ISSN NO.: 2321-290X RNI No. : UPBIL/2011/43595 SHRINKHLA : VOL-1 * ISSUE-2 *OCTOBER-2013 Popular Mother Goddesses of Bankura (West Bengal) : A Review Abstract The Mother Goddess cult strongly characterizes the social fabric of Bengal- ancient, medieval and modern. The religious belief of a great number of people in Bengal is mainly associated with the worship of a number of mother goddesses. The antiquity of most of these goddesses can be ascertained in the remote past. The congenial environment of Bengal in the earliest times paved the way for the emergence of these deities. The deities, which emerged primarily outside the arena of Brahmanical Hinduism, were venerated in different stages of folk life on different occasions in the district of Bankura and other parts of Bengal. At the outset, most of the folk gods and goddesses were not given due importance in the Brahmanical Hinduism. But by dint of their increasing popularity, few of these folk deities came to be gradually embraced in late Puranic literatures and Brahmanical scriptures. Nevertheless, all these folk deities are not worshipped throughout Bengal. These folk deities are either „local‟ or „regional‟. Sometimes, the worship of a particular deity is confined in a particular region or among the members of a particular caste. Keywords: Deity, Worship, Fertility, Ritual, Folk, Adore

Introduction The religion of mother Goddess exists since the dawn of civilization in India as well as in other parts of the world. Starbuck writes:

Female deities have often enjoyed the highest place among the gods. This depends upon the nature of the social organization and the respect in which women are held .Clan life in which mother is the head of the group is likely to lift the Mother Goddess into a supreme position. In fact, in every place of the world, the Mother Goddess is mainly concerned with vegetation and fertility. All over the world, the earth spirit is generally regarded as female and the presiding deities of agriculture are mainly goddesses, because the idea of fertility and reproduction is connected with woman. The fact that agriculture among primitive races was the business of women rather than of men probably meant that the village Goddesses were at first worshipped by the women rather than by the men. Briffault writes, “The identification of earth with woman pervades the thought of all stages of culture and pages could be filled with illustrations Sanjay Prasad of the universal equation”. “The mother and the soil are alike” was a Assistant Professor principle of Roman jurisprudence; and the poets express themselves in the Head Dept.of History same terms as the lawyers. In ancient India, at the wedding ceremony, the Saltora Netaji Centenary College woman is called „a seed field‟ and the priests exhort the bridegroom, Saltora- Bankura (W.B.) saying,‟ sow her with thy seed‟.‟Your women are the fields‟ says the Quran. [email protected] The identification of earth with woman implies that the functions of the earth and those of women are alike. The same preconditions which fertilize women are also thought to fertilize Mother Earth. Here references may be made of the fertility ritual which is observed by the Bengalee women on and from the seventh day of the third month of the Hindu calendar. In Bengal, it is believed that during the four days of the fertility ritual, Mother Earth menstruates in order to prepare herself for her fertility work. During this period; there is an entire cessation of all ploughing, sowing and other farm works. Widows have to undergo a number of taboos since procreation is forbidden to them. S.B. Dasgupta states regarding the popular religious cults prevailing in Bengal through the ages in this way: Bengali, along with other modern Indo-Aryan languages, grew up with the tenets of some minor religious sects, which rose mostly outside the circle of the upper class people and were characterized by a general tendency of protest against orthodox religious systems. These religious movements were sponsored by people who had no aristocracy of blood or advent age of culture and education; they rose mostly from among the ranks and preached their doctrines among the masses in their own tongue.

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There are many village deities or mother disease, Sitala, as soon as it will show a sign of Goddesses in the district of Bankura .They are Sasthi, abatement. Due to the fear and apprehension, the Sitala,Kali,Vasali,Chandi,Manasa,Bhadu,Rankini and villagers do not even mention the name of the disease others. Usually these deities have no definite image to directly and refer to it as the “grace of the mother”. As worship .Stone slabs or burnt clay horses and a guardian deity, Sitala is worshipped also for various elephants under tree symbolize the deities, purposes namely for worldly success as well as somewhere trees symbolize the deities and burnt clay offspring etc. horses and elephants are offered to them. These Kali- In Bengal as well as in the district of deities preside over the village and look after the Bankura, Kali, the black and naked Goddess is welfare of the people. generally worshipped with animal sacrifices. Kali, Some information regarding Bankura- primarily a war-Goddess not only confers victory and Bankura, the westernmost district of West success on her worshippers in the battlefield but also Bengal, is situated between 22° 38‟ and 23° 38‟north actually participates in the war to deliver the world latitude and between 86° 36‟and 87° 46‟east whenever it is oppressed by the demons. This blood longitude. It has an area of 2,621 square miles, and thirsty Goddess is worshipped as a protector deity according to the census of 2011, contains a (Rakshakali) generally on the crossroads. Traders population of 35, 96,292 persons roughly equal to the setting out on their travels made animal sacrifices to nation of Lithuania or the U.S. State of Connecticut. Kali and vowed to make more if the journeys were The district has a population density of 523 profitable. In Sudraka‟s Mrichhakatika, we have inhabitants per square kilometer. The principal civil reference to Charudatta‟s sacrifice to the Mothers at station is Bankura, situated on the north bank of the the crossroads. Dhalkisor river in 23° 14‟ N and 87° 4‟ E. On the north Vasali - Vasali, a variation of the mother and north-east, the district is bounded by the district of Goddess, Chandi and a variant of the farm, Burdwan, from which it is separated by the Damodar Bisalakshmi is generally known and worshipped in the river; on the south-east by Hooghly; on the south by district of Bankura specially at Chatna, a Block, 8 West Midnapore; and on the west by Purulia. In miles west of Bankura on Bankura –Purulia road. The shape, it resembles an isosceles triangle wedged in noted Bengali poet, Chandidas drew inspiration from between Purulia and Burdwan, with its apex nearly her worship. The name of Chatna king, Hamira Uttara opposite Raniganj, and with an irregular base line Raja (Saka 1478) is associated with the veneration of resting on West Midnapore and Hooghly. Vasali. The mother Goddess, Vasali has various other Some prominent Mother Goddesses of Bankura names such as Basali, Basuli,Bansuli, Bisalakshmi, District- Bisalmari etc. The annual worship of the Goddess is Sashti- One of the most popular mother held generally in the Bengali month of Baisakh. She is Goddesses of Bankura, Sasthi is worshipped adored in the form of songs for the welfare and well- exclusively by the woman folk. As a source of human being of the family and the whole village community. fecundity, Sasthi causes the conception of children in Various scholars such as Haraprasad Shastri women, delivers them out of their mother‟s womb considers vasali to be Vajreshwari of Buddhist safely, and protects them from all dangers and evils. Tantrism. Vasali is the village deity of various villages As the guardian-deity of children, she is worshipped in Chatna Block. Various religious „thans‟ once or twice or thrice as per conventional practice of (shrine/temple) are named her such as the family within a month of the birth of a new born Vasalitara,Vasalisthan, Vasalidanga,Vasalitala etc. child. Generally, Sasthi is worshipped on the sixth Chandi - A terrible Goddess of war is day after the birth of a newborn which is a common reflected in the character of Chandi. She stands for practice especially among the village folk of Bankura. slaying the demons. Originally a powerful tribal The village folk set the Goddess under a tree- in most Goddess, she was adopted into the Brahmanical cases, the jack fruit (a symbol of abundance because religion and identified with the Goddess dwelling in of its capacity to produce plenty of jack fruits). The the Himalayas. Many Chandis are worshipped in Goddess, generally represented by a stone, is Bengal as well as Bankura such as Olai, Dhelai, Kalai, invoked for safeguarding the mother and the child Mehai, Kulai, Khada, Mangal Vasana etc. Before their against the influence of malevolent spirits. The cowrie identification with the Great Chandi of the shell ,regarded as a symbol of the mother Goddess Markandeya Purana, they were simple local Goddess on account of its apparent similarity with the female worshipped in connection with disease and other generative organ, is used as an amulet which children troubles. Olai Chandi, the cholera mother is carry in order to protect themselves against the evil sometimes represented as wearing a gown and spirits. mounted on a horse but usually her emblem is an Sitala- The smallpox Goddess is a form of earthen pot placed under a nim tree. Her priest is Divine Mother universally adored under different generally drawn from the lower castes and her names throughout India, West Bengal and Bankura. favorite offering is a goat. Among different Chandis, From the most backward tribes and castes to the Mangal Chandi is the most important one venerated educated classes, the smallpox Goddess is much by the married women for the well-being of family. dreaded. This Goddess may either avert smallpox or Chandi Mangal Kavya written by Mukundaram, Dvija causes it. In the district of Bankura, the cult of Sitala Madhab and other poets of Medieval Bengal glorifies has its own features. When smallpox breaks out in an the importance of the Goddess. epidemic form in the villages, the villagers take the vow that they would worship the presiding deity of the 62

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Manasa - In the district of Bankura as well as some 13. O‟Malley, L.S.S.- Bengal District Gazetteers, other parts of West Bengal, Manasa is worshipped as Bankura the Goddess presiding over the snakes. The deity is 14. Risley, H.H. - Tribes and Castes of Bengal venerated by the Bagdis and Bauris by the end of 15. Sen, Priyaranjan – A Bengali Folk Song (in the August with great pomp and splendor, who claim that “Tree Symbol Worship in India” edited by it secures them immunity from snake bite. The Sankar Sen Gupta) worship of Manasa is also closely associated with 16. Starbuck – Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics fertility and reproduction. She is once again referred (ed) J.Hastings to be the bestowal of wealth as well as children. Some other names of Manasa are Visahari and Bhujangajanami Kamala. Her plant Euphorbia Neriifolia ( Sij Manasa) is planted in the courtyard during the Durga Pujo and worshipped on the occasion of the Naga Panchami. A comprehensive folk literature such as Manasa Mangal Kavya was written by the writers of Medieval Bengal such as Kanahari Dutta, Bijoy Gupta,Narayan deb etc. Bhadu - A princess of excessive goodness and beauty, this mother Goddess is worshipped in the month of Bhadra (August-September) by the people of Bauri and Bagdi castes in the districts of Purulia and Bankura. The worship consists of songs and wild dances in which men, women and children participate. Interestingly, the worship is a purely aboriginal one and the Goddess Bhadu is not recognized by the Hindus. As the Bauris and Bagdis have no priests of their own, so the women and children of each family chant songs known as Bhadugan before the idol. The worship and festival in the name of Bhadu seems to be connected with fertility rites in which virgin worship, an old world-wide practice forms an important part. In this connection, it must be noted that the devotees of the Goddess, Bhadu are the virgin and unmarried girls. Rankini - Another female deity venerated by the people of Bankura as well as East Midnapore and West Midnapore is Rankini. People belonging to both upper and lower classes of this region worship this deity for various reasons such as attaining the motherhood. Generally the deity does not have any specific image and so she is worshipped in the symbolic forms such as terracotta animal figures of horse and elephant. Animals are sacrificed to appease the deity. Medieval Bengali literatures such as Mukundaram‟s Chandi Mangal, Rupram‟s Dharmamangal and Balaram‟s Kalika Mangal refer to this deity. References- 1. Bandopadhyay, Gauri Shankar – Folk Religion and Mass Culture in Rural Bengal: Tradition and Transformation 2. Banerjee, A.K.- West Bengal District Gazetteer, Bankura 3. Bhattacharya, Ashutosh- Folklore of Bengal 4. Bhattacharya, N.N.- Indian Mother Goddess 5. Briffault , R. – The Mothers 6. Chakraborty, Chintaharan- Banglar Pal Parban 7. Das, S.R. – Folk Religion of Bengal 8. Dasgupta, S.B.- Obscure Religious Cults 9. Dikshit, S.K.-Mother Goddess 10. Jain, J.C. – Life in Ancient India 11. Maity, P.K.- Some aspects of Indian Culture 12. Maity, P.K. - Human Fertility Cults and Rituals of Bengal

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