Vaitarini

[Yaroslav Vassilkov]

Fri, 28 Apr 100 18:02 +0300 MSK Arlo Griffiths wrote to INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK:

> The Vaitara.nii is the northernmost of the three great  rivers which run
> through northern and coastal Orissa, and flow into the Bay of Bengal.
>     Why this particular beautiful Orissa river would have got such a
> dreadful (ghora) connotation as it has in some Mbh. passages (see also
> AVPari;s 9.4.1), I do not know.

 As it seems to me, there are two possible explanations which do not exclude
but substantiate each other.
        One is more obvious: at a certain period the VaitaraNI
constituted a natural border between the world of Vedic/Brahmanic culture and the
tribal world. The Mbh (book 3, chapter 114) stresses that it was the *northern* bank
of the river where the twice-born used to come to perform their sacrifices. On the
contrary, the southern bank and the country of Kalinga in general were thought at
the time to be a foreign, barbaric land. Its rulers were considered to be former kSatriyas
degraded to the status of zUdras and following bad practices (see, e.g. R.D.Banerji.
History of Orissa. Vol.1. Calcutta, 1930, p.47). When Arjuna on his first
pradakSiNA around the subcontinent reached the borders of Kalinga, his Brahmin
companions immediately left him (Book 1, chapter 207) - the land, as it seems,
was not clean enough for them. It is true, Arjuna himself continued his travel
and, having reached the Ocean coast, even married the daughter of a local king (CitravAhana
of MaNalUra) - but this episode may be interpreted as reflecting the leading role of
non-brahminical elements (kSatriyas) in establishing cultural and political contacts
with Southern regions. In other words, the name VaitaraNI could be coined as a result
of juxtaposition of such pairs of opposites, typical for mythological way of thinking,
as *we* - *others*, *ours* - *foreign*, *alive* - *dead* etc. Our people are humans,
but these foreigners, *barbarians*, *savages* are in fact rakSasas or bhUtas, restless
souls of the dead - the common pattern of mythological thinking (too widespread even
nowadays).
        But there is another possible explanation. Religions of some Eastern and Central
Indian tribes are focused on the cult of the dead (see, e.g., Piers
Vitebsky's excellent book "Dialogues with the Dead" - on the religion of the Sora). The
holy city of GayA in Eastern India (Bihar)is the all-Indian centre for the performance of
zrAddha - but it is surrounded by hills on which the souls of the dead are supposed to
reside, and this concept is most probably of pre-Aryan origin. The river VaitaraNI in the
Mbh is also connected with the cult of the dead: as soon as the PANDavas in the course
of their tIrthayAtra reached it, they performed in its waters ablutions for the souls
of their Forefathers (Mbh 3.114). So could it not be that this river in Orissa, or its
southern bank only,
even before the advent of the Vedic culture was connected in the religion of local tribes
with the cult of the dead (as the hills aroung GayA probably were)? I think such a
possibility should be checked by somebody interested in the problem.
        Please excuse me for such a large letter.
                                                        Ya.V.

---
Yaroslav Vassilkov (yavass at YV1041.spb.edu)
Sat, 29 Apr 2000 12:56 +0300 MSK