.dombii as scavenger woman

[Stephen Hodge]

Ven. Tantra asked about:

> 1)The Kondh & 2) the Meriah sacrifices.

The Kondhs inhabit the entire highland region of Phulbani, most of
highlands in west Ganjam, much of  Koraput and Kalahandi in Orissa.
Human sacrifice was practised in all this area except highlands of
Ganjam which instead sactioned female infanticide.  Some scholars
belief that the their custom of human sacrifice is not of great
antiquity but may be post-medieval.   Sacrifice is still practised by
the Kondhs who have not been converted to Christianity but since the
suppresion of human sacrifice in the 1850s, a bull or other animal is
used.   It was the .Doms who procured the victims, usually children.

According to their creation mythology, the supreme god is the Great
Bu.ra God, the god of light, the creator of the universe and of
inferior gods.  He created a consort for himself, Tari/Tana Penu, the
Earth Goddess.  After Bu.ra created the earth, he found Tari lacking
in wifely attention and affection, so he created men, the animals and
plants. At each stage Tari tried to sabotage things.  When first
created, the world and its inhabitants were free from all evil.
However, Tari's jealousy led her into rebellion against Bu.ra. It was
she who introduced evil and disease into the world.  Because nearly
all of mankind fell into a state of evil and disobedience, Bu.ra
withdrew his guardianship from the world.  Bu.ra and Tari were also
locked in fierce conflict.   There are two accounts of what followed
acording to the Bu.ra sect and the Tari sect.

According to the Bu.ra sect, Bu.ra created lesser gods to regulate the
lives of humans.  Bu.ra was triumphant and imposed childbirth upon
women.  He also said that women were a source of misfortune and hence
humans need only rear as many female as they can manage, thus
sanctioning female infacticide (in the Ganjam region).

According to the Tari sect, it was she who taught humans about
agriculture, hunting and warfare with iron weapons.  When the earth
was being created, it was an unstable morass.  One day while Tari was
peeling vegetables, she cut her finger and the blood fell on the
ground which solidified and became fertile.  Seeing the improvement
this had caused, she told the Kondh to cut up all of her body.  The
Kondhs refused but instead began to obtain and sacrifice people from
elsewhere.  No fertility without human blood falling on the ground.
Eventually, the Tari sect came to believe that human sacrifice was
necessary for maintaining the well-being of the whole world, not just
of their community.   This gave rise to the Meriah sacrifices.  Full
gory details can be found in Barbara Boal, "The Kondhs: Human
Sacrifice & Religious Change" 1997 (2nd Edition) and elsewhere.


> 3) Shavara. (The women identified as .dâkinîs are
> especially linked with the .Dombi and Shavara, i.e.,
> Munda peoples living mainly in parts of Orissa, Bihar
> and Bengal.)

I'll answer this later.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge