The Gazetteers Department

The religious beliefs and practices of various communities in the district are in no way much different from those observed in other districts of Maharastra. In fact, they are much the same all over India. As shown before, the chief communities in the district, distinguished on the count of religion, are the Hindus and the Muslims. Communities such as Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians are in insignificant number.

Hinduism

Hinduism defies a scientific and precise definition not only because its observance differs from place to place, but within its fold it admits a number of schisms and sects and persons at various phases and levels of religious thought. Furthermore, the religious life and conduct for the Hindu is a matter of caste tradition which differs broadly according to the caste-group (varna) to which one belongs.

In respect of religious beliefs and observances the several castes of the Hindus in the district may be classified in three caste-groups, viz., (1) Brahmans and allied castes; (2) Non. Brahmans; and (3) the so-called untouchables, now known as Harijans; and the tribals or adivasis.

Brahmans.—Among the Brahmans the majority consists of Daksini or Maratha Brahmans inter alia belong to sections of Desastha Brahmans, Karhuda Brahmans and Citpavan Brahmans. In respect of their religion, all call themselves Vedic or sanatani Hindus. The Desasthas have two main divisions (1) Rgvedi and (2) Yajurvedi, with sub-divisions among the Rgvedis as Smarts or followers of Siv, and Madhvas or Vaisnavas, followers of Visnu. Among Yajurvedis there are the followers of black (Krsna) Yajurveda, and of white (Sukla) Yajurveda. The Karhadas are followers of the Rgveda and belong to the Smart sect and the Citpavans are either Apastambhas or Rgvedis and belong to the Smart sect. As a Vedic Hindu, a Brahman is expected to abide by the rites and practices regulated by the particular Veda and its branch he owes allegiance to, as also follow the beliefs and dictates of the sect he belongs to. For his anhika and acara—daily and periodical duties and ceremonies he has to behave as the dharmasastras expound. Besides, each of the Brahman castes pays special respect to its tutelary deities, e.g., the family gods of the Desasthas are Bhairavanath of Sonari in Ahmadnagar, Sridevi of Tuljapur, Sri Ganapati, Khandoba of Jejuri, Sri Narsinh of Poona,. and Sri Vyarikates of Tirupati in North Arcot; the Karhadas have Mahalaksmi, Durga, Mhalsa, Bhavani, etc., as their family goddesses, and the Citpavans or Kohkanasthas worship Parasuram as their patron god and have Jogai or Jogesvari as their family deity.

A Brahman householder, if he was strict and an orthodox one, would out of daily religious routine, rise at four, wash his face, and repeat his morning prayer or pratahsmarana; then bathe, change his clothes repeating the Vedic hymn called purusa sukta, say his morning prayer or sandhya, worship the family gods, and sit reading a sacred book or pothi till eight. He then would go out for marketing or doing his business, return at noon, wash his hands and feet, dress in a silk or a newly washed and untouched cotton waist-cloth and perform his mid-day worship or sandhya, offer water or tarpan to the Vedic deities, and to family ghosts, perform the daily sacrifice or Vaisvadeva, i.e., an offering to all Vedic deities, and along with any one who happens to join him at or before the time of the sacrifice, and offer food to gods.[The five expiatory sacrifices a householder has to perform daily are: The Brahma-yajna, the Pitr-yajna, the Deva-yajna, the Bhuta-yajna and the Nr-yajna. (Man. iii 68.69).] Then he would take his dinner. Before taking the food he performs the citrahuti or invocation of Citra, the officer of Yama, the god of death and the god himself with his staff of spirits; then follows the aposami or water-sipping in the name of the fire in the human body, eating five morsels in the names of the five airs that sustain human life.[ These five airs or spirits are: prana, apana, udana, samana and brahmana.] When he has eaten, he would again sip a little water and then wash his hands and face, eat a sweet basil or tulasi leaf, take a satapavali or walk of one hundred paces around his room and then have a nap (siesta) or vamakuksi, literally a left-side lying. He would then wake at about half-past two, attend to business for an hour or two, read a sacred book or listen to a reader, puranika or attend a religious discourse, hariktrtana, or visit the village temple. On his return home at sunset he would change his clothes, hum frankincense before the family gods, perform his evening prayers, read his sacred books, repeat the praises of the gods and take his supper; after supper read the holy book again or sing sacred songs or bhajans till ten or eleven, and retire for the night. It is needless to say that many of these religious items in a householder's daily life would scarcely fit in that of tradesman or a Government servant, and a young collegiate would like to give cold shoulder to perhaps one and all.

Non-Brahmans.—Among the non-Brahmans of the district the predominating communities are the Marathas, the Kunbis and the Vanis. Of these some high-class Maratha families claim to be Ksatriyas, and the Vanis, claim that they are Vaisyas. As such, they consider themselves entitled to observe Vedic rituals and have a religious status on par with Brahmans. The rest of the non-Brahman communities who are known as Sudras labour under certain religious disabilities laid down by the Hindu dharmasastras, e.g., in the conduct of their religious ceremonies, the Sudras have to be content with Puranic mantras instead of the Vedic ones. The allegiance of the Sudras to Hinduism is often shadowed by animistic practices. They cannot tell whether they are Smarts or Bhagawats. A number of them are Malakaris and wear necklaces of basil beads in token of their being followers of the Varkari, sect. They worship the usual Brahmanic gods and goddesses, and observe the leading Hindu holidays. They also worship all local and boundary gods, and minor gods and goddesses such as Bahiroba, Bhavani, Ambabai, Janai, Kalkai, Navlai, Phiranai, Tukai, Vaghya, Vetal and Yamai whose images they keep in their houses with the masks or taks of their ancestors. They have as their family gods Maruti, Bahiroba of Sonari near Solapur, Khandoba of jejuri and Bhavani of Tuljapur. Some have in their houses gold and silver plates of their gods and goddesses. They make pilgrimages to Alandi, Jejuri, Sonari, Tuljapur and Pandharpur. Though they have Brahmans as their priests, the religious teachers or gurus of some of these castes are Gosavis, whose advice they take on all important matters. Generally all believe in sorcery, witchcraft, soothsaying, omens, and lucky and unlucky days, and consult oracles. When an epidemic breaks out, they offer goats and fowls to the deity supposed to preside over the disease. Many have a reverence for Muslim saints, and some may go to the extent of keeping beside the image of Khandoba, a stick and a juli, in their houses wrapped in a green cloth or bag in some recess in honour of the Muslim saint they specially revere. The more religious minded among them follow the Varkari sect, and become more careful observers of the rules of Brahmanic religion. They raise temples to Maruti, Ram and Devi. They keep religious books in their houses and read them to their wives and children and go to hear them as explained by Brahmans. They take to chanting verses in their temples accompanied by music, and perform bhajan saptahas, i.e. loud public prayers which last for seven days.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.—It was once the practice to class Scheduled Tribes such as Gonds, Bhils, and Scheduled Castes such as Mahars, Mangs, Malas and Pardhis residing in the district as animists outside the Hindu community whose influence, according to the early enumerators of India's censuses, did not sufficiently reach those quarters. But the idea has been revised and they are considered as Hindus and are classified along with them, though as separate section, as backward communities deserving protection under legislative and administrative provisions. They are sometimes called animists, that is, they worship tribal and local divinities and the spirits of their ancestors. They believe in sorcery, witchcraft magic and dark practices connected with them. They offer worship to certain idols which are transformed into gods by them. Hills, mountains, rivers, valleys, etc., are worshipped as gods and goddesses. The animistic ways of life have been greatly modified through the spread of education and reforms carried out by non-official agencies, specially through institutions which owned their inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi and others. The result is that so many from amongst these people have taken to civilised ways of life and they live now as good Hindus.

Jains

The Jains take their name from being the followers of the twentyfour Jinas (conquerors) or Tirthankars, the last two of whom were Parsvanath and Mahavira also called Vardhamana. The Jains say that Jainism is as old as the Vedic religion. Rsabhdev, their first Tirthankar, is mentioned in the Puranas. Mahavir (B. C. 598 to 524) the last and twenty-fourth Tirthankar, was a little senior to Buddha, and his system was an improvement upon that of his predecessor Parsvanath, who flourished about two hundred and fifty years before him. The jainism of these teachers was a protest against the social divisions of the Vedic order.

The Jains believe in the soul, in the cycle of life, in sin and merit and in moksa—final beautitude. The soul (Jiva) is by its pure nature omniscient, but the truth is obscured on account of karma which must be removed by good deeds. The soul takes to life which is all pervading. The Jain thought about forms of life is very detailed and minute. By exertion, the soul becomes siddha, i.e., it attains moksa. Each soul has a separate and an independent existence. It is formless. Moksa or release is attained in Jainism by carrying out four vows or vratas, which are anuvratas in the case of the laymen and mahavratas in the case of monks and nuns. They are ahimsa (non-violence), amrisavad (truth), brahmacarya (celebacy), and aparigraha (non-attachment). Elaborate definitions and classification of each of these ideas are given in the books of the sect.

According to tradition the first important schism in the Jain community occurred during 80 A.D. to 183 A.D. when it separated into two sections, Digambers (sky-clad) and Svetambar (white-robed), in certain respects. The Digambars worship naked images of Tirthankars. Their monks go naked, usually keep to their monasteries, and are met very rarely now. No woman is admitted as nun to this order. They do not believe that the soul can attain moksa through a woman's soul. The Svetambars have images of Tirthankars with gold eyes fixed with glass and a piece of linen carved round the loins. They cover the images elaborately and their monks are clad in white clothes. Women are admitted as nuns.

The Svetambars are sub-divided into eighty-four sub-sects or gachhas, of which about fifteen to twenty only now remain. Of the existing gachhas, the lonka gachha is more careful not to destroy animal life than the other gachhas.

Jains are scrupulous vegetarians. The orthodox among them do not eat roots, and abstain themselves from eating vegetables on select days. They generally avoid eating and drinking after sunset. This respect for life is sometimes carried to its extreme logic, giving rise to inequitable social situations.

Temples.—The religious buildings of the Jains located in the district are of the following two types, the monasteries-maths and temples-bastis or dehras.

The temples which are either sikharbandi, spire-roofed or gharderaser, house-roofed also differ as they are built by the Svetambars or the Digambars particularly in respect of the nature of the images. The spire temples are generally made of stone with pyramidical tops and domes and have one to four gates. The house-roofed temples which are built of stone or brick and mortar have either terraces or roofs on the top and in some cases have upper stories. The ground floor is usually paved with white and occasionally with black marbles and the walls of some temples are inlaid with marbles. As a rule, the ground floor which is raised and approached by steps is divided into two parts, the hall, mandap, and the shrine, gabhara. The hall where the people gather is separated from the shrine either by a wall or by iron, brass or wooden lattice work. Along the back wall of the shrine a stone or marble seat is raised for the idols. Opposite the middle door, in the middle of this seat, is the second raised seat for the mulanayaka or patron-saint of the temple. Many Jain temples have an underground apartment called bhuyar, corresponding with the slums above and furnished with a second set of idols arranged directly underneath those in the temple. The temple is always fragrant with incense. In large towns, these temples are richly painted and decorated with chandeliers, wall-shades and other glass lamps. They are built either by any wealthy Sravak Jain or by subscription, Sravaks being very lavish in the sums they spend on temples. The temple is usually known by the name of the Tirthankar most popular with them, and the image of the chosen Tirthankar is set as mulanayak on the raised seat in the shrine. On both sides of this patron-saint, images of one or more of the other Tirthankars are placed and worshipped with equal respect. The images are seated figures of men mostly of white marble and sometimes of black marble, and are decked with ornaments. Besides the images of Tirthankars, below the idol of mulanayak or in other niches or shrines, images of Hindu gods and goddesses are also placed.

For worshipping the temple images, paid servants called pujaris are engaged. These ministrants are usually Hindu Brahmans, any Hindu who is not a flesh-eater or spirit-drinker being considered a fit temple servant. They perform the worship of the idol as a hireling and not as a devotee. Temple worship is of four kinds: daily worship, eight-day or astanhiki worship, wish-fulfilling or kalpa worship, and five-blessing or pancakalyani worship. In the daily temple worship the image of the Tirthankar is bathed in milk by the pujari and on special days in the five nectars or pancamrta—water, tree sap or vrksa rasa, i.e. sugar, plantains, clarified butter, milk and curds. The idol is re-washed with water and dried with a cloth, flowers are laid before it, fragrant substances applied, aloe sticks burnt, lamps waved and naivedya or sacred food offered. Jain temples are always closed during night and neither priests, monks nor temple ministrants live m them. In some temples a lamp of clarified butter is set in a niche with a small glass door. Usually, the ministrant opens the temple before dawn and closes it at sundown.

Lingayatism

In respect of their religious creed, the Lingayats who are but a sect of the Saivite Hindus, and as such are called Vir-saivas or Heroic Saivites, have three main objects of reverence, viz., (1) the linga—the stone home of the deity Siva, (2) the jangama—the human abode of the deity, and (3) the guru—the teacher who spells the sacred text in the disciple's ear. As a part of his faith a true Lingayat wears on his body a silver box containing a linga (the emblem of Siva).