palaveri village in pallava-desha near kAnchIpuram hosted an agrahAra, where rAjagopAla, a reknowned shrIvaiShNava scholar resided. His son, popularly known as bAlAjI, also a scholar, was raised there till early 1990s (age 20). These are some recollections pertaining to village life.
Abbreviations for the 4 varna-s - v1, v2, v3, v4.
v4 Piety
The farmers would be entirely free of agricultural labors for much of the year. Then, they used to perform and enjoy plays based on rAmAyaNa and mahAbhArata all night long. They used to be shy of performing before my respected father, so he used to watch from far away.
The farmers would work in the fields all morning; and their wives would bring food. They would offer this food to an idol made of cowdung, and to the sun, before eating.
Farmers used to operate a picotah/ eta to draw water for irrigation. To reduce the effort they felt, they used to say viShNu-stotra-s.
tilaka
Everytime he travelled in a bus to visit his sister, he would find at least one v4 with a tirumaN tilaka. Such people would be essentially indistinguishable from brAhmaNa-s but for the lack of yajnopavIta - no shirt (uttarIya instead), shikhA.
A shUdra would scold his father thus: “I used to watch your father with his thick tirumaN tilaka. Now you sit in the same place with your thin tilaka. Fie!”
Farmers used to wear tirumaN - so that it would be hard to distinguish Arya from shUdra without the yaJNopavIta.
School
In the village school, kids were taught well by the brAhmaNa and brAhmaNa-educated teachers.
If a girl lost her forehead dot due to sweat,
she would be expected to go and fix it using the kunkuma from the nAga-pratiShThA nearby.
If a v1 boy went without tilaka, he would be sent back.
The government would provide midday meals to kids. Of course, v1 kids wouldn’t eat or even drink water there. They would go home for noon refreshments. If found loitering near the meal serving area, they would be scolded and sent away. The kids, never observing any deviance, furthermore buttressed by the entire community, never even conceived defying the norms.
Once, in a place 10 km away for 10th exams, bAlAjI became very thirsty. He had not carried water from home. Swollowing saliva did not work. Returning home would cause him to miss the exam. In desperation, accepting Apat-niyama, he went to a random hut and requested water. They saw him, confrmed that he is v1, and gave him buttermilk instead (water being forbidden).
Temples
There was a viShNu temple in the agrahAra,
a gaNapati temple outside,
and yet another draupadi temple (with a kRShNa image as well).
During harvest, the first big-measure was offered to the temple.
Similarly, the first calf was offered to the temple.
Milk from such calves was used for abhiSheka etc..
Once in 1970s, a draviDianist climed the gaNapati temple and urinated there -
he was thrashed.
They did not return after that -
other than coming around and giving anti-Astika speeches.
Yet, dravidian parties remained the only contenders in local elections.
Even in 2024, v4s, via a trust they’d formed,
grandly managed annual festivities at the draupadi temple; with mahAbhArata play starting at night 10PM.
kIrtanas
The v4s used to gather at a maNDapa every night for nAma-sankIrtana.
In the mArgashIrSha month, this used to happen before dawn.
tarpaNa-s
Every amAvAsyA, a v1 used to visit each v4 family,
carrying a book of ancestors,
to help them perfrom tarpaNa-s to their ancestors.
By 2020s, even v1 had left the monthly tarpaNa practice.
Respect for v1s
On auspicious occassions like marriage,
v4s used to provide grains and such the previous day to my father,
and ask him to feast on them the next day, and come and bless during the event.
When a v1 passed by, the v4s would show respect.
In case of a learned v1 like shrI rAjagopAla, they would stand up as he passed.
When shUdra-s entered the agrahAra, on their own accord,
they used to remove their footwear. They would hesitate to buy an agrahAra home as they feared defiling it with meat consumption.
Once I was travelling to kAnchi from bengaLUru on a sleeper bus.
A co-passenger turned to me and realized by seeing my tilaka that I was a brAhmaNa.
He asked another person to exchange spots saying :
“A brAhmaNa is sleeping here; and I have just consumed meat. Please exchange”.
Similarly, panchama-s used to, on their own accord, seat themselves elsewhere, rather than next to me.
Expectation from v1s
A v4 would occassionally scold a v1 - “Are you a brAhmaNa?”.
Once an approximately 4 year old bAlAjI was urinating while standing. A v4 hit him behind the head and told him to sit down while doing so, as expected from v1s. Such were standards.
vaiShNava-s
Some 10 houses in a nearby village belonged to vaiShNava shUdras who wouldn’t bow to non-vaiShNava brAhmaNa-s; but only to vaiShNava-s.
Other vaiShNava-s were similar.
Their antya-karmans involved nArAyaNa bali, unlike drumming and such of their non-vaiShNava fellows.
Haters
In a nearby town, tellAr, where he went to a polytechnic college, once a roughly 50 year old soda-shop owner called him over from a bus-stand, and asked him to read something (year approx. 1989). As he bent over, the man took a handful of water from the soda-bucket, splashed it on his forehead and wiped off his tilaka. Then he told him - “you look better without it, don’t wear it henceforth.” When told about it, his father told him to not react, and just wear the puNDra upon returning home.
Some students there used to deliberately touch his lunch (eg. iDli) to see if he would eat. He would then simply subsist on water.
v3s and v2s
v3s of the village used to perform sandhyAvandanam.
There were no v2s in the village,
but they existed in nearby villages;
some of whom were disciples of shrI rAjagopAla of the village.
The v2s were carnivores.
v1s
bAlAji’s father and others would clearly list out how many days Ashaucha this and that person’s death would cause.
There were learned experts and book-owners in nearby villages, so that bAlAjI would be sent there to borrow / refer to - say amarakosha commentary for the derivation of a verse.
Women
v1 women were often quite learned -
especially in shrIvaiShNava rahasya text-s and the divya-prabandha-s. They used to teach these (barring the chapters which described the praNava - barred for women).
The women would have memorized vedAnta-deshika’s stotras.
A woman called rAdhA in a nearby village - wrote down shruti-pramANa-s (since speaking it was forbidden by shAstra-s) on a piece of paper from memory during a scholastic disputation during a temple utsava which bAlAjI visited at around age 10.
Another woman used to quiz him in kAvya-s and vyAkaraNa as he passed by.
Some were even able to correct vedic students practicing at home (though they abstained from recitation).
Houses
All houses had a vitardi / platform outside the door;
where passers-by could rest irrespective of jAti.
House foundations were either made of stone or powdered stone + special clay.
In the former case, walls could be built up at any later time;
but in the latter case, one needed to start building walls sooner
v4 houses were made with mud walls and roof covered with palm leaves and straw.
Such houses were cool.
Hence, even rich v4s preferred it.
Food used to be cooked in the yard outside, which had wooden roof.
v1 houses
v1 houses tended to have clay tile roofs -
since cooking and (theoretically daily) fire rituals happened inside,
and roof was usually not high enough.
bAlAjI’s house was a typical 30 ft x 50 feet.
Front portion was a hall, with grain storage.
Next came a narrow 3*15 feet open stretch for light, plus sleeping room.
There lay stone grinding equipment, cleaned and decorated daily with ranga-vallI.
Next came the kitchen and room to store firewood.
Finally, a backyard, with a well, peeing and cleaning places (stones).
No latrine in the house.
Food
Food was locally grown (farming described elsewhere).
In v1 houses, the regular fare was -
- cooked grain immersed in water the previous night for kids’ breakfast
- vegetables, rasam, sAmbAr cooked in the morning,
- milk and yogurt
- rice cooked twice a day
- seasonal local fruits (jack-fruit, jambU-phalam)
If one bought non-local fruits (like bananas) or other food (powders like horlicks) for a guest-
people would wonder : “Is someone ill in your house?”
Any vegetables grown in excess would just be bartered with or given away to neighbors.
Water for cooking and drinking came from a common rain-fed tank,
with steps for different varNa-s.
No one used to step into this tank;
and cattle were not let there.
Well water was a bit saline,
and did not satisfy thirst well.
bAlAjI’s mother sourced cooking and drinking water from there.
Most v4s, though mostly vegetarian,
used to eat fish, but not chicken or pig.
Well diggers ate village pigs.
The pariah-s lived outside the village, with similar facilities. They ate beef too.
Fuel and fire
Women used to gather cooking wood from the common thicket nearby during the afternoon.
If more was needed, they would purchase from street vendors.
The first person to light a fire daily would put a drop of kerosense on dry cowdung and light it with a match.
Seeing the smoke, others (from the same varNa) would come by with dry-cowdung-cakes, light it, take it home and grow their fire. (So, they wouldn’t even need or own a match box in a village with no shops.)
Hygene
Mensturating women slept by the backyard, or in the wood storage room in case of rain.
Bathing
Bathing was done in a large rain fed lake (spanning many acres).
v1s used to do Achamana there, v4s used to even drink there.
The same lake was used for post-defecation cleaning.
There were separate spots/ steps for women, post 3-night mensturating women, v1s.
Animals used to drink at the far end (near the overflow/ परीवाह zone).
Bathers (esp. women) carried a third set of clothes to place high, to signal that the bathing spot was in use.
This system was in use without need for any policing.
Clothes were washed at the lake.
In spring, the rain-fed lake would have receeded to the far end (near the overflow/ परीवाह zone).
During those months, folks would bathe with well water.
Other animals would continue using that.
Defecation
Open defecation was practiced without any trouble regarding finding a spot etc..
One could defecate in most open/ shrubbed spaces (even tree gardens owned by others) -
but not in rice fields.
Post defecation, one would go, with the uncleaned anus,
to the far end of the bathing lake (near the overflow zone) and wash the anus.
When it rained, they used to either wait for a calm,
or put a gunny/ coir sack on top of the head and go out anyway.
Urination
For urination, backyards had a stone spot away from the well.
Beside it was a stone vessel (where the woman of the house filled water daily) to clean the genitals.
Then there was a separate spot for washing feet and hands, with a separate, similarly filled, stone vessel.
Finally, Achamana was done near the well.
Health
Very overweight people were almost non-existent, though quite a few were plump.
There was no known parasitic infestation - despite the shared water.
Almost no one needed to visit a doctor.
No dengue or malaria - despite presence of mosquitoes.
Only one person (a sheTTi) in the neighboring 10 villages had Filaria.
People slept well despite biting mosquitoes - they were used to it.
People mostly died loosing appetite and growing lean.
All births happened at home - and quite quickly too, with the assistance neighborhood old ladies.
Rarely, women died during birth.
Infant mortality was rare.
Doctor
vishvanAtha gurukkal, the archaka of the local shiva temple, inherited traditional Ayurveda knowledge. A very short man - about 5 feet. His wife too was familiar with the system. They grew herbs in their yard. They had no agricultural land. Income from temple was practically 0. Yet, he raised 10 children.
He was highly regarded for his medical knowledge. He used to successfully treat even severe jaundice with herbs. He used to correctly estimate the time taken to recover - day, week or month.
Daily about 15 people waited at his home for treatment. He did not charge the poor or farmers - still, the employees (eg. school teachers) paid beyond what he asked, out of regard for him.
He would forbid shrotriya-s from visiting him, preferring to cycle to their place to serve them.
For the convenience of vaiShNava-s who needed to consult him nevertheless, he created an extra gate in the compound of his house so that they would not need to enter the shiva temple on the way in.
Yet, many villagers took to allopathic medicine since it often yielded quicker results with fewer rules (albeit with side-effects). Eventually, the medical knowledge died with him. The kids moved to the cities to work in industries.
Economy
Farming practice is described separately.
There was no theft - barring instances of someone illegally cutting and carrying off some tree to sell.
Post harvest shares
During harvest, the first big-measure was offered to the temple (as with first milk drawn from a cow).
The next one was for the village barber.
The one after that for the washerman.
Only then was the harvest partitioned between the owner and the share-cropper.
The basic needs of everyone in the village was thus met.
This system ran at-least until early 1990s.
If a person did not own land, a similar portion of the purchased grain was set aside for the barber and washerman.
The barber’s share would be the same irrespective of the number of heads he needed to shave in the family.
Similarly, the purohita was paid in kind, not cash.
Salt trader used to visit monthly. He traded 1 measure of rice for 5 measures of salt.
Hence, people could live a happy life without any money.
Social cooperation
If one died, or was bitten by a snake - the entire village gathered and helped - across jAti-s.
If there was a marriage in a V1 home,
even the farmers would not go farming -
food would be arranged for them too.
They would tie the doorway thatch themselves.