Session 59 summary
Astronomy in Indian Tribes
Astronomy, Prof. Vahia says, is amongst the great intellectual traditions of all tribes. Intellectual is something which people do not assign to tribal studies, but that is really not true, some of the most creative and intellectually profound ideas are there amongst the Indian tribal people. Prof. Vahia has focused only on astronomy but there are other aspects about the tribes like their mythology, their poetry, their music, etc. They all are great creative arts which have not really been documented, there have been sketchy attempts here and there but there is a need to seriously understand a lot more of the dynamics about the intellectual traditions of these tribals and some of them carry memories of the events that are thousands of years old. As far as astronomy is concerned, Prof. Vahia says that the question he is often asked is ‘why do you study tribal astronomy?’ The problem is that the mainstream astronomy was more or less finalized in Mesopotamian time of constellation division and stuff like that. Since 3000 BC, all mainstream cultures across Eurasia are connected with each other and the constellation division has been frozen. Some changes were made when people went to south but the northern sky was fixed since then. People had made minor changes in the name and interpretation but the constellations have been fixed and there is not much of individual creativity. On the other hand people from smaller tribes are independent thinkers, they have not been colored by common agreement amongst the connected cultures and they have grown in isolation and they have their own perception, their own experience and their own interpretation of the sky. So, it’s a series of parallel independent traditions that need to be looked at. Apart from that, there are threads of common ideas amongst many tribes in similar regions and that seems to indicate some of the earlier periods of myth-making before all the tribes got disintegrated. Also, there are some mythologies which are tribe specific that gives an idea it is not only of intellectual creativity but one can also map up their intellectual traditions when they were together and as they separated out. Therefore there is a story of their earlier times and later times which can be deciphered from what is known as their current traditions, as most of these tribes are homeless/ separated from society, the stories remain therefore there is much one can learn from them.
Prof. Mayank Vahia, Ganesh Halkare, Kishore Menon, PurushottamDahedar, V.S. Ramachandran, Jayant Gangopadhyay, Justin Joseph, staff of science centre at Nagpur and others. The team has been studying the astronomy of various Indian tribes. In the last three years they have covered the tribes of Central India namely- Gonds, Banjaras, Kolams, Korku, Pardhi, and Cholannaikan. Tribes ofWestern India- Warli, Dhodia, Katkari, Kokna. Tribes of Eastern India- Nicobarese and North Maharashtra- Bhil, Pawra, Kokni. The sampling of Cholannaikan, Dhodia and Kokna was found limited. For each tribe they studied the astronomical beliefs from at least ten different villages. The story presented is confirmed by five or more villages of the same tribe.
Gonds
They have temples which has common symbol on the top of a moon and various interpretations are given to that symbol. Another interesting symbol often seen is that of tiger eating the horse. The Gonds are one of the oldest but largest of Indian tribes. They claim their roots back to prehistoric period. At their peak they had a large kingdom in Central India. The present day they form the largest tribal group in India and are the main keepers of India’s forests. The team studied them on the region they are densely populated.
The Gonds believe that Big Dipper(Saptarshi) represents an old lady on a cot with 3 thieves. Since the cot is made up of expensive materials, the thieves are trying to steal it when the lady is asleep. So the lady is not allowed to sleep. In other tribes there are variants of this belief where the servants are put on the bed and masters waking up the servants to do the work or the Great God is on the bed and there are three village heads paying respect. But the four stars being the bed and the three stars approaching the bed runs deeply in several of tribes.The hunter constellation is famous for the three stars as its belt but for Gonds these three stars have nothing to do with the hunter. To them these three stars form the tilling of the land, the bow of the hunter is the plough, basket for harvest collection, stars near Sirius seen as arrangement for dropping the husk in the wind so that the basket can collect the harvest, the constellation consisting Aldebaran seen as bird with two eggs and other stars near it as stones thrown at the birds. This entire thing to them is a farming season. The Leo Constellation for the tribals is completely different, it is a funeral procession and their claim is that ‘if you do not respect nature as it should be respected this is what nature will do to you’ i.e. it will rain death on the person and therefore one should always be respectful of the skies. These are morbid thoughts but they are there because life and death are part of Experiences of Life. The Crux Constellation is only seen on the southern sky, to Gonds it is the tree of Mahua and the flower of Mahua used to produce various things, there is an old lady and a young girl collecting the seeds. The Morning and Evening star is Pahat Sukum and Jevan Tara. Gonds predict monsoon by the glow around the moon. Comets are the great grooms of the gods who come to clean up the world and therefore comets are considered good omen. Milky Way is the path on which the animals move in the heavens and shooting stars are the god excreta and people are very embarrassed to talk about it.
Banjaras
They are one of the largest tribes of India. They are traditionally traders and movers of goods over large stretches of land. They claim kinship to the Gypsies of Europe. Some claim their roots to 1200AD in Rajasthan when internal wars between Rajputs forced them to become wandering traders. Some claim that their roots as wandering traders and movers of goods go back to Harappan period (earlier than 2000 BC). They were forced to settle down after the railways came into being which made them redundant about a hundred years ago. As a community it is politically very powerful. To them the moon is a very different object, it is where the old lady is sitting and weaving under a Bunyan tree. In some other tribes it is a wicked woman being hanged from a tree because of her wickedness and in other places it is about how moon and sun were 2 brothers who got separated. They can see the northern region of the sky. For them the Morning star and evening star are Porya Tara and Subtara (good star), Orion is the Harini(a deer), Pleiades is Jhumkotara(a piece of jewel worn on the forehead), Comet is Seshartara(a star with a tail), Shooting star is taratutgo (falling star), Big dipper is the Jamakhat/Yamakhat(bed of the dead) and milky Way is the mardaar wat(path of the dead). They predict monsoon by using the glow around the moon, by direction of clouds, position of the crow nest before monsoon and they believe that Taurus when seen in the east brings rain. Their interest in farming is new which was acquired after they lost their primary activity of trading and so the astronomy is limited. They see trade and wealth even in the sky. Their astronomical predictions are more based on terrestrial events with limited attention to the skies except to indicate month.
Kolams
They are a small tribe. Until 50 years ago they were foragers and depended on the forest produce for their livelihood. In the last fifty years the government has been trying to settle them. Many elders remember their foraging and wandering lifestyle and regret having to live this unsettling settled life. Their astronomical beliefs include: Pleiades as kovelakor (one large and several small birds), Big dipper having Saptarshi as mandater meaning cot and the three following stars are three people, Kolam, Gond and Pardhan (chief), Orion is tivpate-3 stars, Morning and evening star are vegudsuka and jevansuka. They believe that during solar eclipse if the entire sun is covered it is a good omen, if only the upper part is covered then it is bad for humans and if only the lower part is covered then it is bad for animals (as good forgives the sins of humans and animals during eclipses). Pegasus is seen as samdur- Sea that provides water for monsoon, and the five animals around Pegasus predict the intensity of rain. They see Crux as the Mahua tree, Milky Way as the margam (a path of the animals), Scorpio is the snake and Cygnus is kavadikunde-set of three pots.
Korku tribe
Korkusalso inhabit the same region as the other tribes. They trace their origin to the eastern India region of Chota Nagpur. They are Austro-Asian in origin. They believe that during the solar eclipse putting a grinding stone over a plate and the direction in which it falls after the eclipse will predict if it is good or bad for the people. Their astronomical ideas include big dipper as a cot, Orion as a farming scene with Pleiades as minced meat. One unusual belief is in eclipse and its effect on earth and the second is the conjunction of Mars and Venus which happens once every 1.7 years. They identify the belt of Orion as the plough along with Rigel and Saiph as bullocks. Betelgeuse is identified as the man ploughing the field. They can see a whip in the fainter stars of Orion near Bellatrix while some villagers can see bird eggs at the head of Orion (near Meissa). Many villages know that it is not visible (at all) from April to October, and a few of them suggested that this is because the gods do not want humans to copy the god’s own plough. Pleiades is identified in 7 villages as the location of minced meat of the cow while four villages (on the plains) identified it as a tool for beating wheat to remove the husk. One major surprise was the identification of Auriga as well as Castor and Pollux Gemini constellation, they identify Auriga as a well of water (to be used for farming that is being done by Orion) and castor and Pollux as the two ladies who are bringing water out of the well.
Pardhi tribe
They are Indo-European in origin. They claim ancestry to the Rajput kings who lost to the Mughals. They were classified as a criminal tribe and that stigma still remains. Their main beliefs are the big dipper, Orion as a deer and Taurus as bird trap.
The astronomical beliefs of Katkari tribe are big dipper is a cot with three trailing stars as Koli, Warli and Konkana, and Warli has also brought his son with him. The Orion’s belt is bow and sword is arrow, Pleiades is maharpunj (big drum?), Taurus depicts bride groom and the marriage procession, Scorpius is Scorpio and Sirius is seen as a bright star. They believe that the Glow around the moon, if it is close to the moon it means quick and good rain and if it is far then that means the rains are delayed. They believe that a heavy wooden stick kept vertical in water will stay vertical as long as the eclipse is on and then fall down on its own. For them the Milky Way is the path of gods, shooting star means the gods are moving from one place to another and one must keep quiet and not point at it, one may offer food to it to help gods eat during their journey and comet, broom are bad omen.
Warli
The tribe belongs to the Indo European group. The Warli are a schedule tribe largely found in the Nashik region, the Thane region and the Dhuleregion in Maharashtra and Valsadregion in Gujarat. They are also settled in Daman and Diu in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The Warli speak in a language that is from the southern zone of the Indo Aryan tribal languages. The name Warli comes from ‘warla’ which means a field or piece of land. The main occupation of the Warli is agriculture and that which is related to it. They are well known for a distinct style of painting. The only astronomical object they draw is the sun and less frequently the moon. Their astronomical belief is that the quadrilateral part of big dipper is a cot and the three trailing stars are three thieves. In the Gemini- Taurus- Pleiades region they see a marriage procession with bride, groom, a band of musicians and the marriage hall. Pleiades is seen as the drums of the musician, Taurus as the groom (Aldebaran) and bride (Hyadum) and the wedding hall in Gemini. The mark on the moon was identified as the Pepeeltree (ficusreligiosa) and in most village they say a woman is hanging by her neck. They see eclipses as a bad omen because according to them it arises when a demon eats up the sun or moon. If the sun (or moon) comes out in the east then the demon is said to have vomited out the sun (moon) and if it comes out in the west then it is excreted by the demon. The comet is a broom which is considered a bad omen. The shooting stars are believed to be the transports used by gods to go from one location to another.
People of Nicobar Islands
They are Austro-Asian in origin. They believe that they came by boat from Myanmar where a disgraced pregnant princess was set afloat in a boat and landed in the Nicobar Island. It is a complex collection of island and the population is protected from outside interference. The Nicobarese astronomy states that since people of Nicobar Islands are sea farers, apart from the sun and the moon they do not have much. Their observation of the sky is that, sun which was banished to the sky since got too hot to be allowed to stay on earth and the moon has two brothers sleeping on it who were unfairly banished from home, walked up a spider web and reached the moon and can be seen resting there. Pleiades represent the path travelled by the king. The belt of Orion and crux were of importance to them.
In the end, the overall study implies that astronomy is more direct but only weakly influenced by other cultures, primary images are life related, monsoon is decided primarily by sky and there are no mythological images in the sky. Therefore the conclusion derived is that as the government efforts to integrate various populations in India into the mainstream, these groups are forgetting their roots. So people are really losing this traditional knowledge very quickly. It is therefore important that this knowledge should be documented before it is completely lost.
About the Speaker
Prof. Mayank Vahia
Dean School of Mathematical Sciences
NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies
Mumbai
Prof. Mayank Vahia is a retired scholar from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India. At TIFR he worked on space-based telescopes that were flown on NASA’ Space Shuttle, one Russian satellite and several Indian satellites. Later he pursued his interests in history of astronomy and science in ancient civilisations. He has worked on several megalithic sites, belief systems of tribal communities to trying to understand their relevance to the growth of astronomy in India. After his retirement he has taken up the responsibility of setting up an innovative undergraduate programme in Mathematical Sciences at the NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.
