The politics of ghosts

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

In the Vedas, we find the Aryans referring to celestial beings or Deva, and to ancestors or Pitra. Food is offered to both. The Deva are offered food facing the eastern direction, the Pitra are facing the southern direction. The Devas are venerated in spring and summer when the days are going longer and warmer while the Pitra are associated with the darker and colder half of the year when the sun is moving in the southern direction.

The non-Aryan people of India approached death and ghosts in a very different way. The Harappans seemed to fear the dead. They cremated them or buried them in special zones outside the settlement. At Stone Age sites, the dead were buried in and around their homes, sometimes in large pots, along with a few funerary offerings, such as jewellery, jars and tools of their trade. On top of it, they would place large stone mounds, which are called megaliths, which are found in the Deccan region.

Over time, these megaliths were replaced by finely carved hero stones (vir-gal) of men and women who died violently, defending land and cattle from marauders and wild animals. There were also saint stones (nishidhi) to mark spots of holy acts such as death by fasting, and sati stones commemorating women who immolated themselves on the funeral pyres of their husband.

The spirits of the dead people were considered to be powerful, and these spirits are channelized during special ceremonies by special groups of people, who are associated with singing, dancing, playing drums and going into trance. From this community, we get practices of invoking the dead heroes and gods, such as the Bhuta Kola performances of southern Karnataka and the Theyyam performances of Northern Kerala. Similar practices are also found in other parts of India, including far away Himachal Pradesh, where, according to some people, the most powerful village god, called Mahasu Devta, is a deified ancestor.

Now, across India, the people who channel ancestor gods through their bodies, and resolve disputes of people are often considered to be low born and impure and untouchable in the caste hierarchy. By contrast, the Brahmin priests, who shun death and see it as polluting, are considered high born and pure.

How did this happen?
It is known that Brahmins migrated to south India from the Gangetic plains carrying Vedic culture. In Vedic death rituals, the Brahmin would perform rituals to help the dead spirit (preta) move away to the land of the dead and become an ancestor (pitr). He would come to visit earth only during monsoon season, when the sun moves in the southern direction. Hence rituals like pind-daan (feeding the dead) and kartik dev-diwali, involving lighting lamps for ghosts, are performed at this time.

The Vedic ritual is said to help the dead participate in the wheel of rebirth, rather than stay stuck as ghosts in the land of the living. As per Vedic lore, the living have to produce children to repay debt to ancestors. By these beliefs and practices, Brahmins were countering monastic orders (who did not want to marry) and non-Aryan communities (who worshipped dead ancestors). All this played a key role in the Brahmin ascension to power.

The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com