Shrinking Distances, Expanding Distancing :
Paradigm Shift in Matrimonial Union Among the Jats
Dr. S.S.RANA
The Jats like like similar peasant communities in the North and Noorth- West India have , since ages demonstrated traits and characteristics in their social life reflecting a remarkable continuity of the vedic and Sanskritik traditions. While on the one hand, they have been found adhering to the orthodoxy of the vedic sacraments relating to marriage, on the other hand they are not found failing to sincerely having recourse to the code of the Smritis the same answered their pragmatism. Forming matrimonial unions has engaged their best genious to institutionalizing it on sound scientific footings of ethnology, , kinship hierarchy and geographical spread.
Generally settled as they were in clusters of gotras in the rural settings, the rule of exogamy till not very recent times led them to distant places, to seek brides and to seek matrimonial homes for their daughters, the difficulties and hardships of travel notwithstanding. They, perhaps, believed along with Swami dayananda in the dictum laid down by Yaska in his Nirukta, a work on vedic etymology, namely, Duhita doore hita (a daughter better be married off to a distant place). We are not unaware of the distance angle through the traditional song of a daughter complaining to her father why she has been married off to a distant place, viz., babul kahe byahi bidesh. But we know that this long distance devise was not seen as a negative feature. This must be understood in the context of the social milieu of the times. In a largely agricultural economy where means of communication were scanty the chances of all the parameters of the of the respective parties (i.e. the bride givers and the bride takers)to be ascertained being difficult , matchmaking remained largely an impersonal matter to be personalized gradually over a period of time after marriage. There being hardly any avenues like educational institutions for gainfully growing up as healthy adults, girls were married off at a fairly young age, though the formal married life was to commence much later at an appropriate age through the ceremony of muklawa or gona.
The geographical spread of distance (at least in days when communication and transport were not easily available)served as a convenient buffer to ensure the privacy of the young couple awaiting though not without settled assurance, to to take responsibilities as husband and wife. This buffer of distance served to guard the privacy also of the two families. There were remote chances of news about any petty quarrel/slander at one end trickling down to the quarters of the other through hearsay, thus filling the gap in distancing in relationship through guarding of the family honour on both sides. According to a survey of geographical spread of marriages in a particular Jat village during the early years of the last century the distance ranged from 15 to 20 miles(21 to 32 kilometers) in case of Jat marriages. Interestingly the same survey showed a higher average distance in case of service castes like the carpenter, the blacksmith, barber etc. This can be attributed to the pattern of sparse distribution of population of these castes in different villages limiting their options of match making by observing the general rules of prohibition more or less similar to those observed by the Jats.
Times have changed and are further changing fast. In spite of the accessibility and availability of faster means of transport and communication the community is seen to be preferring to have matrimonial unions at the shortest possible distance within the constraints of the traditional prohibitions. There too, we have noticed the growing tendency to progressive dropping of one or more of these prohibitions as per convenience The previous century saw the gotra of the father of the mother’s mother (i.e.nani) going out of reckoning among the prohibitions. The last century ended up with the wide spread dropping of the gotra of the father of the father’s mother (i.e. dadi). In case of neither of these instances there are known reports of relaxation by Khap or Sarvakhap Panchayat. It is comparatively easy and possible in case of people living in cities as the rules of brotherhood of neighbour hood and norms of distance are already implied to be ignored. As long as the minimum gotra exogamy norms are observed distance could be as close as the next door. But there is a caveat. The norms of reasonable distance and seemjod biradari reckoned by the respective place of origin of the two sides would invariably be observed. Migration to the urban areas, even lock stock and barrel does not tear away the Jats from caste moorings. It goes without saying that exceptions prove the rule and it is no less true that anonymous living is not the way of this community.
From the very times the community had evolved an institutionalised system to ensure that there were no cases of either of the parties entering in a matrimonial alliance taking the other for a ride, all along the distance that stood between them for quite sometime, in the figurative sense too. In older times the village priest (a brahman) doubling with the village barber (nai) served as the marriage bureau. They would combine and start exploring the possibility of match making on behalf of the parents of a girl, in areas conforming to the primary requirement of the rule of gotra exogamy and other apparent prohibitions like area of brotherhood determined by either a common boundary (seemjod biradari) or other proximity (like nyota nithar), and land up at some respectable distance at the place of their local counterparts. After working out a quick mismatch of the relevant information the members of the two bureaus would arrive at a possible settlement and call upon the family of the family of the prospective bride groom and formalize the first step (`sagai) for ther union of the two families by offering one rupee (in the hand of the selected boy) as token in the presence of representative gathering of the local community. With the passage of time the village priest got dropped from the process leaving the nai to perform solo. Perhaps the de-linking of the Brahman from the process had something to do with the impact of the Arya Samaj on the Jats, who could do their own prayers and perform vedic yajna even without the assistance of a Brahman priest. The last century, in its later years witnessed the village nai also taking the back seat as far as selecting a groom was concerned, though he continued to be the master of ceremonies at all other stages of the marriage process. With the easy availability of faster means of transport and wide, though slow spread of girls’ education, the parents directly came into picture. This phenomenon went to reduce the distance for finding grooms for daughters.
With the shrinking of distance of marriage many aspects of the old world charm of bonding in kinship relationship is fast getting dull if not disappearing altogether. In older times large families qualified as preferred parties for forging matrimonial unions as marriage meant giving a daughter in a family. The bonding extended to members of the extended family on both sides. With the disintegration of the joint family, diversification of professions/ vocations, spread of education among the female population and the impact of media (howsoever ill informed!) are the factors that have contributed to the assertion of individualism among members of the community, especially the younger lot who are least exposed to the sustainable aspects of tradition and are greatly influenced by modernity. It is therefore, no wonder that we notice a trend of increasing distancing among various kin relations. Our guest list today is drastically different from what it used to be in the past. There should be no problem with new additions from professional or business connections But it should hurt some when distant relations really get distanced and kins, keen to join find no place in such lists. The syndrome is more glaring in the case of those who have migrated to the cities. Gone are the days when a distant cousin visiting the home of the in-laws of another was not only welcome but also received the same level of hospitality as would have been extended to their son-in-law. Relatives rushing to offer tumbler fulls of sweet milk to visiting guests is only in memory of the old timers. Today distant relatives are literally distanced and increasing distancing among near relatives is a common feature of our social life. The silent bonding and binding that took place under conditions of inter- dependency is sadly lacking in today’s world of market driven ways of life. Perhaps the younger generation knows better. They are to face the brave new world emerging fast in contemporary times. Faced with the difficulties in adhering to the norms of prohibitions in marriages they are taking recourse to unorthodox solutions transcending boundaries of caste, state and religion, generally driven by emotions making conscious decision based on personal choice. But when such things happen in village communities problems arise which defy easy solutions. Several cases where gross violation of the traditional rule of exogamy compounded with the violation of the prohibition of marriage in the same village whether in conformity with or in violation of other norms, have attracted the ire of the village community expressed through the traditional Panchayats dispensing spot justice . Killing for honour has been seen as the normal response in case a member of a lower caste attempts to run away with a Jat girl and marries her. Rural areas across the northern states are acutely facing the phenomena of conflict between tradition and individual choice supported by state law. The city bred can not imagine the amount of embarrassment to the members of the affected families when gross violations of traditional matrimonial code occur. Their daily life almost comes to a stand still. We can not urbanise rural India in one go to offer a haven to those who can cross boundaries of traditional social codes. For the present in rural India, especially in the North and the North -West tradition must prevail but with restrain and innovative approach to find solutions in cases of its violations not in contravention of the laws of the land and above all human rights. And if the Panchayats find enlightened leadership it should be possible to formulate conflict resolution proposals which the state should not hesitate to consider for appropriate changes in the current laws or for enacting new legislation, which should endure rather than fall on its face like the inheritance of land law in some states.
[134 United Aptts., Plot-34, Sector-4, Dwarka,
New Delhi-110 078, Phone:28081836]
August 04, 2009
July 13, 2009
A Backward View on a Forward Issue: Reservation for Women in Legislatures
A Backward View on a Forward Issue: Reservation for Women in Legislatures
Dr. S.S. Rana
It is umpteen number of years since the issue of reservation for women in legislatures was mooted to be introduced in and passed by the two Houses of our Parliament. Not withstanding the declared majority support to the measure, an appropriate bill was withdrawn at the introduction stage with an intriguing alacrity at the slightest show of opposition from isolated quarters. The Bill attracted similar response from the different regimes in government. But the pity is that hardly any national level debate has been provoked on the issue except the elite fora where, sadly enough, the debates remained confined to unilateral candour. Neither those who held the opposite view did spell out their reservations in a constructive manner. Even among the members of the ruling party at different times, reservations continued to linger with regard to the wisdom of the measure. This could be easily gauged from the body language of good number of members on either side of the divide on each occasion the Bill was stalled and withdrawn at the introductory stage. It appeared to the cynic that those who were opposing the bill were in fact obliging those who sponsored it.
Mercifully, the bill was at last introduced in the Upper house some time back, perhaps to keep it alive on technical grounds for a little longer period. The alibi of reaching a national consensus came handy for the procrastination witnessed impatiently by those who had wanted to hustle through. Nothing can be said with certainty about the fate of the bill. It is yet to be introduced in the lower house. Already there are signals for negotiating the percentage of reservations for women from those who were vehemently opposed to the concept in its present form for quite some time (in the manner of 7‘something is better than nothing’). Or, have they already seen the writing on the wall. So perhaps, a cult is coming on the strength of its emotional appeal and it is almost blasphemy to talk against it or to even point out the perils befalling the social fabric of our country, which still continues to be a rural entity in spite of the outwardly urbanised chunks growing out of emaciated rural population.
The ostensible purpose of reserving seats in legislatures is to accede to the better half her due share in a bid to empower her to serve as an engine of progress for the females of our country. On the face of it, it is a pious wish and nobody should have reason to fight with it. It is however, not understood how the presence of a greater number of women in any legislative body would make any difference in making laws to improve the lot of women. In modern times we have witnessed with pride the concerns expressed and legislation passed ensuring the improvement of the lot of women by legislators among whom there had been a negligible number of their sex .And let it be made clear that it was no charity doled out to women by men. Men were, indeed, legislating either in favour of a mother or a wife or a sister or a daughter. The paradigm of ‘man-woman’ as two wheels of the same cart, ensuring a smooth ride on life’s journey is as transcendental as one would think in the fast changing times of the automobile world. One would therefore, like to go into the dynamics of the issue through a backward view.
When our constitution makers (quite an enlightened lot!) provided for reservations for the various depressed communities they were not unaware of the still degraded position of women among these sections of our society. It was not an oversight on their part, one can say, not to talk of women separately in that context. Surely our wise men (and women) of today are entitled to talk about the need to give reservation and through it empowerment to the most depressed among the community of women. The history of the growth and development of the political class in post independence India compels us to take note of trends which do not strongly demonstrate our concerns for strengthening of the democratic model. The coalscing of the political, intellectual and ruling classes is taking place at such a fast pace and not always unbrazenly that the masses find it difficult (or many a time impossible!) to keep pace with them to reap the fruits of ‘self rule’. In a scheme of things where at least 30% (or a brokered 20 %) of the legislators are women the party managers (of any dispensation) would find it more convenient to have things their way. But from where this number would be drawn is any body’s guess. One can assume that the classes would have it and the masses would be left out of the race here too. The implication is that the number of new arrivals among the backward legislatures would be reduced. To put it differently the number of legislators from backward classes will go down drastically.
The myth of reservation on the basis of sex serving as a catalytic for the improvement of the lot of woman in general can be seen to be breaking in the regime of Panchayats and Municipalities. It is no secret that by and large women representatives serve as proxies of their male patrons in the family (father or brother). Let us imagine there would be educated and smart women (of whom there is no dearth, we admit) in legislatures taking up womens’ causes and fighting for them. The question is who will work for society, as by corollary, men should be working for the cause of men. Society is not male or female specific. Therefore, fragmenting representation on the basis of sex would not serve the best interest of society. It would amount to vertical division of the man-woman solid pillar of our social structure. It is not to deny that women in our country do not have enough space of their own which could ensure safety; security and desired freedom. It is also true that our laws covering social, economic and personal life, in spite of great amount of reform, still need to be made more woman friendly and enforceable. But our starting at the top in giving reservation to women in legislatures, when a good amount of work awaits our attention to be taken up immediately without courting avoidable controversy, betrays our concern for the form rather than the substance. The railway minister has demonstrated how a small step of setting apart only women coaches in the local trains can serve as a means, both for giving confidence to the hapless female passengers and serve as a signal to those who would like to innovate to create a woman friendly environment in their respective charge. Already schemes are in place for the amelioration of the condition of woman in need. These need to be multiplied and strengthened. We have witnessed how a small measure of reserving some seats for women in the Delhi Metro trains has added to the comfort of female passengers who now throng the facility in large numbers mostly unescorted. It may be necessary to resort to such exclusive steps to begin with but our ultimate aim should be to create an environment where a woman does not feel handicapped simply because of her gender. In the developed countries efforts have been made to create separate safe enclaves in public places like Parks; transport system and even hotels in cities like Tokyo, New York and Moscow. The ancient law giver had advocated safety and security to women at all stages of her life. It is, however, a pity that his prescription in the following piece has gone totally misconstrued in popular perception: pita rakshati kaumare, bharta rakshati yauvane| varddhakye putrah rakshanti, na stri svatantryamarhati|| [The father is responsible for the safety and security of the female till her marriage, after which the husband takes over that responsibility, and the children take care of her in old age. A woman, indeed, should never be left to fend for herself (uncared for).There should be no doubt left about his stand vis-à-vis women in his observation: yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah i.e. gods would love to live in a society where women have a place of honour and respect.
Imagine the possible scenario if the reservation regime proposed now falls into place. We are already miffed by the nexus of various interest groups in our democratic polity. The most powerful being the steel frame of bureaucrats, who await the chance of their spouses arriving to directly bat for them in the legislatures (it is not difficult to guess what class would reap the first fruits of the reservation regime), making their power claws more lethal, not a healthy development for democracy. Elitism has already marked the hue of our legislatures. No one would fail to notice, how through the capture of political parties kins have combined to corner seats. There are a large number of mixed doubles in our Parliament either in the same house or in the two houses combined. These father-son/daughter combinations are going to multiply as and when seats are reserved for women. The customary argument ‘the people want them’ is certainly going to be the
ready made response of all those who would be responsible to explain the phenomenon. The common man (also woman!) would be left wondering at the denouement of the charade of a very popular saga of women’s empowerment. Or are we entitled to imagine, in a lighter vein though, that our legislatures would have a redeeming feature, as in the presence of women in a substantial number we would have our speakers not to have to stretch substantially to control members, aggressive both in language and manners. Also, one can trust the sartorial spectrum in the lower houses taking a right (if not a U) turn, though we may not witness many turncoats. In the end one should hope that the houses (or at least the lobbies!) would not give a deserted look during session times. And shall we not hope that repartee, a rare commodity these days, would grow in abundance being home (house!)grown as it were.
[ 134 United Aptts., Plot-34, Sector-4,
Dwarka, New Delhi-110078, Phone:28081836 ]
Dr. S.S. Rana
It is umpteen number of years since the issue of reservation for women in legislatures was mooted to be introduced in and passed by the two Houses of our Parliament. Not withstanding the declared majority support to the measure, an appropriate bill was withdrawn at the introduction stage with an intriguing alacrity at the slightest show of opposition from isolated quarters. The Bill attracted similar response from the different regimes in government. But the pity is that hardly any national level debate has been provoked on the issue except the elite fora where, sadly enough, the debates remained confined to unilateral candour. Neither those who held the opposite view did spell out their reservations in a constructive manner. Even among the members of the ruling party at different times, reservations continued to linger with regard to the wisdom of the measure. This could be easily gauged from the body language of good number of members on either side of the divide on each occasion the Bill was stalled and withdrawn at the introductory stage. It appeared to the cynic that those who were opposing the bill were in fact obliging those who sponsored it.
Mercifully, the bill was at last introduced in the Upper house some time back, perhaps to keep it alive on technical grounds for a little longer period. The alibi of reaching a national consensus came handy for the procrastination witnessed impatiently by those who had wanted to hustle through. Nothing can be said with certainty about the fate of the bill. It is yet to be introduced in the lower house. Already there are signals for negotiating the percentage of reservations for women from those who were vehemently opposed to the concept in its present form for quite some time (in the manner of 7‘something is better than nothing’). Or, have they already seen the writing on the wall. So perhaps, a cult is coming on the strength of its emotional appeal and it is almost blasphemy to talk against it or to even point out the perils befalling the social fabric of our country, which still continues to be a rural entity in spite of the outwardly urbanised chunks growing out of emaciated rural population.
The ostensible purpose of reserving seats in legislatures is to accede to the better half her due share in a bid to empower her to serve as an engine of progress for the females of our country. On the face of it, it is a pious wish and nobody should have reason to fight with it. It is however, not understood how the presence of a greater number of women in any legislative body would make any difference in making laws to improve the lot of women. In modern times we have witnessed with pride the concerns expressed and legislation passed ensuring the improvement of the lot of women by legislators among whom there had been a negligible number of their sex .And let it be made clear that it was no charity doled out to women by men. Men were, indeed, legislating either in favour of a mother or a wife or a sister or a daughter. The paradigm of ‘man-woman’ as two wheels of the same cart, ensuring a smooth ride on life’s journey is as transcendental as one would think in the fast changing times of the automobile world. One would therefore, like to go into the dynamics of the issue through a backward view.
When our constitution makers (quite an enlightened lot!) provided for reservations for the various depressed communities they were not unaware of the still degraded position of women among these sections of our society. It was not an oversight on their part, one can say, not to talk of women separately in that context. Surely our wise men (and women) of today are entitled to talk about the need to give reservation and through it empowerment to the most depressed among the community of women. The history of the growth and development of the political class in post independence India compels us to take note of trends which do not strongly demonstrate our concerns for strengthening of the democratic model. The coalscing of the political, intellectual and ruling classes is taking place at such a fast pace and not always unbrazenly that the masses find it difficult (or many a time impossible!) to keep pace with them to reap the fruits of ‘self rule’. In a scheme of things where at least 30% (or a brokered 20 %) of the legislators are women the party managers (of any dispensation) would find it more convenient to have things their way. But from where this number would be drawn is any body’s guess. One can assume that the classes would have it and the masses would be left out of the race here too. The implication is that the number of new arrivals among the backward legislatures would be reduced. To put it differently the number of legislators from backward classes will go down drastically.
The myth of reservation on the basis of sex serving as a catalytic for the improvement of the lot of woman in general can be seen to be breaking in the regime of Panchayats and Municipalities. It is no secret that by and large women representatives serve as proxies of their male patrons in the family (father or brother). Let us imagine there would be educated and smart women (of whom there is no dearth, we admit) in legislatures taking up womens’ causes and fighting for them. The question is who will work for society, as by corollary, men should be working for the cause of men. Society is not male or female specific. Therefore, fragmenting representation on the basis of sex would not serve the best interest of society. It would amount to vertical division of the man-woman solid pillar of our social structure. It is not to deny that women in our country do not have enough space of their own which could ensure safety; security and desired freedom. It is also true that our laws covering social, economic and personal life, in spite of great amount of reform, still need to be made more woman friendly and enforceable. But our starting at the top in giving reservation to women in legislatures, when a good amount of work awaits our attention to be taken up immediately without courting avoidable controversy, betrays our concern for the form rather than the substance. The railway minister has demonstrated how a small step of setting apart only women coaches in the local trains can serve as a means, both for giving confidence to the hapless female passengers and serve as a signal to those who would like to innovate to create a woman friendly environment in their respective charge. Already schemes are in place for the amelioration of the condition of woman in need. These need to be multiplied and strengthened. We have witnessed how a small measure of reserving some seats for women in the Delhi Metro trains has added to the comfort of female passengers who now throng the facility in large numbers mostly unescorted. It may be necessary to resort to such exclusive steps to begin with but our ultimate aim should be to create an environment where a woman does not feel handicapped simply because of her gender. In the developed countries efforts have been made to create separate safe enclaves in public places like Parks; transport system and even hotels in cities like Tokyo, New York and Moscow. The ancient law giver had advocated safety and security to women at all stages of her life. It is, however, a pity that his prescription in the following piece has gone totally misconstrued in popular perception: pita rakshati kaumare, bharta rakshati yauvane| varddhakye putrah rakshanti, na stri svatantryamarhati|| [The father is responsible for the safety and security of the female till her marriage, after which the husband takes over that responsibility, and the children take care of her in old age. A woman, indeed, should never be left to fend for herself (uncared for).There should be no doubt left about his stand vis-à-vis women in his observation: yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah i.e. gods would love to live in a society where women have a place of honour and respect.
Imagine the possible scenario if the reservation regime proposed now falls into place. We are already miffed by the nexus of various interest groups in our democratic polity. The most powerful being the steel frame of bureaucrats, who await the chance of their spouses arriving to directly bat for them in the legislatures (it is not difficult to guess what class would reap the first fruits of the reservation regime), making their power claws more lethal, not a healthy development for democracy. Elitism has already marked the hue of our legislatures. No one would fail to notice, how through the capture of political parties kins have combined to corner seats. There are a large number of mixed doubles in our Parliament either in the same house or in the two houses combined. These father-son/daughter combinations are going to multiply as and when seats are reserved for women. The customary argument ‘the people want them’ is certainly going to be the
ready made response of all those who would be responsible to explain the phenomenon. The common man (also woman!) would be left wondering at the denouement of the charade of a very popular saga of women’s empowerment. Or are we entitled to imagine, in a lighter vein though, that our legislatures would have a redeeming feature, as in the presence of women in a substantial number we would have our speakers not to have to stretch substantially to control members, aggressive both in language and manners. Also, one can trust the sartorial spectrum in the lower houses taking a right (if not a U) turn, though we may not witness many turncoats. In the end one should hope that the houses (or at least the lobbies!) would not give a deserted look during session times. And shall we not hope that repartee, a rare commodity these days, would grow in abundance being home (house!)grown as it were.
[ 134 United Aptts., Plot-34, Sector-4,
Dwarka, New Delhi-110078, Phone:28081836 ]
Snippets from Rural Life of Yore
Snippets from Rural Life of Yore
Harvest Time :-
There was a time when most of India lived in villages. Participation in the agricultural operations according to one’s capacity was both a responsibility and an opportunity to learn the skills, which would stand in good stead in later life. Work here was a way of life rather than a burden. Leisure and entertainment was integral to daily life and socializing took place as a matter of routine without people making special efforts. Though there was broad division of roles, especially among the male and female members of a family there were some operations, which needed the joint and concerted participation of all members–young and old. At several stages additional help was procured by hiring labourers from the non-agricultural lower castes not engaged in any independent economic activity. Harvesting was one such occasion. Wages to the labour force were given in kind on the basis of a percentage of the total output of the concerned worker. In addition food for mid-day meal served at the site formed part of the wages. Such arrangements took care of the escalation in prices of grain. To work out the percentage a unit method was used. For example, at a percentage of 8.33 every twelfth sheaf of the crop harvested would go to the labourer concerned. Continued vigil was required to ensure that no labourer indulged in the malpractice of making every twelfth bundle of the harvest unduly heavier and bulky in comparison to the other bundles. If any such malpractice was noticed the proprietor farmer had the right to replace the concerned bundle by any other. After harvesting the wheat crop the small bundles were heaped in a rectangular stack (chhaur/chhauri) to be later transported to the thrashing floors (pair) in the outskirts of the village. In case of the bundles of gram no such stacking was done at this stage. After waiting for some time for the bundles to dry the same were picked one by one and put into a moving cart and then taken to be stacked in a heap at the threshing floors. This method was resorted to in order to avert loss of grains in frequent handling of the fragile stalks. In subsequent operations it became easier to sift the grain from the chaff in case of the gram crop. Wheat crop however, entailed a more elaborate process to get the final yield. In case of both types of the crop the final stages saw the harnessing of several bullocks and buffalos intertwined in an array to pound the stock under their hoofs. .Men standing on a tripod would pour down contents of bucketfuls sent up by the supporting members. The gently blowing wind would carry the chaff away leaving the grain to heap just in front of the tripod. Simultaneously a senior member of the family, usually a lady would promptly and neatly keep the grain mound free from chaff using a broom of fine stalks (manjan < marjni). The accumulated mound of grain (raas < raashi) would be measured by using a standard large sturdy earthen pot (map).
The artisans like the black smith, carpenter, the barber, the potter, the bangle man as also the representatives of castes providing services like scavenging got their share on the spot before the farmer carted the grain to his house. This constituted part of the jajmani and barter system-‘payments in kind, receipts in kind’. These daysthreshers and other machines have made the job quite easy and quick and cash transactions have replaced payment in kind. But the old system re-emerges in the form of welfare measures like food for work programmes and the institutionalized system of supplying free ration to certain cadres of the armed forces as part of wages in contemporary times.
Agriculture and animal husbandry were the two sides of the same coin viz. the village economy. Similarly grain and chaff both had equal importance. While the former was basic need for the human population, the latter was necessary for the subsistence of the cattle. Another component of the agricultural produce was the waste, which served as instant fuel, fodder, manure or raw material for several other products. Timely and abundant rains were a normal feature almost every year. Water table remained within easy reach. Sinking of wells either for the purpose of irrigation or for drinking water was not a costly affair. Several ponds circuiting the habitation area were features found almost in every village. Vegetation around the village and wastelands for grazing cattle were in plenty. Summer or winter or be it rainy season, life in the village was free from tension though full of activities. All this has undergone a sea change due to the degradation of environment, resulting from hectic urbanization and industrialisation. Development has its rewards but not without the accompanying liabilities too.
Sugarcane Crushers (Kohlu):-
Sugarcane is perhaps one of the oldest plant among cash crops. It finds mention in the Vedas as Ikshu, the plant oozing honey. With improved irrigation facilities and adequate rainfall the farmers in the plains of North India as else where have always preferred to go for sugarcane crop, which yielded a rich harvest. Improved qualities of the plant in one tract have attracted the attention of growers in other parts. Before the onset of the machine age and later day technology the farmers in the villages formed their own small co-operative ventures street-vise to process the crop for obtaining jaggery etc. By the end of the nineteenth century the new cast iron Kohlu had replaced the outmoded wooden version,which was proving quite expensive as it needed frequent repairs and replacements. The new metal machine was patented by Thomson and Myine and was lent on hire. It had three heavy rollers with gears on top and varying in size with the main roller moving with a long wooden bar (pait) fitted into a hub at its top operated for crushing sugarcane. The Kohlu was rolled by harnessing a pair of bullocks at the extreme end of the wooden bar to move round the Kohlu anti clockwise. An attentive fellow called Muthia would put the sugarcanes into the mouth piece of the Kohlu. A tin canister with a capacity of fifteen-kilograms was placed in a small pit below the mouth of the out let channel from where the collected juice flowed down. This measure formed one unit for the purpose of determining shares of each member of the co-operative venture. A family could opt for contributing a certain number of units in one round of roster of the members. The product obtained was divided in accordance with the proportion of the units a member held. The members put themselves in a queue and maintain the order through out. Gap if any happening due to unavoidable circumstances was required to be filled post facto. The members shared pro rata the expenditure (mostly in kind) incurred on the operations including the wages of the labourers engaged. All accounting work was orally done with striking precision and authenticity. Some times, to make the process more intensive, the system was modified so as to tackle in one go the crop of the members turn by turn (Bari lagana). Such practices were adhered to towards the final days of the season presenting fine examples of mutual co-operation. These small manual sugar mills were a feature on the outskirts of every village. The winter sun added charm to their hospitable milieu. The partners in a venture stacked their stocks of sugarcane in earmarked individual enclosures forming a semi circle. Thatched walls were raised behind each enclosure securing the sugarcane stack from pilferage or damage by wayward animals. Some people made cosy beds in their enclosures by spreading layers of begasse (khohi) and the soft dry leaves (paatti) of sugarcane. They were focal points of socializing among the village people joining in long drawn out sessions of smoking hukka. Young school children could be seen often utilizing the cosy corner of such enclosures for doing their homework. On the opposite side was located the Gurgoi ,the station for preparing jaggery. The collected cane juice was poured into a large iron pan (primary) fixed along with another (secondary) atop a two holed cavity deep enough to hold sufficient fuel for heating the juice. One side of the cavity was covered with a wall with a narrow hole left for intake of fuel. The other end of the cavity took the shape of a tunnel opening skywards for serving as an exhaust chimney for the smoke and excess energy. The hot earthen smoke tunnel (dhoondala) used to be a favourite rendezvous where young and old thronged to beat the shivering cold, particularly during nights. It was here that an elderly member of the co-operative Kohlu distributed fresh hot jaggery in lumps of small measures to all present every evening.
The pigs reared by the chuharas got their share of the press mud (maili) discarded in the process of clarifying the boiling sugarcane juice with the sprinkleof sap of stalks of the bhindi (lady finger) plant used as catalyst to obtain neat jaggery. On some occasions carrots fixed in hooked iron rods were dipped in the boiling pan to obtain delectable delicacies. These co-operative ventures have almost disappeared with the mushrooming of large sugar mills in the nearby towns on the one hand and the scantiness of the sugarcane crops in many villages on the other. Their old world charm was not lost even to a contingent of British troops on their way to Delhi whom I recall having halted on a sunny day at one of these venues in my village way back in 1944 to relish a treat of chewing sugarcane. The crop of sugarcane is slowly vanishing from many villages because of paucity of irrigation facilities and intensive hard work involved.
Fairs and Frays :-
The biannual fair held at village Kundal like at several other villages on Shivaratri was slowly loosing its lusture due to the increasing contacts of rural folk with the towns and cities. Till about the middle of the last century it lingered to have some of the old charm with multitudes of people from different places in their colourful new clothes thronging the venue Older people would recall the youngsters receiving as their pocket money of two annas (1/8th of a rupee), which was however, enough for buying little bits of wares like toys or for stimulating the taste buds of the tongue with a feast at the chaat stall. Some kind of voluntary (not forced by any code) apartheid could be noticed at the fair. The members of the Harijan community by convention attended the fair towards the concluding hours when wares started selling at throw away prices. By this time most of the upper caste members would have left for their homes or made it to the arena (dangal) to witness the wrestling bouts invariably organized on such occasions. People were hailed to the venue with the beating of drums. The umpire not only conducted the bouts in accordance with norms announced in advance but also enforced discipline among the crowd gathered around the arena in clusters supporting one or the other fighter through specially appointed volunteers. The referee Fixed each fight bymutual agreement between two of the wrestlers in the fray. The fights were conducted on a specially prepared pit filled with soft earth. An unwritten protocol of wrestlers was scrupulously observed by all concerned. A spirit of sportsmanship and fair play prevailed throughout the events. A peculiarity of the dangals was that it used to be an all male affair. Women folk were not supposed to be there even as spectators. It was not for the reasons of male chauvinism but a discreet step to save women from the spectacle of little clad muscular bodies of the contestants. Segregation of sexes, in any case, was a general norm in the life of village folk those days. Moreover the concept of the brave knights winning the fairies did not touch Indian life. Chivalry was not a matter of public demonstration for the people. Here we subscribed to the idea of Veerabhogya vasundhara (the brave rule the earth). The fair held annually on the compound of the religious seat of the Sadhs in village Nahri used to be a bigger draw. One of the scions of the Sadh family Joginder Singh was my schoolmate at the District Board. High School in the same village. He is known to have donned the cap of the chief priest of the religious order.
Hukka Haat/Hot:-
An interesting feature of the fairs was the holding of hukka (Hubble-bubble) fair a day before the fair proper. Potters from far and wide participated in this unique fair offering their earthen hukkas of various designs and sizes for sale at reasonable rates. The village folk fully utilized this opportunity and made purchases of stocks enough to last till the time of the next fair. Villagers interested in acquiring metal hukkas (pharsi < parsi < Persian) of a more fancy design, however, had to visit the market in the town or the city.
Hukka was no mere contraption for smoking tobacco. It represented a culture and served as a symbol of communal bonding and close fraternity. It was shared among the members of the community of equals and offered as a means of hospitality to a visitor. Before joining a smoking party a stranger would invariably ascertain the communal identity of the group. Denial of the privilege of sharing a hukka was among the major measures of social sanctions imposed against a person as punishment for violating a social code. The material, size and design of the hukka indicated the standing of the owner in his community. The higher the gathering in a smoking parlour the higher the popularity it indicated in respect of the owner. At such places the hukka could be noticed flaunting a rakhi on Rakshabandhan day, signifying its instrumentality in promoting bond of brotherhood. Some owners would not forget to mount their hukka on a free wheeled disc attached to a sturdy plate for easy rotating. Proper up keep of the hukka was no less important. The aroma would wane out unless the hukka was intermittently overhauled by replacing the stale water with fresh one and the waste deposits removed from the interiors of its various tubes with the help of a pull through (gaj). A fine and smooth gurgling sound when put into operation was indicative of the desired level of performance of the contraption. Out in the crop fields the farmers carried their personal mini hukkas called huktis. A midi hukka used by a smaller group or an individual was called kalai (perhaps for its pot being made of nickel plated metal). Narial would be the name of a still smaller hukti if the pot was made of coconut shell (and by extension of meaning any small (hukti of such shape) Farmers working in close proximity in the fields relaxed the caste restrictions in sharing the hukti. However, the relaxation in case of the members of the harijan community was limited only to the sharing of the earthen top fire-pot (chillum). Tobacco under a round lid (thekari) was placed atop an earthen ball trapped on the hole in the middle of the fire pot fixed on the smaller stump of the hukka. Continued supply of tobacco and fire tinder, were the main ingredients for keeping the smoking sessions go on and on. Tobacco supply was hardly a problem as most of the participants kept their own stock of locally grown home made tobacco in small pouches(kothalis) safely tucked in the pleats of the waist band (adband< ardhabandha) of their dhoti and volunteered to offer at least a measure (pat) to escape the sobriquet of a patpad. In the comity of smokers one could find connoisseurs of different grades of tobacco Viz. weak, strong and medium, majority preferring the last named. Fire tinder could be obtained from the reserved stock kept ready simmering in an ash covered fire pit called poor (hearth). The tinder was replenished by an additional supply of pieces of cow dung cakes buried in the ash pit arranged in a queue, one touching another ahead. In case of emergency the fire places of the households in the same street were sought after but not before discreet enquiry made from the concerned housewife was answered in the affirmative. When all other sources of fire tinder were exhausted the simmering stock invariably intact under the earthen milk pots (kadhawanis) of households would be accessed. Some times an enterprising young man would not forget to help himself by laying hand on the pot for a lump of creamy crust as a bonus. But such forays were limited to very friendly households. As a general norm cross street attempts to get fire tinder were not countenanced. It was however pass if a youngster ventured out on such a mission. Showing deference to the privacy of the women folk of the street was the main consideration behind such self-imposed restrictions.
The first few pulls at the recharged hukka following the customary inaugural one by the senior most among those present were to be made by a junior member of the smoking party till the tobacco got ignited (sulgana), especially if the instrument had been lying idle for quite some time. He also had the responsibility to manipulate the instrument holding it from the calf region (gatta pakarna) and offer it to the other members gathered turn-by-turn starting with the senior most among those present. If per chance the protocol (determined on the basis of seniority in clan relationship and age) of the persons concerned turned out to be at par each one would push the mouthpiece (nay) of the hukka forward to the next man in the manner of passing a buck. Similar was the norm when the group engaged in smoking comprised only a father-in-law and a son-in-law. Here the seniority in age of the father- in-law came into clash with the kin wise higher status of a son-in-law, hence the third alternative.
Food and Drinks:-
In olden days village life was as a whole integrated with the environment in all its aspects. Food was based on local agricultural products. The rabi crops yielded the major grains of wheat and gram as the mainstay of the food items round the year also providing some surplus for marketing to raise cash. The kharif crop was short lived and yielded grains just sufficient enough for change of taste to the palate for a couple of months in winter. Chapaties made of millet flour to be had with vegetable prepared from the tender leafy stalks of mustard plants with lumps of fresh white butter on top used to be real treat. Khichdi made from pounded bits of millet laced with a rich serving of clarified butter was a favourite dish in almost every household of the village at dinner time during the season. In summer breakfast constituted of chapaties made of wheat flour mixed with a sprinkling of gram flour. Butter milk in abundance was available for topping up according to the needs and liking of an individual. Onion was common at any meal time as it was generally home grown. Lunch time menu included chapaties made of wheat flour with some vegetable or dahl, generally of local product. In summer rabari (wheat flour soaked in yogurt cooked after fermentation) was a hot favourite, especially the overnight saved scruff mixed with yogurt to be savored the next morning. In case of the vegetable items there used to be great amount of give and take between close neighbours. The universal potato was easily available and stood in good stead in cases of emergency. During their spare time on sunny days in the rainy season women folk used to prepare seviaan from clods of thick paste of fine wheat flour placed on top of earthen pots turned upside down. Dinner time was dahlia (porridge) time. It was cooked from pounded bits of wheat painstakingly obtained through a long process- soaking the grains in water for some time, placing the same on a cloth spread on a cot till it dried half, pounding gently to let the crust shed off, then winnowing it to obtain fine grain, and finally vigorously pounding with a heavy wooden staff (musal) the grains placed in a deep cylindrical stone container (ukhal) to get a ready to cook stuff. The preparation was on different days by rotation sweet-mixed with jaggery, salty or just plain to be left to the choice of the individual member of the family to have it sweet or salty. Festival time saw ladies preparing dainty dishes of halwa purie and kheer and the added specialties were gulgule and poodey if it happened to be rainy season. Suhalies were deep fried small cakes prepared from a hard thick paste of wheat flour mixed with jaggery solution. This preparation lasted months and therefore was prepared in large quantities. Bag full was dispatched to the home of married daughter. Youngsters would tuck a piece or two in their pockets when going out for playing to savour the same in case they felt hungry. Laapsi was the fat free version of halwa with jaggery replacing sugar as sweetener. It could be called a poor man’s halwa. Today village is no more cut off from the ways of life in the cities and towns. Only the sophistication is lacking, the polish is not there. Means of communication and transport have bridged the gap substantially. Proximity with Delhi has opened avenues of employment in government and private sectors to many a people in the villages. Most of them being daily commuters to and from the city serve as carriers of the latest trends in food habits from the city to the village. At marriage parties also the menu is usually a carbon copy of what one finds in the city though laddoo and zalebi continue to rule the roost. Of course guldana has almost disappeared from the table and similar is the fate of vegetable made of kaddu along with the delectable chatni of kalonji so painstakingly prepared by the local halwai. The aroma of smell of leaf plates and cups is missing as these have given place to the exotic items of crockery linked with status. Similarly the buffet system has taken away the sweet side of hospitality oozed at the guests by bands of young men serving entreatingly the different items of the menu at the feasts. The event today has turned impersonal and the guests hardly have a chance to relate to the hosts. The aura of getting served entreatingly is missing in marriage feasts these days. Water was the main drink. It was served sweet mixed with country made sugar. In summer some enterprising hosts arranged for ice from the nearby towns. The modern beverages had not reached the village. Consumption of liquor was rare and was discreetly kept a private and personal affair in a manner that those who did not indulge in it, hardly got a smell of it.
Harvest Time :-
There was a time when most of India lived in villages. Participation in the agricultural operations according to one’s capacity was both a responsibility and an opportunity to learn the skills, which would stand in good stead in later life. Work here was a way of life rather than a burden. Leisure and entertainment was integral to daily life and socializing took place as a matter of routine without people making special efforts. Though there was broad division of roles, especially among the male and female members of a family there were some operations, which needed the joint and concerted participation of all members–young and old. At several stages additional help was procured by hiring labourers from the non-agricultural lower castes not engaged in any independent economic activity. Harvesting was one such occasion. Wages to the labour force were given in kind on the basis of a percentage of the total output of the concerned worker. In addition food for mid-day meal served at the site formed part of the wages. Such arrangements took care of the escalation in prices of grain. To work out the percentage a unit method was used. For example, at a percentage of 8.33 every twelfth sheaf of the crop harvested would go to the labourer concerned. Continued vigil was required to ensure that no labourer indulged in the malpractice of making every twelfth bundle of the harvest unduly heavier and bulky in comparison to the other bundles. If any such malpractice was noticed the proprietor farmer had the right to replace the concerned bundle by any other. After harvesting the wheat crop the small bundles were heaped in a rectangular stack (chhaur/chhauri) to be later transported to the thrashing floors (pair) in the outskirts of the village. In case of the bundles of gram no such stacking was done at this stage. After waiting for some time for the bundles to dry the same were picked one by one and put into a moving cart and then taken to be stacked in a heap at the threshing floors. This method was resorted to in order to avert loss of grains in frequent handling of the fragile stalks. In subsequent operations it became easier to sift the grain from the chaff in case of the gram crop. Wheat crop however, entailed a more elaborate process to get the final yield. In case of both types of the crop the final stages saw the harnessing of several bullocks and buffalos intertwined in an array to pound the stock under their hoofs. .Men standing on a tripod would pour down contents of bucketfuls sent up by the supporting members. The gently blowing wind would carry the chaff away leaving the grain to heap just in front of the tripod. Simultaneously a senior member of the family, usually a lady would promptly and neatly keep the grain mound free from chaff using a broom of fine stalks (manjan < marjni). The accumulated mound of grain (raas < raashi) would be measured by using a standard large sturdy earthen pot (map).
The artisans like the black smith, carpenter, the barber, the potter, the bangle man as also the representatives of castes providing services like scavenging got their share on the spot before the farmer carted the grain to his house. This constituted part of the jajmani and barter system-‘payments in kind, receipts in kind’. These daysthreshers and other machines have made the job quite easy and quick and cash transactions have replaced payment in kind. But the old system re-emerges in the form of welfare measures like food for work programmes and the institutionalized system of supplying free ration to certain cadres of the armed forces as part of wages in contemporary times.
Agriculture and animal husbandry were the two sides of the same coin viz. the village economy. Similarly grain and chaff both had equal importance. While the former was basic need for the human population, the latter was necessary for the subsistence of the cattle. Another component of the agricultural produce was the waste, which served as instant fuel, fodder, manure or raw material for several other products. Timely and abundant rains were a normal feature almost every year. Water table remained within easy reach. Sinking of wells either for the purpose of irrigation or for drinking water was not a costly affair. Several ponds circuiting the habitation area were features found almost in every village. Vegetation around the village and wastelands for grazing cattle were in plenty. Summer or winter or be it rainy season, life in the village was free from tension though full of activities. All this has undergone a sea change due to the degradation of environment, resulting from hectic urbanization and industrialisation. Development has its rewards but not without the accompanying liabilities too.
Sugarcane Crushers (Kohlu):-
Sugarcane is perhaps one of the oldest plant among cash crops. It finds mention in the Vedas as Ikshu, the plant oozing honey. With improved irrigation facilities and adequate rainfall the farmers in the plains of North India as else where have always preferred to go for sugarcane crop, which yielded a rich harvest. Improved qualities of the plant in one tract have attracted the attention of growers in other parts. Before the onset of the machine age and later day technology the farmers in the villages formed their own small co-operative ventures street-vise to process the crop for obtaining jaggery etc. By the end of the nineteenth century the new cast iron Kohlu had replaced the outmoded wooden version,which was proving quite expensive as it needed frequent repairs and replacements. The new metal machine was patented by Thomson and Myine and was lent on hire. It had three heavy rollers with gears on top and varying in size with the main roller moving with a long wooden bar (pait) fitted into a hub at its top operated for crushing sugarcane. The Kohlu was rolled by harnessing a pair of bullocks at the extreme end of the wooden bar to move round the Kohlu anti clockwise. An attentive fellow called Muthia would put the sugarcanes into the mouth piece of the Kohlu. A tin canister with a capacity of fifteen-kilograms was placed in a small pit below the mouth of the out let channel from where the collected juice flowed down. This measure formed one unit for the purpose of determining shares of each member of the co-operative venture. A family could opt for contributing a certain number of units in one round of roster of the members. The product obtained was divided in accordance with the proportion of the units a member held. The members put themselves in a queue and maintain the order through out. Gap if any happening due to unavoidable circumstances was required to be filled post facto. The members shared pro rata the expenditure (mostly in kind) incurred on the operations including the wages of the labourers engaged. All accounting work was orally done with striking precision and authenticity. Some times, to make the process more intensive, the system was modified so as to tackle in one go the crop of the members turn by turn (Bari lagana). Such practices were adhered to towards the final days of the season presenting fine examples of mutual co-operation. These small manual sugar mills were a feature on the outskirts of every village. The winter sun added charm to their hospitable milieu. The partners in a venture stacked their stocks of sugarcane in earmarked individual enclosures forming a semi circle. Thatched walls were raised behind each enclosure securing the sugarcane stack from pilferage or damage by wayward animals. Some people made cosy beds in their enclosures by spreading layers of begasse (khohi) and the soft dry leaves (paatti) of sugarcane. They were focal points of socializing among the village people joining in long drawn out sessions of smoking hukka. Young school children could be seen often utilizing the cosy corner of such enclosures for doing their homework. On the opposite side was located the Gurgoi ,the station for preparing jaggery. The collected cane juice was poured into a large iron pan (primary) fixed along with another (secondary) atop a two holed cavity deep enough to hold sufficient fuel for heating the juice. One side of the cavity was covered with a wall with a narrow hole left for intake of fuel. The other end of the cavity took the shape of a tunnel opening skywards for serving as an exhaust chimney for the smoke and excess energy. The hot earthen smoke tunnel (dhoondala) used to be a favourite rendezvous where young and old thronged to beat the shivering cold, particularly during nights. It was here that an elderly member of the co-operative Kohlu distributed fresh hot jaggery in lumps of small measures to all present every evening.
The pigs reared by the chuharas got their share of the press mud (maili) discarded in the process of clarifying the boiling sugarcane juice with the sprinkleof sap of stalks of the bhindi (lady finger) plant used as catalyst to obtain neat jaggery. On some occasions carrots fixed in hooked iron rods were dipped in the boiling pan to obtain delectable delicacies. These co-operative ventures have almost disappeared with the mushrooming of large sugar mills in the nearby towns on the one hand and the scantiness of the sugarcane crops in many villages on the other. Their old world charm was not lost even to a contingent of British troops on their way to Delhi whom I recall having halted on a sunny day at one of these venues in my village way back in 1944 to relish a treat of chewing sugarcane. The crop of sugarcane is slowly vanishing from many villages because of paucity of irrigation facilities and intensive hard work involved.
Fairs and Frays :-
The biannual fair held at village Kundal like at several other villages on Shivaratri was slowly loosing its lusture due to the increasing contacts of rural folk with the towns and cities. Till about the middle of the last century it lingered to have some of the old charm with multitudes of people from different places in their colourful new clothes thronging the venue Older people would recall the youngsters receiving as their pocket money of two annas (1/8th of a rupee), which was however, enough for buying little bits of wares like toys or for stimulating the taste buds of the tongue with a feast at the chaat stall. Some kind of voluntary (not forced by any code) apartheid could be noticed at the fair. The members of the Harijan community by convention attended the fair towards the concluding hours when wares started selling at throw away prices. By this time most of the upper caste members would have left for their homes or made it to the arena (dangal) to witness the wrestling bouts invariably organized on such occasions. People were hailed to the venue with the beating of drums. The umpire not only conducted the bouts in accordance with norms announced in advance but also enforced discipline among the crowd gathered around the arena in clusters supporting one or the other fighter through specially appointed volunteers. The referee Fixed each fight bymutual agreement between two of the wrestlers in the fray. The fights were conducted on a specially prepared pit filled with soft earth. An unwritten protocol of wrestlers was scrupulously observed by all concerned. A spirit of sportsmanship and fair play prevailed throughout the events. A peculiarity of the dangals was that it used to be an all male affair. Women folk were not supposed to be there even as spectators. It was not for the reasons of male chauvinism but a discreet step to save women from the spectacle of little clad muscular bodies of the contestants. Segregation of sexes, in any case, was a general norm in the life of village folk those days. Moreover the concept of the brave knights winning the fairies did not touch Indian life. Chivalry was not a matter of public demonstration for the people. Here we subscribed to the idea of Veerabhogya vasundhara (the brave rule the earth). The fair held annually on the compound of the religious seat of the Sadhs in village Nahri used to be a bigger draw. One of the scions of the Sadh family Joginder Singh was my schoolmate at the District Board. High School in the same village. He is known to have donned the cap of the chief priest of the religious order.
Hukka Haat/Hot:-
An interesting feature of the fairs was the holding of hukka (Hubble-bubble) fair a day before the fair proper. Potters from far and wide participated in this unique fair offering their earthen hukkas of various designs and sizes for sale at reasonable rates. The village folk fully utilized this opportunity and made purchases of stocks enough to last till the time of the next fair. Villagers interested in acquiring metal hukkas (pharsi < parsi < Persian) of a more fancy design, however, had to visit the market in the town or the city.
Hukka was no mere contraption for smoking tobacco. It represented a culture and served as a symbol of communal bonding and close fraternity. It was shared among the members of the community of equals and offered as a means of hospitality to a visitor. Before joining a smoking party a stranger would invariably ascertain the communal identity of the group. Denial of the privilege of sharing a hukka was among the major measures of social sanctions imposed against a person as punishment for violating a social code. The material, size and design of the hukka indicated the standing of the owner in his community. The higher the gathering in a smoking parlour the higher the popularity it indicated in respect of the owner. At such places the hukka could be noticed flaunting a rakhi on Rakshabandhan day, signifying its instrumentality in promoting bond of brotherhood. Some owners would not forget to mount their hukka on a free wheeled disc attached to a sturdy plate for easy rotating. Proper up keep of the hukka was no less important. The aroma would wane out unless the hukka was intermittently overhauled by replacing the stale water with fresh one and the waste deposits removed from the interiors of its various tubes with the help of a pull through (gaj). A fine and smooth gurgling sound when put into operation was indicative of the desired level of performance of the contraption. Out in the crop fields the farmers carried their personal mini hukkas called huktis. A midi hukka used by a smaller group or an individual was called kalai (perhaps for its pot being made of nickel plated metal). Narial would be the name of a still smaller hukti if the pot was made of coconut shell (and by extension of meaning any small (hukti of such shape) Farmers working in close proximity in the fields relaxed the caste restrictions in sharing the hukti. However, the relaxation in case of the members of the harijan community was limited only to the sharing of the earthen top fire-pot (chillum). Tobacco under a round lid (thekari) was placed atop an earthen ball trapped on the hole in the middle of the fire pot fixed on the smaller stump of the hukka. Continued supply of tobacco and fire tinder, were the main ingredients for keeping the smoking sessions go on and on. Tobacco supply was hardly a problem as most of the participants kept their own stock of locally grown home made tobacco in small pouches(kothalis) safely tucked in the pleats of the waist band (adband< ardhabandha) of their dhoti and volunteered to offer at least a measure (pat) to escape the sobriquet of a patpad. In the comity of smokers one could find connoisseurs of different grades of tobacco Viz. weak, strong and medium, majority preferring the last named. Fire tinder could be obtained from the reserved stock kept ready simmering in an ash covered fire pit called poor (hearth). The tinder was replenished by an additional supply of pieces of cow dung cakes buried in the ash pit arranged in a queue, one touching another ahead. In case of emergency the fire places of the households in the same street were sought after but not before discreet enquiry made from the concerned housewife was answered in the affirmative. When all other sources of fire tinder were exhausted the simmering stock invariably intact under the earthen milk pots (kadhawanis) of households would be accessed. Some times an enterprising young man would not forget to help himself by laying hand on the pot for a lump of creamy crust as a bonus. But such forays were limited to very friendly households. As a general norm cross street attempts to get fire tinder were not countenanced. It was however pass if a youngster ventured out on such a mission. Showing deference to the privacy of the women folk of the street was the main consideration behind such self-imposed restrictions.
The first few pulls at the recharged hukka following the customary inaugural one by the senior most among those present were to be made by a junior member of the smoking party till the tobacco got ignited (sulgana), especially if the instrument had been lying idle for quite some time. He also had the responsibility to manipulate the instrument holding it from the calf region (gatta pakarna) and offer it to the other members gathered turn-by-turn starting with the senior most among those present. If per chance the protocol (determined on the basis of seniority in clan relationship and age) of the persons concerned turned out to be at par each one would push the mouthpiece (nay) of the hukka forward to the next man in the manner of passing a buck. Similar was the norm when the group engaged in smoking comprised only a father-in-law and a son-in-law. Here the seniority in age of the father- in-law came into clash with the kin wise higher status of a son-in-law, hence the third alternative.
Food and Drinks:-
In olden days village life was as a whole integrated with the environment in all its aspects. Food was based on local agricultural products. The rabi crops yielded the major grains of wheat and gram as the mainstay of the food items round the year also providing some surplus for marketing to raise cash. The kharif crop was short lived and yielded grains just sufficient enough for change of taste to the palate for a couple of months in winter. Chapaties made of millet flour to be had with vegetable prepared from the tender leafy stalks of mustard plants with lumps of fresh white butter on top used to be real treat. Khichdi made from pounded bits of millet laced with a rich serving of clarified butter was a favourite dish in almost every household of the village at dinner time during the season. In summer breakfast constituted of chapaties made of wheat flour mixed with a sprinkling of gram flour. Butter milk in abundance was available for topping up according to the needs and liking of an individual. Onion was common at any meal time as it was generally home grown. Lunch time menu included chapaties made of wheat flour with some vegetable or dahl, generally of local product. In summer rabari (wheat flour soaked in yogurt cooked after fermentation) was a hot favourite, especially the overnight saved scruff mixed with yogurt to be savored the next morning. In case of the vegetable items there used to be great amount of give and take between close neighbours. The universal potato was easily available and stood in good stead in cases of emergency. During their spare time on sunny days in the rainy season women folk used to prepare seviaan from clods of thick paste of fine wheat flour placed on top of earthen pots turned upside down. Dinner time was dahlia (porridge) time. It was cooked from pounded bits of wheat painstakingly obtained through a long process- soaking the grains in water for some time, placing the same on a cloth spread on a cot till it dried half, pounding gently to let the crust shed off, then winnowing it to obtain fine grain, and finally vigorously pounding with a heavy wooden staff (musal) the grains placed in a deep cylindrical stone container (ukhal) to get a ready to cook stuff. The preparation was on different days by rotation sweet-mixed with jaggery, salty or just plain to be left to the choice of the individual member of the family to have it sweet or salty. Festival time saw ladies preparing dainty dishes of halwa purie and kheer and the added specialties were gulgule and poodey if it happened to be rainy season. Suhalies were deep fried small cakes prepared from a hard thick paste of wheat flour mixed with jaggery solution. This preparation lasted months and therefore was prepared in large quantities. Bag full was dispatched to the home of married daughter. Youngsters would tuck a piece or two in their pockets when going out for playing to savour the same in case they felt hungry. Laapsi was the fat free version of halwa with jaggery replacing sugar as sweetener. It could be called a poor man’s halwa. Today village is no more cut off from the ways of life in the cities and towns. Only the sophistication is lacking, the polish is not there. Means of communication and transport have bridged the gap substantially. Proximity with Delhi has opened avenues of employment in government and private sectors to many a people in the villages. Most of them being daily commuters to and from the city serve as carriers of the latest trends in food habits from the city to the village. At marriage parties also the menu is usually a carbon copy of what one finds in the city though laddoo and zalebi continue to rule the roost. Of course guldana has almost disappeared from the table and similar is the fate of vegetable made of kaddu along with the delectable chatni of kalonji so painstakingly prepared by the local halwai. The aroma of smell of leaf plates and cups is missing as these have given place to the exotic items of crockery linked with status. Similarly the buffet system has taken away the sweet side of hospitality oozed at the guests by bands of young men serving entreatingly the different items of the menu at the feasts. The event today has turned impersonal and the guests hardly have a chance to relate to the hosts. The aura of getting served entreatingly is missing in marriage feasts these days. Water was the main drink. It was served sweet mixed with country made sugar. In summer some enterprising hosts arranged for ice from the nearby towns. The modern beverages had not reached the village. Consumption of liquor was rare and was discreetly kept a private and personal affair in a manner that those who did not indulge in it, hardly got a smell of it.
Kin Names: Indicators of Social Networking among the Jats
Kin Names: Indicators of Social Networking among the Jats
Dr. S.S.Rana
Nomenclatures of kins prevalent among the Jats ( in the broader sense to include other similar castes) of North India for centuries demonstrate a distinctly marked Sanskritic connection and thereby their Vedic origins. The social organization reflected in the Vedic literature, especially the Rigveda speaking of the family, the clan (or the gotra) and the village can be observed intact in many of its features in the kin organization of the Jats.
Some scholars believe kinship to be the origin of the caste system among the Hindus in India. There are others who consider vocation or profession as the basis of caste distinctions without wholly denying the role of kinship for the development of caste.
For the present we may study the kin names and examine their degrees indicating an individual’s status in social hierarchy both in vertical and horizontal relationships.
Broadly speaking the kin terms can be placed in two categories-i) those used for blood relations and ii) those applied to affinal (through marriage) kins. Each of these categories has primary and derived as also composite kin terms.
The first category goes three generations upwards and three generations downwards of the generation divide in each of the male and female domains. Among the male progenitors from the father’s side we have- Pita/Bap//Babu (Pita), Dada (Pita-Pita), Pad-Dada (Pra-Pita-Pita). These have their respective feminine forms in Maa, Dadi and Pad-Dadi. The descendants in the chain include- Poot/ Beta (Putra/ Batuka or Vatsa), Pota (derived from Putra through Vriddhi)and Pad-Pota (PraPautra). The female versions (Beti/Dhih, Poti etc. have been derived by adding feminine suffixes except in the case of Mata/Maa which is a primary kin name for obvious reasons. It is interesting to note that though there is a fourth kin nomenclature on either end of the chain viz. Sad- Dada/Dadi and Sad-Pauta/ Pauti, such kins are hardly countenanced and in some quarters these kins are taken as unwelcome. The reason for such a belief could be the chances of such a patriarch rotting after certain age in most cases, our Vedic prayer of jivema Sharadah Shatam not withstanding.
Among the kin names of progenitors from Mother upwards are -Nana (Nanri-), Pad-Nana (Pra- Nanri) yielding the female versions Nani and Pad-Nani by adding feminine suffixes. Looked at from the upward scale the kin names do not go beyond one generation of Dauhata/ Dauhati (Dauhitra/Dauhitri) as hardly any interaction takes place between the succeeding kins. Here we may cite the riddle popular among rural folk viz. do ma- beti aur do ma-beti chali bagh mein jaan, teen nimboo tod ke saabat saabat khan, batao kaise? Evidently they are – the mother, her daughter and her daughter’s daughter, three in all.
Then there are horizontal blood kins both from the side of father and mother. Elder brother of father gets the term Tau (Pitrivya) and that younger to him is known as Kaka/ Chacha (Kanishthaka). Father’s sister is Bua/Phuphi (Pitri-svasri) Mother’s sister, elder or younger has the same term Mausi (Matrisvasri).Mama (Matula) is the nomenclature for Mother’s brother. Males born of the same parents are to each other Bhai (Bhratri).Bira(Vira) if male and Bahen/Jiji/Bebe (Bhagini) if female. Children born of a brother get the term Bhatija (Bhratrija) if male and Bhatiji (Bhratrija) if female. Sister’s husband is known by the term Behnoi/ Jija and her children get the nomenclature Bhanja (Bhaginija)/Bhanaji.
In the category of affinal kins we have relationships established through marriage. First we talk of kins through marriage of self. The first kin in this way is the spouse- Pati if male and Patni if female. There are several Desi versions of such terms e.g.Ghar ala/ wala, Khasam, Mard, Log/Vara if male and Ghar wali/ali, Zoru, Bir, Lugai, Bahu/Bahauria (Vadhu) if female. Husband’s father is Susra (Shvasura) and his mother is Sasu (Shvasru) and similar are the terms vice-versa. The parents of the spouses have their relationship to each other described by a common nomenclature of Samdhi (Sambandhi) if male or Samdhan (Sambandhini) if female. A son –in –law is Jamai (Jamatri) and a daughter-in-law is Bahu (Vadhu). Interestingly brother’s or sister’s mother-in–law is called Mausi (Matrisvasri) bringing her at par with one’s own mother and the masculine derivative Mausa is for his father-in-law. In reciprocity the son-in-law’s brother and sister are given the nomenclature Samdheta (Sambandhi-Batuka) and Samdheti to be known via their father rather than through their brother. Husband and wife moving further into each other’s family circle receive separate kin names in each relationship. Thus we have husband’s Dada/dadi called as Dadasara/Dadas,Nana/ Nani as Nanasra/ Nanas, Mama/Mami as Mamasra or Molasra/ Mamas or Molas, Tau/Tai as Tayasara/Tayas and Kaka/Kaki as Pitasara (Pitrivyashvasura)/ /Pitas. Husband’s father’s sister is known as Phuphas and her husband gets its masculine form, Phuphasra. Husband’s elder brother is Jeth (Jyeshtha) and the latter’s wife is Jethani. Similarly husband’s younger brother and his wife are Devara and Devarani respectively. Father’s sister’s(Bua’s) husband gets the term Phupha as a masculine form of Phuphi. Sister’s husband is Jija. Interestingly no kin name appears to have been given to the sister’s husband’s sister. Perhaps the reason lies in the remoteness of the connection. Husband’s sister and her husband are called Nanand Nanandri) and Nandoyya respectively. Wife’s brother is Sala (Shyalaka) and his wife is Slahaja (Shyalakajaya). Wife’s sister is Sali (Shyalika) and her husband is given the appropriate term Saddhu (Saha-Wodha) or Humjulpha in some circles. In olden times this kin was taken to be as good as non-kin and there was no independent interaction between the two except at family functions like marriage at their common in-laws’ place only. In modern times this affinal connection is quite a hit. This is happening with the appropriation of due personal status to women, accelerated by the emergence of the micro family and the impact of urban social norms on rural life and ways. Cousins and cross cousins are mutually addressed and treated as brother (Bhai) or sister (Bahen) as the case may be. But for specific identification by strangers and third parties all relevant kin terms are employed in a compo sit form e.g, Tau ka Beta, Bua ka Beta, Mama ki Beti etc.
Some kin terms have come to be used as pairs to denote closeness and mutual affection e.g. Chacha-Bhatija, Bua-Bhatija, Mama-Bhanaja, Babu-Beta, Ma-Beti, Devar-Bhabhi etc. Unfortunately Sasu-Bhahu, Nanand-Bhavaj, Devarani –Jethani, Log-Lugai are paired in not so flattering terms as can be gleaned from many a folk songs. But the hapless Sasu, mellowed enough through age and experience gets all the brick bats for the legendary atrocities committed on her daughter-in-law of which she herself had been a perceived victim when young. The system of cross cousin marriages in some communities, where a mother- in- law happens to be either father’s sister or mother’s brother’s wife, has perhaps behind it the factors of safety and security of the bride in this world of uncertainties. However, the Jats have ventured to marry away their daughters to far off places (a la ‘Duhita dure hita’), confident of the system of kinship that they have evolved by strict application of the norms of gotra-exogamy and caste-endogamy.
The above mentioned kin names, though primarily evolved for specifically identifying a kin through relationship of blood or through connubial connection, are extended to a wider group of a village as a whole irrespective of caste and status. However, in case of reciprocity from the members of the Brahmin community there are certain exceptions. The norm is also in place in interaction with all known persons irrespective of the place they come from and irrespective of the kin connections. In the latter case kin takes the form of geographic connection leading to social integration for civic life. This feature speaks volumes of the level of equity observed by the Jats. Kinship system combined with the gotra system can be seen coming into full play at the Vida ceremony in marriages when kins are sought to be identified present on the opposite side for the purpose of being honoured by each side respectively.
Respective kin names of seniors are normally prefixed to names of persons addressed from a distance and invariably used for addressing a person face to face- single or in company. Between cousins the term for addressing is brother (Bhai) or Sister (bahen /Bebe) as the case may be but the compound kin terms like Tau ka Beta/Beti , Bua ka Beta/Beti, Mama ka Beta/ Beti etc. are employed to identify the precise relationship to third party.
Strangers also get addressed with select approximate kin names determined broadly through analogy of age and appearance. Some of these are- Dada/Dadi , Tau/Tai, Bhai, Beta/Beti. It is to be noted that in this category we do not have Bhabi and Bhan/Bahen/Bebe as both these kin names are to be determined in relation to Gotra, which can be ascertained if we come to know a person closely. However, a kin name based on blood relation (or even gotra connection) can not be superseded by a kin name determined through connubial connection. For example, mother’s brother’s daughter married to a person equal to a brother in kin hierarchy shall continue be known and addressed by the original kin name (Bahen), the new kin connection (leading to the term Bhabi) not withstanding.
Then we have several situations coming before us in life when kin names are used not for indicating kinship but to connote different meaning. These can be listed below:
i) For adding emphasis in assertions or refusals-‘This time I wont leave this fellow (Sala)
unpunished’; ‘I shall give nothing to this fellow (Sala).’ ‘The fellow (Susra) is good for
nothing.’ ‘Why should I go to meet that fellow (Susra)?’
ii) For extending grudging admiration- ‘The fellow (Susra or Sala) is indeed honest;’
iii) For hurling abuses several kin names are freely used. Mother (Maa), Sister (Bahen), wife’s brother (Sala), Daughter(Beti/ Chhori suffer the worst when these terms get used in incestuous terms, especially at the hands of males. Among women Bhabi is a favourite term of abuse when used for a quarreling adversary. One is left wondering what two women in quarrel mean when they call each other ‘Sasu ghodaan ki’(Mother-in-law of horses implying thereby the ‘mare-hood’ of her daughters). Cursing in the name of kins is a common feature but ‘Bhai Roi’ and ‘Napooti’( sonless) are the most hurting as they target the closest kins, a brother and a son.
iv)For adding emotions in folk songs of women sung on occasions of marriage and festivals like Teej and Raksha Bandhan (Salonon). When, a bride embarks on taking the rounds of the sacred fire along with the bride groom the women folk present at the marriage ceremony synchronise singing the conventional song reminding her in each round of her kin connections (Dada ki Poti, Babu ki Beti etc.), thereby assuring her of their support at the most critical juncture of her life. The terms Babu and Ma have a nostalgic touch when rendered as Babul and Mayad respectively by a daughter living in a far off place.
v) For entreatingly persuading some one who is not a kin, to do a favour – ‘Tau aage ne ho le’; O ‘Phupha maan jaa’. Such usages are taken sportingly by all concerned with a touch of amusement. Kin names are uttered even to adamant domestic animals to relent to do certain commands when patient cajoling fails to deliver. Bhenoi and Bhenoyen (not Behan!) are commonly used in such situations.
vi)Though basically appropriately used for a step-mother the term Mausi has borne stigma in
the context of supposed ill treatment meted out by her to her stepson/daughter. Thus we have the phrase ‘Sapon ki Mausi’.
The order of precedence among kins is determined on the basis of relative position on the hierarchical ladder. In case of a tie the one through blood connection takes precedence over the one through connubial connection. Parameters of precedence include- right of passage, order of greeting, position of seat on head-side(Sirahana) or foot-side (Paitana) of a bed, obligation to hold a hukkah at the calf region (gatta pakadna) and offering it to others present, right to draw the inaugural pull at the same, representing the family/clan at Panchayat etc.
A closer look at the kin names would show the following as the primary or basic terms:
Among the terms for blood relations there are four: (i) Pita/Bap/Babu (ii) Mata/Ma/Maan(iii) Poot/Beta (iv) Beti/ Dhih. All other kin terms either upward in the scale or downwards both on the father’s side and the mother’s side are derived from these four. However, one has to stretch one’s imagination in deriving Nana from Matri-Pita. On the face it appears to be a vestige of the original Sanskrit term Nanaanri, gone obsolete with the passage of time.
In the same way we have the following basic terms among affinal kins: (i) Pati/ Vara/ Log/ Khasam (ii) Patni/Bahu/Lugai/Zoru (iii) Susra (iv) Sasu (v) Samdhi (vi) Samdhan. Considering (iv) and (vi) as the feminine forms of (iii) and (v) the basic number comes to four. As in the case of blood relations the terms for other affinal relations are derived from these four.
Needless to say that the above system of kin nomenclatures has stood the test of time in keeping our social organization not only intact but also integrated, serving as a renewal system in the manner of rolling the past and unfolding the future for millenniums. With the growing urbanization and changing life patterns the system is already under strains. Our younger generations given to cosmopolitan ways can hardly help being part of the anonymous system of individualism where distances are getting reduced with the introduction of faster means of transportation but kins are getting more distant. We have very little time these days to refer back to the extended family and the entailing network of kins. But no one would deny admitting experiencing deepest joy on discovering and meeting a relation of several generations distant.
[134 United Aptts, Plot-34, Sector-4,Dwarka, New Delhi-110 078, Phone:28081836]
Dr. S.S.Rana
Nomenclatures of kins prevalent among the Jats ( in the broader sense to include other similar castes) of North India for centuries demonstrate a distinctly marked Sanskritic connection and thereby their Vedic origins. The social organization reflected in the Vedic literature, especially the Rigveda speaking of the family, the clan (or the gotra) and the village can be observed intact in many of its features in the kin organization of the Jats.
Some scholars believe kinship to be the origin of the caste system among the Hindus in India. There are others who consider vocation or profession as the basis of caste distinctions without wholly denying the role of kinship for the development of caste.
For the present we may study the kin names and examine their degrees indicating an individual’s status in social hierarchy both in vertical and horizontal relationships.
Broadly speaking the kin terms can be placed in two categories-i) those used for blood relations and ii) those applied to affinal (through marriage) kins. Each of these categories has primary and derived as also composite kin terms.
The first category goes three generations upwards and three generations downwards of the generation divide in each of the male and female domains. Among the male progenitors from the father’s side we have- Pita/Bap//Babu (Pita), Dada (Pita-Pita), Pad-Dada (Pra-Pita-Pita). These have their respective feminine forms in Maa, Dadi and Pad-Dadi. The descendants in the chain include- Poot/ Beta (Putra/ Batuka or Vatsa), Pota (derived from Putra through Vriddhi)and Pad-Pota (PraPautra). The female versions (Beti/Dhih, Poti etc. have been derived by adding feminine suffixes except in the case of Mata/Maa which is a primary kin name for obvious reasons. It is interesting to note that though there is a fourth kin nomenclature on either end of the chain viz. Sad- Dada/Dadi and Sad-Pauta/ Pauti, such kins are hardly countenanced and in some quarters these kins are taken as unwelcome. The reason for such a belief could be the chances of such a patriarch rotting after certain age in most cases, our Vedic prayer of jivema Sharadah Shatam not withstanding.
Among the kin names of progenitors from Mother upwards are -Nana (Nanri-), Pad-Nana (Pra- Nanri) yielding the female versions Nani and Pad-Nani by adding feminine suffixes. Looked at from the upward scale the kin names do not go beyond one generation of Dauhata/ Dauhati (Dauhitra/Dauhitri) as hardly any interaction takes place between the succeeding kins. Here we may cite the riddle popular among rural folk viz. do ma- beti aur do ma-beti chali bagh mein jaan, teen nimboo tod ke saabat saabat khan, batao kaise? Evidently they are – the mother, her daughter and her daughter’s daughter, three in all.
Then there are horizontal blood kins both from the side of father and mother. Elder brother of father gets the term Tau (Pitrivya) and that younger to him is known as Kaka/ Chacha (Kanishthaka). Father’s sister is Bua/Phuphi (Pitri-svasri) Mother’s sister, elder or younger has the same term Mausi (Matrisvasri).Mama (Matula) is the nomenclature for Mother’s brother. Males born of the same parents are to each other Bhai (Bhratri).Bira(Vira) if male and Bahen/Jiji/Bebe (Bhagini) if female. Children born of a brother get the term Bhatija (Bhratrija) if male and Bhatiji (Bhratrija) if female. Sister’s husband is known by the term Behnoi/ Jija and her children get the nomenclature Bhanja (Bhaginija)/Bhanaji.
In the category of affinal kins we have relationships established through marriage. First we talk of kins through marriage of self. The first kin in this way is the spouse- Pati if male and Patni if female. There are several Desi versions of such terms e.g.Ghar ala/ wala, Khasam, Mard, Log/Vara if male and Ghar wali/ali, Zoru, Bir, Lugai, Bahu/Bahauria (Vadhu) if female. Husband’s father is Susra (Shvasura) and his mother is Sasu (Shvasru) and similar are the terms vice-versa. The parents of the spouses have their relationship to each other described by a common nomenclature of Samdhi (Sambandhi) if male or Samdhan (Sambandhini) if female. A son –in –law is Jamai (Jamatri) and a daughter-in-law is Bahu (Vadhu). Interestingly brother’s or sister’s mother-in–law is called Mausi (Matrisvasri) bringing her at par with one’s own mother and the masculine derivative Mausa is for his father-in-law. In reciprocity the son-in-law’s brother and sister are given the nomenclature Samdheta (Sambandhi-Batuka) and Samdheti to be known via their father rather than through their brother. Husband and wife moving further into each other’s family circle receive separate kin names in each relationship. Thus we have husband’s Dada/dadi called as Dadasara/Dadas,Nana/ Nani as Nanasra/ Nanas, Mama/Mami as Mamasra or Molasra/ Mamas or Molas, Tau/Tai as Tayasara/Tayas and Kaka/Kaki as Pitasara (Pitrivyashvasura)/ /Pitas. Husband’s father’s sister is known as Phuphas and her husband gets its masculine form, Phuphasra. Husband’s elder brother is Jeth (Jyeshtha) and the latter’s wife is Jethani. Similarly husband’s younger brother and his wife are Devara and Devarani respectively. Father’s sister’s(Bua’s) husband gets the term Phupha as a masculine form of Phuphi. Sister’s husband is Jija. Interestingly no kin name appears to have been given to the sister’s husband’s sister. Perhaps the reason lies in the remoteness of the connection. Husband’s sister and her husband are called Nanand Nanandri) and Nandoyya respectively. Wife’s brother is Sala (Shyalaka) and his wife is Slahaja (Shyalakajaya). Wife’s sister is Sali (Shyalika) and her husband is given the appropriate term Saddhu (Saha-Wodha) or Humjulpha in some circles. In olden times this kin was taken to be as good as non-kin and there was no independent interaction between the two except at family functions like marriage at their common in-laws’ place only. In modern times this affinal connection is quite a hit. This is happening with the appropriation of due personal status to women, accelerated by the emergence of the micro family and the impact of urban social norms on rural life and ways. Cousins and cross cousins are mutually addressed and treated as brother (Bhai) or sister (Bahen) as the case may be. But for specific identification by strangers and third parties all relevant kin terms are employed in a compo sit form e.g, Tau ka Beta, Bua ka Beta, Mama ki Beti etc.
Some kin terms have come to be used as pairs to denote closeness and mutual affection e.g. Chacha-Bhatija, Bua-Bhatija, Mama-Bhanaja, Babu-Beta, Ma-Beti, Devar-Bhabhi etc. Unfortunately Sasu-Bhahu, Nanand-Bhavaj, Devarani –Jethani, Log-Lugai are paired in not so flattering terms as can be gleaned from many a folk songs. But the hapless Sasu, mellowed enough through age and experience gets all the brick bats for the legendary atrocities committed on her daughter-in-law of which she herself had been a perceived victim when young. The system of cross cousin marriages in some communities, where a mother- in- law happens to be either father’s sister or mother’s brother’s wife, has perhaps behind it the factors of safety and security of the bride in this world of uncertainties. However, the Jats have ventured to marry away their daughters to far off places (a la ‘Duhita dure hita’), confident of the system of kinship that they have evolved by strict application of the norms of gotra-exogamy and caste-endogamy.
The above mentioned kin names, though primarily evolved for specifically identifying a kin through relationship of blood or through connubial connection, are extended to a wider group of a village as a whole irrespective of caste and status. However, in case of reciprocity from the members of the Brahmin community there are certain exceptions. The norm is also in place in interaction with all known persons irrespective of the place they come from and irrespective of the kin connections. In the latter case kin takes the form of geographic connection leading to social integration for civic life. This feature speaks volumes of the level of equity observed by the Jats. Kinship system combined with the gotra system can be seen coming into full play at the Vida ceremony in marriages when kins are sought to be identified present on the opposite side for the purpose of being honoured by each side respectively.
Respective kin names of seniors are normally prefixed to names of persons addressed from a distance and invariably used for addressing a person face to face- single or in company. Between cousins the term for addressing is brother (Bhai) or Sister (bahen /Bebe) as the case may be but the compound kin terms like Tau ka Beta/Beti , Bua ka Beta/Beti, Mama ka Beta/ Beti etc. are employed to identify the precise relationship to third party.
Strangers also get addressed with select approximate kin names determined broadly through analogy of age and appearance. Some of these are- Dada/Dadi , Tau/Tai, Bhai, Beta/Beti. It is to be noted that in this category we do not have Bhabi and Bhan/Bahen/Bebe as both these kin names are to be determined in relation to Gotra, which can be ascertained if we come to know a person closely. However, a kin name based on blood relation (or even gotra connection) can not be superseded by a kin name determined through connubial connection. For example, mother’s brother’s daughter married to a person equal to a brother in kin hierarchy shall continue be known and addressed by the original kin name (Bahen), the new kin connection (leading to the term Bhabi) not withstanding.
Then we have several situations coming before us in life when kin names are used not for indicating kinship but to connote different meaning. These can be listed below:
i) For adding emphasis in assertions or refusals-‘This time I wont leave this fellow (Sala)
unpunished’; ‘I shall give nothing to this fellow (Sala).’ ‘The fellow (Susra) is good for
nothing.’ ‘Why should I go to meet that fellow (Susra)?’
ii) For extending grudging admiration- ‘The fellow (Susra or Sala) is indeed honest;’
iii) For hurling abuses several kin names are freely used. Mother (Maa), Sister (Bahen), wife’s brother (Sala), Daughter(Beti/ Chhori suffer the worst when these terms get used in incestuous terms, especially at the hands of males. Among women Bhabi is a favourite term of abuse when used for a quarreling adversary. One is left wondering what two women in quarrel mean when they call each other ‘Sasu ghodaan ki’(Mother-in-law of horses implying thereby the ‘mare-hood’ of her daughters). Cursing in the name of kins is a common feature but ‘Bhai Roi’ and ‘Napooti’( sonless) are the most hurting as they target the closest kins, a brother and a son.
iv)For adding emotions in folk songs of women sung on occasions of marriage and festivals like Teej and Raksha Bandhan (Salonon). When, a bride embarks on taking the rounds of the sacred fire along with the bride groom the women folk present at the marriage ceremony synchronise singing the conventional song reminding her in each round of her kin connections (Dada ki Poti, Babu ki Beti etc.), thereby assuring her of their support at the most critical juncture of her life. The terms Babu and Ma have a nostalgic touch when rendered as Babul and Mayad respectively by a daughter living in a far off place.
v) For entreatingly persuading some one who is not a kin, to do a favour – ‘Tau aage ne ho le’; O ‘Phupha maan jaa’. Such usages are taken sportingly by all concerned with a touch of amusement. Kin names are uttered even to adamant domestic animals to relent to do certain commands when patient cajoling fails to deliver. Bhenoi and Bhenoyen (not Behan!) are commonly used in such situations.
vi)Though basically appropriately used for a step-mother the term Mausi has borne stigma in
the context of supposed ill treatment meted out by her to her stepson/daughter. Thus we have the phrase ‘Sapon ki Mausi’.
The order of precedence among kins is determined on the basis of relative position on the hierarchical ladder. In case of a tie the one through blood connection takes precedence over the one through connubial connection. Parameters of precedence include- right of passage, order of greeting, position of seat on head-side(Sirahana) or foot-side (Paitana) of a bed, obligation to hold a hukkah at the calf region (gatta pakadna) and offering it to others present, right to draw the inaugural pull at the same, representing the family/clan at Panchayat etc.
A closer look at the kin names would show the following as the primary or basic terms:
Among the terms for blood relations there are four: (i) Pita/Bap/Babu (ii) Mata/Ma/Maan(iii) Poot/Beta (iv) Beti/ Dhih. All other kin terms either upward in the scale or downwards both on the father’s side and the mother’s side are derived from these four. However, one has to stretch one’s imagination in deriving Nana from Matri-Pita. On the face it appears to be a vestige of the original Sanskrit term Nanaanri, gone obsolete with the passage of time.
In the same way we have the following basic terms among affinal kins: (i) Pati/ Vara/ Log/ Khasam (ii) Patni/Bahu/Lugai/Zoru (iii) Susra (iv) Sasu (v) Samdhi (vi) Samdhan. Considering (iv) and (vi) as the feminine forms of (iii) and (v) the basic number comes to four. As in the case of blood relations the terms for other affinal relations are derived from these four.
Needless to say that the above system of kin nomenclatures has stood the test of time in keeping our social organization not only intact but also integrated, serving as a renewal system in the manner of rolling the past and unfolding the future for millenniums. With the growing urbanization and changing life patterns the system is already under strains. Our younger generations given to cosmopolitan ways can hardly help being part of the anonymous system of individualism where distances are getting reduced with the introduction of faster means of transportation but kins are getting more distant. We have very little time these days to refer back to the extended family and the entailing network of kins. But no one would deny admitting experiencing deepest joy on discovering and meeting a relation of several generations distant.
[134 United Aptts, Plot-34, Sector-4,Dwarka, New Delhi-110 078, Phone:28081836]
July 11, 2009
Haryana: A Haven Of Heritage
Haryana: A Haven Of Heritage
Dr. S.S. Rana
The idea of Haryana being a region representing a certain culture and way of life had continued to linger in the minds of its inhabitants since at least a millennium before the formation of a state of the Indian Republic as a residual consequence of the creation (or truncating?) of the bigger state of Punjab. But let it be made clear that it was not a mere
corollary of what happened to Punjab. The people of the state, had all along the years after independence, especially with the onset of the assertion of regional or linguistic identities, put forward their demand for the creation of a state which already existed on an informal plane carrying all the traits fully justifying the creation of a separate state. The state did come into existence in 1966, but alas! in a much smaller form than the one that was appropriate. Vested political interests and the paradoxes of administrative jurisdiction came in the way of doing what was obvious. So the culturally, linguistically and ethnically homogeneous region, already known as Haryana Desh (state) was kept administratively fragmented. With Delhi/ Indraprastha as the hub and its administrative seat traditional Haryana has been witness to and a victim of many wars and military incursions inflicted upon it by aliens and not so friendly compatriots like the Marathas. The mother of all wars, the legendary BhartaWar had its arena in the Kurukshetra area. Close to it Panipat was pounded by no less than three battles. Earlier to it Tarain saw the fall of Prithviraj Chauhan in the second onslaught of Muhammad Ghori in 1192/93 after his heartening victory over the latter in the first battle here two years earlier.
Situate as a bowl in the middle of the Indo-Gangetic plain and combined with Punjab literally serving as the grain bowl for the country Haryana has been a cradle of most ancient civilization and a rich ground for the growth and development (and decay too!) of diverse religious traditions. Post Independence era saw an upsurge of archaeological and historical research in different regions of our country. But Haryana had to wait till its formal creation and a government of its own to engage the attention of the scholarly world to seriously undertake research and explore the rich heritage it had carried over several millenniums without serious notice. Today on the basis of archaeological discoveries we are in a position to say that Haryana was a center of cultural and political activity from very ancient times. It offers answers to several fundamental questions of our country’s early history and archaeology. The latest find of a Harrappan site at Gohana near Rohtak, which itself has yielded coins of the Yaudheyas, takes the chain further adding to sites like Banwali in Hissar and Mithathal in Bhiwani district to establish the hoary antiquity of the region as an inhabited area. Rakhigarhi (near Hansi ) has yielded several Harrappan seals bearing characters of the Indus script. Painted Grey Ware has been discovered from a large number of sites in Haryana pointing to the Vedic connection of the region. Researches carried out by scholars like Professors Suraj Bhan, U.V. Singh, Silak Ram and many others have brought to light the rich material lying buried for millenniums. A lot more awaits the spade of the scholarly world.
It was on the banks of the legendary rivers Saraswati (now extinct) and the Yamuna that the saints sang the vedic hymns and performed sacrifices. It was around the precincts of the Yamuna that the tradition of Lord Krishna’s association developed. It was at Kurukshetra that the immortal song of life and philosophy poured forth from the tongue of none other than the Lord himself. The most powerful of the times of the Rigveda the tribe of the Bharatas were settled in the region between the Saraswati and theYamuna. Our country is named after the name of this ancient tribe. In the Shrimadbhagawadgita Arjuna is addressed by Shri Krishna most frequently as Bharata (one belonging to the tribe of the Bharatas).
The Buddhist canonical literature refers to the Kurus or the Kururashtra as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas of the sixth century B.C with Indrpraastha as its capital. Buddha visited several places in Haryana and received alms. Agroha became a stronghold of Buddhism. The Chinese pilgrim Yuwan- Chang, who visited India during Harsha’s reign in the seventh century A.D., giving an account of Shrughna (Sugh) in Ambala district mentions an Ahokan Stupa to the west of the river Yamuna, containing the holy relics of Buddha. Incidentally a pillar containing the seven edicts of Ashoka now standing on the top of the royal palace at Kotla Ferozshah in Delhi also originally stood at village Topra to the west of Yanuna a couple of kilo Meters away from Ambala. Buddhist Stupas have also been discovered at Kurukshetra and Chhaneti a place close by. The same were referred to by Yuwan-Chang , who has also reffered to Gohana as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. A Buddhist text Ratthapalasutta (Rahtrapalasutra) talks of a king Kauravya who lived in the famous city of Thullakothila identified with Dhankota in Gurgaon district.The place may be so called as it had abundant grain. It may be mentioned here that the Mahabharata also speaks of the people of Rohtak region as Bahudhanyakas ( possessing abundant grain). The discovery of Ashokan pillar edicts at Topra, (Fatehabad (near Hissar) and at Merath (now stands in front of Hindurao Hospital,Delhi) and of a Rock Edict at New Delhi( Srinivaspuri near Lajpatnagar) is significant in as much as it places the place on Ashokan map. We learn a good deal about the administrative system of ashoka from these edicts. It is pity that Firoz Shah chose to get his own genealogy inscribed on the pillar after erasing the Ashokan edict. However, it is no surprise knowing well the common human urge to scratch inscribe mundane messages even on tender trunks of exotic trees in protected places.
The celebrated Sanskrit grammarian Panini of the fifth or sixth century B.C. mentions several towns of Haryana viz. Kapishthala (Kaithal), Sonaprashtha (Sonepat), Rono (Rori)) and Taushayana ( Tohana) in Hissar district,Sairishaka (Sirsa), Yugandhara (Jagadhari), Shrughna (Sugh), Kalakuta (Kalka), which goes to prove their antiquity. Sugh became an important center of terracotta art during the Sunga period as is borne out by the discovery of a large number of figurines and moulded plaques one of them depicting a child learning alphabet. Something interesting in the context of the general perception of Haryana in the world of learning till half a century back. Several Yaksha and Yakshi images of the Sunga period (first/second century B.C.) have been discovered from places like Palwal, Mehrauli, Bhadas and Hathin. Apart from Khokrakot in Rohtak coins of ther Yaudheyas, a republican tribe have been discovered from Naurangabad, Hansi, Hissar, Behat and Bayana (near Bharatpur) etc. indicating the extent of their territory. The Girnar Rock Inscription of the Kshatrapa ruler Rudradaman(second century A.D.) and the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Smudragupta (fourth century A.D.) of the Gupta dynasty testify to the valorous character of the Yaudheyas. As republicans they issued coins not in the name of the ruling head but in the name of their tutelary deity Swami Mahasena, the mythical generalissimo of the gods. Kushana coins, coin moulds, stone sculptures have been found from several places all over Haryana testifying the fact that this region formed part of the Kushana empire.
We also have a number of inscriptions which throw ample light on the social, political and economic conditions of the Haryana region in the ancient and medieval period. The inscription in the Garibnath temple tells us about the holding of horse fairs for which the traders had evolved certain norms raising resources for maintenance of local temples. Italso speaks of the cultural and political importance of Pehwa under the rule of king Bhoj. Another inscription from the same tells us the genealogy of the Tomara lings of the Thanesar region. The Palam Baoli inscription of 1280 A.D. mentions that the country Hariyanaka was first enjoyed by the Tomaras and later by the Chahamanas. Another inscription (1328 A.D.), now in Delhi Museum speaks of a country named Hariyana with Dhillika as its city built by the Tomaras. The Delhi inscription contained on the Ashokan Pillar at Kotala gives us valuable information about the weakening of the north under Muslim incursions and also of the resolve of Vigraharaja Visaldev to clear the intrusions. Al-Beruni, who had accompanied (forcibly?) Mahamud Ghaznavi during the latter’s campaigns in India refers to a man size bronze statue of Chakraswami i.e. Vishnu.
Haryana along wi5th other regions of the north suffered immensely under the Muslim occupation of the Delhi throne. Huge amount of material lies scattered all over the region to be explored and researched upon to get a more lear picture of its history. Indeed Haryana is a haven of heritage.
[ 134 United Aptts., Plot -34, Sector-4, Dwarka, New
Delhi-110 078, Phone:28081836 ]
Dr. S.S. Rana
The idea of Haryana being a region representing a certain culture and way of life had continued to linger in the minds of its inhabitants since at least a millennium before the formation of a state of the Indian Republic as a residual consequence of the creation (or truncating?) of the bigger state of Punjab. But let it be made clear that it was not a mere
corollary of what happened to Punjab. The people of the state, had all along the years after independence, especially with the onset of the assertion of regional or linguistic identities, put forward their demand for the creation of a state which already existed on an informal plane carrying all the traits fully justifying the creation of a separate state. The state did come into existence in 1966, but alas! in a much smaller form than the one that was appropriate. Vested political interests and the paradoxes of administrative jurisdiction came in the way of doing what was obvious. So the culturally, linguistically and ethnically homogeneous region, already known as Haryana Desh (state) was kept administratively fragmented. With Delhi/ Indraprastha as the hub and its administrative seat traditional Haryana has been witness to and a victim of many wars and military incursions inflicted upon it by aliens and not so friendly compatriots like the Marathas. The mother of all wars, the legendary BhartaWar had its arena in the Kurukshetra area. Close to it Panipat was pounded by no less than three battles. Earlier to it Tarain saw the fall of Prithviraj Chauhan in the second onslaught of Muhammad Ghori in 1192/93 after his heartening victory over the latter in the first battle here two years earlier.
Situate as a bowl in the middle of the Indo-Gangetic plain and combined with Punjab literally serving as the grain bowl for the country Haryana has been a cradle of most ancient civilization and a rich ground for the growth and development (and decay too!) of diverse religious traditions. Post Independence era saw an upsurge of archaeological and historical research in different regions of our country. But Haryana had to wait till its formal creation and a government of its own to engage the attention of the scholarly world to seriously undertake research and explore the rich heritage it had carried over several millenniums without serious notice. Today on the basis of archaeological discoveries we are in a position to say that Haryana was a center of cultural and political activity from very ancient times. It offers answers to several fundamental questions of our country’s early history and archaeology. The latest find of a Harrappan site at Gohana near Rohtak, which itself has yielded coins of the Yaudheyas, takes the chain further adding to sites like Banwali in Hissar and Mithathal in Bhiwani district to establish the hoary antiquity of the region as an inhabited area. Rakhigarhi (near Hansi ) has yielded several Harrappan seals bearing characters of the Indus script. Painted Grey Ware has been discovered from a large number of sites in Haryana pointing to the Vedic connection of the region. Researches carried out by scholars like Professors Suraj Bhan, U.V. Singh, Silak Ram and many others have brought to light the rich material lying buried for millenniums. A lot more awaits the spade of the scholarly world.
It was on the banks of the legendary rivers Saraswati (now extinct) and the Yamuna that the saints sang the vedic hymns and performed sacrifices. It was around the precincts of the Yamuna that the tradition of Lord Krishna’s association developed. It was at Kurukshetra that the immortal song of life and philosophy poured forth from the tongue of none other than the Lord himself. The most powerful of the times of the Rigveda the tribe of the Bharatas were settled in the region between the Saraswati and theYamuna. Our country is named after the name of this ancient tribe. In the Shrimadbhagawadgita Arjuna is addressed by Shri Krishna most frequently as Bharata (one belonging to the tribe of the Bharatas).
The Buddhist canonical literature refers to the Kurus or the Kururashtra as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas of the sixth century B.C with Indrpraastha as its capital. Buddha visited several places in Haryana and received alms. Agroha became a stronghold of Buddhism. The Chinese pilgrim Yuwan- Chang, who visited India during Harsha’s reign in the seventh century A.D., giving an account of Shrughna (Sugh) in Ambala district mentions an Ahokan Stupa to the west of the river Yamuna, containing the holy relics of Buddha. Incidentally a pillar containing the seven edicts of Ashoka now standing on the top of the royal palace at Kotla Ferozshah in Delhi also originally stood at village Topra to the west of Yanuna a couple of kilo Meters away from Ambala. Buddhist Stupas have also been discovered at Kurukshetra and Chhaneti a place close by. The same were referred to by Yuwan-Chang , who has also reffered to Gohana as a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. A Buddhist text Ratthapalasutta (Rahtrapalasutra) talks of a king Kauravya who lived in the famous city of Thullakothila identified with Dhankota in Gurgaon district.The place may be so called as it had abundant grain. It may be mentioned here that the Mahabharata also speaks of the people of Rohtak region as Bahudhanyakas ( possessing abundant grain). The discovery of Ashokan pillar edicts at Topra, (Fatehabad (near Hissar) and at Merath (now stands in front of Hindurao Hospital,Delhi) and of a Rock Edict at New Delhi( Srinivaspuri near Lajpatnagar) is significant in as much as it places the place on Ashokan map. We learn a good deal about the administrative system of ashoka from these edicts. It is pity that Firoz Shah chose to get his own genealogy inscribed on the pillar after erasing the Ashokan edict. However, it is no surprise knowing well the common human urge to scratch inscribe mundane messages even on tender trunks of exotic trees in protected places.
The celebrated Sanskrit grammarian Panini of the fifth or sixth century B.C. mentions several towns of Haryana viz. Kapishthala (Kaithal), Sonaprashtha (Sonepat), Rono (Rori)) and Taushayana ( Tohana) in Hissar district,Sairishaka (Sirsa), Yugandhara (Jagadhari), Shrughna (Sugh), Kalakuta (Kalka), which goes to prove their antiquity. Sugh became an important center of terracotta art during the Sunga period as is borne out by the discovery of a large number of figurines and moulded plaques one of them depicting a child learning alphabet. Something interesting in the context of the general perception of Haryana in the world of learning till half a century back. Several Yaksha and Yakshi images of the Sunga period (first/second century B.C.) have been discovered from places like Palwal, Mehrauli, Bhadas and Hathin. Apart from Khokrakot in Rohtak coins of ther Yaudheyas, a republican tribe have been discovered from Naurangabad, Hansi, Hissar, Behat and Bayana (near Bharatpur) etc. indicating the extent of their territory. The Girnar Rock Inscription of the Kshatrapa ruler Rudradaman(second century A.D.) and the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Smudragupta (fourth century A.D.) of the Gupta dynasty testify to the valorous character of the Yaudheyas. As republicans they issued coins not in the name of the ruling head but in the name of their tutelary deity Swami Mahasena, the mythical generalissimo of the gods. Kushana coins, coin moulds, stone sculptures have been found from several places all over Haryana testifying the fact that this region formed part of the Kushana empire.
We also have a number of inscriptions which throw ample light on the social, political and economic conditions of the Haryana region in the ancient and medieval period. The inscription in the Garibnath temple tells us about the holding of horse fairs for which the traders had evolved certain norms raising resources for maintenance of local temples. Italso speaks of the cultural and political importance of Pehwa under the rule of king Bhoj. Another inscription from the same tells us the genealogy of the Tomara lings of the Thanesar region. The Palam Baoli inscription of 1280 A.D. mentions that the country Hariyanaka was first enjoyed by the Tomaras and later by the Chahamanas. Another inscription (1328 A.D.), now in Delhi Museum speaks of a country named Hariyana with Dhillika as its city built by the Tomaras. The Delhi inscription contained on the Ashokan Pillar at Kotala gives us valuable information about the weakening of the north under Muslim incursions and also of the resolve of Vigraharaja Visaldev to clear the intrusions. Al-Beruni, who had accompanied (forcibly?) Mahamud Ghaznavi during the latter’s campaigns in India refers to a man size bronze statue of Chakraswami i.e. Vishnu.
Haryana along wi5th other regions of the north suffered immensely under the Muslim occupation of the Delhi throne. Huge amount of material lies scattered all over the region to be explored and researched upon to get a more lear picture of its history. Indeed Haryana is a haven of heritage.
[ 134 United Aptts., Plot -34, Sector-4, Dwarka, New
Delhi-110 078, Phone:28081836 ]
Name, Surname and Nickname : Identity Issues
Name, Surname and Nickname : Identity Issues
Dr. S.S. Rana
When Shakespeare declared ‘what is in a name ! a Rose is a Rose by any other name’ he was not minimising the importance of name but was underlining the intrinsic value of things. The Indian version of the saying paradox in terms – aankh ke andhe naam nayansuka underscores the need to name things and persons not in contradiction of the qualities they happen to carry. A name according to our tradition reflects any of the four elements, namely category, quality, matter and functionality. We may recall how the creator god Prajapati, when himself born first as a child, pressed forward the need for getting a name for himself and how he felt satisfied only after receiving as many as eight names- all expressing various functions attributed to him and a ninth one i.e. Kumara for his young appearance of a babe. It is a different matter that the Puranas later transferred all these names to Shiva, the last (Kumara), going to one of his sons Skanda-Karttikeya, the famous Subrahmanya or Murugan of the Tamil Tract. Richness and multiplicity has marked the names of our gods and goddesses. Who has not heard of the thousand names of Vishnu (Vishnu-sahasranma)?
Coming to the mundane plain we find our socio- religious books commending how we should be going about giving names to our new borns. The Ashvalayana Grihyasutra, as also the Paraskara Grihyasutra recommend that on the tenth day of the birth a child should be given a name comprising two or four syllables, in case of a male and three or five, in case of a female, thus maintaining the number even and odd respectively. Further both insisted that the syllables contained only sonant letters ga, gha, , da, dha etc. and that a semi vowel ya or va be at the end if required. Another aspect of personal name was that it should carry primary suffix (krit) at the end rather than a secondary (taddhita) one and also that it should be one compound word, though having several component words. Apart from linguistic moorings names reflect the religious and social beliefs and influences. Thus names also carry an imprint of the social, personal predilections and cultural identity of a person. A person’s name is the most frequently used term in his/her life and thereby the most likable one.
Since personal names from the very ancient times have tended to be constituted of more than one parts put into one compounded form it was natural that names continued to be meaningful and it may be interesting to note the nature and range of the different components. Vishva continues to be a component of names right from the vedic age (Vishwamitra) to the modern days (Vshwa Mohan). Similar is the journey of the second component Sena as seen in Vishwasena, Nagasen, Harisena and Mitrasena crossing millenniums.
The practice of abridging names can be traced to hoary past. Paninini noted such tendency and provided a rule for the same. For economy (or need) of effort the second member of a compound name like Vyaghra- Ajina or Deva- Datta could be dropped in order to obtain the desired number of vowels (between two to four or five) as mentioned above. However, in part compensation, ka, iya or ila could be added to the abridged name. For example Deva- Datta would be turned into Devaka, Deviya or Devila. Generally such a course was adopted when expressing love or, especially for the young children. This could be said to be the precursor of the modern day practice of having pet names like Bittoo, Vicky, Pappu etc. This shortening of names was a common practice in all cases till the not so remote past. We had Harke for Hari Krishna, Rame for Rama Chandra,Ome for Om Prakash and so on.
The elements of nature like the sun, the moon, the air and the earth along with their various synonyms have richly contributed to the corpus of names used through out India. Similar is the case of gods and their spouses.
The practice of persons being named and known as the scions of their father starting form very early times continues to this day. The Sanskrit grammarian fixes accent on the first syllable of the father’s name followed by the second part of the name as in Damaka- putra. It underlines the importance of some one being the son of a man named Damaka. We find this happening in almost all cases of stating the identity of a person whether present or in absentia. Perhaps this has something to do with the law (in its old form) of inheritance tilting in favour of the male. In Maharashtra and in most cases in Gujarat the name of a person contains the name of his father as the second component. The gotra system also works in the domain of the male. A female gets her gotra from her male ancestor till she marries. After marriage she gets the gotra name of her husband. There is a wide spread misconception about this feature being a sign of male chauvinism. This in fact again has something to do with share in property and succession issues. When a woman after marriage dons the gotra name of her husband it indicates the merger of her identity with that of her husband. And that is the meaning, given to marriage by all cultures. Some time back cine star Sanjay Dutt, in the context of his being heir to the gotra of his father, made an innocent and matter of fact advisory remark about the propriety of her sister Priya ( who retains her father’s gotra even after her marriage), adopting her husband’s gotra name only to invite sharp reaction, not only from Priya herself but several others, including some women groups. Mercifully the spat involving the two siblings did not last long. Perhaps there was equal merit in the arguments advanced by the two opposing sides. We know of Prabhavati Gupta, the daughter of Chandragupta-II retaining her father’s gotra name viz. Daharana even after her joining the Vakataka family through marriage. Today there is no dearth of women adopting the name of their marital family without dropping the gotra name of their father. But interestingly this double surname/ gotra name is not seen to be percolating to the next generation for the simple logic of proliferation into unmanageable proportions.
But a child whose father’s name could not be ascertained would be known by the name his mother, thought not without inviting derogatory frowns from society. In colloquial parlance such a child is known as gellad (the illegitimate one), not withstanding some modern day safeguards given by law. But the case of a child identified from among many siblings from several mothers married in a polygamous system (in the past) by the name of his/her mother falls in a altogether different category. We have several such Satavahana princes of the second century A.D. But interestingly the identity of a child (or adult for that matter) at his/ her mothers parents’ home is determined by her maiden name, there being no issues of inheritance involved and there being no percolation of the identity of the child’s father in the community there except as a bride taker.
Then we have a wide gamut of nicknames current at the informal plain of communication. Nicknames arise due to several factors operating in the life of persons and include both positive and derogatory. The positive ones have their origin in some good deed (sadhu), appearance (suthra, mota, patla), colour of the skin (bhura),height (lamba, chhota) etc. Some nicknames, which are derogatory, can be attributed to the associating of certain physical deformities, deficiencies or habits (real or imagined) with their subjects. For example we have kana (one eyed), ganja (bald), langda (lame) toonda (stump handed), landa (with small tail), surda(untidy) etc. In both the categories they initially get currency for quick determination of identity. But when they get passed on to be applied to the members of the next generations they are taken as byonk of the family and in most cases to the members of the extended family taking a plural form. We have the famous story how a family struggling to shed off their byonk, surde of several generations spent a fortune in organizing a lavish community feast with the request and hope that the family would no more be called by the byonk only to hear to their amazement and dismay the rich tributes laced with a rich dose of the byok, surde for their demonstration of community feeling.
Again there are good number of cases where, qualification (Shastri), title (Rai), post (Kulpati), profession (Vakil), Vocation (Purohit) etc turn into byok for the succeeding generations. However, in case of the byok being quite pleasing and flattering, it did not take long for it to graduate to the degree of gotra and ultimately supersede the same. Using gotra as a surname is a common practice in modern times but the ancient practice of using Sharma for Brahmanas, Verma for Kshatriyas and Gupta for Vaishyas (of the later date) can be noticed as an equally preferred option at all times.
Names of strong and well-built animals have been contributing a member of the personal names over a long period. Thus we have had names like Naravyaghra, Nararshabha be the favourite as a component of names dislodging many a time-honoured and popular components. Its popularity was so remarkable that it came to be added as the third and last component if either of the prevailing two components was indispensable. Singh appearing as the second and final component in most names became the norm in Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana during the Mughal period. In case of the adherents of Sikh religion it formed an integral and compulsory part of names mostly coming at the end. It traveled to Uttara Pradesh as the third component without dislodging the time honoured conventional components. In most parts of the country all those who prefer to identify themselves as kshatriya groups, invariably add this component to their names. Hitherto vast sections of dalits in the north and the north-west see this as a means of demonstrating their awareness about social equality. Thus we notice Simha replacing Das as a part of the process of social engineering currently happening at a fast pace. A kind of social churning in search of identity is currently taking and we hope to see many a gem coming out as a result.
[134 United Aptts, Plot-34, Sector-4, Dwarka, New delhi-110078
Phone: 28081836]
Dr. S.S. Rana
When Shakespeare declared ‘what is in a name ! a Rose is a Rose by any other name’ he was not minimising the importance of name but was underlining the intrinsic value of things. The Indian version of the saying paradox in terms – aankh ke andhe naam nayansuka underscores the need to name things and persons not in contradiction of the qualities they happen to carry. A name according to our tradition reflects any of the four elements, namely category, quality, matter and functionality. We may recall how the creator god Prajapati, when himself born first as a child, pressed forward the need for getting a name for himself and how he felt satisfied only after receiving as many as eight names- all expressing various functions attributed to him and a ninth one i.e. Kumara for his young appearance of a babe. It is a different matter that the Puranas later transferred all these names to Shiva, the last (Kumara), going to one of his sons Skanda-Karttikeya, the famous Subrahmanya or Murugan of the Tamil Tract. Richness and multiplicity has marked the names of our gods and goddesses. Who has not heard of the thousand names of Vishnu (Vishnu-sahasranma)?
Coming to the mundane plain we find our socio- religious books commending how we should be going about giving names to our new borns. The Ashvalayana Grihyasutra, as also the Paraskara Grihyasutra recommend that on the tenth day of the birth a child should be given a name comprising two or four syllables, in case of a male and three or five, in case of a female, thus maintaining the number even and odd respectively. Further both insisted that the syllables contained only sonant letters ga, gha, , da, dha etc. and that a semi vowel ya or va be at the end if required. Another aspect of personal name was that it should carry primary suffix (krit) at the end rather than a secondary (taddhita) one and also that it should be one compound word, though having several component words. Apart from linguistic moorings names reflect the religious and social beliefs and influences. Thus names also carry an imprint of the social, personal predilections and cultural identity of a person. A person’s name is the most frequently used term in his/her life and thereby the most likable one.
Since personal names from the very ancient times have tended to be constituted of more than one parts put into one compounded form it was natural that names continued to be meaningful and it may be interesting to note the nature and range of the different components. Vishva continues to be a component of names right from the vedic age (Vishwamitra) to the modern days (Vshwa Mohan). Similar is the journey of the second component Sena as seen in Vishwasena, Nagasen, Harisena and Mitrasena crossing millenniums.
The practice of abridging names can be traced to hoary past. Paninini noted such tendency and provided a rule for the same. For economy (or need) of effort the second member of a compound name like Vyaghra- Ajina or Deva- Datta could be dropped in order to obtain the desired number of vowels (between two to four or five) as mentioned above. However, in part compensation, ka, iya or ila could be added to the abridged name. For example Deva- Datta would be turned into Devaka, Deviya or Devila. Generally such a course was adopted when expressing love or, especially for the young children. This could be said to be the precursor of the modern day practice of having pet names like Bittoo, Vicky, Pappu etc. This shortening of names was a common practice in all cases till the not so remote past. We had Harke for Hari Krishna, Rame for Rama Chandra,Ome for Om Prakash and so on.
The elements of nature like the sun, the moon, the air and the earth along with their various synonyms have richly contributed to the corpus of names used through out India. Similar is the case of gods and their spouses.
The practice of persons being named and known as the scions of their father starting form very early times continues to this day. The Sanskrit grammarian fixes accent on the first syllable of the father’s name followed by the second part of the name as in Damaka- putra. It underlines the importance of some one being the son of a man named Damaka. We find this happening in almost all cases of stating the identity of a person whether present or in absentia. Perhaps this has something to do with the law (in its old form) of inheritance tilting in favour of the male. In Maharashtra and in most cases in Gujarat the name of a person contains the name of his father as the second component. The gotra system also works in the domain of the male. A female gets her gotra from her male ancestor till she marries. After marriage she gets the gotra name of her husband. There is a wide spread misconception about this feature being a sign of male chauvinism. This in fact again has something to do with share in property and succession issues. When a woman after marriage dons the gotra name of her husband it indicates the merger of her identity with that of her husband. And that is the meaning, given to marriage by all cultures. Some time back cine star Sanjay Dutt, in the context of his being heir to the gotra of his father, made an innocent and matter of fact advisory remark about the propriety of her sister Priya ( who retains her father’s gotra even after her marriage), adopting her husband’s gotra name only to invite sharp reaction, not only from Priya herself but several others, including some women groups. Mercifully the spat involving the two siblings did not last long. Perhaps there was equal merit in the arguments advanced by the two opposing sides. We know of Prabhavati Gupta, the daughter of Chandragupta-II retaining her father’s gotra name viz. Daharana even after her joining the Vakataka family through marriage. Today there is no dearth of women adopting the name of their marital family without dropping the gotra name of their father. But interestingly this double surname/ gotra name is not seen to be percolating to the next generation for the simple logic of proliferation into unmanageable proportions.
But a child whose father’s name could not be ascertained would be known by the name his mother, thought not without inviting derogatory frowns from society. In colloquial parlance such a child is known as gellad (the illegitimate one), not withstanding some modern day safeguards given by law. But the case of a child identified from among many siblings from several mothers married in a polygamous system (in the past) by the name of his/her mother falls in a altogether different category. We have several such Satavahana princes of the second century A.D. But interestingly the identity of a child (or adult for that matter) at his/ her mothers parents’ home is determined by her maiden name, there being no issues of inheritance involved and there being no percolation of the identity of the child’s father in the community there except as a bride taker.
Then we have a wide gamut of nicknames current at the informal plain of communication. Nicknames arise due to several factors operating in the life of persons and include both positive and derogatory. The positive ones have their origin in some good deed (sadhu), appearance (suthra, mota, patla), colour of the skin (bhura),height (lamba, chhota) etc. Some nicknames, which are derogatory, can be attributed to the associating of certain physical deformities, deficiencies or habits (real or imagined) with their subjects. For example we have kana (one eyed), ganja (bald), langda (lame) toonda (stump handed), landa (with small tail), surda(untidy) etc. In both the categories they initially get currency for quick determination of identity. But when they get passed on to be applied to the members of the next generations they are taken as byonk of the family and in most cases to the members of the extended family taking a plural form. We have the famous story how a family struggling to shed off their byonk, surde of several generations spent a fortune in organizing a lavish community feast with the request and hope that the family would no more be called by the byonk only to hear to their amazement and dismay the rich tributes laced with a rich dose of the byok, surde for their demonstration of community feeling.
Again there are good number of cases where, qualification (Shastri), title (Rai), post (Kulpati), profession (Vakil), Vocation (Purohit) etc turn into byok for the succeeding generations. However, in case of the byok being quite pleasing and flattering, it did not take long for it to graduate to the degree of gotra and ultimately supersede the same. Using gotra as a surname is a common practice in modern times but the ancient practice of using Sharma for Brahmanas, Verma for Kshatriyas and Gupta for Vaishyas (of the later date) can be noticed as an equally preferred option at all times.
Names of strong and well-built animals have been contributing a member of the personal names over a long period. Thus we have had names like Naravyaghra, Nararshabha be the favourite as a component of names dislodging many a time-honoured and popular components. Its popularity was so remarkable that it came to be added as the third and last component if either of the prevailing two components was indispensable. Singh appearing as the second and final component in most names became the norm in Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana during the Mughal period. In case of the adherents of Sikh religion it formed an integral and compulsory part of names mostly coming at the end. It traveled to Uttara Pradesh as the third component without dislodging the time honoured conventional components. In most parts of the country all those who prefer to identify themselves as kshatriya groups, invariably add this component to their names. Hitherto vast sections of dalits in the north and the north-west see this as a means of demonstrating their awareness about social equality. Thus we notice Simha replacing Das as a part of the process of social engineering currently happening at a fast pace. A kind of social churning in search of identity is currently taking and we hope to see many a gem coming out as a result.
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July 02, 2009
Kinship, Custom and Hierarchy Among the Jats
Kinship, Custom and Hierarchy Among the Jats
Dr. S. S. Rana
Peasant communities like the Jats and other allied castes settled in the north and north west India have continued to lead a fulfilling social life for millenniums. Their kin relationships cemented through a hierarchical arrangement evolved through natural inclinations and based on sound psycho-scientific principles have contributed to the emergence of numerous customs and traditions.
The parameters of kinship are multiple and all of these intertwined and come into play in a variety of ways depending upon their nature and the locale of their relative functionality. Kinship is fostered on the basis of the bonding by blood relationship and affinal/connubial relationship, the latter turning into the former category as soon as a married woman becomes a mother. It is made more broad based in certain areas of social interaction. The extended form of kinship applicable in the case of the residents of the same village to begin with is known as brotherhood (bhaichara) with the operation of several factors, the major being the commonality of gotra. The other factors are the geographical proximity leading to frequent interaction between the members of different villages working in adjacent farm lands. This is called seem jod brotherhood. Closely related to this is the brotherhood of gohand- the extent up to which the cattle of each other reach for grazing. Then we have the brotherhood of nyota nithar built by some persons of one village with selected members of other village/s of the neighbouring areas in extending reciprocal invitations at feasts, especially on occasions like marriage irrespective of having different gotra. The code operating between two brothers is observed by all members of such brotherhood. Marriages are not contracted irrespective of the exemption available from the mandatory prohibitions of gotra. But it must be stated here that such brotherhood in mot cases is found to be selectively and voluntarily forged except in case of matrimonial alliances where it takes a universal character.
Kinship through blood relationship may be a matter of accident of birth but kinship through connubial relationship being the vital cord of the social fabric is just not a result of matrimonial contrivance to be taken for granted to yield certain privileges. It is rather a tender plant to be nurtured assiduously and continuously through out one’s life through inputs both material and psychological by every one when in the role of bride giver (which is the lot of almost every one some day). Therefore, rural communities have evolved, through centuries, customs and practices, which have not only contributed to the enrichment of kinship relationships but have also gone a long way in making life purposeful and enjoyable.
Thus we have the kins on the bride givers’ side willingly and happily coming forward with best possible gifts for the new born baby of their daughter/sister along with presents for all kins in the new family. As the major items of clothes are supposed to be of yellow colour the custom is called Pilia dena. Married sister living in the same village or a nearby village also visit the newborn male child and offer gifts in cash and clothes and some ornament. This custom called Rupayya Potada dena has, in the modern times, turned into a real pompous affair. After the mandatory period of forty days of confinement the young mother visits her parental home and returns with a good amount of presents, mostly clothes and expensive ornaments for herself and in some cases also for her husband and sister- in –law/ mother- in – law if the child was a boy. Since the custom is related to the time of sutakant (end of the period of confinement) is known in common language as Chhuchhak. By this time Dusar and Teesar have been dealt with by the parental side of a young wife incurring, ungrudgingly, a good amount of expenditure on clothes and other useful items. Come Savan (the month of plenty of rain) and the father-in- law of the newly married girl, still living with her parents heads for the home of his counterpart with bagfuls of sweet meats and new garments for his daughter-in-law as a good will gesture towards strengthening the kinship bond. This seasonal event would, in subsequent years, turn into a reverse visit of the bride’s brother carrying similar gifts on the eve of the teej festival for the sister in her marital home. Since the gifts invariably included among other gifts a bagful of cookies like suhalies the visit got the name Kothali lejana. Of course, the bride giver brothers continue visiting married sisters carrying for them gifts (Siddhha) on the eve of all other festivals round the year. This system is geared towards nurturing and strengthening the kinship ties. However, it fades off slowly with the passage of time when the new generation takes over.
Bhat bharna is a major event when a brother accompanied by several kins comes to attend the marriage of a child of his sister. He offers a fair amount of cash according to his capacity and clothes for the bride/ bridegroom and members of the family. He also does not forget to offer a rupayya each to all the housewives of his village/gotra married in that village. In fact the custom is open ended for all occasions in case of cross cousins. The emotive value of the custom is far more superior to the financial support that it ensures. This is why we have the kins of the grandmother of the bride /groom chipping in for offering Badabhat, though discreetly modest not to excel the effort of the kins of the mother. In farming communities as elsewhere parents spare no effort in getting for their daughter best possible grooms forgetting the financial burden they might have to bear.
Probably no one would disagree that all these and many more customs cementing kinship bonding are a product of the natural process of social networking among the older communities otherwise leading a sedentary life. But it is generally less realized that they also reflect the psyche of equity among the bride givers who would like to compensate their daughters/sisters for their having surrendered rights in land not withstanding the latest laws enhancing empowerment of women. A survey done of this phenomena could yield quite a revealing result. People of the non farming communities, especially the elite among them would hardly be able to appreciate the nuances of this aspect of the ways of the Jats. It is true that land can be partitioned, but it is also true that land can not be parceled and dispatched to other quarters, even if it were to be the marital home of a married daughter/ sister. Alternatively if the female were to come back and settle on the land of her share after partition of the parental land the very purpose of sending her away to another home is defeated bringing in its train the oddities of social etiquette in face of time honoured customs. A few examples of aberrations in the customs have ended in disastrous results. The spectrum in urban areas is quite different, but the social fabric of rural India as of now for its very survival does not countenance thoughtless tinkering on the part of the State which does not think twice before throwing the baby away along with the bath water. Hasn’t the experience of the so called modern societies shown that any imbalance between individual and social choices would lead to unhealthy consequences mot good for either. A recent report of there being nearly 50% children being born to unwed mothers in U.K. has set the Government and social scientists thinking seriously to meet the invasion of so called modernity. Custom if respected at least for its length of experience can serve better than a clueless law. The practice among village communities of arranging the marriages of their daughters at a fairly young age was, one can argue, an answer to several questions arising in the world of modernity today. The stereotype of taking early marriage as a sign of backwardness needs to be reviewed in the context of socio-biological sync.
Hierarchy is the key and basic factor common to both kinship and custom for their functionality and operation. Degrees of kin relationships fashions the levels of hierarchy and for practicing it customs are developed. The dimensions of hierarchy are, indeed, innumerable which permeate the Jat life at several levels. To begin with the community finds itself deciding ungrudgingly to accept a place lower to that of the Brahmins in the hierarchy of the caste system. None would miss to notice the willing regard they show to the members of that caste by using the term dada while addressing them regardless of their economic status or comparatively junior age. At the same time the jat does not forget to assert his hierarchy vis-à-vis the other castes. Above all the Jat consider the hierarchy of the Panchayat as sacrosanct and would go to any length to uphold its ruling. The Jats have, in the recent years, demonstrated a strong penchant for caste codes.
In the context of family the male with highest kinship degree takes precedence. The eldest son (gotrapatya) followed by younger son/sons if any and grandsons continue to wait in the wings as Yuvapatyas till their turn comes to fill the bill. Bride takers take precedence over bride givers among the kin relations. We often hear and ourselves repeat words like –ham ladki wale sada jhukte hain. Bride givers’ grown up children part taking the left over food (especially the ghee soaked sugar) of the visiting bride takers is perhaps indicative of the acceptance of higher hierarchy of the latter. There were times when the parents hardly visited their daughter in her marital home, and if some special circumstances took them there eating food at her quarter was a taboo, which however, was not the practice in case of kins of equal or lower degree like brothers and nephews. But there were occasions when the bride givers too called the shots. In older times when boys and girls, especially the latter were married off at a younger age the custom of Theek was in place. Before the young maiden was to be brought to her marital home for regular stay the husband had to visit ( in some cases more than once) simply to fix the date (theek karna) when he could take her along. It used to be a tough mission for a young man to crack the stubborn posture of the canny mother- in-law for agreeing on a date. The spectacle of the young lass, more than keen to accompany her husband, eves dropping from behind some cover, holding her breath has given coinage to the following words depicting her dilemma: Maa, ghaltee ho te mindhi chotti karaoon, nahi te gitwad mein jake thepadi pathoon- mother, tell me, if you are ready to send me with my husband, I get my hairdo; otherwise I go and make dung cakes in the yard. The parameters of hierarchy in kinship relations both in its narrow and wider sense can be described as follows:
Hierarchy of age is very important. It prevails in all situations accept where other well defined over riding factors come in to reckoning. Among equals in kinship degree age determines as to who would take precedence on occasions like i) receiving greetings from younger people; ii) occupying seat on the head side of bed; iii) drawing the first (inaugural) pull at the hukkah in a gathering, the youngest of the lot is to operate the rotation; iv) representing the kins at marriages and other ceremonies; v) eldest male among the members of the barat receiving on the front at the shirt the customary stamp of palm dipped in hina given by the bride’s mother at the send off gathering ; vi)among the ladies the eldest having the privilege of opening the knot of the loads of wares (gathari kholana) that a newly married woman brings to her in-laws family vii) and to set rolling the process of distributing the sweet meats contained therein. Interestingly the right to take precedence on the basis of seniority in age is mostly asserted with the declaration, ‘tere se pahle anaj khana seekha tha- I happened to taste grain before you could do it.’
Hierarchy of degree in kinship, though generally coinciding would over rule the precedence given to age. An uncle may be junior in age to a nephew in extraordinary circumstances, but he would find a senior position in hierarchy. Progeny fathered in old age normally falls in this category. This way we find that heirship and hierarchy are inter linked closely. And last but not the least hierarchy comes into full play in the custom of observing of the custom of drawing the veil on the part of the Jat women when they appear before certain affinal kins.
It is a pity that that not enough attention has been paid to the study of the sociology of the Jats on scientific lines. As bearers of a rich tradition of the vedic culture the Jats offer a gold mine of material for research. At least the universities located in the areas where Jats abound need to pick up the spade and start digging earnestly, and indeed deeply. Some German scholars have, during the past few decades, shown the way.
, Phone: 28081836]
Dr. S. S. Rana
Peasant communities like the Jats and other allied castes settled in the north and north west India have continued to lead a fulfilling social life for millenniums. Their kin relationships cemented through a hierarchical arrangement evolved through natural inclinations and based on sound psycho-scientific principles have contributed to the emergence of numerous customs and traditions.
The parameters of kinship are multiple and all of these intertwined and come into play in a variety of ways depending upon their nature and the locale of their relative functionality. Kinship is fostered on the basis of the bonding by blood relationship and affinal/connubial relationship, the latter turning into the former category as soon as a married woman becomes a mother. It is made more broad based in certain areas of social interaction. The extended form of kinship applicable in the case of the residents of the same village to begin with is known as brotherhood (bhaichara) with the operation of several factors, the major being the commonality of gotra. The other factors are the geographical proximity leading to frequent interaction between the members of different villages working in adjacent farm lands. This is called seem jod brotherhood. Closely related to this is the brotherhood of gohand- the extent up to which the cattle of each other reach for grazing. Then we have the brotherhood of nyota nithar built by some persons of one village with selected members of other village/s of the neighbouring areas in extending reciprocal invitations at feasts, especially on occasions like marriage irrespective of having different gotra. The code operating between two brothers is observed by all members of such brotherhood. Marriages are not contracted irrespective of the exemption available from the mandatory prohibitions of gotra. But it must be stated here that such brotherhood in mot cases is found to be selectively and voluntarily forged except in case of matrimonial alliances where it takes a universal character.
Kinship through blood relationship may be a matter of accident of birth but kinship through connubial relationship being the vital cord of the social fabric is just not a result of matrimonial contrivance to be taken for granted to yield certain privileges. It is rather a tender plant to be nurtured assiduously and continuously through out one’s life through inputs both material and psychological by every one when in the role of bride giver (which is the lot of almost every one some day). Therefore, rural communities have evolved, through centuries, customs and practices, which have not only contributed to the enrichment of kinship relationships but have also gone a long way in making life purposeful and enjoyable.
Thus we have the kins on the bride givers’ side willingly and happily coming forward with best possible gifts for the new born baby of their daughter/sister along with presents for all kins in the new family. As the major items of clothes are supposed to be of yellow colour the custom is called Pilia dena. Married sister living in the same village or a nearby village also visit the newborn male child and offer gifts in cash and clothes and some ornament. This custom called Rupayya Potada dena has, in the modern times, turned into a real pompous affair. After the mandatory period of forty days of confinement the young mother visits her parental home and returns with a good amount of presents, mostly clothes and expensive ornaments for herself and in some cases also for her husband and sister- in –law/ mother- in – law if the child was a boy. Since the custom is related to the time of sutakant (end of the period of confinement) is known in common language as Chhuchhak. By this time Dusar and Teesar have been dealt with by the parental side of a young wife incurring, ungrudgingly, a good amount of expenditure on clothes and other useful items. Come Savan (the month of plenty of rain) and the father-in- law of the newly married girl, still living with her parents heads for the home of his counterpart with bagfuls of sweet meats and new garments for his daughter-in-law as a good will gesture towards strengthening the kinship bond. This seasonal event would, in subsequent years, turn into a reverse visit of the bride’s brother carrying similar gifts on the eve of the teej festival for the sister in her marital home. Since the gifts invariably included among other gifts a bagful of cookies like suhalies the visit got the name Kothali lejana. Of course, the bride giver brothers continue visiting married sisters carrying for them gifts (Siddhha) on the eve of all other festivals round the year. This system is geared towards nurturing and strengthening the kinship ties. However, it fades off slowly with the passage of time when the new generation takes over.
Bhat bharna is a major event when a brother accompanied by several kins comes to attend the marriage of a child of his sister. He offers a fair amount of cash according to his capacity and clothes for the bride/ bridegroom and members of the family. He also does not forget to offer a rupayya each to all the housewives of his village/gotra married in that village. In fact the custom is open ended for all occasions in case of cross cousins. The emotive value of the custom is far more superior to the financial support that it ensures. This is why we have the kins of the grandmother of the bride /groom chipping in for offering Badabhat, though discreetly modest not to excel the effort of the kins of the mother. In farming communities as elsewhere parents spare no effort in getting for their daughter best possible grooms forgetting the financial burden they might have to bear.
Probably no one would disagree that all these and many more customs cementing kinship bonding are a product of the natural process of social networking among the older communities otherwise leading a sedentary life. But it is generally less realized that they also reflect the psyche of equity among the bride givers who would like to compensate their daughters/sisters for their having surrendered rights in land not withstanding the latest laws enhancing empowerment of women. A survey done of this phenomena could yield quite a revealing result. People of the non farming communities, especially the elite among them would hardly be able to appreciate the nuances of this aspect of the ways of the Jats. It is true that land can be partitioned, but it is also true that land can not be parceled and dispatched to other quarters, even if it were to be the marital home of a married daughter/ sister. Alternatively if the female were to come back and settle on the land of her share after partition of the parental land the very purpose of sending her away to another home is defeated bringing in its train the oddities of social etiquette in face of time honoured customs. A few examples of aberrations in the customs have ended in disastrous results. The spectrum in urban areas is quite different, but the social fabric of rural India as of now for its very survival does not countenance thoughtless tinkering on the part of the State which does not think twice before throwing the baby away along with the bath water. Hasn’t the experience of the so called modern societies shown that any imbalance between individual and social choices would lead to unhealthy consequences mot good for either. A recent report of there being nearly 50% children being born to unwed mothers in U.K. has set the Government and social scientists thinking seriously to meet the invasion of so called modernity. Custom if respected at least for its length of experience can serve better than a clueless law. The practice among village communities of arranging the marriages of their daughters at a fairly young age was, one can argue, an answer to several questions arising in the world of modernity today. The stereotype of taking early marriage as a sign of backwardness needs to be reviewed in the context of socio-biological sync.
Hierarchy is the key and basic factor common to both kinship and custom for their functionality and operation. Degrees of kin relationships fashions the levels of hierarchy and for practicing it customs are developed. The dimensions of hierarchy are, indeed, innumerable which permeate the Jat life at several levels. To begin with the community finds itself deciding ungrudgingly to accept a place lower to that of the Brahmins in the hierarchy of the caste system. None would miss to notice the willing regard they show to the members of that caste by using the term dada while addressing them regardless of their economic status or comparatively junior age. At the same time the jat does not forget to assert his hierarchy vis-à-vis the other castes. Above all the Jat consider the hierarchy of the Panchayat as sacrosanct and would go to any length to uphold its ruling. The Jats have, in the recent years, demonstrated a strong penchant for caste codes.
In the context of family the male with highest kinship degree takes precedence. The eldest son (gotrapatya) followed by younger son/sons if any and grandsons continue to wait in the wings as Yuvapatyas till their turn comes to fill the bill. Bride takers take precedence over bride givers among the kin relations. We often hear and ourselves repeat words like –ham ladki wale sada jhukte hain. Bride givers’ grown up children part taking the left over food (especially the ghee soaked sugar) of the visiting bride takers is perhaps indicative of the acceptance of higher hierarchy of the latter. There were times when the parents hardly visited their daughter in her marital home, and if some special circumstances took them there eating food at her quarter was a taboo, which however, was not the practice in case of kins of equal or lower degree like brothers and nephews. But there were occasions when the bride givers too called the shots. In older times when boys and girls, especially the latter were married off at a younger age the custom of Theek was in place. Before the young maiden was to be brought to her marital home for regular stay the husband had to visit ( in some cases more than once) simply to fix the date (theek karna) when he could take her along. It used to be a tough mission for a young man to crack the stubborn posture of the canny mother- in-law for agreeing on a date. The spectacle of the young lass, more than keen to accompany her husband, eves dropping from behind some cover, holding her breath has given coinage to the following words depicting her dilemma: Maa, ghaltee ho te mindhi chotti karaoon, nahi te gitwad mein jake thepadi pathoon- mother, tell me, if you are ready to send me with my husband, I get my hairdo; otherwise I go and make dung cakes in the yard. The parameters of hierarchy in kinship relations both in its narrow and wider sense can be described as follows:
Hierarchy of age is very important. It prevails in all situations accept where other well defined over riding factors come in to reckoning. Among equals in kinship degree age determines as to who would take precedence on occasions like i) receiving greetings from younger people; ii) occupying seat on the head side of bed; iii) drawing the first (inaugural) pull at the hukkah in a gathering, the youngest of the lot is to operate the rotation; iv) representing the kins at marriages and other ceremonies; v) eldest male among the members of the barat receiving on the front at the shirt the customary stamp of palm dipped in hina given by the bride’s mother at the send off gathering ; vi)among the ladies the eldest having the privilege of opening the knot of the loads of wares (gathari kholana) that a newly married woman brings to her in-laws family vii) and to set rolling the process of distributing the sweet meats contained therein. Interestingly the right to take precedence on the basis of seniority in age is mostly asserted with the declaration, ‘tere se pahle anaj khana seekha tha- I happened to taste grain before you could do it.’
Hierarchy of degree in kinship, though generally coinciding would over rule the precedence given to age. An uncle may be junior in age to a nephew in extraordinary circumstances, but he would find a senior position in hierarchy. Progeny fathered in old age normally falls in this category. This way we find that heirship and hierarchy are inter linked closely. And last but not the least hierarchy comes into full play in the custom of observing of the custom of drawing the veil on the part of the Jat women when they appear before certain affinal kins.
It is a pity that that not enough attention has been paid to the study of the sociology of the Jats on scientific lines. As bearers of a rich tradition of the vedic culture the Jats offer a gold mine of material for research. At least the universities located in the areas where Jats abound need to pick up the spade and start digging earnestly, and indeed deeply. Some German scholars have, during the past few decades, shown the way.
, Phone: 28081836]
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