AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF PEDDAMMA …ijmart.in/PreviousIssues/Aug 2014/19.pdf · Yogi Vemana...

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY ADVANCED RESEARCH TRENDS

ISSN : 2349-7408 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1, AUGUST 2014

AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF PEDDAMMA

DEVARA IN KURNOOL DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Dr. Yadava Raghu Academic Consultant

Dept. History & Archaeology Yogi Vemana Univeristy

Kadapa, Y.S.R. District, Andhra Pradesh.

Rayalaseema, one of the geographical units of Andhra

Pradesh, also known as Ceded Districts and comprises of the districts of Ananthapur, Kadapa, Chittoor and Kurnool. Kurnool

is the district headquarters and this district is regarded as rayalaseema mukha dwaram. It represents a typical Rayalaseema drought culture which differs from the culture of other areas of

Andhra Pradesh in many respects and as usual every district in Rayalaseema. The district derives its name from its chief town, Kurnool. The word Kurnool is a corruption of Kandenavolu, the

town of Kandena or grease1.

PHYSICAL SETTING OF KURNOOL DISTRICT

Kurnool district is situated between the northern latitudes

of 14o 54’ and 16o 18’ and the eastern longitudes of 76o 58’ and 79o 34’. It is bounded on the north by the Tungabhadra and the Krishna Rivers as well as Mahaboobnagar district, on the east by

Prakasam and Nellore districts, on the west by the Bellary district of Karnataka state and on the south by Anantapur and

Kadapa districts2. Northwest by a historical city named Adoni or

Yadava Avani at a distance of around 105 kms and within the

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district boundaries, which is also called at present the Second

Bombay.

According to the Census of 2011, Kurnool district has a population of 4, 053, 463 out of which 2, 014, 236 are women and

2, 039, 277 are men. This district occupies an area of 17, 758 Sq.

Km. and has its density 2303.

It is known that India means Rural India. But radical

changes have taken place in Indian society and culture due to Modernization and IT revolution of 21st century. Gradually the boundaries between the urban and rural cultures are

disappearing. This ultimately leads rural people to forgetting the historical and cultural life of the rural India in course of time the

original village and its identity are deteriorating4. Even though

villages also evidence for some backwardness, superstitions and traditions, it is essential to record the rural culture to pass it for the future forth coming generation to know how it was in the

past.

The present study aims at recording the current ritualistic practices of it. The documentation of oral historical myths

provides a picture of the economic hardships, fears and concerns of rural life of the Andhra Pradesh. The significance of the present study is an attempt to analyses the Peddamma Devara

and deals with traditions which followed at the time of Devara, which has been continuing in this district from ancient times and which is also going to decline in the present globalised scenario.

The study would be carried out by using Qualitative paradigm of Interpretative methodology, Ethnography with in-depth

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interview and participant observation as a major tool to collect

data.

Worship of village deities was started even before of the Aryan’s invasion. Indus Valley Civilization, though it was urban

civilization, Indus people worshipped female deity, Mother Goddess and this society was evidenced with animal sacrifices. Sakti cult attained the highest position in the puranas where she

was enlisted in the trinity along with Vishnu and Siva5. Probably these village deities came into being at the period when the

people began to settle down in agricultural communities6. All

over the world, the gods of war are mostly male, while the agricultural deities are, for the most part, female; and this naturally arises from the fact that war is the business of men,

whereas, among primitive people, the cultivation of the fields was largely left to the women, and also from the fact the idea of fertility is naturally connected with the female. All over southern

India, therefore, the village deities are almost exclusively female7.

Rural people believe that the village deities protect from the droughts/famines and contagious diseases like Smallpox,

Cholera, Plague, etc. The rural people will always try to get blessings of a female/village deity at the time of droughts and whenever the people or animals are diseased in the village. In

connection with this the villagers celebrate carnivals and festivals in the name of particular deity. Mean while these deities were offered with blood of he-buffaloes by public sacrifice.

Village deities are called with various names in different regions of Andhra Pradesh. They are called Peddamma, Maremma, Poleramma, Gangamma, Mahuramma, Yellamma,

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Desamma, Chowdamma, Karremma in Rayalaseema; Eedamma,

Pochamma, Mysamma, Mahankali, Gundlamma, Mutyalamma in Telangana and Gantalamma, Challalamma, Mavillamma,

Yaparamma, Mutyalamma in coastal area8. Generally Brahmans

are priests in temples. But they are only eligible for Vedic gods, whereas in the case of village deities, priests are belong to Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes viz., Golla, Bestha,

Barika, Chakali, Mangali, Kummari and Madiga. Gollas act as

priests to Gangamma deity9. The priest of Maremma temple is belongs to Madiga, a Schedule Caste and the priest of

Sunkulamma temple is belongs to Bestha, a Backward Caste10. But it is interesting to note that, about 3 miles from Tanjore, there is a temple of Mariamma served with Brahman priests.

According to Henry whitehood, it is the only temple or shrine of

Mariamma in South India where there are Brahman priests11. Generally the priests of village deities are female and in this area

also. But what I observed a different situation in this study area at the time of my field work is that about 18 kilometers from Kurnool Town, there is a temple of Sunkulamma deity in

Nagalapuram village and served with male priests for last three years. A woman, ex-priest of the same temple, is scolding a Brahmin and one reddy caste person of the Nagalapuram village

for losing her priest- hood.

Jatara or Village Carnival is regarded as Devara in this study area. The worship of the village deities through Devaras is

very popular fest. According to the rural people, these village deities are seven in number, called ‘akka chellendlu’/’akka garlu’

(seven sisters) and are regarded as ‘Sapta Matrukas’ in our rural

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history. At the time of Devara or Jatara along with the statues

of seven sisters, the villagers also created the statue of one male deity named Pothuraju and believed him as brother of seven sisters in some areas, whereas believed as husband in some other

areas12. Seven sisters in the study area are namely Peddamma, Maremma, Karremma, Choudamma, Gangamma, Savaramma and Sunkulamma. Among them Peddamma is eldest, Maremma

is 2nd eldest and Sunkulamma is youngest one. The rural people offered he-buffaloes as public sacrifices to Peddamma, Maremma, Karremma, Gangamma and Savaramma whereas

Choudamma and Sunkulamma were offered with Sheep, he-

goats, cocks and hen13. During the Vijayanagara period, a few taxes such as the Jatre and the Maharaja-prayojanala pannu

were collected to conduct the daily worship and annual festivals

of the village deities14.

Bainollu/Bavani vandlu/Baindla vallu, one of the S.C. caste

people, conducts the worshipping rituals of village deities at the time of Devara/Jatara/Village Carnival by singing songs about village deity, by using the musical instrument ‘Jamadika’, which

is rhythmically swayed while singing. At the time of Devaras, the poems which are singing along with dance by Bynollu before the

new images of Village Deities are base story for the Devaras15.

The Devaras explicitly shows us the devotion and fear of the rural people towards these village deities. The belief of rural

people is that the villages and their cattle protect from diseases and evil spirit by these deities. In this connection in order to satiate the Goddesses, the people conduct two Devaras in this

study area. 1. Pedda Devara @ Peddamma Devara 2. Chinna

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Devara @ Maremma Devara. The Pedda Devara which is for

satiate of Peddamma Deity also called Peddamma Devara, is a fierce one and Chinna Devara which is for satiate of Maremma

Deity also called Maremma Devara16. The temples of these

village deities are always facing east.

PEDDAMMA DEVARA OR PEDDA DEVARA

This is a ceremony strictly local, in which the entire

communities of a village take part, and which all outsiders are excluded from participating in. It is performed whenever a series of crops successively fail or cattle die in large numbers of

murrain, and is peculiarly adapted, by the horrible nature of the attendant rites and the midnight hour chosen for the exhibition of its most ghastly scenes, to impress the minds of an ignorant

people with a belief in its efficacy. When the celebration of the jatra is resolved, a dark Tuesday night is selected for it, and subscriptions are collected and deposited with the Reddy or some

respectable man in the village.

Messengers are sent off to give intimation of the day fixed for the jatra to the Bynenivadu (Drummer or Singer),

Bhutapilligadu (A man whose duty is to sprinkle the poli or blood-stained rice over the streets of the village), and Poturaju

(Pujari or executioner), three of the principal actors in the ceremony. At the same time a buffalo is purchased, and, after

having its horns painted with saffron and adorned with margosa leaves, is taken round the village in procession with tom-toms beating, and specially devoted to the sacrifice of the goddess

Peddamma or Sunkulamma on the morning of the Tuesday on which the ceremony is to take place. The village potter and

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carpenter are sent for and ordered to have ready by that evening

two images of the goddess, one of clay and the other of juvi wood, and a new cloth and a quantity of rice and dholl are given to each of them. When the images are made they are dressed with the

new cloths mentioned above, and the rice and dholl are cooked and offered as naivedyam to the images. In some villages only one image, that of clay is made.

Meanwhile the villagers are busy erecting a pandal in front of the village chavidi, underneath which a small temple is constructed of cholam straw. The Bynenivadu takes a handful of

earth and places it inside this little temple, and the village washerman builds a small pyal with it and decorates it with rati (streaks of different colored powers).

New pots are distributed by the potter to the villagers, who, according to their respective capabilities, have a large or small quantity of rice cooked in them to be offered as kumbham

at the proper time.

After dark, when these preparations are over, the entire village community, including the twelve classes of village

servants, turn out in a body, and, proceeded by the Bynenivadu and Asadivandlu, proceed in procession with music playing to the

house of the village potter. There the image of the goddess is duly worshipped, and a quantity of raw rice is tied round it with a cloth. A ram is sacrificed on the spot and several limes cut and

thrown away. Borne on the shoulders of the potter the image is then taken through the streets of the village, the Bynenivadu and Asadivandlu dancing and capering all the way, and the streets

being drenched with the blood of several rams sacrificed at every

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turning of the road and strewed with hundreds of limes cut and

thrown away. The image is then finally deposited in the temple of straw already referred to, and another sheep is sacrificed as soon as this is done. The wooden image, made by the carpenter,

is also brought in with the same formalities and placed by the side of the image of clay. A pot of toddy is similarly brought in from the house of the Idigavadu (toddy-drawer) and set before

the images. Now the Devarapotu or buffalo, especially devoted to the sacrifice of the goddess, is led in from the Reddi’s house in procession together with a sheep and a large pot of cooked rice.

The rice in the pot is emptied in front of the images and formed into a heap, which is called the kumbham, and to it are added the contents of many new pots which the villagers have ready filled

with cooked rice. The sheep is then sacrificed and its blood shed on the rice heap. Next comes the turn of the Devarapotu, the blood of which also, after being killed, is poured over the rice

heap. This is followed by the slaughter of many more buffaloes and sheep by individuals of the community who might have taken vows to offer sacrifices to the goddess on this occasion.

While the carnage is going on, a strict watch is kept on all sides to see that no outsider enters the village or steals away any

portion of the blood of the slaughtered animals, as it is believed that all the benefit which the villagers hope to reap from the performance of the jatra will be lost to them if an outsider should

succeed in taking away a little of the blood to his village.

The sacrifice being over, the head and a leg of one of the slaughtered buffaloes are severed from its body and placed before

the goddess with the leg inserted into the mouth of the head.

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Over this head is placed a lighted lamp which is fed with oil and

buffalo’s fat. Now starts a fresh procession to go round the village streets. A portion of the kumbham or blood-stained rice heaped up before the image is gathered into two or three baskets

and carried with the procession by washermen or Madigas. The Bhutapilligadu now steps forward in a state of perfect nudity, with his body clean shaven from top to toe and smeared all over

with gore, and taking up handsful of rice (called poli) from the baskets scatters them broadcast over the streets. As the procession passes on, bhutams or supernatural beings are

supposed to become visible at short distances to the carriers supposed to become visible at short distance to the carriers of the rice baskets, who pretend to fall into trances, and, complaining of

thrist, call for more blood to quench it. Every time this happens a fresh sheep is sacrificed and some limes are cut and thrown in their way. The main streets being thus sprinkled over with poli

or blood-stained rice, the lanes or gulleys are attended to by the washermen of the village, who give them their shae of the poli. By this time generally the day dawns and the goddess is brought

back to her straw temple, where she again receives offerings of cooked rice from all classes of people in the village, Brahmins

downwards. All the while the Asadivandlu keep singing and dancing before the goddess. As the day advances a pig is half buried at the entrance of the village and all the village cattle are

driven over it. The cattle are sprinkled over with poli as they pass over the pig. The Poturaju then bathes and purifies himself and goes to the temple of Lingamayya or Siva with tom-toms and

music and sacrifices a sheep there. The jatra ends with another grand procession in which the images of the goddess, borne on

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the heads of the village potter and carpenter, are carried to the

outskirts of the village, where they are left. As the villagers return home they pull to pieces the straw temple constructed in front of the chavidi, and each man takes home a straw which the

preserves as a sacred relic.

From the day the ceremony is announced in the village till its close no man would go to a neighbouring village, or, if he does

on pressing business, he would return to sleep in his own village. It is believed that the performance of this jatra will ensure prosperity and health to the villagers and their cattle. The origin

of this Sunkulamma jatra is based on the following legend, which is sung by the Byneni and Asadivandlu when they dance before the images.

Peddamma or Sunkulamma was the only daughter of a learned Brahmin pandit, who occasionally took pupils and instructed them in the Hindu shastras gratuitously. One day a

handsome youth of 16 years came to the pandit, and, announcing himself as the son of a Brahmin of Benares come in quest of knowledge, requested that he might be enlisted as a pupil of the

pandit. The pandit not doubting the statement of the youth that he was a Brahmin took him as a pupil and lodged him in his own

house. The lad soon displayed marks of intelligence, and by close application to his studies is made such rapid progress that he became the principal favourite of his master, who was so much

pleased with him that at the close of his studies he married him to his daughter Peddamma or Sunkulamma.

The unknown youth stayed with his father-in-law till he

became father of some children, when he requested permission to

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return to his native place with his wife and children, which was

granted, and he accordingly started on his homeward journey. On the way he met a party of Mala people, who, recognizing him at once as a man of their own caste and a relation, accosted him

and began to talk to him familiarly.

Finding it impossible to conceal the truth from his wife any longer, the husband of Peddamma confessed to her he was a Mala

by caste, and being moved by a strong desire to learn the Hindu shastras, which he was forbidden to read, he disguised himself as a Brahmin youth and introduced himself to her father and

compassed his object; and as what had been done in respect to her could not be undone, the best thing she could do was to stay with him with her children. Sunkulamma, however, was not to be so

persuaded. Indignant at the treachery practiced on her and her parent, she spurned both her husband and children, and returning to her village, sent for her parent, who house she would

not pollute by going in, and asked him what he would do with a pot defiled by the touch of a dog. The father replied he would commit it to the flames to purify it. Taking the hint, she caused a

funeral pile to be erected and committed suicide by throwing herself into the flames. But before doing so, she cursed the

treacherous Mala, who had polluted her that he might become a buffalo, and his children turn into sheep, and vowed she would revive as an evil spirit and have him and his children sacrificed to

her, and get his leg put into his mouth and a light placed on his

head fed with his own fat17.

But I found slight variation between the above said

narration and the data which is collected from the older

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generation of the study area. As per the collected data, a person

who deceived a Brahmin girl belong to Madiga caste named Maarigadu. After his marriage with this girl, as days passed, on one day the mother of Maarigaadu visits the couple. She

confronted him when he was about to go out to fetch water and called him ‘ore Maarigaa’. Bewildered Maarigaadu narrated

everything to his mother and taught her some behavioural techniques to cope with the new situation. Out of reverse to the mother-in-law, his wife, the Brahmin woman prepares

Neerotthula Payasam and Semiya Payasam and vegetarian food. Having been accustomed to eating beef, the mother-in-law got

perplexed by looking at the food served to her. She compares the Neerothula payasam and Semiya payasam with the ears and bowels of calf in her usual manner. Hearing her words the

Brahmin girl smelt the rat and understood that she and her family were deceived by this Madiga Marigaadu. Without delay

she approached her father and asked him, ‘Father, what should be done to the vessel defiled by dog?’ Knowing anything, her

father replied in a casual manner, ‘it has to be burnt’. Then she fastens her children to the pillars with ropes, sets herself a blaze and curses ‘mogunni Peddamma pothu avuthavani, pillalu bali

pillalu kammani, attha nu baana gore kammani cheppi, nenu Peddamma nai koorchonaga, Peddamma pothunu naa mundu

etthetthi podavalani, Bali pillalanu Telugodu panti tho koriki champeyalani, Baana gorre nu voori pasuvula manda thokki

champalani saapam pettinadi’, which means ‘she curses her husband to become the Peddamma Pothu @ Devara Dunna

Pothu and it should be lift and thrown while piercing by the people, her children to become Bali Pillalu (lambs) and whose

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throats to be plucked by the Telugodu (a Beshta caste person) with

his mouth; her mother-in-law to become a sheep to be buried at the center of the village so that the cattle of the village would trample

her to death and this all should has to be take place in front of me

when I use to sit in Peddamma posture’18.

On this day rural people ware new clothes and visited the

Peddamma temple for the worship. The people of neighbouring villages will come to see the Devara accompanied by their spouses

and family. During this time liquor could be had in large quantities.

Generally if anybody understands the history of the

nation, the regional variations and the distinct role that these regions played are to be taken into consideration. The study of local history will help to arrive at the primary sources at the

grass-root level. Anyhow writing local history and culture is aimed at achieving a comprehensive national history and culture helps for future generations, especially research scholars in

assessing the pros and cons of the ancient rural culture. By this paper we may know that in the name of customs and traditions, still public sacrifices to village deities are going on in the villages.

This shows the backwardness of the villagers in the 21st century. Though this is ill feel culture, there is a dire necessity to write and record these customs and traditions and passing them to the

future generations in the form of ethno-archaeological studies.

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REFERENCES

1. Gopalakristnamah Chetty, Narahari., A Manual of the

Kurnool district in the Presidency of Madras, (Madras, 1886), p. 1.

2. Rajagopal, M.V., (Ed) Andhra pradesh district gazetteers, Kurnool, (revised edition), (Hyderabad-1974), p. 1.

3. www.google.com.

4. Raghu, Yadava., “Kodumuru Prantham – Grameena

Jeevana Vidhanam – Kurnool Zilla, A.P.” Unpublished Ph.D., thesis, submitted to P.S. Telugu University, Srisailam Campus, 2007.

5. Pushpendra Kumar, Sakti cult in ancient India, P. XV

6. Whitehood, Henrey., The village gods of south india,

Association press, Calcutta, 1921,p. 11.

7. Whitehood, Henry., op.cit., pp. 17-18

8. Srinivasareddy, Peta., Tirupati Ganga Jatara, Rushiteja

publication, Tirupati, 1995, p. 9.

9. Srinivasareddy, Peta., op.cit., pp. 10-11.

10. Interview with Rangadas Yadav s/o Venkatamma Yadav, 84 years, Pyalakurthy village, Kodumur Mandal, Kurnool

district, Andhra Pradesh, dated 26-01-2014.

11. Whitehood, Henry., op.cit., p. 19.

12. Srinivasa reddy, peta., op.cit., p. 11.

13. n. 10.

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14. Venkata ramanayya, N., Studies in the history of the third

dynasty of Vijayanagara, Gyan Publishers, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 335-336.

15. Interview with Yellappa @ Bynodu, 65 years, Gudur Mandal, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, dated 12-02-2001, and also on my field observation.

16. Interview with Chinnaiah Yadav s/o Ramadas Yadav, 40 years, Pyalakurthy village, Kodumur Mandal, Kurnool

district, Andhra Pradesh, dated 26-06-2014.

17. Gopalakristnamah Chetty, Narahari., op.cit, pp. 196-201.

18. Interview with Venkatalachchamma Yadav d/o Chinnaiah

Yadav, 74 years, Pyalakurthy village, Kodumur Mandal, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, dated 16-07-2001.

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