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The
worship of the Earth as yoni goddess in
India is as ancient as the Indus Valley
civilization. A nude female figure on a
Harappa plate showing itself kept upside
down with legs in the air and a plant issuing
from her womb or yoni was not a mere toy.
A terracotta relief of the early Gupta age
from the figure of a female figure was the
improvement of the yoni conception over
the former, because here any part of her
body (i.e. the Earth) was conceived as yoni.
Therefore, the conception of the entire
valley of Assam as yoni was not new to the
ancient Bodos during the period of Mother-Right
or matriarchal social system of theirs.
Some southward projections and spurs of
the Himalayan ranges in the north and some
northward projections and spurs of the Khasi
hills and the Garo hills meet at Tezpur-Silghat,
Gauhati-Kamãkhya and Jogighopa-Tura
allowing the Brahmaputra river to pass through
them, and these have created at least three
basins (Thou) in the valley. The early Bodos
had experienced the existence of mysterious
Feminine spirit (Bã) prevailing in
the basin-shaped valley ('Thou') of Assam
that was worshipped as 'Bãthou' (Bã
+ Thou), i.e. the Femine spirit. The valley
remained moist and fertile due to wash by
water of the river and rivulets the tributaries
of the Brahmaputra and by water of rain-falls,
Bathou was conceived as yoni spirit or yoni-goddess.
As such Bãthou was initially the
name of Goddess and not of God. This deity
had no connection with Siva in this stage.
She rose gradually to the status of Mother
Goddess equivalent to Mahãmãyã
of the Hindus. Her male consort Bathou Brai
had no importance in the early matriarchal
system of Bodo society. We will see later
how Bãtho Brãi rose to the
status of supreme God identified with Siva.
Later on, a new name Khãmkhi or Khãmmai-Khi
came to be attached to the Godess Bãthou.
'Khamkhi' means 'bhasma' (burnt ashes).
Tall grasses and shrubs were slashed and
burnt to get moist soil (yoni-soil) on which
the jhoomiyas planted or sowed seeds after
dibbling or hoeing. Green crop plants grew
out from the soil thus manured by Khãmkhi
(bhasm). This archaic belief went to make
'khãmkhi' a goddess, named Bhasma
Devi. The cereal food was called khãm
in Bodo after the name Khãmkhi Khãm
in Bodo after the name Khãmkhi as
it was the Prasad of the Goddess. The cereal
food from rice variety was called mãi-khãm>mi-khãm,
imkhãm, ingkhãm, onkhãm.
Similarly, cereal food from maize was called
'Zokhãm'. Since in Assam the Devi
Khãmkhi is generally associated with
rice production, khãmkhi came to
be known as 'khãm-mãi-khi',
later Sanskritised as 'Kãmãkhyã'
by the Hindus.
The land used for 'slash-and-burn' cultivation
was called khãm-hã > khãmã>khãmã
where hã or ã means land or
soil. The soft alluvial land, once washed
by river or seawater was called khãmãrubu,
sanskritised as kãmrupa i.e the soft
alluvial land on which slash-and-burn was
practiced. As the soil of khãmã
was moist and fertile, remaining covered
under thick, tall grasses and shrubs, khãma
was regarded as yoni land. From this standpoint,
too, khãmkhi or khãm-mãikhi
was regarded as yoni goddesses. Here khi
is to be taken as female suffix instead
of ashes or dust. The jhoomias in Bodo were
called 'khamboja', analysed as kham-a-bong-ja(-cha)
> kham-bong-ja > khambooja(sanskritised
as kamboja) where khama =jhoomable land
+ bong, bongra = jungles + ja, cha = to
eat, to enjoy; that is those who enjoy(cultivate)
the land by adoping slash-and-burn method.
Later from the khambojas the tribe komcha
or Koch emerged. The western Bodos, Koch
and the Maches continued to practice jhoom
cultivation upto the end of the 19th century.
There was a time when kham-mai-khi alone
was worshipped as avirgin goddess although
the conception of the Bathou Brai was not
absent. No image wasused to be worshipped
as a virgin goddess although the conception
of the Bathou Brai was not absent. No image
was used to worship Her. As the whole earth
was conchived as yoni, a circular earthen
altar with a tulasi branch and grass blades
was prepared for khamkhi or kham-mai-khi
worship. This circuler earthen altar was
the symbol of yoni mondal (yoni circle)
as described in the yogini Tantra. The Goddess
was worshipped at many places, but the central
places of worship were Sadiya, Nowgong and
the Nilachal hill (near Gauhati). During
the period of yearly menstruation of the
Devi, the Bodo tribes gather at these places
and performed sacrificial rites. The Khasis
also worshipped the Devi on he Nilachal
hill. Each of the tribes paved for respective
use, a stair stone path for climbing the
Nilachal from the foot upto the shrine,
and thus avoided collision between tribes
in the the use of a single path. The tribes
who could not get accommodation on the hill
worshipped kham-mai-khi at a spot near Jor-pukhuri
where the temple of Ugro Tara now stands.
During the period of matriarchy of the Bodos,
the position of Bathou Brai was quite obscure.
The very name Bathou Brai meant 'Bathouni-ni-Brai',
the male consort of Bathou, the Goddess.The
than of the Bathou Brai was found always
erected at some distance from that of the
Goddess. Later, a bachelor God Si-Brai or
Sri-Brai came with a subsequent group of
the Bodos who migrated from a region around
the great lake Mansaravor (then within Tibet)
and taking the eastward course of the Tsampo
entered the Valley of Assam perhaps through
a dwar of Bhutan.Si-Bwrai was identical
with Shiva or Mahadeva, who came later with
the Hindus from mid-India. Si- Bwrai's main
emblem was a stone. Siju (cactus) plant
was the second emblem representing His striking
power or weapon. The Si-Bwrai cult gradually
got absorbed within the Bathou cult of the
earlier Bodos, and with this assimilation
of the cult of male God Si-Brai, the male
image of Bathou Brai began to rise. Bathou
Brai and Si-Brai became two alternative
names of the same God. Like Si-Brai, Bathou
Brai also began to be identified with Siva
or Mahadeva. In fact, Mahadeu came to be
the substitute name for Bathou Brai and
for all the aboriginal chief male deities
of other Bodo tribes.
In the mean while the Bodos were transisting
to patriarchy on account of the introduction
of plough cultivation and of the secondarylife
coming to them. With this, the social image
of the male members improved. Now, Bathou
Brai rose to the status of the supreme God
especially in the lower valley. In the upper
valley, however, the Goddess Bathou with
Her new designation as Khamkhi or Kham-mai-khi
continued to rise as the supreme mother
Goddess.This was due to Saktaism which came
to Assam with the Hindus. It is said that
the 'historical' Naraka first introduced
Saktaism in the early period of Gupta Age,
the estimated time of his rule. (His time
in the puranic traditions is fantastically
very old.) Naraka was Vaisnava.He worshipped
Kham-mai-khi as Mahamaya, Sakti of Siva.All
the Hindu and the. Hinuised tribal ruler
worshipped Her as Sakti and success-giver
goddess in war time for defence or offence.
Royal patronages to kham-mai-khi worship
made this goddess popular far and wide.
This relegated Siva worsip in to the background.
On the contrary, in the populated areas,
the popularitiesof Bathou Brai continued
to rise and Bathou worship was now understood
as the worship of Bathou Brai. 'Bathou'
was no longer the name of yoni-goddess.
It became the name of God. Some thinkers
even sopeculating 'Bathou'as the name of
Bathou Gudi, formless and attributeless,
neither male nor female, neither He or She,
but 'It'.And suffixation of Brai and Brui
began to suggest manifestations of the 'unmanifest'
as dual principles- Bathou Brai and Bathou
Brui, the first creative Tattvas equivalent
to Siva and Sakti of Kashmiri Saivism. But
to the common people, Bathou with or without
the suffix Brai or Brui remained Bathou
Brai who was Si-Brai or Siva or Mahadeo.
As stated already Si-Brai was a bachelor
God. He came with the migrating Bodos through
the trans-Himalayan route and got Himself
established at Sonitpur. The royal Bodo
familiesand the nobles worship Si-Brai as
Hatakeswar Siva. Finding Himself alone,
Si-Brai created Si-Brui out of His own energy.
Later, Si-Brai and Si-Brui remained conjoined
as yoni spirit and Ludoi-Fa in the forms
of 'stone' planted in the 'yoni' earth on
the Umananda hillock at the prayer of their
devotees for rain & fertility to save
themselves from drought, famine and destruction.
Thus Ludoi-Fa stone cult developed from
Si-Brui cult. The Hinus worsipped this stone
as Siva-Linga and from this developed Siva-Linga
cult in Assam. In the beginning Ludoi-Fa
stone cult as well as Siva-Linga cult were
the fertility cult where Bathou-Brui as
well as Siva-Parvati was worshipped as dual
principles remaining coalesced for the welfare
of Prakrity and the living beings. The fertility
concept gradually disappeared from the Siva-Linga
cult owing to male supremacy in Hindu society
although yoni-basin on which Siva-Linga
was planted would be distinctly visible
as asymbol of the yoni goddess. Fertility
was connected with agriculture and food
production. The Brahmans who were the guardians
of the Hindu religion were not food producers.
They hated manual labour as it belonged
to the Vaisyas and Sudras. All the Hindu
religious scriptures remained silent about
agriculture. On the other hand, Bathou religion
and its traditions are based on the backgrounds
of the socio-economic conditions of the
Bodos.
But the fertility concept continued to be
main theme in the Ludoi-Fa stone cult as
well as in the present Bathou-Sizu cult,
because the Bodos were and are agriculturists.
Though now Bathou-Sizu cult goes in name
of Bathou Brai, both the Brai-Brui are called
upon by the ozas on behalf of the devotees
to share grace or blessings. In a Siva temple
there may be only Sivai-Linga, but in Siva
temple of kham-mai-khi or any of Her Tantric
form, there would always be Siva-Linga near
the yoni temple. This indicates separation
of the fertility theme from Siva-linga and
revival of the Bodo method of kham-mai-khi
worship in which Bathou Brai was a subordinate
place at some distance from the kham-mai-khi
than during the period of matriarchal condition
of the society. Unless the yoni symbol of
the Devi and Siva-linga are erected side
by side in same temple it will not be possible
for the Hindus to pair-worship (yamala)
in Assam. Even among the Bathou worshipers,
although the Brai-Brui are found instlled
in a coalesced poise in Bathou altar like
that of the Ludoi-Fa stone cult or Siva-Linga
cult, and the couple are called upon as
the Great Father and Great Mother in main
or community puja of Bathou, yet for daily
worship especially by the women folk Bathou
Brui or Ai kham-mai-khi is found separated
from Bathou Brai and no-ishing awarding
Her the title of Mainao Brui, goddess of
riches allowing Bathou Brai to remain alone
in the main altar unsheltered in the family
courtyard. This is the vestige of matriarchal
kham-mai-khi worship. Even in Garja Puja
the ancestral deities Zõmõn
Zõtã and Zõmõn
Zõ are never housed together.
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