Fig. No. 5.6). The important places of Muslim fairs occur at such mediaeval centres that were close to the seats of Muslim power. Thus, the location of Muslim shrines at Aurangabad, Ahmadnagar, Parbhani, Miraj and Thana can be explained in this way. Those at Amravati, Buldhana, Greater Bombay, Aurangabad and Ahmadnagar are also along mediaeval routes. The important places of Christian worship (church) are found at Bandra and Borivali in Greater Bombay district. Due to the first arrivals of Christian missionaries in Bombay island, their early locations occur in coastal region and western Maharashtra. A considerable number of churches, therefore, are found in this region. General significance and location of representative centres have been indicated below. i) MALANG-WADI: The Dargah of Haji Malang Baba stands on a hill-top at Malanggad near Brahmanwadi (Tahsil Kalyan, Dist. Thane). Haji- malang wadi is close to the old trade routes converging at the old settlement of Kalyan, a sea port. The Dargah is said to have been built by the forefathers of the present priest (Mujawar) some 775 years back . The Malanggad hill was a forest clad table land, upon which was Baba's small tomb and a few huts for -110- the use of the garrision, at that time. The fair or Urus of Haji Malang Baba, as it is called, is held in the month of Magha. The principal days are Magha sud. 14, Magha sud. 15 and Magha vad. 1. ii) BANDRA: Bandra, the suburb of Bombay, is situated at the south western end of the island of Salsette, nestling at the foot of a verdant hill. The shrine of Mount Mary is situated on a verdant hill-top, opposite the Mahim causeway and overlooking the sea, with its twin spires soaring into the sky. It presents a picture sque landmark to all who cross the dividing water between Bombay and its suburbs. The shrine (a little hermitage) was founded by the Jesuit fathers about the years 1568-1570 A.D. . The fair is held in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, and is celebrated during the Octave (Sunday to Sunday) following the feast on the 8th of September. 3) LOCAL RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS: The local religious organizations occur among all types of religions i.e. Tribal ethnic and Quasi-Universalizing religious systems. The bhagat (tribal priest) plays an important role in a tribe's ritual programme. Each tribal locality generally has a bhagat family amongst it. Hindusim, a quasi-universalizing religious system, has acquired through tradition, the caste society, and much religious ritual is performed within a caste context -111- Generally, the temple priests are Brahmins or those belonging to the respective castes in the villages of Maharashtra. Temples of Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Ganapati, Maruti, and Devi have generally a Brahmin priest. The temple of shankar (Mahadev), has generally a Jangam (Lingayat) or Gurav as a priest. Khandoba generally has Maratha or Dhangar priest. Mari Aii has a Scheduled Caste priest. Devi and Maruti also many times have priests belonging to respective castes of the villegers- The priest of the main village temple is a Balutedar i.e. a recognised hereditary servant of the village. A number of temples occur in villages, towns and cities and many of them belong to private individuals or organizations. In private temples the family has the right to appoint priests or a member of the family serves as priest Buddhist monk, Mulla Moulavi, and Clergy play significant role in Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, in their religious activities, respectively. 4) SACRED LANGUAGES: An important element in the religious organisation of space is the use of special language and scripts as the media of communication between priests and the followers. Sacred languages, used in the performance of ritual or for the transmittal of religious knowledge from one generation to another can also be 14 important integrating symbols . Religious rituals and myths 112- provide both ancient and modern instances of the way in which sacred words are believed to possess and convey power. There is still a tendency to find hidden power in swear words, curses, blessings and holy names. But with the fuller development of language, people in all parts of the world attributed sacred power not to words used in ordinary senses but rather to words that had proved to be magically or religiously effectual in securing certain desired relations with the sacred realities in the world around them. Such words and sentences were principally the province of revered old people, leader of the community, magicians and priests Sanskrit is the ancient and sacred language of India, the oldest known member of the Indo-European family, in which the extensive Hindu literature from the Vedas downward is composed Marathi is Indo-Aryan language of western and central India. Its range extends from north of Bombay down the west coast upto Goa and eastward accross the Deccan 17 to Vainganga river. Marathi is the mothertongue of Maharashtrian people. The religious books composed in Sanskrit are translated into Marathi and hymens for religious rituals are also composed in this language. Whatever date one might assign to the origin of the Marathi Language, it is much certain and corroborated by the inscriptional and other evidences, that the first Marathi sentence so far available, bear the date 983 A.D. and is found at Shravanbel-gola in Karnataka State. Before Marathi assumed a definite literay form it was in -113- use as a vehicle for writing about ordinary mundane affairs of the people e.g. religious grants or private letters or lay compositions of the people. Various saints have made significant contribution to religious literature through Marathi literature. Pali, the sacred language to Buddhist, is a middle Indo- Aryan language of North Indian origin. On the whole, Pali seems to be closely related to old Indo-Aryan Vedic and Sanskrit diarlects but is apparently not directly descended from either of these. Its use as a Buddhist canonic language came about because Buddha opposed the use of Sanskrit, a language of the learned, as a vehicle for his teachings, and encouraged the use 19 of vernacular dialects . Pali eventually became a revered language of holy book i.e. Tripitaka. Quran is composed in Arabic language and it became the religious language of the Muslim community. That is how the occurrence of madrasas giving instruction in Arabic languages be explained in Muslim community. 5) POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND RELIGIONS: The geographic shape of political organizations and of political fields of force is exerting increasing effect on the human characteristics of place. The relationship between religious systems and political organizations thus,constitutesa significant area of enquiry in the geography of religions. -114- A) THEOCRACY: In a theocracy, religious organization provides the machinery of government and exerts preponderant political power 20 In Islam, the early state organization derived validity from the relationship of ruler to the founder of the religion, Mohammad. The Caliph - the title signified that he was a successor to Miahammad - was more than a secular ruler 21 • Akbar, the Emperor, was founder of a new religion known as Din-i-Ilahi, that sought to integrate the ideals from Hinduism and Islam. Throughout history the religious power and political power went hand in hand. In fact, acquisition of political power depended upon the hold on the religious groups. B) RULERS AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS'. The kings played an important role in the diffusion of religious systems and establishment of religious sacred structures in Maharashtra. Detailed information in this regard is given in Chapter Th'ihd and Fourth, respectively. The following letter from the annals of Indian history speaks for itself regarding the views of alien ruler regarding religion in relation to the local people. (Bombay Factory's letter dated 15th Dec. 1673 to the East India Company, U.K.)2 2 . "We can supply Bombay's guns to Shxvajx -115- but it may enrage the Mughal Emperor. Your direction to translate the Ten Commandments and the principles of Christianity in the local language and spreading them and encouraging people to convert are important. We will make every effort to implement them whenever we get a chance. However/ since we have pledged to respect all the religions, the population is increasing on the island and, in case the local people suspect any deviation from this position, it may lead to undesirable results. Therefore, the efforts of conversion have to be done covertly". As regards the approach of the Muslim rulers, it may oe sufficient to say that they made every effort to destroy the Hindu shrines and convert the local population to Islam by hook or crook during over five hundred years of their rule in Maharashtra, and innumerable references of such acts are found in history. For analysing the impact of various religions on the move ment of population, the study of religious fairs is important. An attempt has been made therefore, to throw light upon the spatial dimensions of important religious fairs in Maharshtra in the following chapter. -116- REFERENCES 1. Kankure K.B. (1986) "MaJtaTthwada : A study in settlement Geography", Ph.D. Thesis, Submitted to the University of Foona, Pune, p. 87-88. i 2. Karve, Dr. (Mrs) Iravati (1968), "Maharashtra land and its people", Bombay, Directorate of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State, p. 184. 3. Ibid. p. 188. 4. Malshe P.T. "Kolhapur - A study in urban Geography, Ph.D. Thesis, Poona University, p. 13. e 5. Kolhapur District Gazetter. Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, 1966, p. 849. 6. Khare G.H. (1958) "Maharashtrachi char daivate (Marathi)" Khare G.H. (Publisher), Sadashiv Peth, Pune 2, p. 183. 7. Census of India 1961, Volume X, Maharashtra, Part VTI-B, Fairs and Festivals in Maharashtra, Govt. Central Press, Bombay, p. 99. 8. Khare G.H. (1958), op. cit. p. 170. 9. Deleury G.A. (1960), "The cult of Vith-oba", Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute, Poona, p. 24. 10. Thane District Gazetteer, Government of Maharashtra, 1982, Bombay, p. 1022. 11. Gracias F.H. (1964), "Behold All Generations", Examiner Press, Fort, Bombay I., p. 22. -117 Sopher D.E. (1967), "Geography of Religions", Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., p. 59. Karve, Dr. (Mrs.) Iravati, op. cit. pp. 187-88. Sopher D.E. (1967), op. cit., p. 71. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 16, Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., William Benton Publisher, Chicago, 1974, p. 126. The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. IX, 1933, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, p. 99. The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. VI, op.cit, p. 596. Maharashtra State Gazetteer, Language and Literature, Directorate of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State, 1971, p.9. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. VII, p. 695. Sopher David E. (1967), op. cit. p. 72. Ibid. p. 73. Apte D.V. and Oturkar R.V. (Ed.) (1941), Sadhan Parichay OR Maharashtra-cha-patraup Itihas, Pune, p. 27 (Marathi).