Myths of Middle India

by Verrier Elwin

This work is an anthology of 540 distinct tribal myths of origin from central India. These myths were all recorded, most for the very first time, in the course of field work. "Man and the Universe," "The Natural World," "Human Life," and "Human Institutions," are the subject divisions for the
myths and include such chapters on air and water, mammals, food, disease, and custom and taboo. Each myth is preceded by the related tribe's name and where it was recorded. In the introduction to each chapter, which analyzes the relevant category of myths and assigns origin, other myths from the
region and from other parts of India are noted and parallels drawn. Rich in detail, this volume will be essential to scholars and general readers alike.

570 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 1992

About the author

Harry Verrier Holman Elwin (29 August 1902 – 22 February 1964) was a British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist, who began his career in India as a Christian missionary. He first abandoned the clergy, to work with Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, then converted to Hinduism in 1935 after staying in a Gandhian ashram,]
and split with the nationalists over what he felt was an overhasty process of transformation and assimilation for the tribals. Verrier Elwin is best known for his early work with the Baigas and Gonds of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in central India, and he married a 13 year old member of one of the communities he studied. He later also worked on the tribals of several North East Indian states especially North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and settled in Shillong, the hill capital of Meghalaya.

In time he became an authority on Indian tribal lifestyle and culture, particularly on the Gondi people. He served as the Deputy Director of the Anthropological Survey of India upon its formation in 1945. Post-independence, he took up Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him as an adviser on tribal affairs for north-eastern India, and later he was Anthropological Adviser to the Government of NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh. His philosophy towards the north-east was partially responsible in its disconnect from the modern world.

The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1961. His autobiography, The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin won him the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award in English Language, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

Reviews

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elwin documented tribal communities on the source of a theoretical category used by the colonial government to categorize what they considered "The primitive faction of the Indian society". Most of these communities lived in forests for thousands of years.

These communities were outside their civilizational route and the communities disinclined to participate in the Hindu way of life. The physical isolation of most of these communities was compromised when "Developmental" initiatives like roads and railways made inroads into their habitat in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 1860s, the British intrusion into the forests where many of these communities lived led to clashes between the forest-dwelling communities and the colonial government. After the Battle of Plassey and the Mutiny 1857, unrest and insecurity spread in north-west and central India as soldiers of armies which had been disbanded often organised themselves into groups to attack British convoys.

On myths, Elwin castoffs the view that a myth is "Bad history written in symbolical language", "Speculative symbolization of natural phenomena", or "Merely a form of recreation".

Elwin holds that a myth is not a meager relic of the past, but, “A living reality vitalizing and to some extent controlling the present".

Elwin also does not agree with Malinowski's mockery of the view that myths were as attempt to explain or make intelligible abstract ideas, or Loed Raglan's view that myth is nothing else other than a narrative linked to a rite. Myth is not jus explanatory in nature, it is the tribal people's "Motive power and authorization".

However, Elwin states that we must not try to read too much of anything into these ibal myths Myths could be liked with magic and ritual or could simply be explanations and attempts at some sort of science, scientific romances for amusement or serious or vital realities dominating the life of tribes

He finds that more recent writers have gone too far in maintaining that a myth is "A narrative linked to a rite" He succeeds in making the reader feel that a myth is a "Living reality vitalizing and to some extent controlling the present". Contrary to Malinowski's and Lord Raglan's insistence that a myth is never intended to explain anything, he believes that the "Aboriginals of Middle India are consumed with curiosity about everything in the world".

Now if someone were to ask as to which are the stories I liked the most in this collection, this would be my answer:

I liked the Dhulia myth from Karondi, Madhya Pradesh which talks about trees. They are unpretentious and talks about the life of tribals.

Mirchamal Dano's wife Buchki Rakasin, was a strange woman. She never bore a child. She also did not even have a monthly period. The Dano consulted many medicine-men, but they could not help.

One day Dano went to visit his father in-law and on his way home he found a dead crab. He gave it to his wife and said her father had sent you that for supper. Buchki roasted and ate it, and that very night she began to menstruate.

In a week, she conceived and a child was born in due time. He was called Bakrenda Dano. Mirchamal Dano took the placenta and cord to Tehardongri jungle and made a peacock trap with it Three peacocks were caught in the trap. The following morning Dano went to see what had happened and found that the trap had turned into a camel's-fool creeper, the cord was the stem and the placenta had turned into great broad leaves.

In another Bhaina myth from Kenda Zamindari, says, earlier birds could not fly and they used to walk or hop about. One day everyone was invited to a Raja's wedding. A Baiga Guru and a Bhaina Gunia were among the guests. They tried to prove who the greater magician was.

Baiga turned the guests into horses and asses, but Bhaina turned some into water, and some into fire. When they were turned back again into men they pleaded to them not to trouble them.

While going home, Baiga saw many birds who had been invited to the wedding following him. Across the path he set bird- lime. A bird was caught in it and started weeping. Bhaina saw it and gave the bird wings. It flew into the air and escaped the Baiga. Since that day birds have been able to fly.

I liked a Maria myth from Lakhopal, Bastar which talks about mammals. Once a man died, and the soul (jiwa) left. The body was chased by the village dogs. Maria could understand dog-language, and the dogs would inform the people that it had gone to Mahapurub.

Then the people would not bury the body. After a while the soul would come down to earth to see what had happened to its body, and the dogs would bark and declare that the soul had come. The relatives would rush to the corpse and catch the soul and the dead would return to life. Mahapurub lost all the souls from is kingdom and was very worried. Mahapurub said, 'From today when you bark no one will und understand your language."

I also liked the Kahar myth from Khuria, Bilaspur district, Madhya Pradesh, which talks about the human body. This story has no complexity. At first men had nothing inside them; whatever they ate it went straight down onto the ground. Sankasur and his wife Sirbhang called mankind to a feast, but they found that however much food they provided it went straight out of their bodies. Sankasur thought in his mindasked his wife to give him the cord round your waist.

When he got it he wound it round and round and round and stuffed it into a man's belly. He made the liver from the seven leaves of the karowan-sok tree, the kidneys for the takla tree, and teeth from flowers.

With a stick he made a muffled in the middle of man's chest and fixed the ribs in place and made the backbone. He put everything right; all men and all animals were repaired - except the camel and the tortoise.

To this day the tortoise has no liver or teeth and the camel's back is not straight.

Great book ……..

[Truly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku yang saya baca merupakan cetakan pertama, tahun 1949. Lebih tua dari umur saya he he he. Terbagi dalam 4 bagian besar, yaitu: Man and Universe; The Natural World; Human Life; dan Humas Institutions. Banyak informasi yang menarik.