Khambesvari puujaa with Buffalo sacrifice

[N. Ganesan]

Professor D N Jha <dnjha at DEL2.VSNL.NET.IN> wrote in July 2000:
>I am trying to find out the temples in India where baffalo is sacrificed or
>was sacrificed till recent times. Could any one be so kind to provide
>relevant information/references?

A. Hiltebeitel, On the Handling of the Meat, and Related matters,
in Two South Indian Buffalo sacrifices, L'Uomo, 9, p. 171-199

Hiltebeitel, Alf. "The Indus Valley 'Proto-Siva', Reexamined through
Reflections on the Goddess, the Buffalo, and the Symbolism of
Vaahanas." Anthropos 73:5-6 (1978):767-97


Dr. Jogesh Panda's reply to Jha:
>Buffaloes were sacrificed until recently [late 70s] by the DumbAls or
>DumAls of Sonepur and Baud in the State of Orissa, though not in what might
>be called a temple. These animals were/are sacrificed at the shrine of
>KhambezvarI or StambhesvarI [also caled MAhezvarI by them]. References are
>in the  pre-1947 Gazateers. Kulke's Jagannath Cult book also has references
>to buffalo sacrifice of the DumAls

In the book, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, Essays on the Guardians
of popular Hinduism, State University of New York press, 1989 and in
older works like 1) Slater, Gilbert, The Dravidian element in Indian
culture, London, 1924 2) The village gods of south India.
Whitehead, Henry, The village gods of south India. Calcutta, 1921.
3) Dravidian gods in modern Hinduism;.  Elmore, Wilber T.,
Dravidian gods in modern Hinduism; 1915, there are descriptions of
many many buffalo sacrifices offered to village goddesses all across
the Dravidian South. These buffalo sacrifices are done in the axis
connecting a "post"(khamba) and the goddess during festivals. The
kambam post, also called kantu in tamil (Cf. skt. skandha), is many
times forked at the head (indicative of the horned deity), and often
explicitly identified with Mahisasura. The person who kills the
buffalo with one stroke is usually from an ex-untouchable caste. "The
Tamilas hire a Pariya (i.e. drummer) to perform the decapitation at
their Badra Kâli sacrifices."--Kittel, in Ind. Ant. ii. 170, 1873.
Oftentimes the blood of the animal is smeared on the khambam "post"
by the ritualists. Then a marriage ceremony between the goddess and
the "post"(khamba/stambha/skandha) may follow. These "post" gods,
eventually placed in the front of temples to Ellamma etc. go by the
name, pOtturAja (pOttu = male buffalo in tamil), pOtarAjA in telugu,
potrAj in Maharashtra. pOttaraiyan2(= pOtturAja) was a title common
for Pallava kings, because he is paTTa-mahisha.

My question is whether the khamba/stambha in East India where buffalo
sacrifices are done represent Mahisasura? Is there still smearing
of the blood of the sacrificed animal like buffalo as can be commonly
observed in the South?

Regards,
N. Ganesan

PS:

What does dumbAla mean? In Tamil, "tUmpu" = a) tube b) musical
instruments like horns and trumpets c) flute made of bamboo and,
"tumpi" means bee as well as elephant because bees have a tube to
suck honey, and elephants have tubular trunks. So, dumbAla/dUmbAla
will mean musicians playing horn like instruments. Let me quote a
sangam poem where kOTiyar (< kOTu 'horn')  musicians use the "tUmpu"
instuments.

Oy kaLiRu eTutta nOy uTai neTu kai
toku col kOTiyar tUmpin2 uyirkkum - aka. 111:8-9

The drav. caste name dombaru is clearly related to this tumpu/tUmpu.



_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com