Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s1.t1: Food offered to Deities
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s1.t1
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Food offered to Deities
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It has been remarked by the celebrated Goguet ¹ that the custom of offering food to the object of divine homage had its origin in a principle of gratitude, the repast being deemed hallowed by presenting the first portion to him who gave it, since the devotee was unable to conceive aught more acceptable than that whereby life is sustained. From the earliest period such offerings have been tendered; and in the burnt-offering (*hom*) of Abel, of the firstling of the flock, and the first portion of the repast presented by the Rajput to Annadeva ² ‘the nourisher,’ the motive is the same. But the *parsad* (such is the denomination of the food sacred to Kanhaiya) is deemed unlucky, if not unholy; a prejudice arising from the heterogeneous sources whence it is supplied—often from bequests of the dead. The Mukhyas [530] of the temple accordingly carry the sacred food to wheresoever the votaries dwell, which proves an irresistible stimulus to backward zeal, and produces an ample return. At
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¹ Origin of Laws and Government.
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² Literally ‘the giver of food.’
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impelled, on the rise of Islamism, within the Indus. As Yadus of the race of Sham or Syam (a title of Krishna), they would be Sama-Yadus; in like manner as the Bhatti tribe are called Shama-bhatti, the Ahsham Bhatti of Abu-l Fazl. The race of Joude was existing near the Indus in the Emperor Babur’s time, who describes them as occupying the mountainous range in the first Duab, the very spot mentioned in the annals of the Yadus as their place of halt, on quitting India twelve centuries before Christ, and thence called Jadu or Yadu-ka-dang, the ‘hills of Jadu or Yadu.’ The peopling of all these regions, from the Indus to remote Tartary, is attributed to the race of Ayu or Indu, both signifying the moon, of which are the Haihayas, Aswas (*Asi*), Yadus, etc., who spread a common language over all Western Asia. Amongst the few words of Hindu-Germanic origin which M. Rémusat gives to prove affinity between the Finnish and Samoyede languages is “*Miel, Mod, dans le dialecte Caucasien, et Méd, en Slave,*” and which, as well as mead, the drink of the Scandinavian warrior, is from the Sanskrit *Madhu*, a bee [honey]. Hence intoxicating beverage is termed *Madhva*, which supplies another epithet for Krishna, *Madhu* or *Madhava*. [These speculations possess no value.]
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the same time are transmitted, as from the god, dresses of honour corresponding in material and value with the rank of the receiver : a diadem, or fillet of satin and gold, embroidered ; a dagla, or quilted coat of gold or silver brocade for the cold weather ; a scarf of blue and gold ; or if to one who prizes the gift less for its intrinsic worth than as a mark of special favour, a fragment of the garland worn on some festival by the god ; or a simple necklace, by which he is inaugurated amongst the elect.¹
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¹ Kanhaiya ka kantha bāndhna, ‘ to bind on [the neck] the chaplet of Kanhaiya,’ is the initiatory step.
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Lands dedicated to the Shrine.—It has been mentioned that the lands of Mewar appropriated to the shrine are equal in value to a baronial appanage, and, as before observed, there is not a principality in India which does not assign a portion of its domain or revenue to this object. The Hara princes of Kotah and Bundi are almost exclusive worshippers of Kanhaiya, and the regent Zalim Singh is devoted to the maintenance of the dignity of the establishment. Everything at Kotah appertains to Kanhaiya. The prince has but the usufruct of the palace, for which £12,000 are annually transmitted to the shrine. The grand lake east of the town, with all its finny tenants, is under his especial protection ; ² and the extensive suburb adjoining, with its rents, lands, and transit duties, all belong to the god. Zalim Singh moreover transmits to the high priest the most valuable shawls, broadcloths, and horses ; and throughout the long period of predatory warfare he maintained two Nishans,³ of a hundred firelocks each, for the protection of the temple His favourite son also, a child of love, is called Gordhandas, the ‘ slave of Gordhan,’ one of the many titles of Kanhaiya. The prince of Marwar went mad from the murder of the high priest of Jalandhara, the epithet given to Kanhaiya in that State; and the Raja of Sheopur,¹ the last of the Gaurs, lost his sovereignty by abandoning the worship of Har for that of Hari. The ‘slave’ of Radha² (such was the name of this prince) almost lived in the temple, and used to dance before the statue. Had he upheld the rights of him who wields [531] the trident, the tutelary deity of his capital, Sivapur, instead of the unwarlike divinity whose unpropitious title of Ranchhor should never be borne by the martial Rajput, his fall would have been more dignified, though it could not have been retarded when the overwhelming torrent of the Mahrattas under Sindhia swept Rajwara.³
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² I had one day thrown my net into this lake, which abounded with a variety of fish, when my pastime was interrupted by a message from the regent, Zalim Singh : “ Tell Captain Tod that Kotah and all around it are at his disposal ; but these fish belong to Kanhaiya.” I, of course, immediately desisted, and the fish were returned to the safeguard of the deity. [The killing of fish at certain lakes and streams is forbidden on account of their harmlessness (ahimsā), and thus naturally associated with the cult of a gentle deity like Krishna, and because they are believed to contain the spirits of the dead (Stein, Rājataraṅgiṇi, i. 185 ; Crooke, Things Indian, 221 ff.).]
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³ A Nishan, or standard, is synonymous with a company.
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¹ Sheopur or Sivapur, the city of Sheo or Siva, the god of war, whose battle-shout is Har; and hence one of Vishnu’s epithets, as Hari is that of Krishna or Kanhaiya.
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² Radha was the name of the chief of the Gopis or nymphs of Vraj, and the beloved of Kanhaiya.
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³ In October 1807 I rambled through all these countries, then scarcely known by name to us. At that time Sheopur was independent, and its prince treated me with the greatest hospitality. In 1809 I witnessed its fall, when following with the embassy in the train of the Mahratta leader. [It is now included in the Gwalior State (IGI, xxii. 271 f.).]
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Grants to the High Priest.—A distinction is made between the grants to the temple and those for the personal use of the pontiff, who at least affects never to apply any portion of the former to his own use, and he can scarcely have occasion to do so; but when from the stores of Apollo could be purchased the spices of the isles, the fruits of Persia, and the brocades of Gujarat, we may indulge our scepticism in questioning this forbearance: but the abuse has been rectified, and traffic banished from the temple. The personal grant (Appendix, No. XI.) to the high priest ought alone to have sufficed for his household expenditure, being twenty thousand rupees per annum, equal to £10,000 in Europe. But the ten thousand towns of Mewar, from each of which he levied a crown, now exist only in the old rent-roll, and the heralds of Apollo would in vain attempt to collect their tribute from two thousand villages.
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The Appendix, No. XII., being a grant of privileges to a minor shrine of Kanhaiya, in his character of Muralidhar or ‘flute-player,’ contains much information on the minutiae of benefactions, and will afford a good idea of the nature of these revenues.
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Effects of Krishna-worship on the Rājputs.—The predominance of the mild doctrines of Kanhaiya over the dark rites of Siva, is doubtless beneficial to Rajput society. Were the prevention of female immolation the sole good resulting from their prevalence, that alone would conciliate our partiality; a real worshipper of Vishnu should forbid his wife following him to the pyre, as did recently the Bundi prince. In fact, their tenderness to animal life is carried to nearly as great an excess as with the Jains, who shed no blood. Celibacy is not imposed upon the priests of Kanhaiya, as upon those of Siva: on the contrary, they are enjoined to marry, and the priestly office is hereditary by descent. Their wives do not burn, but are committed, like themselves, to the earth. They inculcate tenderness towards all beings; though whether this feeling influences the mass, must depend on the soil which receives the seed, for the outward ceremonies of religion cost far less effort than the practice or essentials. I have often [532] smiled at the incessant aspirations of the Macchiavelli of Rajasthan, Zalim Singh, who, while he ejaculated the name of the god as he told his beads, was inwardly absorbed by mundane affairs; and when one word would have prevented a civil war, and saved his reputation from the stain of disloyalty to his prince, he was, to use his own words, "at four-score years and upwards, laying the foundation for another century of life." And thus it is with the prince of Marwar, who esteems the life of a man or a goat of equal value when prompted by revenge to take it. Hope may silence the reproaches of conscience, and gifts and ceremonies may be deemed atonement for a deviation from the first principle of their religion—a benevolence which should comprehend every animated thing. But fortunately the princely worshippers of Kanhaiya are few in number: it is to the sons of commerce we must look for the effects of these doctrines; and it is my pride and duty to declare that I have known men of both sects, Vaishnava and Jain, whose integrity was spotless, and whose philanthropy was unbounded.