Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 217

189
OCTOBER, 1931]
THE GAYDANR FESTIVAL AND ITS PARALLELS
Crooke says that the Bengal Goâlâs themselves do not eat the meat. He obtained the information from Risley.
Mr. Oldham says that Risley's date the samkranti-is a mistake. The festival is held on the 1st day of Hindi Kartik sudi, which is the first day of the second lunar fortnight, and it begins immediately after the amavasya is ended, which may happen at night of the previous day, viz., the last day of Hindi Kartik vadi. One probable explanation is that this may be regarded popularly, but not correctly, as the samkranti, which is used in solar calculation. In the year 1925 the divali fell on the samkranti day of Asvin, i.e., the 31st of the Bengali month of Asvin. It has to be enquired if the last day of Kartik, when Risley says the festival was held, was the pratipada or the first day of Hindi Kartik sudi. In that case only he may be correct.
According to Risley, the Bengal Goâlâs do not eat the pig. It may be that the one-time practice of eating the pig by the Bengal Goâlâs may have been discontinued at the time that Risley wrote, owing to the spread of advanced ideas, which may have induced them to suppress information regarding the old practice. With the holding of present-day caste conferences, where the castes claim to be dvi-játi, e.g., Ksatriya and Brahmans, and in some cases Vaisyas, the chances of getting accurate information regarding old observances which may seem derogatory to the castes would be almost hopeless. More than fifteen years ago at a conference in Bhagalpur district the Ahîrs proclaimed that they were not Sûdras but Vaisyas. During the interval they have improved upon their old position, and today they claim to be Yaduvamsi Ksatriyas.
Crooke tells us that the wild pig is pure and "ceremonially hunted by Rajpûts as representing Gauri Devi, the mother goddess in her benign form, and the flesh is sacramentally eaten." The most important point herein is the identification of Gauri Devi with the pig and the sacramental feast-or the yajna or sacrifice, which I will deal with fully later on.
Further enquiry elicited the information that the festival is not held on the diválî day, as Buchanan observed, but on the day following, which, in agreement with him, they call the Govardhan day. In the morning, says my own cowherd boy, the Goâlâs make rude images or effigies of cowdung representing the cowherd, the cows, the calves, the troughs in which they put in yava (barley), kerão (peas), etc., the ploughshare, the yoke, etc., in short every. thing pertaining to bucolic life. The sacred cowdung is indeed distributed among themselves; but no invective follows. In northern India the very same thing happens in similar forms. According to the Bengali pañjikákárs this day is recognised as the Govardhan day, in conson. ance with the Gośwâmî School of Sri Sri Haribhaktivildso, which enjoins worship of cows, worship of Govardhana and night vigil, besides worship to Bali, the Daitya king. I am informed by a Sindhi gentleman that the same observances are practised in his country, and worship is offered to Balraj. That the cow-worship should be associated with Govardhana, the scene of Kṛṣṇa's (the divine protector of cows according to the Hindûs) exploits against Indra, is quite natural. The plough, the share and the yoke suggest an agricultural state of society, as distinct from the pastoral; the cow represents the Earth and Lakshmi, and therefore the agricultural state. The Puranas (e.g., the Skanda and Padma) refer to the go-paja and go-kridd on the first day of the lunar month.
The Sohorai festival of the Oraons of Chota Nagpur offers a striking parallel to the gaydány, and it should be so, as the Oraons have borrowed it from the Hindus. Rai Bahadur S. C. Roy writes:
"The Sohorai festival in which the Oraons anoint the forehead and horns of their cattle with vermilion and oil and wash their hoofs and give them a day's rest and entertain them
An Introduction to Popular Religion and Folklore of N, India (Allahabad Edition, 1894), p. 377. 4 Crooke-Religion and Folklore of N. India (1926), p. 367. (Italics are mine.) Oraon Religion and Customs, 1928, p. 80.