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Fertility and Birth
A barren woman is considered so inauspicious that it
is believed that no other woman should take a bath where she takes her
bath. They blame the woman and not the man in almost all cases. A large
number of fasts, penances and other observances aimed at the propitiation
of several gods and goddesses including Shiva and Parvati and many local
deities, devotion to the spiritually powerful Sanyasis, bathing
at and visiting some famous centres of pilgrimage-all these are done
to remove the evil fate of barrenness.
In tribal society barrenness is also a matter of concern
for the relatives and may lead to a divorce or marriage with a second
or even a third wife. The
preference for having sons is widespread in tribal and non tribal societies
in Odisha (Orissa). The ceremonies connected with child birth are more elaborate
and lively in the case of the male child than that of the female one.
The Hindu families of higher castes become anxious to have at least one
male child, so that he will be ritually qualified to offer the proper
oblations to the ancestral spirits. They believe that, unless such oblations
are offered by a male descendant, who continues the patrilineal line of
descent, the ancestors will be tormented in a special hell.
Death and Funeral
Hindus of Odisha (Orissa) cremate
their dead, but they make some exceptions. Young
children, adults who die of epidemics or of snake bite, and sanyasi who
has forsaken the world are all given a burial and in some cases
floated down the river. In tribal society the custom varies from community
to community. Those who are Hinduised like Gond, the Bhuiyan and others cremate
their dead whereas others bury them. But if a tiger kills a person he or she is
not cremated, even if cremation is the usual custom. When a pregnant woman dies, the
foetus is taken out of the womb and is given a separate burial. As the pregnant woman
is universally believed to become a dangerous ghost which tries to snatch away
babies out of her own frustration, her bones are broken and thrones and other
inhibiting materials put in her grave in order to pin her down at the place
where she is buried.
Whether Hindu, Christian,
Muslim or tribal, all have the common belief of the
immortality of the soul. Among the Hindus the soul is reborn in human or in some
other form according to the balance of religious merits earned in the previous
lives. The disembodied soul may go to heaven or hell in accordance with
one's "Karmaphala" or the balance of the fruits of action through a
series of former lives. Every year the ancestral spirits are offered "Shraddha" oblations at
least once. The Muslim and Christian souls await the
final judgment from God at the end of the world. But among the tribal people the
soul usually goes to the underground world but always maintains contact
with the living descendants, protecting or punishing them by bringing
illness or misfortune if they morally or spiritually go astray.
Funeral ceremonies in almost all communities are
so expensive that many
tribal families get themselves literally bound to richer brethren or to
neighbours for generations because of the debts they incur to meet these
expenses. On the completion of the funeral ceremony the close relatives, and
among the tribal group, the whole village, indulge in merriment. |
