Source: TW
Identifying with non-Arya deities
What I stated above, mutatis mutandis, applies to who we see as “Non-Sanskritic” Village deities as well. This deity was likely never known to the Ṛṣis or the Āryas of that time & perhaps was conceived much much later. But that deity of “Non-Ārya” provenance was all along a “husk” concealing a transcendental deity with whom we are much more familiar, who was waiting for us to discover this chain/layers of deities leading up to him. Who knows?
Replugging this article by Tamizh Author Jeyamohan as it somewhat resonates with what I’ve written above. Find both tamizh original & English translation here: https://t.co/YAleUjJmPO
Karuppasvāmī
Now, in a recent folk song glorifying Karuppasvāmī, a deity who predominantly used to receive animal sacrifices & still does, albeit less so, we have lyrics referring to him as Hara’s son & Śāstā’s/Ayyappa’s bodyguard & how he refuses meat in favor of vegetarian rice offerings! That song is here: Tamizh speakers can listen & verify what I said for themselves. The singers & the majority of those who listen to this song are Non-Brāhmaṇas, who are the deity’s traditional devotees. Nobody has forced them to “brahminize” the deity.
As I stated above, Ādiśaivas sort of pioneered the incorporation of Karuppu into the larger world of mantraśāstra by devising Āgamika Pratiṣṭha rites for him. This happened a few centuries back & we can’t determine what was behind this move. But they had intuited rightly about this deity’s potential. Now, we have advanced Upāsakas of Śāstṛ who have, at their disposal, full-blown mantraśāstra prayogas for Karuppu, where Karuppu is essentially an emanation of an ostensibly transcendental deity.
Ekalvīr Dādā
Even more surprisingly, I was stunned to discover that Karuppu has found a following in Gujarat under the name, “Ekalvīr Dādā”. Some GJ Hindus even leave comments of gratitude & love for tamizh YouTube videos of Karuppu devotional songs! Who the hell would have seen this coming?!
Expert intuion
Of course, all of the above doesn’t mean that the Gods will “shed their husks” at your disposal. You leave art, sculpture & music to their respective experts. Likewise, leave religion to its skilled experts.
Śaiva priests were not sitting down & doing nothing but they had intuited & with Divine Will, worked on what they were able to intuit, & pioneered the integration of non-mainstream deities into the mainstream pantheon. This will not take place as common laity wants it.
This will be a long process, guided by the Gods, with an allowance for mistakes & failed experiments to happen. Certain temples for “New Deities” will be temporarily very popular but will decline as the inspiration behind it was truly not divine in origin & thus not potent.(5)
Therefore, respect the deities whole-heartedly & respect the priesthoods & traditions, which come with them & which make them available for our experience & edification.
Assam
An older thread on the same:
From 2019:
“The ability to see the potential for the highest forms of religion available (in terms of complexity, depth, sophistication, transformative potency, etc) in what, to an average mind, would have seemed like simple totemism or animism is nothing short of divine.”
A favourite example of seeing the potential for the highest forms of religion in what would appear as primitive would be what the Brāhmaṇas achieved at Kāmarūpa-Deśa.
Cynical scholars go: “The Goddess Dikkaravāsinī / Tāmreśvarī was originally Kecāikhātī, a tribal goddess whose Austronesian Tribal name literally means “eater of raw flesh”. The Brāhmaṇas who settled in Kāmarūpa composed the Kālikāpurāṇa, incorporating these tribal deities….”
And: “The Brāhmaṇas who settled in Assam appropriated tribal deities into the Brahmanical pantheon…”
Appropriation and Priestcraft
Are we supposed to read these scholars and think that the evolution of deities means that deities are artificial or false?
Or are we supposed to blindly deny the obvious reality of Indian ethnic diversity & the long history of tribal deities in Assam before the Hindu pantheon eventually arrived through the Brāhmaṇas?
“There are no such things as tribal religions”. Sounds even more ridiculous. Or some go: “This is the cunning Brahmanical priestcraft”.
Are we supposed to feel attacked by this?
Is priestcraft a derisive term?
So what if the deities were of tribal provenance?
To see a ferocious tribal deity often placated by Narabalī & very carefully & skillfully extract a Dikkaravāsinī from within that goddess, to adorn that deity with complex mantraśāstra, to see Śiva’s very consort within her;
To likewise extract transcendental gods from within various deities of ostensibly tribal provenance while still retaining the tribal priesthoods & rites for the most part - This is surely nothing short of a craft.
I have never seen the word, “Priestcraft” as derogatory. What Brāhmaṇas achieved at Kāmākhyā—To take a deity from the Śābara/Kirata context & make her the highest object of Śākta-Sādhana—This is true wizardry & craft of the highest order. This is genuine magic. I’ll end this long postscript for now.