Khambesvari puujaa with Buffalo sacrifice

[N. Ganesan]

Etymology of Puujaa:
-------------------

Mayrhofer suggests the derivation of pUjA from Drav. 'pUcu' (to smear).

"If puujaa originally refers to worship, the Dravidian etymology from
the root puucu 'to smear' is quite acceptable. We must remember that
among the oldest objects of worship in South Asia are the sacred
trees, and smearing the tree trunks with red-coloured powders and oils
was an integral part of the early tree cult (cf. e.g. J. Auboyer,
Daily life in ancient India, 1961, page 154). The Rgvedic sense 'to
honour' may be due to a secondary widening of the meaning. "
"I just pointed out that smearing (implied by the Dravidian etymology
from puucu 'to smear') constitutes an integral part of the early
worship of trees. I referred to Auboyer's book, where red-coloured
powders and oils are mentioned as the substances smeared on tree
trunks. The red-coloured powders surely are substitutes for the blood
of sacrificed victims, which continues being smeared on cult idols or
trees in connection with bloody offerings. Red powder/blood is applied
also on the forehead of human beings on such ritual occasions - this
is the origin of the forehead mark (Dravidian poTTu, Sanskrit tilaka,
Tiikaa / Tikaa < lalaaTikaa). The antiquity of the forehead mark and
its Harappan / Dravidian origin in India is discussed extensively in
my book 'Deciphering the Indus script' (1994), page 261-272." (Parpola
in Indology).

<<
On Puja
The word puja is mainly used in the Agama texts and in the context of
berapuja (image worship) located in the temples.  Most Paancaratra and
quite a few Vaikhanasa Agamas originated in the South and the word is
most commonly used in most of these texts in the context of worship. I
have not yet checked the etymological connections but it is most
likely a Dravidian word.  The Tamil word Puusaali (Sk.puujaari) might
indicate its Dravidian origins. It is most common for South Indian
Hindus to use the word Puja whereas most North Indian Hindus use the
word Havan.  The word puuja seems more at home in South Indian
vernaculars than their counterparts in the North.>> Prof. P. Kumar
in Indolgy.

In Tamil, puucal means 'war, fight' from the root, puucutal 'to
smear'. Skt. pUjAri seems to be from tamil pUcALi 'smearer'.
In all of South India, pUcAri/pUjAri refers to nonbrahmin priests
who often sacrifice animals to divinities.

Dr. Narahari Rao wrote:
" 'Pujari', by the way is also used as  an epithet  to refer to a
caste that is equivalent of Elava community of  Kerala. Certain
section or sub-community of this caste has a certain  function in
bhutasAnas (the equivalent of temples for a sort of Spirits - a  form
of  'religious' practice specific to D.K.)." (D.K. = South Kanara).

In Tamil, Izham means 'toddy' & Izhavar = toddy-tappers. The caste
historians of cANAr/nATAr often connect the name cANAr with cAl- in
cAlin2i 'woman who deals in toddy'. cakkiliyar (< Skt. cakra) drummers
also go by the name aruntatiyar. cAlin2i and arundhati point to
ancient possession rituals by priests and priestesses in front of
deities offered with meat and liquor. iizhavas served as pUjAris in
old times.

"During the cosmogonic New Year festival of Bisket jAtrA at
Bhaktapur, Bhairava is erected as the linga in the form of the
cross-shaped pole ....
On the last day of the year (Caitra masant), a buffalo is sacrificed
at the pITha of Bhadra-Kali and the Untouchables (Pore) bring
its head up to the central Taumadhi square ..."
(p.184, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, 1989). Possibly, "pore"
caste name in Nepal who are the ex-untouchables performing buffalo
sacrifices all across Nepal in Bhadrakali-Bhairava cult,
is related with Dravidian names as in Ka. Poleya,
Mal. Pulaya, Tam. Pulaiyan.

Scholars usually connect the tamil term, pulaiyar 'outcaste'
with meat, blood.

Telugu "pola" = flesh, smell of flesh, scales of a fish
(C. P. Brown's Telugu dictioanry).
Mal. "pula" taint, pollution, defilement (esp. by
birth or death); pulayan = an outcaste.
Kan. and TuLu "pole" (menstrual blood); Ka. poleya 'low caste
man'; Tamil pulAl/pulavu 'meat';
puli 'tiger' (whose food is meat), pulai 'stench, bad odour'
OTL entry:
pulavu 1. dislike, abhorrence; 2. flesh, raw meat, fish;
3. smell of flesh or fish; 4. blood;
English words pilaf/pulao, though wrongly assigned to Persian
origin, appear to be from Dravidian. Sangam texts, for example, talk
of rice mixed with meat ('pulavu') several centuries before.

The revered editor of the Sangam tamil classics, Sri. U. V.
Saminathaiyar, equates the name, "izicin2an2" who beat drums
during festivals with "pulaimakan2" (p. 612, UVS, puRanAn2URu, 1963),
and explains 'izicin2a - pulaiyA'; puRanA. 82:3. 289:10 (p. 463).

The izicin2an2 "smearer" seems to refer to the sacrificing priests who
slaughtered animals like buffalo and then smeared the victim's blood
over wooden or stone "posts" representing divine/dead-heros as a way
of honoring them.

D. L. Eck, Banaras: City of Light, p. 54 "The Buddhist jataka tales,
like the Puranas, tell of the worship of yakshas, ... What is
especially interesting to us is that in many of these tales various
yakshas, yakshIs, and nagas are converted to the worship of the
bodhisattva. These yakshas are said to be tree-dwelling deities who
are to be propitiated with offerings of meat as well as the
traditional incense and flowers. It is clear that the cultus of
ancient Banaras included the form of worship called bali.

  The remnants of this ancient cultus are plainly visible today. When
we see the trunks of great trees daubed with orange sindUr, swathed
about with string, and sprinkled with water by circumambulating
worshippers; when we see a plain stone in a "shrine" consisting of
nothing but two bricks surmounted by a slab of rock; when we see
worshippers bathing in a pool; when we see them smearing Ganesha or
Hanuman with vermilion and sprinkling flowers in his lap - we are
seeing something of this city's religious life that is pre-Shaiva,
pre-Buddhist, and probably more than three thousand years old."

Drav. poTTu or Skt. tilaka are taken from divine memorials smeared
with blood (kumkum) and oil. In India oil is connected with death
(just like sacrificial blood) and it is never given as gifts in
weddings etc. And it appears that pUcALi (skt. pUjAri) = izicin2an2
= "smearer" (of blood/vermilion/oil upon the icons). Grhyasutras
mentioning animal sacrifices to honor visiting guests, and
Rajatarangini refers to smearing the blood of one's slain enemy on
one's forehead indicate the underpinning pan-Indian custom of
"puucutal" - smearing. (Cf. pUcal = war)

Regards,
N. Ganesan



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